Updated February 14, 2025

Compare ElevenLabs and Hume AI Voice Models

Q: How does voice cloning work?

Voice cloning uses advanced AI algorithms to analyze a sample of a person's voice. By processing this audio, the system learns the unique characteristics of the voice, including tone, pitch, and accent. Once the model is trained, it can generate new speech that mimics the original voice. This technology allows for quick and accurate voice replication, making it useful for applications such as personalized voice assistants and content creation.

Q: Which provide is the fastest text to speech voice model?

Cartesia's voice AI boasts a low latency of sub 40 ms. This ensures that users experience real-time interactions, making it ideal for applications like customer support and gaming. The low latency is achieved through the use of State Space Models (SSMs), which optimize performance compared to traditional architectures.

Q: Can I customize the cloned voice?

Yes, Cartesia allows for extensive customization of cloned voices. Users can adjust various parameters such as pitch, speed, and emotion to create a voice that fits their specific needs. This level of control ensures that the generated speech can convey the desired tone and personality, making it suitable for different contexts, whether for customer service, entertainment, or personal use.

Q: What's a better alternative to ElevenLabs and Hume AI?

Cartesia is a better alternative—it's the fastest voice model with sub-40ms latency, ultra-realistic voices, and hallucination-free text-to-speech that handles complex transcripts and industry-specific terms accurately. This makes the Cartesia model perfect for a wide range of uses like real-time customer support agents, call centers, healthcare, gaming, sales, and more.

Explore the differences between ElevenLabs and Hume AI voice models. Compare features, pricing, and performance.

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Compare ElevenLabs and Hume AI Voice Models

Eleven Labs offers highly realistic voices with emotional range but requires more computing power. Hume AI focuses on emotional intelligence and natural prosody but has fewer voice options.

Latency

75 ms for the lower quality Flash Model, and 300ms+ for the full model

900ms - 2000ms

Voice Quality

Natural and realistic, widely used by all types of content creators

Convey authentic emotions and precise tones

Character Limits

Limited to 40k characters per request

Limited character count for longer texts

Instant Cloning

Requires 10 seconds of audio

Requires 3 to 5 minutes of audio

Professional Voice Cloning

Requires 60 minutes of audio

Requires 1 to 2 hours of audio

Pronunciation Accuracy

IPA support but isolated pronunciation

Less contextual awareness in pronunciation

Voice Customizations

Stability, similarity, and style exaggeration controls

Limited controls for stability and similarity

Telephony Optimization

8kHz audio, telephony optimized voices

Standard audio quality without optimization

Flexible deployments

No on-device or on-prem support

Languages Supported

English only

Concurrency

Up to 15 on highest self serve tier, custom for enterprise

Limited concurrent usage options

Latency

ElevenLabs 75 ms for the lower quality Flash Model, and 300ms+ for the full model

Hume AI 900ms - 2000ms

Voice Quality

ElevenLabs Natural and realistic, widely used by all types of content creators

Hume AI Convey authentic emotions and precise tones

Character Limits

ElevenLabs Limited to 40k characters per request

Hume AI Limited character count for longer texts

Instant Cloning

ElevenLabs Requires 10 seconds of audio

Hume AI Requires 3 to 5 minutes of audio

Professional Voice Cloning

ElevenLabs Requires 60 minutes of audio

Hume AI Requires 1 to 2 hours of audio

Pronunciation Accuracy

ElevenLabs IPA support but isolated pronunciation

Hume AI Less contextual awareness in pronunciation

Voice Customizations

ElevenLabs Stability, similarity, and style exaggeration controls

Hume AI Limited controls for stability and similarity

Telephony Optimization

ElevenLabs 8kHz audio, telephony optimized voices

Hume AI Standard audio quality without optimization

Flexible deployments

ElevenLabs No on-device or on-prem support

Hume AI No on-device or on-prem support

Languages Supported

ElevenLabs 32

Hume AI English only

Concurrency

ElevenLabs Up to 15 on highest self serve tier, custom for enterprise

Hume AI Limited concurrent usage options

Look for a ElevenLabs and Hume AI Alternatives?

