Cartesia vs ElevenLabs vs Runway
A side-by-side look at Cartesia, ElevenLabs and Runway for filmmakers: what each one can do, what it costs, and where they actually differ.
-
Low-latency AI voices (Sonic-3.6) for live agents, dubbing and fast VO drafts
- Price
- Free (20K credits/mo) · Pro $5/mo · Startup $49/mo · Scale $299/mo · Enterprise custom
- Learning
- Moderate
- Best for
- Real-time voice agents for phone lines, kiosks and customer support
-
Voiceovers, voice cloning, dubbing and music in 90+ languages, with Eleven v4 since Sept 2026
- Price
- Free: 10k credits/mo. Starter from $5/mo billed annually ($6 monthly). Creator $18.33/mo annual ($22 monthly). Pro $99/mo. Scale $299/mo. Business $990/mo.
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Narration and explainer voiceovers that need revisions without re-recording
-
Gen-4.5 video, Aleph 2.0 video editing and an agent that builds whole ad campaigns
- Price
- Free (125 one-time credits); Standard $15/mo ($12/mo billed annually)
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Previs and shot tests with Gen-4.5 before committing to a shoot
The short version
Where they differ
- Only Runway offers text to image.
- Only Runway offers image editing.
- Only Runway offers text to video.
- Only Runway offers image to video.
- Only Runway offers video to video.
- Cartesia is the only one without music & SFX.
- Only Runway offers upscaling.
- Only Runway offers third-party models.
All 3 offer: voice / TTS, public API, free tier.
Feature by feature
Cartesia vs ElevenLabs vs Runway: capabilities
| Cartesia | ElevenLabs | Runway | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (20K credits/mo) · Pro $5/mo · Startup $49/mo · Scale $299/mo · Enterprise custom | Free: 10k credits/mo. Starter from $5/mo billed annually ($6 monthly). Creator $18.33/mo annual ($22 monthly). Pro $99/mo. Scale $299/mo. Business $990/mo. | Free (125 one-time credits); Standard $15/mo ($12/mo billed annually) |
| Node / flow builder | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes |
| AI agent | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Chat assistant | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Team collaboration | Not confirmed | Partial | Yes |
| Text to image | No | No | Yes |
| Image editing | No | No | Yes |
| Text to video | No | No | Yes |
| Image to video | No | No | Yes |
| Video to video | No | No | Yes |
| Native audio in video | No | No | Partial |
| Voice / TTS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Music & SFX | No | Yes | Yes |
| Upscaling | No | No | Yes |
| Character consistency | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Custom training | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Third-party models | No | No | Yes |
| Public API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Mobile app | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop / local | Partial | Partial | No |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial use | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page. "Not confirmed" means the vendor doesn't say.
Plans
Pricing compared
Cartesia
| Free | $0monthly |
|---|---|
| Pro | $5monthly |
| Startup | $49monthly |
| Scale | $299monthly |
| Enterprise | Customcustom |
ElevenLabs
| Free | $0monthly |
|---|---|
| Starter | $6 ($5 annual)monthly |
| Creator | $22 ($18.33 annual; $11 first month promo)monthly |
| Pro | $99 ($82.50 annual)monthly |
| Scale | $299 ($249.17 annual)monthly |
| Business | $990 ($825 annual)monthly |
| Enterprise | Custommonthly |
Runway
| Free | $0none |
|---|---|
| Standard | $15monthly |
| Pro | $35monthly |
| Max | $95monthly |
The verdict
Which one should you pick?
Cartesia
Pick it for
- Real-time voice agents for phone lines, kiosks and customer support
- Fast VO scratch tracks and rough-cut placeholders before a real session
- Multilingual test versions of a spot or trailer voice-over (44 languages)
Stands out
- Vendor-claimed response time under 90 ms on Sonic-3.6, the main reason to pick it over narration-first TTS tools
- Same vendor covers TTS (Sonic), STT (Ink) and a voice-agent layer (Managed Agents), so one API key runs a full voice loop
Watch out
- Built for speed; the vendor itself says less emotional nuance than ElevenLabs for narration
- No editor or timeline. Output is audio files or streams, so a filmmaker needs a DAW or NLE to place it
ElevenLabs
Pick it for
- Narration and explainer voiceovers that need revisions without re-recording
- Localising a finished film or series into several languages with the original performance kept
- Building a consistent narrator voice across a video series
Stands out
- Voice cloning from about 10 seconds of audio on v4, versus longer samples needed by many rivals
- Dubbing that carries over the original performance and emotion rather than only translating text
Watch out
- Credits are priced per mode (TTS, dubbing with or without watermark, studio), which makes budgeting hard
- The free tier has no commercial license and only about 10 minutes of speech
Runway
Pick it for
- Previs and shot tests with Gen-4.5 before committing to a shoot
- Fixing finished footage with Aleph 2.0, such as swapping backgrounds or wardrobe across a clip
- Agency ad and campaign work using Agent, Brand Kits and Projects
Stands out
- Gen-4.5 and Aleph 2.0 sit in one credit pool with third-party models such as Kling 3.0, Seedance 2.5, Wan 3.0 and Nano Banana Pro, so you can compare models without separate subscriptions.
- Aleph 2.0 edits existing footage rather than generating new clips, which keeps the rest of a shot stable.
Watch out
- Credits burn fast: about 12 credits per second for Gen-4.5 and about 28 for Aleph 2.0
- Single generations run about 10 seconds, so longer scenes need stitching
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page, checked against vendor pricing and changelog pages (oldest check: ). Sources are listed on each tool's page.
Build a different comparison →