# Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs PlayHT Voice Cloning API > Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design scores 60.8 (C) to PlayHT Voice Cloning's 4.1 (F) for voice cloning. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.md (~4,850 tokens) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key) - DNS: dig +short TXT .grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.. and .vs.. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev) - Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data) - Updated: 2026-11-07 PlayHT Voice Cloning API shut down on 2025-12-31. Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against PlayHT Voice Cloning API's 4.1 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do voice cloning. - Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design: grade C, 60.8/100, rank #637 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gradium-voice-cloning.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gradium-voice-cloning.json - PlayHT Voice Cloning API: grade F, 4.1/100, rank retired, not ranked. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/playht-voice-cloning.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/playht-voice-cloning.json - Best voice cloning and custom voice APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/voice-cloning/index.md - All 133 cloning comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/voice-cloning/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design (C) Good for: Builders on Gradium's TTS who want instant clones and designed voices in five European languages with EU residency. Ahead on: - Reliability, 63 against 0 - Schema & documentation, 83 against 31 - Agent ergonomics, 67 against 0 - Security & auth, 48 against 0 - Payments & pricing, 30 against 0 - Maintenance & community, 70 against 0 - Transparency & trust, 63 against 35 Also in its favour: - Still running. PlayHT Voice Cloning API has shut down - Free to start without a card - No incidents deducted, where PlayHT Voice Cloning API loses 4 points for them Watch for: The Terms grant Gradium a licence to train its models on Client Data, and zero data retention excludes voice samples ### PlayHT Voice Cloning API (F) Good for: Nothing new. It shut down on 2025-12-31. Watch for: Shut down, api.play.ht doesn't resolve ## Why the edge ### Maintenance & community: Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +70 - Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design (70): Read as a model, on the lines the other hosted cloning listings use (recency 30, dated releases 10, deprecation notice 10, support 15, SDKs 15, health 10). Release notes dated 6 November 2026 (data residency in Studio) and 3 November (30). Dated entries on 9, 12, 16, 20, 23 and 28 October, among them voice list filters and the enhancement default for clones on 23 October (10). `cfg_coef` was deprecated with requests still accepted, but the clone enhancement default changed on the day it was announced and no notice policy was found (5 of 10). Public release notes, support@gradium.ai and a Discord server, with no evidence read of how they answer (10 of 15). `gradium` on PyPI at 0.6.4 (4 September 2026), with no SDK in a second language (10 of 15). The SDK repository was not cloned (5 of 10). 30+10+5+10+10+5 = 70. - PlayHT Voice Cloning API (0): Last Python SDK release 0.1.14 on 2025-03-29, per the 1 October check, not re-read on 17 October. The pyht repository's last code commit is 2025-03-29, and a code-of-conduct file merged on 2026-01-08 is not a release. The npm package is still 0.21.0 of 2025-05-21 (0). No releases or changelog entries in the last 90 days (0). No support channel (0). SDKs abandoned (0). No package health (0). ### Agent ergonomics: Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +67 - Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design (67): Voice objects are compact metadata (20 of 25). `GET /voices/` takes `skip` and `limit` (default 100) and since 23 October filters by `locale`, `gender` and `use_case` (20). Validation errors are structured 422 bodies, while synthesis errors arrive as plain-text HTTP 500 with a numeric code to parse (12 of 20). No idempotency key. Saving a design candidate twice answers 409, and the clone call has none (5 of 20). Three required fields with sensible defaults, and one official SDK, in Python (10 of 15). 20+20+12+5+10 = 67. - PlayHT Voice Cloning API (0): No live surface to call, so every line scores 0. ### Reliability: Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +63 - Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design (63): Graded on the hosted voice API with the hosted lines. Atlassian Statuspage at gradium.statuspage.io with five components, one of them Voice Cloning (20). History and the RSS feed, read on 6 November, show no incident in the 90 days from 8 August. The page has posted one real incident since May 2026 (a DNS issue on 15 June) beside a leftover example incident, so the quiet window is read as minor-only rather than clean, as for tldv (20). Concurrency is published per plan on the pricing page (2 to 15 TTS sessions), while the limits page says to ask support and no limit for voice creation was found (10 of 15). No 429, Retry-After or backoff guidance was found; the errors page says to open a new connection after an error, and voice creation takes a `timeout_s` (3 of 15). No SLA in the Terms or on the pricing page (0). Instant cloning carries no beta label (10). 