Cartesia vs PlayAI
Discover the key differences between leading voice AI models. Compare features, pricing, and performance metrics.
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Comparing Cartesia and PlayAI Voice Models
Cartesia offers ultra-fast voice generation with a latency of just 40ms, ensuring real-time interactions. Its voices are rated as more natural and realistic, with no hallucinations. In contrast, the other provider has a longer latency and lower quality ratings, making Cartesia a superior choice for voice applications.
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
PlayAI
<130ms
Less depth and reliability ratings in human evals
Limited character count for longer texts
Not supported
Not supported
IPA support, isolated pronunciation
Stability, similarity, and style exaggeration controls
8kHz audio
No on-device or on-prem support
30
Limited concurrent usage options
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 provides high-fidelity voice cloning with unmatched accuracy.
Ultra-Realistic Voices
Experience lifelike voices that are nearly indistinguishable from human speech.
No Hallucinations
Cartesia's AI ensures clear audio without errors, maintaining authenticity.
Enterprise Ready
Enterprise-grade reliability with 99.9% uptime, SOC2 compliance, and full on-premises support.
Voice Quality Comparison
In the realm of voice quality, Cartesia consistently outperforms PlayAI. Cartesia's Sonic model has been rated 4.7 out of 5 in independent evaluations, showcasing its natural and realistic voice output. In contrast, PlayAI's voices have received lower ratings for depth and reliability. Cartesia's commitment to quality is evident in its use of state space models, which enhance clarity and emotional sensitivity in voice generation, making it the preferred choice for applications requiring high-quality voice interactions.
Latency Performance Review
Latency is a critical factor in voice applications. Cartesia's Sonic model boasts a Time to First Audio (TTFA) of just 199 ms, significantly faster than PlayAI's 832 ms. This measurement is based on the 90th percentile score from 100 TTFA measurements for each provider. Cartesia's architecture, built on State Space Models (SSMs), allows for greater latency optimization compared to traditional transformer architectures, ensuring that users experience seamless and responsive voice interactions.
Hallucination Rate Analysis
Cartesia excels in minimizing hallucination rates in voice generation. Its AI voice cloning technology ensures crystal-clear audio without errors, maintaining authenticity in voice replication. This is particularly important for applications where accuracy is paramount. In contrast, PlayAI has been noted for producing less reliable outputs, which can lead to distortions and inaccuracies in voice generation. Cartesia's focus on eliminating hallucinations makes it a trustworthy choice for developers seeking high-fidelity voice solutions.
Voice Cloning Showdown
When it comes to voice cloning, Cartesia shines with its ability to create an instant clone from just 3 seconds of audio. In contrast, PlayAI imposes restrictions on cloning capabilities, making it less flexible. Cartesia's advanced embedding technology ensures high-quality voice clones that maintain accents and voice quality, even in noisy conditions. Additionally, Cartesia offers voice mixing and design capabilities, providing a diverse range of voices for various applications, making it a superior choice for voice cloning needs.
Voice Design Controllability
Cartesia stands out by offering unique features like emotion and speed modulation, allowing users to refine voice adjustments while maintaining a natural sound. This capability enables users to create more engaging and personalized audio experiences. Additionally, Cartesia allows for localization of voices to match different accents, enhancing versatility. In contrast, PlayAI provides limited control options, lacking the depth of customization that Cartesia offers, making Cartesia the go-to choice for developers focused on voice design.
Pricing Plans for Cartesia and PlayAI
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
PlayAI
Free Plan - $0 per month with 30 minutes of speech credits
Starter - $9.00 per month with 50 minutes of speech credits
Creator - $49.00 per month with 300 minutes of speech credits
Pro - $99.00 per month with 700 minutes of speech credits
Business - $999.00 per month with 11000 minutes of speech credits
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
