What Hume AI does

Hume AI builds Octave TTS and the Empathic Voice Interface (EVI), a speech-to-speech API that detects emotional tone/prosody in a user's voice and generates responses that adapt to it, aimed at developers building emotionally aware voice agents and customer-service bots.

What you get: Octave text-to-speech model, Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) with emotion/prosody detection, Sub-300ms response latency, Separate Expression Measurement API, 11 languages, expanding.

Typical jobs: Emotionally aware customer service bots; Interview-prep and coaching voice agents; Mental-health/therapy-adjacent voice apps; Conversational AI research.

Worth knowing: Longtail differentiator: the emotional-intelligence angle is unique in this niche, but it has a steeper learning curve for non-developers and less plug-and-play integration than mainstream TTS tools.

What users complain about: There is no commercial license, so you cannot use your output for monetised content on lower-tier plans. (https://www.aipedia.wiki/guides/hume-ai-pricing-for-emotion-aware-voice-apps/)

Pricing and plan limits

Verified August 2026

Plan	Monthly	Annual (per mo)	Limits
Free	Free	n/a	10,000 characters TTS (~10 min), 5 min EVI/month, 15 requests/min, 1 concurrent connection, 1 seat
Starter	$3	n/a	30,000 characters TTS (~30 min), 40 min EVI/month, 15 RPM, 5 concurrent connections
Creator	$7	n/a	140,000 characters TTS (~140 min), 200 min EVI/month, 75 RPM, 5 concurrent connections
Pro	$70	n/a	1,000,000 characters TTS (~1,000 min), 1,200 min EVI/month, 75 RPM, 10 concurrent connections
Scale	$200	n/a	3,300,000 characters TTS (~3,300 min), 5,000 min EVI/month, 150 RPM, 20 concurrent connections, 3 seats
Business	$500	n/a	10,000,000 characters TTS (~10,000 min), 12,500 min EVI/month, 225 RPM, 30 concurrent connections, 5 seats
Enterprise	not disclosed	n/a	All limits customizable

Where it wins

Only mainstream voice platform combining built-in emotional/prosody intelligence with real-time speech-to-speech, per multiple independent reviews
Sub-300ms latency competitive with pure low-latency specialists while adding emotional context

Where it falls short

No commercial license on lower-tier plans, so monetized content requires upgrading past Starter/Creator
Only 11 languages currently (expanding to 20+) versus broader coverage from ElevenLabs/Murf, and the Expression Measurement API is billed separately from voice products

How we scored it

Full methodology

Criterion	Weight	Score	Contribution
Capability	30%	8.5	2.55
Value for money	25%	7.0	1.75
Ease of use	15%	6.0	0.90
Maturity	15%	6.0	0.90
Support & docs	10%	6.5	0.65
Momentum	5%	8.0	0.40
Weighted total	100%	7.2	7.20

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