Hume AI

What is Hume AI?

Hume AI builds voice technology for developers. Octave, its text-to-speech model, is based on a language model, so it can follow natural-language instructions about tone, pacing, emphasis and mood, and it can design a new voice from a written description. It streams audio, returns word and phoneme timestamps, exports MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC or raw PCM, and offers voice cloning. Octave 2 covers 11 languages, while Octave 1 supports English and Spanish. For live conversation, the Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) powers voice and chat agents that connect through an SDK or telephony providers such as Twilio. One subscription covers text-to-speech, EVI and voice features, with included monthly usage and overage rates. New accounts start on a free tier with $20 in credits, and the Enterprise tier adds SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA compliance.

Use cases

• Narrate stories with directed emotion
• Generate podcast audio from scripts
• Build voice agents for phone calls
• Create chat assistants that read sentiment
• Design custom voices from a text prompt
• Clone a voice for branded audio
• Add captions with word-level timestamps

Who it's for

• Developers
• Voice agent builders
• Content creators
• Customer support teams
• Enterprise product teams

Why use Hume AI

• Acting instructions let you shape delivery line by line instead of accepting one flat read.
• A single subscription covers text-to-speech, EVI and voice features, so billing stays in one place.
• Language-model foundations let you describe a voice in words rather than choosing from a fixed list.
• Using your own LLM key or a custom language model with EVI avoids Hume's managed-LLM charges.

Hume AI features

• Octave text-to-speech controlled with natural-language acting instructions
• Voice design from descriptive prompts
• Voice cloning
• Streaming audio output with word and phoneme timestamps
• Output as MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC or raw PCM
• Speed control from 0.25x to 4x
• Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) for voice and chat agents
• SDKs for Python, TypeScript, .NET, Swift and React
• SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA compliance on Enterprise

Hume AI integrations

• Twilio
• Daily

How to get started with Hume AI

1. Sign up in the platform; a new account begins on the free tier with a $20 credit balance.
2. Choose a voice by description, preset or clone, and write acting instructions for delivery.
3. Call the text-to-speech API with an SDK, or connect an EVI agent through the SDK or a telephony provider.
4. Monitor usage and renewal in the billing portal, and upgrade when you need commercial use or higher limits.

Hume AI limitations

• Free and Starter plans are limited to non-commercial use
• Free and Starter plans need an upgrade to buy extra usage
• Octave 1 supports only English and Spanish
• Octave 2 is labeled a preview in the TTS FAQ
• Access may pause if a payment fails

Hume AI pricing

Yes, Hume AI has a free plan.

Hume AI plans

• Free

  Free

  • $20 in starting credits
  • Non-commercial use only
  • Upgrade required for extra usage

• Starter

  Price on vendor site

  • Non-commercial use only
  • Upgrade required for extra usage

• Creator

  Price on vendor site

  • Commercial use
  • Octave 1 and Octave 2 text-to-speech
  • Extra usage billed per 1,000 characters

• Pro

  Price on vendor site

  • Commercial use
  • Extra usage billed per 1,000 characters

• Scale

  Price on vendor site

  • Commercial use
  • Extra usage billed per 1,000 characters

• Business

  Price on vendor site

  • Commercial use
  • Extra usage billed per 1,000 characters

• Enterprise

  Custom

  • Custom usage and rate limits
  • Unlimited team seats
  • SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA compliance

Plans as listed on the official pricing page on 24 Oct 2026. Prices can change and may vary by country or exclude tax. Check the official pricing page.

Hume AI alternatives

The main Hume AI alternatives listed on Debuly are ElevenLabs, Cartesia, Deepgram, Vapi, Voice.ai and AudioCraft. The table compares pricing and platforms; order is A–Z.

1. 

   AudioCraft

   Meta AI research code base for text-to-music (MusicGen), text-to-sound (AudioGen) and EnCodec neural audio compression.

   Audio and voiceDeveloper platforms
   Visit AudioCraft (official site)
2. 

   Cartesia

   Voice AI platform with Sonic text-to-speech, Ink speech-to-text and managed voice agents, priced by credits and minutes.

   Audio and voiceDeveloper platformsAutomation and agents
   FreemiumVisit Cartesia (official site)
3. 

   Deepgram

   Voice AI platform with speech-to-text, text-to-speech and Voice Agent APIs, available as a managed API, in-VPC or self-hosted.

   Audio and voiceDeveloper platformsAutomation and agents
   FreemiumVisit Deepgram (official site)
4. 

   ElevenLabs

   AI audio platform for text to speech, voice cloning, dubbing, transcription, music and conversational voice agents, via app or API.

   Audio and voiceAutomation and agentsVideoDeveloper platforms
   FreemiumVisit ElevenLabs (official site)
5. 

   Vapi

   Developer platform for building voice AI agents that handle phone and web calls, with per-minute pricing and optional success packages.

   Developer platformsAutomation and agentsAudio and voice
   PaidVisit Vapi (official site)
6. 

   Voice.ai

   AI voice platform with text to speech, voice cloning, audio tools and phone voice agents for creators and businesses.

   Audio and voiceAutomation and agentsDeveloper platforms
   FreemiumVisit Voice.ai (official site)

Hume AI FAQ

Sources & verification

Facts on this page come from the official sources below, each with the date we read it. Written by Debuly; the vendor did not review this page.

Image credits

• Logo: from hume.ai · fetched 23 Oct 2026 · Vendor trademark, used only to identify the product; removed on request
• Cover: none collected yet, so a generated tile is shown.

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