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Cartesia vs PolyAI
Cartesia is positioned as speech models for teams assembling a voice stack, with a separate managed-agent product. PolyAI is positioned as enterprise dialog-agent platform with a builder, developer tooling and system integrations.
Cartesia is positioned as speech models for teams assembling a voice stack, with a separate managed-agent product. PolyAI is positioned as enterprise dialog-agent platform with a builder, developer tooling and system integrations. Start by deciding who owns the missing layers, then inspect the documented differences below.
Voice Engines and Enterprise Platforms are different product categories. An underlying engine or framework is not a complete substitute for a deployed agent workflow.
7 jointly documented catalog fields. This measures evidence coverage, not equivalent quality or an overall winner.
Test opening hours, booking conflicts and an unanswered transfer.
Start where the records differ.
Values and evidence states are compared together. Shared facts follow the differences; Unknown never means No.
| Decision point | Cartesia | PolyAI |
|---|---|---|
| Billing modelDifferent records | component-stack | per-minute |
| Billing unitDifferent records | TTS/STT credits; Managed Agents conversation minutes | Voice agent minute |
| WebhooksDifferent records | YesAPI / webhook | YesUnknown |
| Bring your telephonyShared state | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your modelShared state | Yes | Yes |
| Warm transferShared state | Unknown | Unknown |
Your requirements & next steps
Your requirements
Ready-made / AI receptionist · Strict evidence mode
No personal requirements yet. Add criteria in Advanced Filter to prioritize this comparison.
TTS/STT credit subscriptions and Managed Agents minute charges remain separate.
Sales-led per-minute contract rate, not a public numerical rate.
Speech model credits and selected LLM/evaluation charges have separate scope.
Commercial rate, commitment and workload exceptions require quote; no fabricated all-in ceiling.
Product-specific units preserved.
Published unit; precise fee and minimum quote unresolved.
Plan allowances include separate agent prepayment; do not double-count as universal included voice minutes.
Commercial rate, commitment and workload exceptions require quote; no fabricated all-in ceiling.
Separate credit and agent budgets; no arbitrary cross-product minute conversion.
No included minute allowance published in reviewed page.
Free allowances and product rates are available; old changelog, bandwidth trial and speech volume controls do not establish these current billing terms.
Sales-led per-minute service and build credits are documented; no public complete rate/commitment, recurring free entitlement or provider cost inclusions established.
LLM promotion ends October 1, 2026; quoted model/usage mix determines bill.
Sales-led per-minute service and build credits are documented; no public complete rate/commitment, recurring free entitlement or provider cost inclusions established.
Not yet researched against this buyer-critical field standard.
Not yet researched against this buyer-critical field standard.
Product mix, LLM promotion expiry, carrier routing and other metered components prevent a universal all-in ceiling.
Commercial rate, commitment and workload exceptions require quote; no fabricated all-in ceiling.
Product mix, LLM promotion expiry, carrier routing and other metered components prevent a universal all-in ceiling.
Commercial rate, commitment and workload exceptions require quote; no fabricated all-in ceiling.
Anyone with this link can view the encoded decision criteria.
Vendor documentation establishes a claim. Public model benchmarks are separate context, not measurements of these platforms.
Open saved comparison ↗What to verify together.
Cartesia
A speech credit plan is not a complete phone-call bill.
Managed Agents $0.06/min; Cartesia-provided-number telephony $0.014/min · V3.3 evidence review · Managed Agents base rate; carrier/model charges and prepaid plan balances separate
Excluded / confirm: Complete cost cannot be established from this reference. Product mix, LLM promotion expiry, carrier routing and other metered components prevent a universal all-in ceiling. · LLM tokens after promotional coverage; telephony and evaluation usage
TTS/STT credit subscriptions and Managed Agents minute charges remain separate.
PolyAI
The public pricing page gives a billing basis, not a numeric quote.
Custom quote / current rate unresolved · V3.3 evidence review · Contract-defined minute billing; no public numeric quote
Excluded / confirm: Complete cost cannot be established from this reference. Commercial rate, commitment and workload exceptions require quote; no fabricated all-in ceiling. · Provider, carrier and custom contract terms require separate verification
Sales-led per-minute contract rate, not a public numerical rate.
The evidence overlap.
Both records have documented values for Product type, Technical setup, Pricing model, Cartesia TTS, Function / tool calling, Checked within 30 days, Retained price snapshot. Matching availability does not measure behavior under your call conditions.
Run the same booking, tool failure and unsuccessful human-transfer cases. Record both outcomes and billable units before signing a deployment agreement.
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