# Fish Audio Voice Cloning API vs Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone (slim)

> Fish Audio Voice Cloning scores 61.5 (C) to Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone's 58 (C) for voice cloning. Fish Audio Voice Cloning is cheaper for voice cloning, $0 against $17.50 per 1M characters. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fish-audio-voice-cloning-vs-smallest-voice-clone.md (~6,400 tokens) · this version ~3,880 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fish-audio-voice-cloning-vs-smallest-voice-clone.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fish-audio-voice-cloning-vs-smallest-voice-clone
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Fish Audio Voice Cloning API scores 61.5 (C) on agent readiness against Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone's 58 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone leads on security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do voice cloning. Fish Audio Voice Cloning API is cheaper for voice cloning, $0 against $17.50 per 1M characters.

- Fish Audio Voice Cloning API: C 61.5, rank #604 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fish-audio-voice-cloning.min.md
- Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone: C 58, rank #768 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smallest-voice-clone.min.md
- Fish Audio Voice Cloning API, good for Cheap, quick clones of your own voice and for prompt-designed voices at volume, now also from an MCP client. Ahead on Reliability, 75 against 65; Schema & documentation, 81 against 70; Agent ergonomics, 73 against 62; Payments & pricing, 30 against 20. Also Cheaper for voice cloning, $0 against $17.50 per 1M characters.
- Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone, good for Teams already on Smallest's Lightning TTS or voice agents who want a clone from a short clip in one call. Ahead on Security & auth, 48 against 35; Transparency & trust, 72 against 61.

| Category | Fish Audio Voice Cloning API | Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 75 | 65 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 81 | 70 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 73 | 62 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 35 | 48 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 30 | 20 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 72 | 72 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 61 | 72 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Fish Audio Voice Cloning API | Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Fish Audio | Smallest, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.fish.audio` | `https://api.smallest.ai/waves/v1/voice-cloning` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Price for voice cloning | free | $17.50 per 1M characters |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (Python SDK) | Proprietary service under Smallest's Terms of Service. The `smallestai` Python SDK is on PyPI |
| Last release | 2026-10-30 | 2026-10-29 |
| Terms last updated | 2024-08-18 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-08-28 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 218 stars, 6.4k npm/wk, 37k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |

Why the edge:
- Security & auth, Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone +13: Fish Audio Voice Cloning API 35 (Graded for voice cloning, with consent and misuse controls in place of the read-only line and training and retention of voice data in place of the prompt-injection line, since the API returns audio and IDs rather than third-party text. Plain revocable API keys with no scopes found. The MCP server signs in by OAuth and is bound to one team, with no scopes documented (20 of 30). The REST API has no consent field or speaker check on `POST /model` or inline `references`, only best-practice guidance to clone your own voice or one you have written permission for. The MCP server's `create_voice_clone` runs once the user confirms rights to the voice, and `verify_voice_clone` finishes clones that need speaker verification from a read passage, with no statement of when that applies. MCP clones are unlisted by default, so anyone with the ID can use them. Professional Voice Clone verification is in the web app only. No watermark or detection tool found (5 of 20). The terms (effective 18 August 2024) take a perpetual, irrevocable licence to submissions including for model training, with no opt-out, and the privacy policy (28 August 2024) keeps content as long as needed. Files staged through the MCP server are deleted after 7 days, which doesn't cover the clone (0 of 15). Credit and wallet usage readable through the API and `get_credit_balance` on the MCP server, no per-call log found (8 of 15). security.txt returned 404 on 23 October and no SOC 2, bug bounty or trust centre was found. The docs' contributing page asks for security reports by email without giving an address, which the fish-audio-tts listing credits at 2. This listing gave 0 on the same evidence, now aligned. No advisories for either SDK in OSV on 4 November (2 of 20). The pages are per the 23 October check, not re-read on 4 November. 20+5+0+8+2 = 35.); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 48 (Graded for voice cloning as the other listings in this category, with consent and misuse controls in place of the read-only line and training and retention of voice data in place of the prompt-injection line. Plain bearer keys, shown once, revocable, with rotation guidance and no scopes. Short-lived access tokens are refused on the cloning endpoint (20 of 30). No consent or verification field. The Terms let Smallest demand proof that the speaker authorised a clone and remove voices without it, and the prohibited use policy bars unauthorised impersonation. No watermark found (6 of 20). The Terms say Smallest won't use User Content or Input to train its services. Zero retention and retention windows are Enterprise options, and no retention period for samples is published (9 of 15). A usage dashboard, with no audit log found (5 of 15). A valid security.txt naming security@smallest.ai and a HIPAA business associate agreement page. The trust centre didn't answer through our proxy, so no certification was confirmed first-hand, and no bug bounty was found (8 of 20). 20+6+9+5+8 = 48.)
- Schema & documentation, Fish Audio Voice Cloning API +11: Fish Audio Voice Cloning API 81 (Public OpenAPI 3.1 at docs.fish.audio/api-reference/openapi.json, re-read on 23 October with 39 paths (25). llms.txt and Markdown pages (10). The voice cloning guide says when to create a persistent model and when to pass reference audio inline (14 of 20). Inputs typed, with an enum for `visibility`, `train_mode` fixed to `fast`, 1 to 20 voice files, and ranges on every voice design field (14 of 15). Examples throughout, but the create-model reference still documents only 401 and 503 with a `{status, message, reason}` body (8 of 15). The changelog is now dated and current to 20 October 2026 and has S2.1 Pro (23 June 2026). It still has no entry for voice design or the model endpoints, and paths mix unversioned `/model` with `/v1` (10 of 15). The OpenAPI file, guides and changelog are per the 23 October check, not re-read on 4 November (fish.audio's terms forbid crawling). 25+10+14+14+8+10 = 81.); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 70 (The API reference pages are generated with typed fields, enums and error schemas, but no OpenAPI file was found linked from the docs or llms.txt (5 of 25). llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every page (10). The guide says when to use the Pro pool, how to check `modelIds` before synthesis and why a mismatched clone returns empty audio, while the reference still names the retiring default (14 of 20). `model` and `language` are enums validated by the server, with required `displayName` and `file`, a 5 MB limit and MIME types listed, and `tags` as a comma-separated string (12 of 15). Examples in curl, Python and Node.js and a table of seven error cases with causes (14 of 15). Paths under `/v1`, a deprecation page with dated statuses and a models changelog with entries on 21, 24, 26, 28 and 29 October 2026 (15). 5+10+14+12+14+15 = 70.)
- Agent ergonomics, Fish Audio Voice Cloning API +11: Fish Audio Voice Cloning API 73 (Creating a model returns the model object with author and engagement fields, heavier than an ID and status (20 of 25). `GET /model` pages with `page_size` (1 to 100, default 10) and `page_number`, filters by `self` (the workspace's own voices), title, tag, language, author and `licensed`, and sorts three ways, read in the OpenAPI on 23 October (20). Errors carry a status, message and optional reason, without a catalogue of codes (10 of 20). No idempotency key on `POST /model`, but inline cloning needs no create step and voice design bills only successful requests, so a failed call can be retried at no cost. The 429 backoff guidance doesn't change this line (10 of 20). Official Python and JavaScript SDKs and a short required field list. Python `fish-audio-sdk` 1.4.0 (30 October 2026) accepts `s2.1-pro-free` and `drama-3`, while npm `fish-audio` stays at 0.1.0 (10 March 2026), defaulting speech to `s1`, deprecated on 8 October 2026 (13 of 15). The API readings are per the 23 October check, not re-read on 4 November. 20+20+10+10+13 = 73.); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 62 (The clone response is a compact object with the voice ID, status and signed URLs to sample clips rather than inline audio (20 of 25). The list call returns every clone on the organisation with no pagination or filter found (10 of 20). Errors carry a message and, on 500, an `error_code` enum with a stated fix, such as retrying `voice_clone_timeout` (16 of 20). No idempotency key, and retrying a timeout can leave a duplicate clone, with deletion through an oddly named route (4 of 20). Two required fields. The Python SDK `smallestai` 5.14.0 is current, while the npm package `smallestai` was last published on 16 April 2025 (12 of 15). 20+10+16+4+12 = 62.)
