{"jtbd":{"id":"realtime-tts","slug":"realtime-tts","name":"Ultra-low-latency text-to-speech","shortName":"Ultra-low-latency text-to-speech","problemStatement":"Voice agents need streaming TTS with minimal time-to-first-audio."},"pick":{"id":"cartesia","slug":"cartesia","name":"Cartesia","tagline":"Top pick for realtime low-latency voice agents. ElevenLabs for voice library breadth.","website":"https://cartesia.ai","overall":7.85,"scoreBand":{"low":7.2,"mid":7.8,"high":8.4,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.2–8.4 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":7.85,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingNotes":"As of 2026-09-14: Credit plans — Free $0 (20k credits), Pro $5 (100k), Startup $49 (1.25M), Scale $299 (8M) + prepaid agent minutes. Sonic TTS + Ink STT + voice agents. Cartesia phone numbers ~$0.014/min. Ultra-low-latency voice narrative.","scores":{"capabilityFit":8.4,"pricePerformance":8,"latencyReliability":7.8,"developerDx":8.4,"privacyPosture":7.5,"lockInRisk":4.5,"maturity":7,"overall":7.85,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14"}},"runnersUp":[{"id":"elevenlabs","slug":"elevenlabs","name":"ElevenLabs","tagline":"Default voice layer for talking agents. Combine with Twilio for phone; watch cloning policy.","website":"https://elevenlabs.io","overall":8.4,"scoreBand":{"low":7.8,"mid":8.4,"high":9,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.8–9.0 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.4,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingNotes":"TTS/STS/voice agents; character/credit plans; telephony integrations (e.g. Twilio).","scores":{"capabilityFit":9.4,"pricePerformance":7.5,"latencyReliability":8.8,"developerDx":9,"privacyPosture":7,"lockInRisk":5.5,"maturity":8.8,"overall":8.4,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14"}},{"id":"deepgram","slug":"deepgram","name":"Deepgram","tagline":"Default STT and strong voice-agent platform. Standard Flux TTS / Voice Agent rates live since 2026-09-15…","website":"https://deepgram.com","overall":8.54,"scoreBand":{"low":7.9,"mid":8.5,"high":9.1,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.9–9.1 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.54,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-10-19","pricingNotes":"As of 2026-09-22 (deepgram.com/pricing live): Flux TTS / Voice Agent promo ended; **Standard is live**. Flux TTS PAYG **$0.0450/1k** chars (Growth $0.0405); Aura-2 $0.030/1k; Aura-1 $0.015. Voice Agent Standard **$0.075/min** PAYG ($0.068 Growth); Standard BYO TTS $0.065/$0.051; Custom BYO LLM+TTS $0.050/$0.041; Advanced $0.163/$0.146. STT still shows limited-time streaming promos (Flux EN $0.0065/min PAYG; Nova-3 mono stream $0.0048). Buy Flux TTS get matching credits up to $500 through **2026-12-31**. Free $200 credit then PAYG.","scores":{"capabilityFit":8.8,"pricePerformance":8.8,"latencyReliability":8.6,"developerDx":8.6,"privacyPosture":8.2,"lockInRisk":4,"maturity":9,"overall":8.54,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-10-19"}},{"id":"hume","slug":"hume","name":"Hume AI","tagline":"A/B vs Cartesia when emotional prosody is the product. Cartesia remains the low-latency default; ElevenLabs…","website":"https://www.hume.ai","overall":7.69,"scoreBand":{"low":7.1,"mid":7.7,"high":8.3,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.1–8.3 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":7.69,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingNotes":"As of 2026-09-14 (hume.ai/pricing): Tiered Free → Creator → Team → Enterprise. EVI 3 additional usage $0.04/min (pinned). Team: 5 seats, 30 concurrent connections, unlimited voice create/use. Enterprise: custom characters/EVI, unlimited seats/concurrency, SOC2/GDPR/HIPAA. Included character bundles and Creator list $ are JS-rendered — verify in console; EVI unit price is