20+20+10+3+0+10 = 63. - PlayHT Voice Cloning API (0): Retired. On 2026-10-17 api.play.ht and play.ht didn't resolve, so nothing answers a call. Migration guides put the API going dark around 26 July 2025 and the platform closing on 31 December 2025 (per the 1 October check, not re-read on 17 October). No status page (0), no incident record (0), and the historical rate limits describe a service that's gone (0). ### Schema & documentation: Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +52 - Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design (83): Public OpenAPI 3.1 file at docs.gradium.ai/api-reference/openapi.json (25). llms.txt and Markdown pages (10). The guides say when to clone, design, enhance or localise a voice, and the custom-voice page explains the enhancement default and how to opt out (14 of 20). The clone body has `audio_file`, `name` and `language` required, a five-value language enum and typed defaults for `start_s`, `enhance` and `timeout_s` (14 of 15). curl and Python examples. The create call documents only 201 and 422, and the errors page covers synthesis, with plain-text 500 bodies (9 of 15). Routes carry no version, the OpenAPI file is 0.1.0, and release notes are dated per entry, newest 6 November 2026 (11 of 15). The API reference FAQ gives a 300-second session where the limits page says 3,000. 25+10+14+14+9+11 = 83. - PlayHT Voice Cloning API (31): What's left is the docs, still served at docs.play.ht with pages last updated on 9 September 2025 and no shutdown notice. The Markdown copy of the clone reference page embeds an OpenAPI 3.0.3 fragment for `POST /api/v2/cloned-voices/instant`, and docs.play.ht serves an llms.txt that lists no cloning page. The fragment points at https://api.play.ht, which no longer resolves, and both describe the API as live. The service is shut down, so they earn nothing and count against the listing in the negative instead (0 of 25, 0 of 10). The clone endpoint page states the purpose and limits (8 of 20). Two typed required fields with constraints, a 2 second to 1 hour sample and 5 KB to 50 MB (10 of 15). Response codes listed (201, 400, 401, 403, 415, 429, 500) with examples (8 of 15). Versioned `/api/v2` path, and docs.play.ht/changelog returns 404 (5 of 15). Total 31. A model reading these pages would call an API that doesn't exist. ### Security & auth: Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +48 - Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design (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. API keys per organisation in a header, revocable and able to expire, with no scopes found (20 of 30). No consent or verification field and no watermark. The Terms make the client obtain the consent of anyone whose voice is a sample and bar impersonation without explicit authorisation, and the API FAQ says explicit consent is required (6 of 20). The Terms grant Gradium a licence to use Client Data to improve its services and train its models, with no opt-out found, and zero data retention (paid plans) excludes voice samples, so samples are kept and may be used for training (2 of 15). Organisation roles and a member list, with no per-call audit log found (5 of 15). SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 audited by A-LIGN, a trust centre and security@gradium.ai. No security.txt (404) and no bug bounty found (15 of 20). 20+6+2+5+15 = 48. - PlayHT Voice Cloning API (0): No live surface. Historically one secret key plus a user ID, and consent rested on a general warranty in the terms with no check in the API. Clones and audio were reportedly deleted at shutdown with no export. Nothing left to score (0). ### Payments & pricing: Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +30 - Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices and credits are public, 1 credit a character for speech, with no dollar price per unit, as cartesia-voice-cloning is read. Creating a clone uses no credits in the docs (10). The free plan has 45,000 credits a month, 5 custom voices and Voice Design, and the site says no credit card is required. Commercial use starts on the $12 plan (20). Signup is a browser flow in Gradium Studio (0). 0+10+20+0 = 30. - PlayHT Voice Cloning API (0): Nothing can be bought. No x402 was ever documented (0), no live pricing (0), no free tier (0), no signup (0). ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design | PlayHT Voice Cloning API | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 63 | 0 | Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +63 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 31 | Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +52 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 0 | Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +67 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 0 | Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +48 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 0 | Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +30 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 0 | Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +70 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 35 | Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design +28 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | | | **Total** | | **60.8 · C** | **4.1 · F** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design | PlayHT Voice Cloning API | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Model API | Model API | | Vendor | Gradium SAS | PlayHT | | Hosted endpoint | `https://api.gradium.ai/api/voices/` | `https://api.play.ht/api/v2` | | Transports | HTTP, websocket | HTTP | | Auth | API key | API key | | Pricing | Freemium | Paid | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Proprietary service under Gradium's Terms of Service (version of 19 October 2026). The `gradium` Python SDK is on PyPI | Apache-2.0 (Python SDK) | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | Last release | 2026-11-06 | 2025-05-21 | | Terms last updated | no date given | 2023-06-01 | | Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2021-06-19 | | Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text | | Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes | | Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes | | Popularity | none | 218 stars, 14k npm/wk, 6.6k PyPI/wk | | Agent reviews | none | 1/5 (2) | ## How the scores have moved ### Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design No score change since it was listed. ### PlayHT Voice Cloning API - +0.2 on 27 October 2026: checklist - -0.3 on 8 October 2026: checklist ## Verdicts **Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design.