# Cartesia vs Fish Audio

> Cartesia: Real-time speech AI for developers: fast text-to-speech, transcription and voice agents
> Fish Audio: Expressive text-to-speech, voice cloning and speech-to-text with fine-grained emotion control

- Cartesia profile: https://finderatlas.com/tools/cartesia
- Fish Audio profile: https://finderatlas.com/tools/fish-audio
- Comparison page: https://finderatlas.com/compare/cartesia-vs-fish-audio
- Last reviewed: October 2026

## Verdict

Cartesia and Fish Audio are both Audio & Speech AI tools. Both have a free plan or trial.

### Choose Cartesia if

- You want a tool built for Low-latency voice agents, real-time text-to-speech and streaming transcription inside applications.
- Published time to first audio of about 90 ms for Sonic 3.6, suited to live conversation.
- Free tier with 20K credits per month and a $5 Pro plan with commercial use and instant cloning.

### Choose Fish Audio if

- You want a tool built for expressive narration and character voices, cloning a voice from a short sample, and building voice agents through an API.
- Inline emotion and non-verbal tags give direct control over delivery.
- Voice cloning from about 10 to 15 seconds of audio.

## Pricing

| | Cartesia | Fish Audio |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free plan or trial | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | $0 | $0 |

## Features

| Feature | Cartesia | Fish Audio |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sonic Text-to-Speech | Yes | Not listed |
| Ink Speech-to-Text | Yes | Not listed |
| Managed Agents | Yes | Not listed |
| Voice Cloning | Yes | Yes |
| Pronunciation Dictionaries | Yes | Not listed |
| Regional API Routing | Yes | Not listed |
| Telephony Support | Yes | Not listed |
| Python and JavaScript SDKs | Yes | Not listed |
| Usage and Access Controls | Yes | Not listed |
| Expressive Text-to-Speech | Not listed | Yes |
| Speech-to-Text | Not listed | Yes |
| Voice Library | Limited | Yes |
| Voice Design | Not listed | Yes |
| Audio Tools | Not listed | Yes |
| Voice Agents | Not listed | Yes |
| Developer API and MCP | Not listed | Yes |
| Avatar Lipsync and Media Generation | Not listed | Yes |

## Platforms

| Platform | Cartesia | Fish Audio |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | No | No |
| macOS | No | No |
| iOS | No | No |
| Android | No | No |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Browser Extension | No | No |

## Cartesia strengths

- Published time to first audio of about 90 ms for Sonic 3.6, suited to live conversation.
- Free tier with 20K credits per month and a $5 Pro plan with commercial use and instant cloning.
- One platform covers text-to-speech, speech-to-text and managed voice agents.
- Regional endpoints in the US, EU and APAC, with on-premise and on-device options.
- Frequent releases: the changelog shows monthly model, voice and API updates in 2026.
- Ranked first on Artificial Analysis speech leaderboards according to the company.

## Cartesia limitations

- The free tier has no instant voice cloning, only 2 concurrent TTS requests and no commercial license.
- Credit-based billing with overage up to $65 per 1M credits can be hard to forecast as usage grows.
- Independent reviews note a smaller preset voice library than some narrative-focused competitors.
- Developer-oriented; there is no consumer app and no released iOS or Android app.

## Fish Audio strengths

- Inline emotion and non-verbal tags give direct control over delivery.
- Voice cloning from about 10 to 15 seconds of audio.
- Permanent free tier with 8,000 credits per month.
- Separate pay-as-you-go API with published per-unit prices and an MCP integration.
- Large public voice library, reported at more than 2 million voices.
- Open-source roots in Fish Speech and OpenAudio.

## Fish Audio limitations

- No official mobile app confirmed; web and API only.
- Free plan is limited to 500 characters per generation, and its commercial-use terms are inconsistent on the plan page.
- Big price jumps between tiers: $15 Plus, $100 Pro and $999 Max per month.
- Plan page credit-per-minute estimates do not match plan figures, which makes usage hard to forecast.

## FAQ

**Is Cartesia better than Fish Audio?**

It depends on your workflow. Cartesia is built for Low-latency voice agents, real-time text-to-speech and streaming transcription inside applications. Fish Audio is built for expressive narration and character voices, cloning a voice from a short sample, and building voice agents through an API.

**What are the key feature differences between Cartesia and Fish Audio?**

Cartesia: Real-time speech AI for developers: fast text-to-speech, transcription and voice agents. Fish Audio: Expressive text-to-speech, voice cloning and speech-to-text with fine-grained emotion control.

**Does Cartesia or Fish Audio have a free plan?**

Yes, both do. Cartesia is freemium and Fish Audio is freemium, and each has a free plan or trial.

**Which is cheaper, Cartesia or Fish Audio?**

Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.