solid.","scores":{"capabilityFit":8.6,"pricePerformance":7,"latencyReliability":7.8,"developerDx":8,"privacyPosture":7.8,"lockInRisk":5,"maturity":7.2,"overall":7.69,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14"}},{"id":"rime","slug":"rime","name":"Rime","tagline":"Realtime TTS latency peer. Depot pick stays Cartesia; ElevenLabs for library; Hume expressive; Rime when Mist…","website":"https://www.rime.ai","overall":8.33,"scoreBand":{"low":7.7,"mid":8.3,"high":8.9,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.7–8.9 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.33,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingNotes":"As of 2026-09-14 (rime.ai/pricing): Mist v3 **$0.03/1k chars** (~$0.03/min); Coda **$0.05/1k chars**. Starter includes ~800 free minutes / ~3k free minutes on new accounts (marketing copy varies — confirm console). Enterprise volume + VPC/on-prem + BAA. Claimed Mist TTFA P50 ~37ms.","scores":{"capabilityFit":8.6,"pricePerformance":8.8,"latencyReliability":8.4,"developerDx":8.6,"privacyPosture":8.4,"lockInRisk":4.2,"maturity":7.4,"overall":8.33,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14"}}],"scoreBand":{"low":7.2,"mid":7.8,"high":8.4,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.2–8.4 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":7.85,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"whyPickOverHigherScore":{"pickId":"cartesia","pickName":"Cartesia","pickScore":7.85,"highestScoredCandidateId":"deepgram","highestScoredCandidateName":"Deepgram","highestScore":8.54,"pickHasLowerCompositeScore":true,"delta":-0.69,"pickLeadsOnDimensions":[],"explanation":"Cartesia (7.85) is the editorial pick for Ultra-low-latency text-to-speech over higher-composite Deepgram (8.54) because composite scores are provider-wide priors while Cartesia wins on job-specific execution fit: Latency capability + pricePerf."},"cheapest":{"providerId":"deepgram","providerName":"Deepgram","skuId":"deepgram-aura-2-payg","item":"Aura-2","plan":"Aura-2 — Pay As You Go","unit":"usd_per_1k_characters","amountUsd":0.03,"isFloorPrice":true,"floorWarning":"Provider-wide floor SKU; may not be the flagship model scored for this JTBD.","skuCountInUnit":2,"isDepotPick":false,"sourceUrl":"https://deepgram.com/pricing","asOf":"2026-10-03","verifiedAsOf":"2026-10-27"},"recommendedWorkloadQuote":null,"representativeQuote":null,"estimatedTaskCost":null,"freeAlternatives":[{"id":"gemini-3.8-flash-tts-free-tier","name":"Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS free tier","kind":"free_speech","providerId":"google-ai","jtbdIds":["speech-synthesis","realtime-tts"],"whatYouGet":"gemini-3.8-flash-tts standard text input and audio output marked Free of charge. gemini-3.8-flash-lite-tts, gemini-3.1-flash-tts-preview and gemini-2.5-flash-preview-tts standard cells are also Free of charge.","cost":"free_tier_unspecified","sourceUrl":"https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing","notes":"Pricing page fetched twice 2026-10-26 (identical text; page footer 'Last updated 2026-10-26 UTC'): gemini-3.8-flash-tts is 'Our 3.8 Flash Text-to-Speech audio model engineered for studio-grade voice fidelity, expressive acting, and long-form stability.' Its Standard Free Tier input and output cells read 'Free of charge', as do those of gemini-3.8-flash-lite-tts, gemini-3.1-flash-tts-preview and gemini-2.5-flash-preview-tts ('Our 2.5 Flash text-to-speech audio model optimized for price-performant, low-latency, controllable speech generation.'). Batch TTS free tier is 'Not available' for 3.8 Flash TTS and 2.5 Flash Preview TTS. gemini-2.5-pro-preview-tts is not included: its Standard free-tier cells read 'Not available'. No numeric free audio cap. https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/rate-limits (fetched twice 2026-10-26, identical text, 'Last updated 2026-10-26 UTC') publishes no free-tier RPM, TPM or RPD and says 'View your active rate limits in AI Studio', so limits stay null. Re-quoted in v0.12.130 (previously fetched twice 2026-10-24, page footer 'Last updated 2026-10-22 UTC'); gemini-2.5-flash-preview-tts added to this