The Rime Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about Rime in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
Rime
The Insider’s Guide
Voice models for phone agents: text to speech and speech to speech
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among AI voice generators, read from Rime’s own pages.
Made by Rime Labs · checked Nov 12, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from Rime’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Rime’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Nov 12, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2.2
GPA, above 18 of the 43 other AI voice generators we grade
Rime sells voice models for businesses that run conversations over the phone. Its Mist v3 and Coda v2 text-to-speech models and its Prism speech-to-speech model are metered by the minute, with real-time streaming over WebSockets and 8 kHz telephony audio. The pricing page lists a monthly free allowance, a pay-as-you-go tier, a flat Scale plan and custom enterprise deals.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about Rime, taken from its own pages and our grades.
It is an API for developers building agents.
- 1
Best for voice models for phone agents
Rime sells voice models for phone and call-center agents: text to speech and speech to speech, billed by the minute.
- 2
Paid plans start at $100 a month
As its pricing page puts it: $100 per month, with $100 of usage credit.
- 3
There is a free plan
$50 of usage every month, renewing monthly, across Prism, Mist v3, Coda v2 and Rime speech to text. No card required.
- 4
It runs on Web
Web.
- 5
Mist v3 text to speech
Positioned as the lowest-latency model, with 78 voices in English, French, German and Spanish and a listed 37 ms median time to first audio.
- 6
Coda v2 text to speech
Positioned as the most natural model, with 313 voices across 10 languages including Japanese, Arabic and Hindi, and custom pronunciation lexicons.
- 7
Prism speech to speech
A model that hears the call, reasons over it and speaks; text is generated before audio so guardrails can check it, and it supports tool calls mid-call.
- 8
A 2.2 GPA, above 18 of 43
That is against the other AI voice generators we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
To replace Rime you would be making a voice model, which you can rent by the minute but not make. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
Rime at a glance
- Pricing
- Free plan, from $100 per month, with $100 of usage credit
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- None stated
- Runs on
- Web
- Made by
- Rime Labs
- Category
- AI Voices & Text to Speech
- Our grade
- 2.2 GPA, fair
The report card
Best for voice models for phone agents
Rime sells voice models for phone and call-center agents: text to speech and speech to speech, billed by the minute. The Free plan gives $50 of usage a month with no card. But the paid Scale plan is $100 a month, custom voices, a HIPAA BAA and a SOC 2 report are Enterprise only, and it is a developer product.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C | Flex has no monthly fee: Mist v3 at $0.030 a minute, Coda v2 $0.050, Prism $0.080. Scale is $100 a month with rates 20% lower. The one paid plan is far above the category's middle. |
| Free plan and trial | B | $50 of usage every month on all models, no card. For testing an agent that is a lot of minutes. |
| Features | C | Speech, speech to speech and speech to text, with cloud, VPC and on-prem options on Enterprise. Custom voices and compliance reports sit there too. |
| Ease of use | D | No store rating on record. It is an API for developers building agents. |
| Platforms and integrations | B | Web and an API, with LiveKit, Pipecat and Twilio listed. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who Rime is for
- Fits if you build phone or call-center voice agents
- Makes sense if you want per-minute pricing with no monthly fee
Who it is not for
- Not for you if you want a text box for voiceovers, because this is built for agents
- Pricey if you want a plan, since Scale starts at $100 a month
- Watch out: custom voices, a HIPAA BAA and the SOC 2 report are Enterprise only
- Watch out: speech to text is listed as free only until Nov 19
Good to know
Good for
- Teams building phone and call-center voice agents
- Developers who want per-minute pricing with no monthly fee
- Companies that need to run voice models in their own cloud
Worth knowing
- Flex has no monthly fee and bills usage by the minute: Mist v3 text to speech at $0.030, Coda v2 at $0.050 and Prism speech to speech at $0.080 a minute.
- Scale rates are 20% lower than Flex: $0.024 a minute for Mist v3, $0.040 for Coda v2 and $0.064 for Prism.
- Custom voices, a HIPAA BAA and the SOC 2 Type II report are limited to Enterprise.
- Rime's speech-to-text model is listed as free until Nov 19.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$100
A month to start. There is a free plan too
Rime has a free plan. Paid plans start at $100 per month, with $100 of usage credit.
The one paid plan is far above the category's middle.
Free
$0
$50 of usage each month on all models, no card required; email support and community docs.
Scale
$100
per month, billed monthly to your card
$100 of credit a month that rolls over up to $200, with every rate 20% lower than Flex. Usage past the credit is billed at the same rates.
Enterprise
Custom
Volume rates billed annually, cloud, VPC or on-prem deployment, SLAs, custom voices, a HIPAA BAA and a SOC 2 Type II report. Sold through sales.
The free plan
$50 of usage every month, renewing monthly, across Prism, Mist v3, Coda v2 and Rime speech to text. No card required.
Read from rime.ai on Nov 12, 2026.
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
1
Place it runs: Web
Voice models for phone agents: text to speech and speech to speech. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: public API, transcription, AI agents, text to speech, voice cloning.
