Cartesia vs Deepgram Aura (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Cartesia grades higher than Deepgram Aura: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Cartesia grades higher on value for money, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Cartesia
Low-latency speech models and voice agents for developers
Deepgram Aura
Text-to-speech API for real-time voice agents, billed per character
Which one is for you
Pick Cartesia if
- Fits if you're building a voice agent or phone bot through an API
- Works for developers who want speech and transcription from one API
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you don't write code, or want a voiceover editor or a phone app
- Skip it if you hoped to go live on the free plan, which has no commercial use license
- Tight if you leave overages off, since requests stop when credits run out
- Watch out: overages run $65 per million credits on Pro, and agent calls cost $0.03 a minute plus $0.014 on a Cartesia number
- Pricey if you need a professional voice clone, which starts on the $49 Startup plan
Pick Deepgram Aura if
- Fits if you are building a voice agent and want to pay per character
- Works for a team already using Deepgram for speech-to-text
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to type text and download audio, as there is no studio
- Not for you if you do not write code
- Tight if you go past the $200 credit, after which usage bills per character
- Watch out: overage on Growth is charged at your rate plus 10%, and concurrency limits apply per project
- Watch out: Flux TTS covers English, German, French, Portuguese and Spanish
How we grade them
| 2.4GPACartesiaFair | 1.8GPADeepgram AuraWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPro is $5 a month for 100,000 credits, about 133 minutes of speech, with a commercial license, instant cloning and $5 of agent calls. An hour a month fits on that plan, which is less than its alternatives charge for the same amount. Overages cost $65 per million credits on Pro. | CPay as you go has no minimum, and Growth is $4,000 a year in prepaid credits, so it does not compare cleanly with per-seat prices. |
| Free plan and trial | C20,000 credits a month, about 27 minutes of speech, plus $1 of agent usage. Enough to try it, but there's no commercial use license, so nothing built on it can go live. | C$200 free credit on sign-up that does not expire, with no card needed. |
| Features | CStreaming text to speech in dozens of languages, streaming transcription, instant and professional cloning, and voice agents with phone numbers. It does the developer job fully, but that's a narrower job: there's no voiceover editor, as the listing says. | CAura-1 and Aura-2 voices, Flux TTS for live conversations, and pairing with speech-to-text. It has no studio or voice library for non-developers. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It's built for developers: you call it from code with the Python or JavaScript SDK, or try voices in a web playground. Fine if you code, slow going if you don't. | DNo store rating on record, and it needs code and API keys. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and an API with regional endpoints, plus LiveKit, Pipecat, Rasa and Genesys for voice agents, and on-premise setups through sales. No phone or desktop app. | CA web API only, with no desktop or phone apps and no listed integrations. |
| Best for | speech through an API for voice agents | a text-to-speech API for voice agents |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Cartesia and Deepgram Aura. How we grade
Price against what you get
Cartesia starts at $5 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Deepgram Aura starts at $333.33 a month when paid by the year and scores 1.7.
Cartesia scores higher and starts $328.33 a month lower. Of the other AI voice generators on the chart, none scores higher than Cartesia for less, and 50 score higher than Deepgram Aura for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Cartesia also covers voice cloning.
- Deepgram Aura also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Cartesia | Deepgram Aura | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $5 per month for 100,000 credits, billed monthly | $4,000 per year, prepaid credits (Growth); pay as you go has no minimum |
| Free plan | 20,000 credits a month (about 27 minutes of text to speech or 1 hour 51 minutes of speech to text) and $1 of voice agent usage. No commercial use license. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | $200 in free credit on sign-up that does not expire; no credit card required. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cartesia | Deepgram, Inc. |
| Price read from | cartesia.ai | deepgram.com |
| Checked | Nov 9, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Cartesia
- Cartesia is a developer platform: you use it through the API or a web playground, and there is no voiceover editor or mobile app.
- The Free plan has no commercial use license; it starts on Pro, which also adds instant cloning. Professional cloning needs Startup or above.
- Paid plans can go past their credits at $65 per million on Pro, $45 on Startup and $38 on Scale; with overages off, requests are blocked.
- Voice agent calls cost $0.03 a minute from the plan's prepaid dollars, plus $0.014 a minute on a Cartesia phone number.
Deepgram Aura
- It is an API product: there is no studio, voice library browser or cloning tool for non-developers.
- Pay-as-you-go bills per use after the $200 credit; Growth overage is charged at your rate plus 10%.
- Concurrency limits apply per project and differ by plan and region.
- Flux TTS currently covers English, German, French, Portuguese and Spanish, per the product page.
Key features
Cartesia
- Sonic text to speech
- A streaming text-to-speech model built for live conversation, with dozens of languages and regional accents. One minute of audio uses about 750 to 800 credits.
- Ink speech to text
- A streaming transcription model with its own concurrency pool, so heavy transcription does not slow text to speech.
- Voice cloning
- Instant clones from 10 seconds of audio start on Pro; Professional clones start on Startup. Cartesia says to clone only your own voice or one you have explicit permission to use.
- Managed Agents
- Build voice agents that answer and make phone calls, with Cartesia-provided phone numbers, from 1 on Free to 10 on Scale.
- Deployment options
- Call the models through regional API endpoints with Python and JavaScript SDKs, or arrange on-premise, private cloud or on-device deployment with sales.
Deepgram Aura
- Aura-1 and Aura-2 voices
- Aura-2 is described as the efficient model for high-volume deployment; Aura-1 is the lower-cost tier.
- Flux TTS for live conversations
- A newer model that carries tone across turns, reports what was heard when a caller interrupts, and starts audio in as little as 80 ms.
- Per-character billing
- Pay as you go is $0.015 per 1,000 characters on Aura-1, $0.030 on Aura-2 and $0.045 on Flux TTS.
- Pairs with speech-to-text and voice agents
- The same account covers speech-to-text, a managed Voice Agent API and audio intelligence, billed from one balance.
- Flexible deployment
- Runs in the cloud, in a private cloud or on-premises; self-hosted containers need NVIDIA GPUs and an Enterprise plan.
- Compliance statements
- Deepgram says it is SOC 2 Type 1 and 2 certified, signs a BAA for Enterprise customers, and offers an EU endpoint.
Plans
Cartesia
Free$0
20,000 credits a month, about 27 minutes of text to speech, plus $1 of prepaid agent usage. Not licensed for commercial use.
Pro$5
per month for 100,000 credits, billed monthly
About 133 minutes of text to speech a month, $5 of agent usage, a commercial use license and instant voice cloning.
Startup$49
per month for 1.25M credits, billed monthly
About 1,667 minutes of text to speech a month, $49 of agent usage and 2 Professional Voice Clone slots.
Scale$299
per month for 8M credits, billed monthly
About 10,667 minutes of text to speech a month, $299 of agent usage, 4 Professional Voice Clone slots, priority support and higher concurrency.
EnterpriseCustom
Volume pricing, custom concurrency, DPAs and BAAs, SSO, a shared Slack channel and on-premise or private cloud deployment.
Deepgram Aura
Growth$4,000
per year and up, prepaid credits used against usage
Pre-paid annual credits for up to 20% off usage rates and higher streaming concurrency.
EnterpriseCustom
For large volumes, data or deployment needs; adds self-hosted containers and a named account team.
Ways to pay less
Cartesia
- Startups
Startups Grant: 12 months of credits
Startups at any stage can apply for 12 months of Scale-level usage: 8 million credits a month plus $299 a month for Managed Agents. Students are considered case by case.
Deepgram Aura
- Other savings
Flux TTS matching credits
Through Dec. 31, 2026, Flux TTS spend earns $1 in credits for every $1 spent, up to $500.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cartesia or Deepgram Aura?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Cartesia is cheaper to start with: $5 a month, against $333.33 a month when paid by the year for Deepgram Aura. Cartesia starts at $5 per month for 100,000 credits, billed monthly, and Deepgram Aura starts at $4,000 per year, prepaid credits (Growth); pay as you go has no minimum.
Which has a free plan, Cartesia or Deepgram Aura?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Cartesia has a free plan. Deepgram Aura does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.