Cartesia vs Unreal Speech (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Cartesia grades higher than Unreal Speech: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Cartesia grades higher on value for money and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan, features 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
Unreal Speech
Low-cost text-to-speech API with streaming and word timestamps
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 Unreal Speech if
- Fits if you add speech to a chatbot or app on a budget
- Works for turning long text into audio, with timing for highlighted words
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you need voice cloning, which isn't mentioned on the pages read
- Watch out: the free 250,000 characters may not renew
- Watch out: the docs' rate limits (2 requests a second on Free, 8 on Basic) are almost three years old
- Skip it if you want apps, because none are listed
How we grade them
| 2.4GPACartesiaFair | 2.0GPAUnreal SpeechFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CStarter is $10 a month for about 11 hours of audio, which is the category middle. Basic is $49, with $4.99 a month for the first 6 months. |
| 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. | C250,000 characters (about 6 hours) free, and the page doesn't say they renew. Treat it as a trial. |
| 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. | CStreaming, word timestamps and a Studio, with no cloning mentioned on the pages read. Plans go up to 625M characters. |
| 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. An API plus a web demo and Studio. |
| 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 and API. No desktop or mobile apps listed, and no integrations. |
| Best for | speech through an API for voice agents | a low-cost speech API with timestamps |
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 Unreal Speech. 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. Unreal Speech starts at $10 a month and scores 2.0.
Cartesia scores higher and starts $5 a month lower. Of the other AI voice generators on the chart, none scores higher than Cartesia for less, and 11 score higher than Unreal Speech 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 and voice cloning.
At a glance
| Cartesia | Unreal Speech | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $5 per month for 100,000 credits, billed monthly | $10 per month for 500,000 characters |
| 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 | 250,000 free characters (about 6 hours of audio) on the Free plan; the page does not say whether the allowance renews. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Cartesia | Unreal Speech |
| Price read from | cartesia.ai | unrealspeech.com |
| 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.
Unreal Speech
- It is an API and web demo with a Studio; no desktop or mobile apps are listed.
- Rate limits in the docs, last updated almost three years ago, are 2 requests a second on Free, 8 on Basic and 32 on Pro.
- The pricing page does not say whether the 250,000 free characters renew monthly.
- Voice cloning is not mentioned on the pricing or homepage text read.
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.
Unreal Speech
- Three request types
- The docs recommend /stream for short, time-sensitive text up to 1,000 characters, /speech up to 3,000 characters, and /synthesisTasks for long jobs such as audiobooks.
- Streaming audio
- The homepage says audio streams in 300 ms and a single request can produce up to 10 hours of audio.
- Per-word timestamps
- Responses can include word or sentence timestamps, and a websocket endpoint streams audio and timestamps together.
- Voices and languages
- The site lists 48 voices and 8 languages, with controls for speed, pitch and bitrate in its demo.
- SDKs
- The documentation lists Python, Node.js and React Native SDKs.
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.
Unreal Speech
Starter$10
per month for 500,000 characters
About 11 hours of audio a month.
Basic$49
per month for 3M characters
About 67 hours of audio a month. The page shows $4.99 a month for the first 6 months.
Plus$499
per month for 42M characters
About 933 hours of audio a month.
Pro$1499
per month for 150M characters
About 3,000 hours of audio a month.
Enterprise$4999
per month for 625M characters
About 14,000 hours of audio a month. A custom tier for 1B+ characters is quoted on request.
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.
Unreal Speech
- Other savings
Basic at $4.99 a month for the first 6 months
The pricing page shows the $49 Basic plan at $4.99 a month as a discount for the first 6 months.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cartesia or Unreal Speech?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Cartesia is cheaper to start with: $5 a month, against $10 a month for Unreal Speech. Cartesia starts at $5 per month for 100,000 credits, billed monthly, and Unreal Speech starts at $10 per month for 500,000 characters.
Which has a free plan, Cartesia or Unreal Speech?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Cartesia has a free plan. Unreal Speech 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.