Gradium vs Smallest AI (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Gradium grades higher than Smallest AI: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and 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.
Gradium
Real-time voice AI API for speech, transcription and voice cloning
Smallest AI
Voice AI models and agents: text to speech, speech to text, calls
Which one is for you
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
Pick Smallest AI if
- Fits if you prototype voice agents and want to pay by use
- Makes sense if you want speech and speech to text from one vendor
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a flat monthly price, since there is none
- Tight if you test past the $10 credit, which is one-time
- Watch out: agents cost roughly $0.09 to $0.21 a minute plus a $0.01 a minute hosting fee
- Watch out: HIPAA zero data retention is a $1,000 a month add-on, and SSO and SOC 2 support are Enterprise only
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAGradiumFair | 1.8GPASmallest AIWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CNo monthly fee. Lightning v3.1 is about $0.175 per 10,000 characters and Pulse $0.003 a minute, so the bill follows usage and there is no sticker price to rank. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | C$10 in free credits with full access, once. After that it is pay as you go, and whether a card is needed isn't stated. |
| Features | 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. | CSpeech, speech to text and hosted agents, with enterprise on-premise. The limits include 15 concurrent TTS streams and a 450M-character monthly cap. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It is an API first, so there is code to write, with a web studio for trying voices. | DNo store rating on record. It is a developer platform you call through an API. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb studio and an API, deployable via Baseten and SageMaker. No desktop or phone app is listed. | CWeb and an API, with OpenAI listed. No apps. |
| Best for | voice AI through an API, from developers | usage-billed voice models and 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: Gradium and Smallest AI. How we grade
Where they differ
- Smallest AI also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Gradium | Smallest AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $12 per month, billed yearly ($13 billed monthly) | Not published |
| Free plan | 45k credits a month with text-to-speech, speech-to-text and voice design, which is about 1 hour of speech. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | $10 in free credits with full access when you sign up for pay as you go. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Gradium | Smallest AI |
| Price read from | gradium.ai | smallest.ai |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Smallest AI
- Pay as you go has no monthly fee: about $0.175 per 10,000 characters for Lightning v3.1 ($0.195 for Pro) and $0.003 a minute for Pulse.
- Voice agents cost roughly $0.09 to $0.21 a minute depending on the models chosen, plus a $0.01 a minute hosting fee.
- Pay-as-you-go limits include 15 concurrent TTS streams, 100 TTS requests per minute and a 450M characters monthly cap.
- HIPAA zero data retention is a $1,000 a month add-on, and SOC 2 compliance support and SSO are Enterprise only.
Key features
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.
Smallest AI
- Lightning text to speech
- The Lightning v3.1 model lists sub-100 ms time to first audio, automatic switching between 14+ languages and 44.1 kHz output.
- Voice cloning
- The model page says a voice can be cloned from 5 seconds of audio; the pay-as-you-go comparison table lists voice cloning as not included and custom on Enterprise.
- Pulse speech to text
- Batch and real-time transcription with speaker identification, timestamps and sensitive-data protection, listed at a 5.42% word error rate.
- Hydra speech to speech
- A full-duplex speech-to-speech model that is in beta and available on request.
- Voice agents
- Build agents that run calls and campaigns, with a web widget, phone numbers at $10 a month and post-call analytics.
Plans
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.
Smallest AI
EnterpriseCustom
Dedicated infrastructure, a 99.99% uptime SLA, forward deployed engineers, SSO, SOC 2 support, on-premise deployment and custom concurrency. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
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.
Smallest AI
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Gradium or Smallest AI?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Gradium starts at $12 per month, billed yearly ($13 billed monthly), and Smallest AI publishes no starting price.
Which has a free plan, Gradium or Smallest AI?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Gradium has a free plan. Smallest AI 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.