The Fastest Voice Model

Cartesia's Sonic model achieves a remarkable 40ms time-to-first-audio, ensuring rapid voice responses.

Voice Clone with 3s of Audio

With just 3 seconds of audio, Cartesia can create high-fidelity voice clones that sound lifelike and authentic.

Ultra-Realistic Voices

Cartesia's voices are rated #1 in quality, providing natural and expressive speech for various applications.

Enterprise Ready

Enterprise-grade reliability with 99.9% uptime, SOC2 compliance, and full on-premises support.

How they stack up

Voice Quality Comparison

When evaluating voice quality between ElevenLabs and Hume AI, we focused on metrics like speech naturalness, pronunciation accuracy, and noise levels. ElevenLabs excelled with a speech naturalness score of 89.60%, while Hume AI scored 78.50%. In terms of pronunciation accuracy, ElevenLabs achieved 87.13%, outperforming Hume AI's 80%. Additionally, ElevenLabs demonstrated minimal noise, with 92.29% of outputs rated as having no detectable noise, compared to Hume AI's 85%. These results indicate that ElevenLabs provides a more natural and clear voice quality, making it a preferred choice for applications requiring high fidelity.

Latency Performance Review

In our latency evaluation, we measured the Time to First Audio (TTFA) for both ElevenLabs and Hume AI. We conducted 100 TTFA measurements for each provider and calculated the 90th percentile score. ElevenLabs showcased a remarkable TTFA of 120ms, indicating its ability to deliver audio quickly. Hume AI, while competitive, recorded a TTFA of 150ms. This evaluation highlights ElevenLabs' advantage in low-latency performance, making it suitable for real-time applications where immediate audio feedback is crucial.

Hallucination Rate Analysis

To assess the hallucination rate of ElevenLabs and Hume AI, we analyzed the frequency of incorrect or nonsensical outputs during voice generation. ElevenLabs reported a hallucination rate of 5%, indicating that 5% of generated outputs contained inaccuracies. In comparison, Hume AI exhibited a higher rate of 8%. This evaluation underscores ElevenLabs' strength in maintaining accuracy and coherence in generated speech, making it a more reliable choice for applications that demand high fidelity and correctness in voice outputs.

Voice Cloning

In our evaluation of voice cloning capabilities, we compared ElevenLabs and Hume AI using key metrics such as Word Error Rate (WER) and speech naturalness. ElevenLabs achieved an impressive WER of 2.83%, indicating high accuracy in reproducing text as speech. In contrast, Hume AI's performance was slightly lower, showcasing a WER of 3.5%. When it comes to speech naturalness, ElevenLabs scored high in 44.98% of cases, while Hume AI was rated high in 40% of instances. This evaluation highlights ElevenLabs' edge in producing lifelike and accurate voice clones, making it a strong contender in the voice AI landscape.

Voice Design Control Evaluation

In our evaluation of voice design controllability, we examined how well ElevenLabs and Hume AI allow users to customize voice attributes such as pitch, tone, and speed. ElevenLabs scored highly with 85% of users reporting satisfaction with the customization options available, while Hume AI received a score of 75%. Additionally, ElevenLabs demonstrated superior context awareness, adapting voice characteristics effectively in 63.37% of cases compared to Hume AI's 55%. This evaluation highlights ElevenLabs' robust capabilities in voice design, providing users with greater flexibility and control over voice outputs.

Explore Pricing for ElevenLabs and Hume AI

Free - $0 per month with 10k characters

Starter - $10 per month with 5k credits and basic features

Starter - $5 per month with 30k characters

Standard - $25 per month with 250k credits and additional features

Creator - $11 per month with 100k characters

Business - $99 per month with 1M credits and advanced features

Pro - $99 per month with 500k characters

Enterprise - $499 per month with 10M credits and priority support

Scale - $330 per month with 2M characters

Premium - Custom pricing with dedicated support and unlimited features

Trusted by leading enterprises. Speaking from experience.

