Cartesia pricing (2026)
Short answer. Cartesia has four self-serve plans: Free at $0, Pro at $5 a month, Startup at $49, and Scale at $299. Each plan gives a pool of credits for Sonic text to speech and Ink speech to text, plus prepaid credit for voice agents. Agents cost $0.06 a minute, and calls on a Cartesia phone number add $0.014 a minute. We read Cartesia's pricing page on October 26, 2026.
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Plans
| Plan | Price a month | Credits | Agent credit | Phone numbers | Concurrent calls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 20K | $1 | 1 | 8 |
| Pro | $5 | 100K | $5 | 3 | 12 |
| Startup | $49 | 1.25M | $49 | 5 | 20 |
| Scale | $299 | 8M | $299 | 10 | 60 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Sources: Cartesia pricing, checked October 26, 2026.
What the credits buy
Cartesia counts 1 credit per character of text to speech. The page lists what each plan covers.
| Plan | Sonic-3.6 speech | Ink-2 transcription | Agent time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | ~27 minutes | ~1h 51m | 17 minutes |
| Pro | ~133 minutes | ~9h 16m | 1h 23m |
| Startup | ~1,667 minutes | ~115h 44m | 13h 37m |
| Scale | ~10,667 minutes | ~740h 44m | 83h 3m |
Per 1 million credits, the base price works out to $50 on Pro, $39.20 on Startup, and $37.38 on Scale. Our math. Past the plan, Cartesia lists overage at $65 per 1M credits on Pro, $45 on Startup, and $38 on Scale. Unused credits roll over up to 2x.
Voice agents
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Agent time | $0.06 a minute |
| Telephony on a Cartesia number | $0.014 a minute |
| LLM for agents built in the Cartesia UI | Free for a limited time, per Cartesia |
For 1,000 minutes of calls on a Cartesia number, that is $60 for the agent and $14 for telephony, or $74 total ($0.074 a minute). Our math. If the free LLM offer ends, add the model cost.
Is Cartesia a fit for a trades business?
Cartesia is a developer platform. You build the agent, write the prompts, and connect your booking tools. Most contractors who want calls answered pick a ready-made AI receptionist with a flat monthly price. Cartesia makes sense if you have a developer or an agency building for you.
Compare voice AI: Cartesia vs ElevenLabs · Vapi pricing, Bland AI pricing, Retell AI pricing, Telnyx voice AI pricing, Cheapest AI receptionist, LiveKit pricing.
FAQ
How much does Cartesia cost? Cartesia has a Free plan at $0, Pro at $5 a month, Startup at $49, and Scale at $299. Enterprise is custom.
How much do Cartesia voice agents cost per minute? Agents cost $0.06 a minute. Calls on a Cartesia phone number add $0.014 a minute.
How many text to speech minutes does Cartesia Pro include? Cartesia lists about 133 minutes of Sonic-3.6 speech on the $5 Pro plan.
What happens if I go over my Cartesia credits? Overage costs $65 per 1M credits on Pro, $45 on Startup, and $38 on Scale.
Checked 2026-10-26. Prices and policies change. Confirm on the source before you buy.
Sources
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