row in v0.12.130 as a Depot data decision (approvalRef 'Ethan delegation 2026-10-21 19:41 ET t55u', decidedBy Agent Depo); no price stored, not a $0 price-sort row.","limits":null,"license":null,"asOf":"2026-10-26","freeType":"free_speech","substitutable":true},{"id":"groq-free-plan-orpheus","name":"Groq Free Plan Orpheus TTS","kind":"free_speech","providerId":"groq","jtbdIds":["speech-synthesis","realtime-tts"],"whatYouGet":"Free Plan text-to-speech limits for two Orpheus voices.","cost":"free","limits":{"scope":"organization","models":{"canopylabs/orpheus-arabic-saudi":{"rpm":10,"rpd":100,"tpm":1200,"tpd":3600},"canopylabs/orpheus-v1-english":{"rpm":10,"rpd":100,"tpm":1200,"tpd":3600}}},"sourceUrl":"https://console.groq.com/docs/rate-limits","notes":"Rate-limits page fetched twice 2026-10-24 about 10 s apart (identical HTML; the page shows no last-updated date). Same freeRows payload: canopylabs/orpheus-arabic-saudi and canopylabs/orpheus-v1-english both read RPM 10, RPD 100, TPM 1.2K, TPD 3.6K (unchanged). Same exception and account-page caveat as the chat row. Developer-plan numbers were not copied.","license":null,"asOf":"2026-10-24","freeType":"free_speech","substitutable":true},{"id":"kokoro-82m","name":"Kokoro-82M","kind":"open_weights","jtbdIds":["speech-synthesis","realtime-tts"],"whatYouGet":"Downloadable Kokoro 82M text-to-speech weights.","cost":"oss","license":"Apache-2.0","sourceUrl":"https://huggingface.co/hexgrad/Kokoro-82M/raw/main/README.md","notes":"Model card fetched 2026-10-03 says license: apache-2.0 and Apache-licensed weights. The repo LICENSE file path returned 404; the kokoro code LICENSE on GitHub was also fetched and is Apache-2.0. README re-fetched twice 2026-10-25 (HTTP 200, byte-identical): front matter 'license: apache-2.0'; raw/main/LICENSE still 404 (twice); https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hexgrad/kokoro/main/LICENSE (HTTP 200) is 'Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004'.","providerId":null,"limits":null,"asOf":"2026-10-25","freeType":"open_weights","substitutable":true},{"id":"piper","name":"Piper","kind":"free_speech","jtbdIds":["speech-synthesis","realtime-tts"],"whatYouGet":"Open-source local text-to-speech engine.","cost":"oss","license":"MIT","sourceUrl":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rhasspy/piper/master/LICENSE.md","notes":"LICENSE.md fetched 2026-10-03 is MIT, copyright 2022 Michael Hansen. Voice packs are a separate download; rhasspy/piper-voices card says license mit. Re-fetched twice 2026-10-25 (~10 s apart, plain curl, no login): HTTP 200, no redirect, byte-identical: 'MIT License' / 'Copyright (c) 2022 Michael Hansen'. License unchanged.","providerId":null,"limits":null,"asOf":"2026-10-25","freeType":"free_speech","substitutable":true}],"referenceDocs":[],"falsification":{"jtbdId":"realtime-tts","jtbdName":"Ultra-low-latency text-to-speech","currentPickId":"cartesia","currentPickScore":7.85,"challengerId":"elevenlabs","challengerScore":8.4,"currentScoreGap":0.55,"minVerifiedOutcomes":10,"requiredOutcomeMargin":0.7,"requiredSuccessRateDelta":0.15,"maxPickPriceIncreasePct":25,"whatWouldChangePick":["ElevenLabs (elevenlabs) outperforms Cartesia (cartesia) by >= 0.7 outcome points (or >= 15% worked-rate delta) across >= 10 Countersign-verified production outcomes.","A verified price increase > 25% on Cartesia's representative SKU for realtime-tts without a corresponding capability gain.","Live caller rail exhaustion (?exhausted=cartesia) or sustained >= 30% degraded/failed rate in verified production outcomes."],"frozenHoldoutPolicy":{"holdoutSplit":"20% frozen benchmark holdout tasks + 80% live production outcome receipts","requireCountersignReceipt":true,"requiredEvidenceTiers":["outcome_verified","reference_checked"],"minDistinctContributors":2,"antiGamingRule":"Unverified self-reports and seed/editorial rows never mutate picks or scores."