Last updated: 28 June 2026
OpenAI vs Cartesia: TTS Pricing Comparison
OpenAI is 70% cheaper starting at $0.015/1k chars. Here's the full breakdown of pricing, quality, latency, and language support.
Price Comparison
| Characters | OpenAI tts-1 | OpenAI tts-1-hd | OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts | Cartesia Sonic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $0.15 | $0.30 | $0.15 | $0.50 |
| 100,000 | $1.50 | $3.00 | $1.50 | $5.00 |
| 1,000,000 | $15.00 | $30.00 | $15.00 | $50.00 |
Feature Comparison
OpenAI
Best for: Developers already using the OpenAI ecosystem who want straightforward TTS at scale.
Strengths
- ✓ Simple API integration
- ✓ Multiple quality tiers
- ✓ Good language support
- ✓ Steerable prosody (gpt-4o-mini-tts)
Cartesia
Best for: Ultra-low-latency applications like gaming, real-time voice agents, and interactive experiences.
Strengths
- ✓ Fastest latency (65ms)
- ✓ Voice cloning
- ✓ 40+ languages
- ✓ Streaming support
Frequently Asked Questions
Is OpenAI or Cartesia cheaper for text-to-speech?
OpenAI is cheaper, starting at $0.015 per 1,000 characters with OpenAI tts-1. That’s 70% less than Cartesia Sonic at $0.050 per 1,000 characters.
How much does OpenAI TTS cost compared to Cartesia?
OpenAI pricing starts at $0.015 per 1k chars (OpenAI tts-1), while Cartesia starts at $0.050 per 1k chars (Cartesia Sonic). For 1 million characters, that’s $15.00 vs $50.00.
Which has better voice quality, OpenAI or Cartesia?
Based on TTS Arena benchmarks, Cartesia scores higher on voice quality. OpenAI’s best model scores 4.1/5 while Cartesia’s best scores 4/5.
OpenAI vs Cartesia: which is faster?
Cartesia has lower latency. OpenAI’s fastest model has 250ms time-to-first-audio, while Cartesia’s fastest is 65ms.