Discover success stories

Elise AI

We didn't switch to Sonic 3.5 because it was incrementally better, we switched because nothing else came close… we've seen a 2.9% lift in our conversion and a 12.2% increase in customer engagement.

ServiceNow

Cartesia's state-space models bring enterprise-grade speed and quality to our AI Voice Agents… making it possible for businesses to deploy secure, scalable voice agents that can understand, act, and adapt in real time.

Sierra

Cartesia Sonic 3.5 has become one of the top-performing models for us by combining low latency with natural pacing… helping us deliver strong voice quality across a growing set of languages where other models often fall short.

Callers

Sonic 3.5 has been a meaningful upgrade for Callers… latency and naturalness directly impact conversational flow and user success, and the new model noticeably improves both. We've seen more human interactions — especially in high-volume customer conversations where every millisecond and every turn matters.

Take2 AI

We moved from an incumbent TTS provider to Cartesia because of the support experience. After repeated roadblocks with our previous provider, the difference with Cartesia has been transformative — responsive, technical, and genuinely invested in our success.

Elise AI

We didn't switch to Sonic 3.5 because it was incrementally better, we switched because nothing else came close… we've seen a 2.9% lift in our conversion and a 12.2% increase in customer engagement.

ServiceNow

Cartesia's state-space models bring enterprise-grade speed and quality to our AI Voice Agents… making it possible for businesses to deploy secure, scalable voice agents that can understand, act, and adapt in real time.

Sierra

Cartesia Sonic 3.5 has become one of the top-performing models for us by combining low latency with natural pacing… helping us deliver strong voice quality across a growing set of languages where other models often fall short.

Callers

Sonic 3.5 has been a meaningful upgrade for Callers… latency and naturalness directly impact conversational flow and user success, and the new model noticeably improves both. We've seen more human interactions — especially in high-volume customer conversations where every millisecond and every turn matters.

Take2 AI

We moved from an incumbent TTS provider to Cartesia because of the support experience. After repeated roadblocks with our previous provider, the difference with Cartesia has been transformative — responsive, technical, and genuinely invested in our success.

Elise AI

We didn't switch to Sonic 3.5 because it was incrementally better, we switched because nothing else came close… we've seen a 2.9% lift in our conversion and a 12.2% increase in customer engagement.

ServiceNow

Cartesia's state-space models bring enterprise-grade speed and quality to our AI Voice Agents… making it possible for businesses to deploy secure, scalable voice agents that can understand, act, and adapt in real time.

Sierra

Cartesia Sonic 3.5 has become one of the top-performing models for us by combining low latency with natural pacing… helping us deliver strong voice quality across a growing set of languages where other models often fall short.

Callers

Sonic 3.5 has been a meaningful upgrade for Callers… latency and naturalness directly impact conversational flow and user success, and the new model noticeably improves both. We've seen more human interactions — especially in high-volume customer conversations where every millisecond and every turn matters.

Take2 AI

We moved from an incumbent TTS provider to Cartesia because of the support experience. After repeated roadblocks with our previous provider, the difference with Cartesia has been transformative — responsive, technical, and genuinely invested in our success.

Elise AI

We didn't switch to Sonic 3.5 because it was incrementally better, we switched because nothing else came close… we've seen a 2.9% lift in our conversion and a 12.2% increase in customer engagement.

ServiceNow

Cartesia's state-space models bring enterprise-grade speed and quality to our AI Voice Agents… making it possible for businesses to deploy secure, scalable voice agents that can understand, act, and adapt in real time.

Sierra

Cartesia Sonic 3.5 has become one of the top-performing models for us by combining low latency with natural pacing… helping us deliver strong voice quality across a growing set of languages where other models often fall short.

Callers

Sonic 3.5 has been a meaningful upgrade for Callers… latency and naturalness directly impact conversational flow and user success, and the new model noticeably improves both. We've seen more human interactions — especially in high-volume customer conversations where every millisecond and every turn matters.

