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Cartesia vs ElevenLabs pricing (2026)

Short answer. Cartesia is cheaper per credit and per agent minute. Cartesia Pro costs $5 a month for 100K credits. ElevenLabs Starter costs $6 a month for 30k credits. For voice agents, Cartesia charges $0.06 a minute and ElevenLabs charges $0.08 a minute past the minutes in your plan. ElevenLabs has more voices, more products, and plans with call minutes built in. We read both pricing pages on October 26, 2026.

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Plans side by side

Tier	Cartesia	ElevenLabs
Free	$0, 20K credits	$0, 10k credits
Entry	Pro $5 a month, 100K credits	Starter $6 a month, 30k credits
Middle	Startup $49, 1.25M credits	Creator $22, 121k credits; Pro $99, 600k credits
Scale	Scale $299, 8M credits	Scale $299, 1.8M credits
Business	Enterprise, custom	Business $990, 6M credits

Sources: Cartesia pricing, ElevenLabs pricing, ElevenLabs Agents pricing, checked October 26, 2026.

At $299 a month, Cartesia gives 8M credits and ElevenLabs gives 1.8M. Credits do not map one to one across vendors. Cartesia counts 1 credit per character of speech. ElevenLabs credit use varies by model, so check its page for the model you plan to use.

Voice agents

Item	Cartesia	ElevenLabs
Agent rate	$0.06 a minute	$0.080 a minute past included minutes
Included call minutes	Prepaid agent credit equal to the plan price	15 (Free) to 12,375 (Business)
Telephony	$0.014 a minute on a Cartesia number	No ElevenLabs fee; your carrier bills you
LLM	Free for UI-built agents for a limited time	Billed on top, varies by model
Concurrent calls	8 to 60	4 to 40

ElevenLabs lists included call minutes per plan: 15 on Free, 75 on Starter, 275 on Creator, 1,238 on Pro, 3,738 on Scale, and 12,375 on Business. Burst calls over your concurrency limit cost $0.160 a minute.

A 1,000-minute month

Setup	Cost, our math	Not included
Cartesia, Cartesia number	$74 ($60 agent plus $14 telephony)	LLM after the free offer
ElevenLabs Creator	$80 ($22 plan plus 725 extra minutes at $0.08)	LLM, carrier
ElevenLabs Pro	$99 (1,238 minutes included)	LLM, carrier

For a shop that answers 1,000 minutes of calls, the two land within about $25 of each other. The LLM and carrier costs decide the final gap.

Which one fits a trades business?

Both are developer tools. You or a builder sets up the agent and the booking flow. Pick Cartesia if low cost per minute matters most. Pick ElevenLabs if you want a big voice library, built-in call minutes, and more product options. If you want calls answered without building, a ready-made AI receptionist is simpler.

Compare voice AI: Cartesia pricing · ElevenLabs Agents pricing · Vapi vs ElevenLabs

FAQ

Is Cartesia cheaper than ElevenLabs? Per credit and per agent minute, yes. Cartesia Pro is $5 for 100K credits. ElevenLabs Starter is $6 for 30k credits. Cartesia agents cost $0.06 a minute and ElevenLabs extra agent minutes cost $0.08.

How much do ElevenLabs voice agents cost? ElevenLabs plans include call minutes, from 15 on Free to 12,375 on Business. Extra minutes cost $0.080 each. The LLM is billed on top.

Does Cartesia charge for phone calls? Calls on a Cartesia number cost $0.014 a minute on top of the $0.06 agent rate.

What do 1,000 call minutes cost on each? By our math, $74 on Cartesia with a Cartesia number, $80 on ElevenLabs Creator, or $99 on ElevenLabs Pro, before LLM and carrier costs.

Checked 2026-10-26. Prices and policies change. Confirm on the source before you buy.