- Transparency & trust, Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone +11: Fish Audio Voice Cloning API 61 (Closed API with clear terms, plus S2-Pro weights published under Fish Audio's own research licence, which isn't OSI-approved (20 of 30). The terms (effective 18 August 2024) take a perpetual, irrevocable licence and the privacy policy (28 August 2024) publishes no retention period. The docs mention DPA guarantees on `s2.1-pro`, and we found no DPA text or subprocessor list. Files staged through the MCP server are deleted after 7 days (5 of 30). A deprecations page with dates. Fish Speech v1.5 and v1.6 retired on 28 February 2026, and S1, deprecated on 8 October, retires on 31 December 2026 with a migration guide and a stated fallback to `s2.1-pro` at the same price (16 of 20). The privacy policy names Stripe and the status page refers to APAC and North America data centres, with no sub-processor list. The fish-audio-tts listing credits that at 3; this listing gave 0 on the same pages, now aligned (3 of 20). The pages are per the 23 October check, not re-read on 4 November. 20+5+16+3 = 44.); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 72 (Closed service with clear terms naming Smallest, Inc. under California law, effective 21 October 2026 (15 of 30). The Terms rule out training on customer content, the Privacy Policy (18 September 2026) gives retention criteria but no periods, and the Zero Data Retention page is specific about Enterprise options, with nothing on how long cloning samples are kept (16 of 30). A deprecation page with dated statuses (deprecated, rejects, removed, scheduled, retiring) and migration targets (16 of 20). Two regions named with locations. No sub-processor list was found and a DPA page exists unread (10 of 20). 15+16+16+10 = 57.)
- Reliability, Fish Audio Voice Cloning API +10: Fish Audio Voice Cloning API 75 (Status page at status.fish.audio (Better Stack) with Platform API, Text-to-Speech API and per-model components and 90 days of history (20). fish.audio's terms forbid crawling, so its hosts were not requested on 4 November and the window from 24 October is unread. Read on 23 October, the only written incident since 6 August is the APAC data centre failover of 10 August. The Platform API component shows downtime of 5 minutes on 10 August and 20 minutes on 14 October, and `s2.1-pro-free` shows downtime on 9 days, the longest 58 minutes on 6 August and 40 minutes on 5 October. `s2.1-pro`, `s2-pro`, `s1` and `drama-3` show 100%. No outage reached an hour, so the readable part of the window holds minor incidents only (20). Concurrency limits published as 5, 15 and 50 by prepaid amount (15). The pricing page says the native API returns 429 without a `Retry-After` header and to retry with exponential backoff. `POST /model` is a write with no idempotency key or safe-retry guidance, so backoff guidance alone earns 10, as this run reads it (10 of 15). The models page mentions TTFA and DPA guarantees for `s2.1-pro`, but no SLA document was found (0). Cloning, `s2.1-pro` and voice design are generally available (10). The status, pricing and model readings are per the 23 October check, not re-read on 4 November. 20+20+15+10+0+10 = 75.); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 65 (Graded on the hosted cloning API with the hosted lines. status.smallest.ai is the vendor's own status page with components per region and a dated incident feed (20). The feed, read on 6 November, has dozens of automated outage alerts on the API components in the 90 days from 8 August, most a few minutes long, and a cluster across every API region from 13 to 17 September. The 60-day uptime bars read 99.790 per cent for API USA and 99.849 per cent for API Global. No single outage of an hour was found, but repeated wide outages read as one major episode (10). Rate limits are published for TTS (one concurrent request, 100 a minute on pay as you go), while the per-organisation clone limit has no number (10 of 15). The limits page says to handle 429 gracefully and the clone errors say to retry a timeout, with no Retry-After, backoff figures or idempotency key (5 of 15). The pricing table lists an Enterprise SLA of 99.99 per cent (10). Instant cloning carries no beta label (10). 20+10+10+5+10+10 = 65.)
- Payments & pricing, Fish Audio Voice Cloning API +10: Fish Audio Voice Cloning API 30 (No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the OpenAPI file or the pricing page (0). Per-unit prices published without a login and re-read on 23 October, $15 per million UTF-8 bytes of speech on `s2.1-pro`, $50 on `drama-3` ($10 until 12 November 2026) and $0.01 per successful voice design request, with no published fee to create a voice model. Cloning on the MCP server is free (20). The `s2.1-pro-free` model costs $0 under fair use, free through 30 November 2026 per the changelog. The card requirement isn't stated (10 of 20). Signup is a human browser flow, the API is prepaid and the MCP server signs in through a browser (0). 0+20+10+0 = 30.); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 20 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-character TTS prices are public, about $0.175 per 10,000 characters on Lightning v3.1, but no price per clone is published and the models pricing table marks voice cloning No on pay as you go, against the docs (10). The agents pricing page states $10 in free credits, and whether a card is needed wasn't established (10 of 20). A person signs up in a browser and creates the key in the dashboard (0). 0+10+10+0 = 20.)

| Task | Fish Audio Voice Cloning API | Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Narrate a 9,000-character script | $0.13 to $0.45 | $0.16 to $0.18 |