C Cartesia Managed Agents · Pricing · Checked Oct 30, 2026
Cartesia Managed Agents pricing: the real cost per minute in 2026
Cartesia Managed Agents costs $0.03/min of call time. Voices and transcription are included. LLM usage is billed separately, and no per-minute LLM rate is published. 1,000 minutes on a Cartesia number come to $44.00 before LLM, so the real cost is higher. Checked Oct 30, 2026.
On our stack · 1,000 min · 10 calls at once
$44.00a month
Bundled AI ratePhone
- Best for
- a call rate of $0.03/min, with voices and transcription under that rate, and a Cartesia number at $0.014/min.
- Watch out:
- LLM usage during calls is billed separately, so the real cost is higher than the agents-plus-number total.
On our stack
$44.00
$0.044 at 1,000 min, excl. LLM
Concurrency
8–60
calls by plan
Cartesia Managed Agents pricing at a glance
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Call time | $0.03/min |
| Voices and transcription | Billed under the agents rate |
| LLM during calls | Billed separately |
| Cartesia phone number | $0.014/min |
| Bring your own telephony | Own Twilio account or SIP trunking: the Cartesia phone-number fee does not apply |
| Free plan | $0/month, 20K credits/month, $1 prepaid agents/month |
| Prepaid agent dollars | Free $1, Pro $5, Startup $49, Scale $299 per month |
| Prepaid minutes at $0.03 | Free 33 minutes; Pro 2 hours, 47 minutes; Startup 27 hours, 13 minutes; Scale 166 hours, 7 minutes |
| Concurrent calls | Free 8, Pro 12, Startup 20, Scale 60 concurrent calls; Enterprise custom |
| Cartesia phone numbers included | Free 1, Pro 3, Startup 5, Scale 10; Enterprise custom |
| Launched | Oct 29, 2026 |
| All-in at 1,000 min (Cartesia number, excl. LLM) | $44.00 $0.044/min |
Sources: cartesia.ai · Oct 30, 2026; cartesia.ai · Oct 30, 2026
What a minute on Cartesia Managed Agents actually costs
Cost per minute = Managed Agents call time + Cartesia phone-number time + LLM usage. Voices and transcription are in the call rate. The table below leaves LLM usage out, so the real cost is higher.
Call time
Cartesia launched Managed Agents on Oct 29, 2026. Call duration is $0.03/min on Free, Pro, Startup and Scale. Billed under the agents rate.
LLM
LLM usage during calls is Billed separately. Cartesia publishes no per-minute LLM rate, so it is not in the totals. Prepaid dollars cover about Free 33 minutes; Pro 2 hours, 47 minutes; Startup 27 hours, 13 minutes; Scale 166 hours, 7 minutes. Those minutes do not include telephony or LLM usage.
Telephony
A Cartesia-provided phone number is $0.014/min. Included numbers: Free 1, Pro 3, Startup 5, Scale 10; Enterprise custom. Own Twilio account or SIP trunking: the Cartesia phone-number fee does not apply.
Cartesia Managed Agents plans
The call rate is one price. Free is $0/month, Pro $5/month, Startup $49/month and Scale $299/month. Prepaid agent dollars: Free $1, Pro $5, Startup $49, Scale $299 per month. Calls keep running at your plan's voice agent rate.
Cartesia Managed Agents concurrency limit
Free 8, Pro 12, Startup 20, Scale 60 concurrent calls; Enterprise custom. A 10-call setup fits on Pro, which includes 12 concurrent calls. No per-call fee is published. TTS, STT and voice agents each have their own concurrency pool.