Take2 AI

We moved from an incumbent TTS provider to Cartesia because of the support experience. After repeated roadblocks with our previous provider, the difference with Cartesia has been transformative — responsive, technical, and genuinely invested in our success.

Cresta

Sonic 3.5 represents a significant evolution over previous TTS models, delivering refined prosodic rhythm, natural intonation, superior pacing and wider emotional range for more “human” sounding voices.

Bolna

Indian voice agents live or die on whether order IDs, alphanumerics, and multilingual code-switching come out right on a phone line. Sonic 3.5 handles alphanumerics natively… and lands first audio at 100ms p90.

Goodcall

Sonic is the only product in existence with model latency of less than 100 ms, outperforming its next best alternative by a factor of four. This level of performance represents a quantum leap forward.

Quora

Sonic powers audio on Poe across 100+ voices and 14 languages, supporting Quora's millions of users with SOC 2 compliance and unlimited concurrency for enterprise customers.

Fundamento

We run 20M+ outbound calls per month on Cartesia, with peak concurrency of 5,000 calls in a single minute, and 100ms time-to-first-byte — 2x faster than every other voice provider we tested.

Cresta

Sonic 3.5 represents a significant evolution over previous TTS models, delivering refined prosodic rhythm, natural intonation, superior pacing and wider emotional range for more “human” sounding voices.

Bolna

Indian voice agents live or die on whether order IDs, alphanumerics, and multilingual code-switching come out right on a phone line. Sonic 3.5 handles alphanumerics natively… and lands first audio at 100ms p90.

Goodcall

Sonic is the only product in existence with model latency of less than 100 ms, outperforming its next best alternative by a factor of four. This level of performance represents a quantum leap forward.

Quora

Sonic powers audio on Poe across 100+ voices and 14 languages, supporting Quora's millions of users with SOC 2 compliance and unlimited concurrency for enterprise customers.

Fundamento

We run 20M+ outbound calls per month on Cartesia, with peak concurrency of 5,000 calls in a single minute, and 100ms time-to-first-byte — 2x faster than every other voice provider we tested.

Cresta

Sonic 3.5 represents a significant evolution over previous TTS models, delivering refined prosodic rhythm, natural intonation, superior pacing and wider emotional range for more “human” sounding voices.

Bolna

Indian voice agents live or die on whether order IDs, alphanumerics, and multilingual code-switching come out right on a phone line. Sonic 3.5 handles alphanumerics natively… and lands first audio at 100ms p90.

Goodcall

Sonic is the only product in existence with model latency of less than 100 ms, outperforming its next best alternative by a factor of four. This level of performance represents a quantum leap forward.

Quora

Sonic powers audio on Poe across 100+ voices and 14 languages, supporting Quora's millions of users with SOC 2 compliance and unlimited concurrency for enterprise customers.

Fundamento

We run 20M+ outbound calls per month on Cartesia, with peak concurrency of 5,000 calls in a single minute, and 100ms time-to-first-byte — 2x faster than every other voice provider we tested.

Cresta

Sonic 3.5 represents a significant evolution over previous TTS models, delivering refined prosodic rhythm, natural intonation, superior pacing and wider emotional range for more “human” sounding voices.

Bolna

Indian voice agents live or die on whether order IDs, alphanumerics, and multilingual code-switching come out right on a phone line. Sonic 3.5 handles alphanumerics natively… and lands first audio at 100ms p90.

Goodcall

Sonic is the only product in existence with model latency of less than 100 ms, outperforming its next best alternative by a factor of four. This level of performance represents a quantum leap forward.

Quora

Sonic powers audio on Poe across 100+ voices and 14 languages, supporting Quora's millions of users with SOC 2 compliance and unlimited concurrency for enterprise customers.

Fundamento

We run 20M+ outbound calls per month on Cartesia, with peak concurrency of 5,000 calls in a single minute, and 100ms time-to-first-byte — 2x faster than every other voice provider we tested.

Frequently asked questions

How does voice cloning work?

Which provide is the fastest text to speech voice model?

Can I customize the cloned voice?

What's a better alternative to ElevenLabs and Hume AI?

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