Head to head / AI Voice

Cartesia vs Google Cloud TTS

The verdict
  • Google Cloud TTS is cheaper per million characters ($16 vs $39.2).
  • Google Cloud TTS has a free tier to start; Cartesia does not.
ComparedCartesiaGoogle Cloud TTS
Cost / 1M chars$39.2$16
Starting price$5/mo
Free tierYes
Visit CartesiaVisit Google Cloud TTS

Feature by feature

FeatureCartesiaGoogle Cloud TTS
Languages40+50+
Voice cloningYesNo
APIYesYes
Commercial usePaid plansAll usage
Styles/emotionsYesLimited
OutputMP3, WAV, PCMMP3, WAV, OGG

Cartesia

Developers building real-time voice agents where latency matters most.

  • +Ultra-low latency streaming
  • +Instant cloning from ~10s audio
  • +40+ languages on one model
  • +Competitive per-character pricing

Google Cloud TTS

Developers needing broad language coverage and GCP integration at scale.

  • +50+ languages, 380+ voices
  • +Cheap per-character pricing
  • +Chirp 3 HD voices sound modern
  • +Enterprise reliability and quotas

Compared on the metrics we track for this category. Prices are the cheapest paid tier. Some links are affiliate links.