Cartesia vs Speechmatics pricing
STT: Cartesia from $0.0065 vs Speechmatics from $0.002; TTS: Cartesia from $37.38 vs Speechmatics from $11.00.
Last updated · prices checked daily
Speech-to-text: Cartesia vs Speechmatics
Speechmatics has the lower listed STT price: $0.002 per minute (Melia 1 (pre-recorded)) vs $0.0065 for Cartesia (Ink (Scale plan)), about 69% less.
| Vendor | Product / tier | $/min |
|---|---|---|
| Speechmatics Visit site ↗ | Melia 1 (pre-recorded) | $0.002 |
| Speechmatics Visit site ↗ | Standard (pre-recorded) | $0.0038 |
| Speechmatics Visit site ↗ | Enhanced (pre-recorded) | $0.0063 |
| Cartesia Visit site ↗ | Ink (Scale plan) | $0.0065 |
What it costs at volume (lowest listed rate)
| Minutes | Cartesia | Speechmatics |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 min | $6.50 | $2.00 |
| 10,000 min | $65.00 | $20.00 |
| 100,000 min | $650.00 | $200.00 |
Text-to-speech: Cartesia vs Speechmatics
Speechmatics has the lower listed TTS price: $11.00 per 1M characters (Speechmatics TTS) vs $37.38 for Cartesia (Sonic (Scale plan, $299 / 8M credits)), about 71% less.
| Vendor | Product / tier | $/1M chars |
|---|---|---|
| Speechmatics Visit site ↗ | Speechmatics TTS | $11.00 |
| Cartesia Visit site ↗ | Sonic (Scale plan, $299 / 8M credits) Derived: plan price / included credits; page states 1 credit = 1 character. | $37.38 |
| Cartesia Visit site ↗ | Sonic (Startup plan, $49 / 1.25M credits) Derived: plan price / included credits; page states 1 credit = 1 character. | $39.20 |
What it costs at volume (lowest listed rate)
| Characters | Cartesia | Speechmatics |
|---|---|---|
| 1M chars | $37.38 | $11.00 |
| 10M chars | $373.75 | $110.00 |
| 100M chars | $3,737.50 | $1,100.00 |
Cost-per-call calculator
Estimate what one call really costs. Prices come from today's table; LLM and telephony presets are per-minute rates published by Retell and Vapi. Everything is editable.
Cartesia's pricing page puts one minute of speech at 750–800 characters; Rime says about 1,000. The talk share is your own guess at how much of each call the agent is speaking.
FAQ
Is Cartesia or Speechmatics cheaper for speech-to-text?
Speechmatics has the lower listed STT price: $0.002 per minute (Melia 1 (pre-recorded)) vs $0.0065 for Cartesia (Ink (Scale plan)), about 69% less. Prices checked Oct 28, 2026.
Is Cartesia or Speechmatics cheaper for text-to-speech?
Speechmatics has the lower listed TTS price: $11.00 per 1M characters (Speechmatics TTS) vs $37.38 for Cartesia (Sonic (Scale plan, $299 / 8M credits)), about 71% less. Prices checked Oct 28, 2026.
How often are these prices updated?
Every day. A script reads each vendor's public pricing page, extracts the listed rates and keeps a dated copy, so price changes show up in the history.