Cartesia Managed Agents cost at 500 to 10,000 minutes a month
Scenario (our assumptions, not vendor figures): inbound calls on one Cartesia-provided phone number, average call 3 minutes, and the business needs 10 calls at once. That concurrency fits Pro. The $5 Pro fee and the prepaid agent dollars are not subtracted. LLM usage is excluded. The real cost is higher.
| Line item | 500 min | 1k min | 5k min | 10k min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managed Agents call time ($0.03/min) | $15.00 | $30.00 | $150.00 | $300.00 |
| Cartesia-provided phone number ($0.014/min) | $7.00 | $14.00 | $70.00 | $140.00 |
| Concurrency for 10 calls (Pro includes 12) | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| LLM usage (per-minute rate not published) | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Monthly total (excl. LLM) | $22.00 | $44.00 | $220.00 | $440.00 |
| Effective per minute | $0.044 | $0.044 | $0.044 | $0.044 |
Sources: cartesia.ai · Oct 30, 2026
Math: minutes × ($0.03/min + $0.014/min). At 1,000 minutes that is $44.00, or $0.044 a minute. Run your own numbers.
Hidden costs: LLM, credits, plan fees
- LLM usage during calls is billed separately. No per-minute rate is published, so the real cost is higher than the table.
- Evaluations are Free of charge for a limited time only. That line is not the LLM rate.
- Standalone Sonic text-to-speech is 1 credit per character, about 750 to 800 credits per minute of audio. Standalone Ink speech-to-text is $0.39/hour on the Scale plan. On Managed Agents, voices and transcription are billed under the agents rate.
- Speech-model credit overages are Pro $65 per 1M credits; Startup $45 per 1M; Scale $38 per 1M.
- Bring your own Twilio account or SIP trunk and the $0.014 fee does not apply. Your carrier then bills you. This total uses the Cartesia number.
Cartesia Managed Agents price changes
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2026 | Cartesia launched Managed Agents. |
| Oct 30, 2026 | First recorded. Call time is $0.03/min. A Cartesia phone number is $0.014/min. |
Sources: cartesia.ai · Oct 30, 2026; cartesia.ai · Oct 30, 2026
Is Cartesia Managed Agents worth it?
Cartesia Managed Agents suits teams that want a published call rate with a Cartesia phone number. At $0.044 a minute on our stack, call time plus that number is $44.00 for 1,000 minutes, and that excludes LLM usage, so the real cost is higher. The call rate is $0.03/min, against GPT-Live 1 at $0.05/min and Grok Voice at $0.08/min. The $0.03 rate is not ranked, because LLM usage is billed separately. Compare more in Vapi alternatives.
FAQ
How much do Cartesia Managed Agents cost per minute?
$0.03/min for call time. Voices and transcription are billed under that rate. A Cartesia phone number adds $0.014/min. On that number, 1,000 minutes are $44.00. That excludes LLM usage, so the real cost is higher. Source: https://www.cartesia.ai/pricing (checked Oct 30, 2026).
Does the Cartesia agents rate include the LLM, TTS and STT?
Voices and transcription are Billed under the agents rate. LLM usage during calls is Billed separately. No per-minute LLM rate is published. Source: https://www.cartesia.ai/pricing (checked Oct 30, 2026).
Is there a Cartesia free tier?
Yes. The Free plan is $0/month, 20K credits/month, $1 prepaid agents/month. Prepaid agent dollars cover about Free 33 minutes; Pro 2 hours, 47 minutes; Startup 27 hours, 13 minutes; Scale 166 hours, 7 minutes. Those minutes do not include telephony or LLM usage. Source: https://www.cartesia.ai/pricing (checked Oct 30, 2026).
What is the Cartesia Managed Agents concurrency limit?
Free 8, Pro 12, Startup 20, Scale 60 concurrent calls; Enterprise custom. TTS, STT and voice agents each have their own concurrency pool. Source: https://www.cartesia.ai/pricing (checked Oct 30, 2026).
Does Cartesia include a phone number?
Cartesia-provisioned numbers: Free 1, Pro 3, Startup 5, Scale 10; Enterprise custom. Using one costs $0.014/min. Own Twilio account or SIP trunking: the Cartesia phone-number fee does not apply. Source: https://www.cartesia.ai/pricing (checked Oct 30, 2026).
When did Cartesia Managed Agents launch?
Cartesia launched Managed Agents on Oct 29, 2026. Source: https://www.cartesia.ai/blog/managed-agents (checked Oct 30, 2026).
Sources
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