Speech-to-Text API · decision tool

What Cartesia (STT) really costs at your usage

Cartesia (STT) priced at YOUR usage from verified pricing pages — 20K credits/month ≈ 1h51m STT (vendor's own approximation). See the free-tier ceiling, the per-unit overage, and exactly when it starts costing real money.

Prices verified 2026-07-17 against official pricing pages · fit weights are our estimates (see methodology) · share the URL to share your configuration

As of Jul 2026, with 6 hours of audio transcribed/month, a $50 budget for this slot, Cartesia (STT) ranks first for these inputs at 81% fit and a StackSays-estimated $5.00/month. Fit weights are our estimates; prices trace to official pages. Change any input below and the verdict recomputes.

Your situation

The verdict updates as you move these.

Audio transcribed / month (hours)100 hours ≈ 200 half-hour calls; streaming vendors may also bill connection timeBudget for this slot ($/mo)what you'd accept paying for the speech-to-text API layerTeam size1 = solo; bundled platforms save glue time for small teams

Clear pick for your inputs

Cartesia (STT)fit 81% · est $5.00/mo

Voice-agent-focused credits; tiny entry price, tier ceilings instead of overage

Cartesia (STT)fit 81%

$5.00/mo

Comparing 1 tools head-to-head. Open the full field (6 options) →

The decision, in plain words

For a solo builder at 6 hours of audio transcribed/month and a $50.00/mo budget for the speech-to-text API slot, Cartesia (STT) leads at 81% fit and $5.00/mo. The two rules doing the work: budget fit (~$5/mo is 10% of your $50/mo budget); batteries included (Bundles realtime streaming, TTS from the same vendor — fewer services to glue at team size 1).

Honest weak spot of the pick: growing — our estimate from ecosystem age, docs and hiring pool.

Generated from the calculation above — every number traces to the sourced data; nothing here is written by an AI making things up.

Why Cartesia (STT) scores 81%

Budget fit (weight 30, our estimate) — ~$5/mo is 10% of your $50/mo budget+30

Batteries included (weight 12, our estimate) — Bundles realtime streaming, TTS from the same vendor — fewer services to glue at team size 1+8

Exit cost (weight 4, our estimate) — Proprietary model — accuracy characteristics don't transfer to a replacement-0.8

Ecosystem maturity (weight 8, our estimate) — growing — our estimate from ecosystem age, docs and hiring pool-1.6

Free-tier runway (weight 10, our estimate) — Free tier exists (20K credits/month ≈ 1h51m STT (vendor's own approximation)) — a cheap staging/dev lane even after you outgrow it+4

Total (lines sum exactly)39.6

Possible range −64…+64 (sum of active rule weights) · fit % = (total + max) / (2 × max)(39.6 + 64) / 128 = 81%

How the $5.00/mo estimate is calculated

Pro base$5.00

Note — 100K credits ≈ 9h16m STT/month (vendor approximation); commercial license included$0

Monthly total (lines sum exactly)$5.00

What could change this verdict

No single input change within the tested range changes the winner.

Cost risk

Estimated now (StackSays estimate, not your final bill)$5.00/mo · Pro

Free-tier statusFree tier exceeded (audio transcribed 6hours > 1.85hours cap)

Next known billing thresholdPro caps at 9.27hours audio transcribed — beyond that you change plans

Official prices verified 2026-07-17; calculation is deterministic code over those prices.

At a glance

Tool	Free tier	Paid entry	Verified
Cartesia (STT)	20K credits/month ≈ 1h51m STT (vendor's own approximation)	Pro $5/mo	2026-07-17

Where did you land?anonymous, one click

Data sources

Tool	Source	Verified
Cartesia (STT)	Cartesia pricing	2026-07-17

A monitor re-checks these pages for changes; when a vendor moves a price, the date updates and every verdict recomputes.

Keep deciding