Cartesia vs Google Text to Speech
Learn about the differences between Cartesia and Google TTS in voice AI models.
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Compare Cartesia and Google TTS
Explore features like latency and voice quality for both models.
Updated on:
Feb 14, 2025
Features
Cartesia
40ms for the Sonic Turbo model, 90ms for the Sonic 2 model
Consistently rated as more natural, expressive, and realistic in blinded human evaluations
Infinite request length
Requires 3 seconds of audio
IPA support with strong contextual understanding
Fully customizable voice with speed and emotion controls + synthetic voice mixing and design
8kHz audio, telephony optimized voices
Supports both on-prem and on-device deployments
15 languages with extensive dialect coverage
Up to 15 on highest self-serve tier (60 parallel conversations), custom for enterprise
Google TTS
200 ms to 1000 ms
Voice quality is often rated lower, lacking depth and reliability
5,000 bytes per request
Not supported
20 to 30 minutes
Offers IPA support but less contextual awareness
Limited customization options for voice adjustments
Standard telephony optimization with 8kHz audio
Available on Android devices
50+
300 concurrent sessions per 5 minutes and a limit of 3,000 requests per minute
Cartesia - Advanced AI Voice Capabilities
Cartesia AI offers the fastest voice model with hallucination-free, ultra-realistic voice generation and cloning.
High-Quality Voice Cloning
Cartesia's voice cloning delivers lifelike, accurate replicas.
Ultra-Realistic Voices
Enjoy expressive voices that sound nearly indistinguishable from humans.
No Hallucinations
Experience clear audio without errors, ensuring authentic voice output.
Enterprise Ready
Enterprise-grade reliability with 99.9% uptime, SOC2 compliance, and full on-premises support.
Voice Quality Comparison
In terms of voice quality, Cartesia consistently outperforms Google TTS. Cartesia's Sonic model has been rated 4.7 in independent evaluations, while Google TTS scores lower. Cartesia's voices are noted for their naturalness and emotional sensitivity, making them ideal for real-time applications. The advanced state space model architecture used by Cartesia allows for better clarity and depth in voice generation, ensuring a more engaging user experience compared to Google TTS.
Latency Analysis
Latency is a critical factor in voice AI performance. Cartesia measures latency using the Time to First Audio (TTFA) metric, achieving a remarkable 199 ms. In contrast, Google TTS has a higher latency, which can hinder real-time interactions. Cartesia's Sonic model is built on State Space Models (SSMs), allowing for greater latency optimization compared to traditional transformer architectures. This efficiency ensures that users experience faster response times, making Cartesia a preferred choice for applications requiring low latency.
Hallucination Rate Review
Cartesia excels in minimizing hallucination rates in voice generation. With its advanced AI voice cloning technology, it ensures crystal-clear audio without errors, maintaining authenticity in voice replication. This is a significant advantage over Google TTS, which may produce less reliable outputs. Cartesia's commitment to high-quality voice cloning means users can trust the accuracy and clarity of the generated voices, making it a reliable choice for various applications.
Voice Cloning Showdown
When it comes to voice cloning, Cartesia leads the way with its ability to create an instant clone from just 3 seconds of audio. Unlike Google TTS, which has restrictions on cloning capabilities, Cartesia offers unlimited instant voice cloning. This advanced embedding technology ensures high-quality voice replication, preserving accents and voice quality even in noisy conditions. Additionally, Cartesia's voice mixing and design capabilities provide a diverse range of voices, making it a superior choice for voice cloning applications.
Voice Design Control
Cartesia stands out by offering unique features like emotion and speed modulation, allowing users to refine voice adjustments while maintaining a natural sound. This level of control enables users to customize voices to match specific needs, such as localizing an American voice to speak with a French accent. In contrast, Google TTS provides limited control options, which may not meet the diverse requirements of users looking for tailored voice experiences.
Pricing Comparison: Cartesia vs Google TTS
Cartesia
Free - $0 per month with 10k free credits
Pro - $5 per month with 100k credits
Startup - $49 per month with 1.25M credits
Scale - $299 per month with 8M credits
Enterprise - trusted by Fortune 500 companies
Google TTS
Standard voices - $4 per 1 million characters
WaveNet, Neural2, Polyglot (Preview) voices - $16 per 1 million characters
Chirp HD (Preview) voices - $30 per 1 million characters
Studio voices - $160 per 1 million characters
What Cartesia Customers Say
Join the growing list of companies opting for Sonic.
"Cartesia’s voice API power dynamic and empathetic conversational experiences that are consistently dependable. What really stands out to me is how natural and considerate the responses feel—especially the empathetic tone in statements like ‘I’m sorry, that must be frustrating.’"
Sami Ghoche, CEO of Forethought
"In 1999, Salesforce brought software to the cloud. In 2025, 11x is killing software as we know it and unleashing the era of digital workers. To realise this vision, we needed AI voice technology that feels truly human. Cartesia’s technology gives our AI digital workers reps the speed, reliability, and natural expressiveness required to engage customers at scale.
It's the only solution fit for our relentless drive toward innovation.”
Keith Fearon, Head of Product & Growth, 11x
"Before conversational voice models like Cartesia, Thoughtly relied on legacy text-to-speech APIs from major cloud providers. Nearly two years later, the evolution of this technology is staggering—customers can clone their voice and hear it speaking autonomously over the phone in just 60 seconds.”
Torrey Leonard, CEO, Thoughtly