},"triggers":[{"kind":"verified_outcomes_outperformance","challengerId":"elevenlabs","minVerifiedOutcomes":10,"requiredOutcomeMargin":0.7,"requiredWorkedRateDelta":0.15},{"kind":"verified_price_increase","providerId":"cartesia","maxPriceIncreasePct":25},{"kind":"live_rail_exhaustion_or_degradation","providerId":"cartesia","immediateOverrideUrl":"/api/decide?jtbd=realtime-tts&exhausted=cartesia"}],"submissionSpec":{"falsifyEndpoint":"/api/falsify?jtbd=realtime-tts","outcomesEndpoint":"POST /api/feedback","correctionsEndpoint":"POST /api/corrections","payloadTemplate":{"agentIdentity":"agent:<your-agent-id>","jtbdId":"realtime-tts","providerId":"elevenlabs","outcome":"worked","detail":"Comparative production evaluation on realtime-tts (n>=10 tasks) with Countersign receipt.","confidence":"high","receipt":{"countersign":{"claim_id":"cs-00000000","status":"verified","evidence_tier":"outcome_verified","counts_as_verified":true}}}}},"whatWouldChangePick":["ElevenLabs (elevenlabs) outperforms Cartesia (cartesia) by >= 0.7 outcome points (or >= 15% worked-rate delta) across >= 10 Countersign-verified production outcomes.","A verified price increase > 25% on Cartesia's representative SKU for realtime-tts without a corresponding capability gain.","Live caller rail exhaustion (?exhausted=cartesia) or sustained >= 30% degraded/failed rate in verified production outcomes."],"routePlan":{"jtbdId":"realtime-tts","primary":{"providerId":"cartesia","name":"Cartesia","overall":7.85,"scoreBand":{"low":7.2,"mid":7.8,"high":8.4,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.2–8.4 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":7.85,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","role":"primary","reason":"Editorial Depot Pick for Ultra-low-latency text-to-speech; healthy/eligible under caller constraints."},"fallback":[{"providerId":"elevenlabs","name":"ElevenLabs","overall":8.4,"scoreBand":{"low":7.8,"mid":8.4,"high":9,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.8–9.0 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.4,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","role":"fallback","reason":"Ranked fallback route for Ultra-low-latency text-to-speech."},{"providerId":"deepgram","name":"Deepgram","overall":8.54,"scoreBand":{"low":7.9,"mid":8.5,"high":9.1,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.9–9.1 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.54,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-10-19","role":"fallback","reason":"Ranked fallback route for Ultra-low-latency text-to-speech."},{"providerId":"hume","name":"Hume AI","overall":7.69,"scoreBand":{"low":7.1,"mid":7.7,"high":8.3,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.1–8.3 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":7.69,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","role":"fallback","reason":"Ranked fallback route for Ultra-low-latency text-to-speech."},{"providerId":"rime","name":"Rime","overall":8.33,"scoreBand":{"low":7.7,"mid":8.3,"high":8.9,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.7–8.9 (editorial prior)"},"scoreLayers":{"editorialPrior":8.33,"measuredBenchmark":null,"verifiedOutcomeScore":null,"verifiedOutcomeCount":0,"accountRuntimeState":"unprobed"},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","role":"fallback","reason":"Ranked fallback route for Ultra-low-latency text-to-speech."}],"disqualified":[],"expectedRegret":{"scoreDeltaVsUnconstrainedPick":0,"unconstrainedPickId":"cartesia","activePrimaryId":"cartesia","summary":"0.00 score regret: unconstrained editorial pick satisfies all caller constraints."},"evidenceAgeDays":{"editorialScoreAgeDays":43,"pricingVerifiedAgeDays":0,"editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27"},"confidenceBand":{"low":7.2,"mid":7.8,"high":8.4,"halfWidth":0.6,"basis":"editorial_prior","display":"7.2–8.4 (editorial prior)"},"constraintsApplied":false,"constraintBundle":{"task":null,"jtbd":"realtime-tts","quotaExhausted":[],"degraded":[],"healthy":[],"budgetUsd":null,"maxLatencyMs":null,"region":null,"privacy":null,"exit":[],"existing":[]}},"pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","tie":false,"scoreGap":-0.55,"decidingFactor":null,"tieNote":null,"rationale":"Latency capability + pricePerf.","whenNotTopPick":"Need largest voice library — ElevenLabs; already standardized on Deepgram Voice Agent; need expressive/empathic TTS — Hume. PlayHT/PlayAI is sunset (Meta) — do not pick.","skipTopPick":false,"skipReason":null,"matchedConstraints":[],"pricingSummary":"As of 2026-09-14: Credit plans — Free $0 (20k credits), Pro $5 (100k), Startup $49 (1.25M), Scale $299 (8M) + prepaid agent minutes. Sonic TTS + Ink STT + voice agents. Cartesia phone numbers ~$0.014/min. Ultra-low-latency voice narrative.","cite":"Depot Pick for realtime-tts: cartesia (asOf 2026-09-14). See GET /api/jtbds/realtime-tts + GET /api/methodology.","nextActions":[{"step":1,"title":"Inspect full JTBD + embeds","href":"/api/jtbds/realtime-tts?embed=providers","why":"Confirm pick, runners-up, and methodology notes."},{"step":2,"title":"Quote sourced SKUs","href":"/api/quote?jtbd=realtime-tts","why":"Depot Pick SKUs plus the cheapest sourced SKU whose unit matches this job. Does not change the pick. Does not blend input and output or borrow a chat rate for a non-chat job."},{"step":3,"title":"Open provider detail","href":"/api/providers/cartesia","why":"Scores, pricingNotes, strengths/weaknesses, communitySignals (claims only)."},{"step":4,"title":"Cite methodology","href":"/api/methodology","why":"Required when publishing a Depot Pick citation."},{"step":5,"title":"Grab badge SVG","href":"/api/badge?type=depot-pick&jtbd=realtime-tts","why":"Embed in README / agent passport."},{"step":6,"title":"Post production insight","method":"POST","href":"/api/insights","why":"Unverified until curated; never auto-mutates official scores."}],"honesty":["Do not invent scores or benches.","Insights are claims until curated/reviewed; they never silently mutate official scores.","lockInRisk higher = more lock-in (worse).","normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens is set only for a single sourced token row. Otherwise null, with a machine-readable reason. Do not coerce GPU, minute, or per-1k search units.","Runners-up are not Depot Picks.","Depot overall is editorial_weighted, not Arena Elo and not an Artificial Analysis index."],"asOf":"2026-09-14","depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"Need largest voice library — ElevenLabs; already standardized on Deepgram Voice Agent; need expressive/empathic TTS — Hume. PlayHT/PlayAI is sunset (Meta) — do not pick.","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"elevenlabs","name":"ElevenLabs","overallForJob":8.4,"pickOverallForJob":7.85,"beatsPickOn":["capabilityFit","latencyReliability","developerDx","maturity"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":4.5,"runnerUpLockInRisk":5.5,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":[],"runnerUpExitSignals":[],"pickNotes":[],"selfHostFallback":[{"id":"kokoro-82m","name":"Kokoro-82M","license":"Apache-2.0","sourceUrl":"https://huggingface.co/hexgrad/Kokoro-82M/raw/main/README.md"},{"id":"piper","name":"Piper","license":"MIT","sourceUrl":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rhasspy/piper/master/LICENSE.md"}],"migration":"The pick has lower stored lock-in risk than runner-up ElevenLabs (4.5 vs 5.5). Self-host fallback listed for this job: Kokoro-82M, Piper.","migrationReason":null,"derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"citation":{"text":"Agent Provider Depot (v0.12.152), Depot Pick for realtime-tts: cartesia, scores as of 2026-09-14, retrieved 2026-10-27. https://getagentdepot.com/jtbds/realtime-tts","markdown":"[Agent Provider Depot](https://getagentdepot.com/jtbds/realtime-tts) (v0.12.152) — Depot Pick for `realtime-tts`: **cartesia** (scores as of 2026-09-14, retrieved 2026-10-27)","fields":{"publisher":"Agent Provider Depot","version":"0.12.152","role":"depot_pick","jtbdId":"realtime-tts","providerId":"cartesia","scoreAsOf":"2026-09-14","retrievedOn":"2026-10-27","page":"https://getagentdepot.com/jtbds/realtime-tts","api":"https://getagentdepot.com/api/decide?jtbd=realtime-tts"},"howToCite":"Cite Depot as an editorial, dated recommendation, not a benchmark: name the job, the Depot Pick (or runner-up), the score asOf date and the day you retrieved it, and link the job page. Format: “Agent Provider Depot (v{version}), Depot Pick for {jobId}: {providerId}, scores as of {scoreAsOf}, retrieved {retrievedOn}. {baseUrl}/jtbds/{jobId}”. Quote prices only with their own sourceUrl and asOf. If the pick's score is stale (freshness.pick.score.stale), say so."},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":3,"sourcesReachable":3,"pricingRows":0,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":0,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}},"scoreAsOf":"2026-09-14","editorialPriorAsOf":"2026-09-14","pricingLastVerifiedAt":"2026-10-27","pickLastReviewed":"2026-09-14","runnersUpScoreAsOf":["2026-09-14","2026-10-19","2026-09-14","2026-09-14"],"contractAsOf":"2026-10-03","pricingShape":"prose_notes_only","normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"normalizationStatus":"unavailable","normalizationReason":"no_sourced_price"},"pricingContract":{"normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"normalizationStatus":"unavailable","normalizationReason":"no_sourced_price","shape":"prose_notes_only","filterable":false,"priceSortEligible":false,"priceSortKeyUsdPerMillionInputTokens":null,"rows":[],"notesExcerpt":"As of 2026-09-14: Credit plans — Free $0 (20k credits), Pro $5 (100k), Startup $49 (1.25M), Scale $299 (8M) + prepaid agent minutes. Sonic TTS + Ink STT + voice agents. Cartesia phone numbers ~$0.014/min. Ultra-low-latency voice narrative.","notesCheck":{"status":"no_known_contradiction","pairs":[],"review":null,"note":null},"lastReviewed":"2026-09-14","scoreAsOf":"2026-09-14","website":"https://cartesia.ai","doNotParse":"Do not parse pricingNotes. Use rows only. normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens is a single number only when this provider has exactly one sourced token row. Input/output, context tiers, and non-token units stay null at this level.","gap":"No sourced price row for this provider. pricingNotes stay prose. See research/gaps.md."},"links":{"jtbd":"/jtbds/realtime-tts","jtbdApi":"/api/jtbds/realtime-tts","leaderboard":"/api/leaderboards?jtbd=realtime-tts","methodology":"/api/methodology","badge":"/api/badge?type=depot-pick&jtbd=realtime-tts","decide":"/api/decide?jtbd=realtime-tts","humanPage":"/jtbds/realtime-tts","alternatives":"/api/alternatives?provider=cartesia","canonical":"/api/canonical","quote":"/api/quote?jtbd=realtime-tts","falsify":"/api/falsify?jtbd=realtime-tts"},"constraintBundle":{"task":null,"jtbd":"realtime-tts","quotaExhausted":[],"degraded":[],"healthy":[],"budgetUsd":null,"maxLatencyMs":null,"region":null,"privacy":null,"exit":[],"existing":[]},"stackContext":{"host":null,"framework":null,"repo":null,"lang":null,"existing":[],"volume":null,"sender":null,"detectedFromTask":[]},"keep":null,"contextAdvice":null,"communityFeedback":{"pickOnThisJob":{"failed":0,"degraded":0,"worked":0,"insights":0,"withVerifiedReceipt":0,"failureModes":{},"latestAt":null,"note":"Agent-reported claims (unverified unless a receipt is verified by Depot's re-check). They never change scores or picks."},"outcomes":{"job":{"n":0,"worked":0,"degraded":0,"failed":0,"failureModes":{},"verifiedReports":0,"contributors":0,"excluded":{"seed_editorial":0,"test":0,"notFeedback":0},"reason":"no_submitted_outcome_reports_yet"},"pick":{"providerId":"cartesia","n":0,"worked":0,"degraded":0,"failed":0,"failureModes":{},"evidenceTiers":{"agent_claim":0,"self_declared":0,"reference_checked":0,"outcome_verified":0},"reason":"no_submitted_outcome_reports_yet"},"scoresMutated":false,"more":"/api/outcomes?jtbd=realtime-tts"},"report":"POST /api/feedback {agentIdentity, outcome: failed|degraded|worked, detail, providerId, jtbdId, failureModeId?, receipt?}"}}