Deepgram Aura vs Gradium (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Gradium grades higher than Deepgram Aura: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Gradium grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Deepgram Aura
Text-to-speech API for real-time voice agents, billed per character
Gradium
Real-time voice AI API for speech, transcription and voice cloning
Which one is for you
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
Pick Gradium if
- Fits if you are a developer adding voice to an app through an API
- Makes sense if you need cloned or designed voices and care about data controls
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: about an hour of speech a month and no commercial use
- Pricey if you need pro voice clones, which start on the $312 a month M plan
- Watch out: plan credits don't roll over, only pay-as-you-go credits do
- Watch out: overage costs 5% to 20% above your plan's own rate if you turn it on, and live translation burns 30 credits a second
How we grade them
| 1.8GPADeepgram AuraWeak | 2.4GPAGradiumFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CPaid plans start at $12 a month billed yearly ($13 monthly), about the middle of what voice tools charge. M is $312 and L $1,480 a month for the larger volumes. |
| Free plan and trial | C$200 free credit on sign-up that does not expire, with no card needed. | CFree plan of 45,000 credits a month, about 1 hour of speech, with up to 5 custom voices and no commercial use. You'll reach that in a week or two of real work. |
| Features | 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. | BSpeech both ways, translation, 10-second clones, designed voices and data controls on paid plans. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the job, though pro clones start on the $312 plan. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record, and it needs code and API keys. | CNo store rating on record. It is an API first, so there is code to write, with a web studio for trying voices. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA web API only, with no desktop or phone apps and no listed integrations. | BWeb studio and an API, deployable via Baseten and SageMaker. No desktop or phone app is listed. |
| Best for | a text-to-speech API for voice agents | voice AI through an API, from developers |
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: Deepgram Aura and Gradium. How we grade
Price against what you get
Deepgram Aura starts at $333.33 a month when paid by the year and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Gradium starts at $12 a month and scores 2.7.
Gradium scores higher and starts $321.33 a month lower. Of the other AI voice generators on the chart, 50 score higher than Deepgram Aura for less, and 4 score higher than Gradium 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
- Deepgram Aura also covers AI agents.
- Gradium also covers voice cloning.
At a glance
| Deepgram Aura | Gradium | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $4,000 per year, prepaid credits (Growth); pay as you go has no minimum | $12 per month, billed yearly ($13 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | 45k credits a month with text-to-speech, speech-to-text and voice design, which is about 1 hour of speech. |
| Free trial | $200 in free credit on sign-up that does not expire; no credit card required. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Deepgram, Inc. | Gradium |
| Price read from | deepgram.com | gradium.ai |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Gradium
- Free-plan credits cover about an hour of speech a month, and commercial use needs XS or above.
- Plan credits do not roll over; only pay-as-you-go credits carry into the next month.
- Beyond a plan's credits, overage is billed at 5% to 20% above the plan's own rate if turned on in settings.
- Extra credits cost $7 per 100k on XS, falling to $3.80 on L.
Key features
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.
Gradium
- Text-to-speech
- Costs 1 credit per character; the pricing page says about 45,000 characters is roughly an hour of audio.
- Speech-to-text
- Transcription is billed at 3 credits per second of audio, or 4 credits per second with translation.
- Live voice translation
- Speech-to-speech translation costs 30 credits per second, the most credit-hungry feature on the page.
- Voice cloning and design
- A standard clone needs a 10-second sample. Pro voice clones use 30 minutes to a few hours of audio and start on the M plan. Voices can also be designed from a text description.
- Data controls
- Paid plans add data controls such as zero data retention and a choice of EU or US data residency; the vendor lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
- Phonon on-device model
- Gradium describes Phonon as its first open, on-device text-to-speech model.
Plans
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.
Gradium
Free$0
45k credits a month, about 1 hour of text-to-speech, with up to 5 custom voices. Commercial use is not included.
XS$12
per month for 225k credits, billed yearly ($13 billed monthly)
About 5 hours of text-to-speech a month, adds commercial use, up to 1,000 voices and data controls.
S$39
per month for 900k credits, billed yearly ($43 billed monthly)
About 20 hours of text-to-speech a month, with cheaper top-ups and lower overage than XS.
M$312
per month for 9M credits, billed yearly ($340 billed monthly)
About 200 hours of text-to-speech a month, adds pro voice cloning (5 pro clones) and higher concurrency.
L$1,480
per month for 45M credits, billed yearly ($1,615 billed monthly)
About 1,000 hours of text-to-speech a month, with 20 pro voice clones and the cheapest top-ups.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited credits and custom concurrency, with dedicated inference or on-premises deployment available.
Ways to pay less
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.
Gradium
- Annual discount
One month free on yearly billing
The pricing page says one month is free when billed yearly: for example XS is $12 a month yearly against $13 monthly.
- Startups
Gradium for startups
Founders can apply for $2,000 or more in credits through the startup program.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Deepgram Aura or Gradium?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Gradium is cheaper to start with: $12 a month, against $333.33 a month when paid by the year for Deepgram Aura. Deepgram Aura starts at $4,000 per year, prepaid credits (Growth); pay as you go has no minimum, and Gradium starts at $12 per month, billed yearly ($13 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Deepgram Aura or Gradium?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Gradium 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.