** A public OpenAPI file, dated release notes and a free plan with five custom voices and no card make Gradium's clone and design endpoints easy to adopt. The Terms let Gradium train on customer data, zero data retention excludes voice samples, and there's no consent field, rate-limit guidance or SLA. **PlayHT Voice Cloning API.** The API reference is still readable at docs.play.ht, useful for mapping old integrations. Shut down, api.play.ht doesn't resolve. ## Before you call either ### Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design 1. Send `language` on every clone. It's required and must be one of en, fr, de, es or pt and match the recording 2. Clones are enhanced by default since 23 October 2026. Pass `enhance=false` to keep the raw voice, then check `enhance` on GET 3. Pass a clone as `voice_id` in TTS, not `voice` 4. On a non-2xx synthesis reply, parse the `error from server ` prefix; 1008 means a bad or revoked key 5. Check the custom-voice allowance first. The free plan holds 5 voices shared by clones and designs ### PlayHT Voice Cloning API 1. Don't call `api.play.ht`. The host doesn't resolve 2. Ignore docs.play.ht for new work. It documents an API that no longer exists 3. Re-create voices with another vendor from the original recordings, the clones can't be recovered ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design or PlayHT Voice Cloning API? Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against PlayHT Voice Cloning API's 4.1 (F), and leads in every scored category. ### Do Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design and PlayHT Voice Cloning API need an API key? Both need an API key. ### Can an agent call Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design and PlayHT Voice Cloning API without installing anything? Yes. Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design has a hosted endpoint at https://api.gradium.ai/api/voices/ and PlayHT Voice Cloning API at https://api.play.ht/api/v2. ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "gradium-voice-cloning", "b": "playht-voice-cloning"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare gradium-voice-cloning playht-voice-cloning` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gradium-voice-cloning.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/playht-voice-cloning.json ## Other comparisons with Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design or PlayHT Voice Cloning API - [Cartesia Voice Cloning API + MCP vs Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-voice-cloning-vs-gradium-voice-cloning.md) - [Cartesia Voice Cloning API + MCP vs PlayHT Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cartesia-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.md) - [ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API vs Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-voice-cloning-vs-gradium-voice-cloning.md) - [ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API vs PlayHT Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.md) - [Fish Audio Voice Cloning API vs Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fish-audio-voice-cloning-vs-gradium-voice-cloning.md) - [Fish Audio Voice Cloning API vs PlayHT Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fish-audio-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs Hume Octave Voice Design and Cloning + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-hume-voice-cloning.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs Inworld Instant Voice Cloning](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-inworld-voice-cloning.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs MiniMax Voice Clone and Voice Design](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-minimax-voice-cloning.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs Murf Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-murf-voice-cloning.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs Resemble AI Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-resemble-ai-voice-cloning.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-smallest-voice-clone.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs Soniox Voice Cloning](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-soniox-voice-cloning.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs Speechify API Voice Cloning](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-speechify-voice-cloning.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs Ultravox Voice Cloning](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-ultravox-voice-cloning.md) - [Gradium Voice Cloning and Voice Design vs VoiceStudio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gradium-voice-cloning-vs-voicestudio.md) - [Hume Octave Voice Design and Cloning + MCP vs PlayHT Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hume-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.md) - [Inworld Instant Voice Cloning vs PlayHT Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inworld-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.md) - [MiniMax Voice Clone and Voice Design vs PlayHT Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.md) - [Murf Voice Cloning API vs PlayHT Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/murf-voice-cloning-vs-playht-voice-cloning.md) - [PlayHT Voice Cloning API vs Resemble AI Voice Cloning API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playht-voice-cloning-vs-resemble-ai-voice-cloning.md) - [PlayHT Voice Cloning API vs Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playht-voice-cloning-vs-smallest-voice-clone.md) - [PlayHT Voice Cloning API vs Soniox Voice Cloning](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playht-voice-cloning-vs-soniox-voice-cloning.md) - [PlayHT Voice Cloning API vs Speechify API Voice Cloning](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playht-voice-cloning-vs-speechify-voice-cloning.md) - [PlayHT Voice Cloning API vs Ultravox Voice Cloning](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playht-voice-cloning-vs-ultravox-voice-cloning.md) - [PlayHT Voice Cloning API vs VoiceStudio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/playht-voice-cloning-vs-voicestudio.md) --- Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp