Cartesia vs MiniMax Audio (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Cartesia and MiniMax Audio share a 2.4 GPA, both have a free plan, and MiniMax Audio starts cheaper, at $4.50 a month against $5 a month.
Checked Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Cartesia grades higher on platforms. MiniMax Audio grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
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
MiniMax Audio
Speech and music generation with voice cloning on monthly credit plans
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 MiniMax Audio if
- Fits if you want cloned speech and songs on about $5 a month
- Works for developers who may move to the pay-as-you-go API later
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: about 12 minutes of speech a month
- Watch out: a subscription cancelled early is not refunded for the paid period
- Watch out: commercial rights for songs depend on the plan and when they were made
- Skip it if you want the API on these plans, since it is billed separately on the platform site
How we grade them
| 2.4GPACartesiaFair | 2.4GPAMiniMax AudioFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | BStarter is $4.50 a month yearly ($5 monthly), inside the cheapest quarter. Creator $13, Standard $25, Pro $80. |
| 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. | C10,000 credits a month, about 12 minutes of HD speech or 33 songs, 3 voice slots and slower generation. Enough to try, not to run on. |
| 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. | BSpeech in HD, songs, cloning and voice slots from 3 to 250. It covers the job, with minutes approximate and commercial rights for songs depending on plan and date. |
| 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. | CNo store rating on record. Credits and voice slots are small things to learn in a web app. |
| 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. | CWeb only. API access lives on the separate MiniMax platform site. |
| Best for | speech through an API for voice agents | speech and songs from one credit pool |
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 MiniMax Audio. 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. MiniMax Audio starts at $4.50 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and MiniMax Audio starts $0.50 a month lower. Of the other AI voice generators on the chart, none scores higher than Cartesia for less, and none scores higher than MiniMax Audio 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 transcription.
At a glance
| Cartesia | MiniMax Audio | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $5 per month for 100,000 credits, billed monthly | $4.50 per month, billed annually ($5 billed monthly) |
| 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. | Free: 10,000 credits a month (about 12 minutes of HD speech or 33 songs), 3 voice slots, standard generation speed. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cartesia | MiniMax |
| Price read from | cartesia.ai | minimax.io |
| Checked | Nov 9, 2026 | Nov 12, 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.
MiniMax Audio
- The page opens on yearly pricing; monthly-billed prices are $5, $17, $38 and $150, and a subscription cancelled early is not refunded for the paid period.
- Credits are a monthly allowance, and minutes shown are approximate for the HD model.
- Commercial rights for songs depend on the plan and on when they were generated; the page has a separate FAQ on this.
- API access is billed separately on the MiniMax platform site, not through these plans.
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.
MiniMax Audio
- Speech models
- Speech 2.8, 2.6, 2.5 and 02 in Turbo and HD variants, across 40+ languages and accents.
- Voice cloning and design
- Voice slots hold cloned or designed voices; the count runs from 3 on Free to 250 on Pro.
- Music generation
- Music-3.0 and Music-2.6 generate songs from the same credit pool, about 33 a month on Free and 10,000 on Pro.
- Voice modifier and isolator
- The plan table lists a voice modifier and voice isolator among its advanced controls.
- Developer API and packages
- A separate platform site sells model pricing and audio packages for API use, outside these subscription plans.
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.
MiniMax Audio
Free$0
10K monthly credits, about 12 minutes of HD speech, 3 voice slots, limited long-text support.
Starter$4.50
per month, billed annually ($5 billed monthly)
100K credits, about 120 minutes of HD speech, 10 voice slots, fast generation.
Creator$13
per month, billed annually ($17 billed monthly)
330K credits, about 400 minutes of HD speech, 30 voice slots.
Standard$25
per month, billed annually ($38 billed monthly)
750K credits, about 900 minutes of HD speech, 50 voice slots.
Pro$80
per month, billed annually ($150 billed monthly)
3 million credits, about 3,600 minutes of HD speech, 250 voice slots.
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.
MiniMax Audio
- Annual discount
Yearly billing, up to 47% off
The subscription page's Yearly toggle shows 10% to 47% off, for example Pro at $80 a month billed yearly ($960) against $150 monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cartesia or MiniMax Audio?
As of Nov 12, 2026, MiniMax Audio is cheaper to start with: $4.50 a month, against $5 a month for Cartesia. Cartesia starts at $5 per month for 100,000 credits, billed monthly, and MiniMax Audio starts at $4.50 per month, billed annually ($5 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Cartesia or MiniMax Audio?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Cartesia and MiniMax Audio have a free plan.
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.