Text to speech
Cartesia vs ElevenLabs compared on 13 fields
- Cartesia score
- 98/100 (5 of 8 criteria)
- ElevenLabs score
- 93/100 (8 of 8 criteria)
- Fields won by Cartesia
- 1 of 7
- Fields won by ElevenLabs
- 0 of 7
Cartesia
ElevenLabs
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
Cartesia and ElevenLabs are both text to speech tools. We compared them on 13 fields read from each vendor's own pages.
On the text to speech tools scorecard Cartesia scores 98/100 (5 of 8 criteria) and ElevenLabs 93/100 (8 of 8 criteria) (ranks 3 and 5 in the category).
Of the 7 fields with a clear rule (lower price, higher count, yes over no), Cartesia wins 1, ElevenLabs wins 0 and 6 are ties.
Side by side
| Field | Cartesia | ElevenLabs | Winner and basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan (billed monthly) | ✓ $5/month | $6/month | Cartesia |
| Same plan, per month billed annually | – | $5/month | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Free trial | No | No | Tie |
| Platforms supported | – | 1 | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Public API | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Stock voices available | – | 10,000 | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Languages supported | – | 90 | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Voice cloning | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Commercial use on paid plans | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Text-to-speech API | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| AI dubbing / translation | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Team access | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
– = not published by the vendor, or not verified yet.
Sources: Cartesia pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026; ElevenLabs pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026. Each feature value links its own source on the tool's page.
Scorecard, criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Weight | Cartesia | ElevenLabs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | 100$5/month billed monthly on Pro (scored on the monthly price) | 100$6/month billed monthly on Starter; $5/month billed annually on Starter (scored on the monthly price) |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | 100Free plan (Free) | 100Free plan (Free) |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | 844 of 5 plans have a public price (1 "contact sales") | 896 of 7 plans have a public price (1 "contact sales") |
| Verified features | 15% | 1003 of 5 tracked features verified: voice cloning, commercial use on paid plans, text-to-speech api | 1005 of 5 tracked features verified: voice cloning, commercial use on paid plans, text-to-speech api, ai dubbing / translation, team access |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | 100public API | 100public API |
| Languages | 10% | – | 9090 languages |
| Voice library | 10% | – | 10010,000 stock voices |
| Cost per user (team of 3) | 5% | – | 0$99.67 per user per month on Scale (team of 3, billed monthly) |
| Total score | 100% | 98/100 (5 of 8 criteria) | 93/100 (8 of 8 criteria) |
Cartesia plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | per workspace | None stated |
| Pro | $5 | Not stated | per workspace | None stated |
| Startup | $49 | Not stated | per workspace | None stated |
| Scale | $299 | Not stated | per workspace | None stated |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Contact sales | Not stated | None stated |
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
ElevenLabs plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | per workspace |
|
| Starter | $6 | $5 | per workspace |
|
| Creator | $22 | $18.33 | per workspace |
|
| Pro | $99 | $82.50 | per workspace |
|
| Scale | $299 | $249.17 | per workspace |
|
| Business | $990 | $825 | per workspace |
|
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Contact sales | Not stated | None stated |
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
How we picked
Every one of these text to speech tools is scored by the same 8 criteria (scorecard v1). Each criterion gives 0 to 100 from the vendor's published data; the total is the weighted average. A criterion without verified data is left out and the other weights are re-normalised. A tool with under 60% of the weight covered is listed as not ranked, and so is a tool with no verified price and fewer than 2 verified features (“needs a verified price”); each score shows how many criteria it is based on. The core criteria are the same in every category; the category criteria are specific to text to speech tools. Nobody gets custom weights, including our own products.
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | Core | Price per month of the cheapest paid plan, against the prices of other text to speech tools on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $8/month or less = 100, $99 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $5/month or less = 100, $28 or more = 0. Only free plans = 100. Usage-priced and one-time plans are not scored. |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | Core | Whether you can use the tool before paying: a free plan, or failing that a free trial, as shown on the vendor's pricing page.Free plan = 100. No free plan but a free trial = 60. The pricing page lists plans but shows neither = 0. No plans read = not scored. |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | Core | How much of the pricing is public: the share of plans with a published price ("contact sales" counts against), and whether there are at least 3 published tiers.80 x (plans with a public price / plans listed) + 20 x (public plans, up to 3) / 3. No plans read = not scored. |
| Verified features | 15% | Core | How many of the 5 features we track for this category the vendor's own pages verifiably show (voice cloning, commercial use on paid plans, text-to-speech api, ai dubbing / translation, team access). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 3 (half the tracked list) x 100, capped at 100. No tracked feature verified = not scored. |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | Core | Whether a public API exists, how many integrations the vendor states, and whether the vendor documents a way to export your data.Average of the parts with data: public API yes = 100, no = 0; integrations on a log scale (100 or more = 100); a documented data export = 100. None verified = not scored. |
| Languages | 10% | Category | Number of languages the vendor says it offers.Linear scale: 100 or more = 100. No stated count = not scored. |
| Voice library | 10% | Category | Number of stock voices the vendor says it offers.Log scale: 1,000 or more = 100. No stated count = not scored. |
| Cost per user (team of 3) | 5% | Category | Monthly price per user for a team of 3, on the cheapest paid plan that is priced per seat or states room for at least 3 users.Log scale: $8.25 per user or less = 100, $99.67 or more = 0. Plans that do not state a user limit are not used. No such plan = not scored. |
Sources are vendor pricing pages, docs and changelogs, each with the date we checked it. We did not test these tools hands-on unless a listing says so. Full formulas: methodology.
Questions, answered from the data
Is Cartesia cheaper than ElevenLabs?
Cartesia starts lower: $5 per month billed monthly on the Pro plan, against $6 per month billed monthly ($5 billed yearly) on the Starter plan for ElevenLabs. Check the unit: per-user and per-account prices scale differently.
Do Cartesia and ElevenLabs have free plans?
Both have a free plan.
Which is better, Cartesia or ElevenLabs?
On our scorecard Cartesia scores higher (98/100 (5 of 8 criteria) vs 93/100 (8 of 8 criteria)). The score weighs every criterion the same way for every tool; check the rows above for the ones that matter to you.