Cartesia AI vs Hume AI
Ultra-low latency voice synthesis vs emotionally intelligent AI: Compare for conversational applications.
Cartesia AI
Voice samples
Natural Conversation
"what is 6 7 anyway?"
Gen Z Slang
"low-key that's such a vibe though"
Educational Content
"the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, and also the only thing i remember from biology"
Hume AI
Voice samples
Natural Conversation
"what is 6 7 anyway?"
Gen Z Slang
"low-key that's such a vibe though"
Educational Content
"the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, and also the only thing i remember from biology"
About Cartesia AI
Cartesia focuses on ultra-low-latency voice models for real-time agents. Its Sonic 3 streaming TTS emphasizes fast time-to-first-audio, fine-grained prosody control, and developer-friendly WebSocket/SSE APIs.
Sonic 3 (Streaming TTS)
Latest streaming model with industry-leading latency and controls for volume, speed, and emotion.
WebSocket & SSE APIs
Real-time synthesis via WebSocket/SSE with input-streaming to preserve prosody during incremental generation.
Speech-to-Text
Streaming STT for conversational agents that pair with Sonic in low-latency pipelines.
About Hume AI
Hume AI centers on emotionally intelligent voice technology. Its Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) analyzes vocal cues and responds with expressive speech, while Octave TTS focuses on natural, controllable synthesis. Hume also offers Expression Measurement APIs for voice/face/text signals and lists compliance such as SOC 2 and GDPR.
EVI (Empathic Voice Interface)
Real-time speech-to-speech system that detects user vocal cues and generates emotionally appropriate responses.
Octave (Text-to-Speech)
Expressive TTS models with controllable delivery and ongoing updates (e.g., Octave 2).
Expression Measurement
APIs to measure hundreds of dimensions of human expression across audio, video, and text.
Developer Platform & Compliance
Docs, SDKs, and listed compliance such as SOC 2 and GDPR for production use.
Transparent Pricing Comparison
Compare pricing and value
Provider
Price per Character
Estimate per Minute*
Estimate per Hour*
Hume AI
$0.00006
$0.07
$4.48
Cartesia AI
$0.00004
$0.05
$2.93
*this is a best guess estimate
Pricing Summary
Cartesia AI offers approximately 33% lower pricing than Hume AI with industry-leading sub-90ms latency optimized for speed. Hume AI specializes in emotional intelligence with speech-to-speech empathic responses and expression measurement APIs—ideal for applications requiring emotional analysis. Choose Cartesia for cost-effective ultra-low latency streaming; choose Hume if you need built-in emotion detection and empathetic voice interactions.
Speed or Emotional Intelligence?
Compare ultra-low latency, emotion features, and pricing to choose your ideal voice platform.