Speech, speech to speech and speech to text, with cloud, VPC and on-prem options on Enterprise.
- Mist v3 text to speech
- Positioned as the lowest-latency model, with 78 voices in English, French, German and Spanish and a listed 37 ms median time to first audio.
- Coda v2 text to speech
- Positioned as the most natural model, with 313 voices across 10 languages including Japanese, Arabic and Hindi, and custom pronunciation lexicons.
- Prism speech to speech
- A model that hears the call, reasons over it and speaks; text is generated before audio so guardrails can check it, and it supports tool calls mid-call.
- Real-time streaming and telephony
- WebSocket streaming and 8 kHz phone audio are on every plan, with LiveKit, Pipecat and other agent-platform integrations.
- Custom voices and self-hosting
- Custom voice cloning and fine-tuning on your own calls are Enterprise features. The text-to-speech models can be self-hosted with Docker Compose or Kubernetes.
Where it runs
- Web
What it works with
- LiveKit
- Pipecat
- Twilio
Rime is made by Rime Labs.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
18/43
Other AI voice generators it is graded above
Rime's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 18 of the 43 other AI voice generators we grade, and level with 9.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 39 of 43) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $100 a month, against a middle price of $10 for the category: 33 of the 33 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 24 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 44 AI voice generators we grade, cut by the letter each got. Rime’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 4 of 43
- BFree plan and trialAbove 39 of 43
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 43
- DEase of useAbove 0 of 43
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 20 of 43
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 34 AI voice generators. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Rime is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
To replace Rime you would be making a voice model, which you can rent by the minute but not make. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
It costs $1,200 a year.
What you could not
- A voice model, which you can rent by the minute but not make.
- A voice model trained on your recordings.
- An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it.
- Speech turned into text you can trust.
- It plugs into other products, LiveKit, Pipecat and Twilio among them, and has an API.
What this rests on. Rime’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Cartesia, ElevenLabs, Smallest AI and Inworld AI
The 4 tools Rime is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 2.4GPA
Cartesia
Free plan · from $5/mo
Low-latency speech models and voice agents for developers.
- Rime also covers AI agents.
- 3.0GPA
ElevenLabs
Free plan · from $5/mo
AI voice platform for speech, voice cloning, dubbing and voice agents.
- Only ElevenLabs lists iOS and Android apps.
- Rime also covers AI agents.
- ElevenLabs also covers video generation.
- 1.8GPA
Smallest AI
Free trial
Voice AI models and agents: text to speech, speech to text, calls.
- Rime has a free plan. Smallest AI does not, though it has a free trial.
- 2.0GPA
Inworld AI
Free plan · from $25/mo
Text-to-speech, speech-to-text and LLM API with monthly credit plans.
- Rime also covers AI agents.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
13
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is Rime free?
Rime has a free plan. $50 of usage every month, renewing monthly, across Prism, Mist v3, Coda v2 and Rime speech to text.
How much does Rime cost?
Rime lists 3 plans. Free: $0.
What platforms does Rime work on?
Rime is available on Web.
Does Rime have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Rime is listed for Web.
Does Rime have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Rime is listed for Web.
Is Rime open source?
Rime is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 12, 2026.
Does Rime have an API?
Yes. Rime offers a public API, according to its own site.
What does Rime integrate with?
Rime's listing names LiveKit, Pipecat and Twilio. A listing names up to eight integrations, so it may connect to more.
Who makes Rime?
Rime is made by Rime Labs.
What are the alternatives to Rime?
The closest alternatives to Rime in our directory are Cartesia, ElevenLabs, Smallest AI and Inworld AI.
How does Rime compare with other AI voice generators?
Rime's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 18 of the 43 other AI voice generators we grade, and level with 9.
Is Rime good value for money?
ToolGPA grades Rime C for value for money. Its paid plans start at $100 a month, against a middle price of $10 for the category: 33 of the 33 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of Rime?
To replace Rime you would be making a voice model, which you can rent by the minute but not make.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Rime’s own pages on Nov 12, 2026, and the grades were given on Nov 12, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Rime Labs's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Rime Labs. Prices change, so check rime.ai before you buy.
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
5,038
Tools graded, in 95 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
5,038
tools graded
95
categories
739
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- Rime, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/rime
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "Rime: The Insider's Guide", checked Nov 12, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/rime
Know someone choosing between AI voice generators?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/rime/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded AI voice generators after Rime, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- AI Voices & Text to Speech Insider's GuideEvery one of the 44 AI voice generators we grade, compared
- ElevenLabs Insider's GuideAI voice platform for speech, voice cloning, dubbing and voice agents3.0 GPA
- Google Cloud Text-to-Speech Insider's GuidePay-per-character speech API with Gemini, Chirp and WaveNet voices2.8 GPA
- NaturalReader Insider's GuideText-to-speech reader for listening to documents, with a voiceover app2.8 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Rime’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Rime is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Rime Labs. Prices and plans change: check rime.ai before you buy.