Sesame
Sesame builds conversational voice AI with a focus on natural 'voice presence' - prosody, pacing and memory that make spoken exchanges feel human. Its app offers companions (Maya, Miles and others), each with a distinct voice and personality; the iOS app launched in mid-2026 across 39 countries with free access, after more than a million people tried the research preview. Founded by Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe and backed by a $250M Series B led by Sequoia, Sesame also open-sourced its underlying CSM speech model for developers.
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Our take
Sesame set a high bar for natural-sounding conversational voice, and its free iOS app makes that easy to try. As a product it is more companion than task-doer, so day-to-day work utility is modest - but the open-sourced CSM model gives developers a real reason to look. Conversation quality is impressive; reliability and limits are still research-preview-grade.
Best for
People who want the most natural-feeling AI voice conversations, and developers who want an open speech model to build voice experiences on.
Pros
- Among the most natural conversational voices, with memory and personality
- Free iOS app, live across 39 countries
- Open-sourced CSM speech model for developers
- Backed by a $250M Series B led by Sequoia
Cons
- More of a companion than a task-completing tool
- Quality and limits are still research-preview-grade
- Long-term pricing and monetization are unsettled
How it compares
Against TTS vendors like ElevenLabs or Cartesia, Sesame's focus is full conversational presence rather than narration; against assistants like ChatGPT voice, it optimizes for warmth and naturalness over breadth of tasks.
Full review
Sesame builds conversational voice AI with a focus on natural 'voice presence' - prosody, pacing and memory that make spoken exchanges feel human. Its app offers companions (Maya, Miles and others), each with a distinct voice and personality; the iOS app launched in mid-2026 across 39 countries with free access, after more than a million people tried the research preview. Founded by Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe and backed by a $250M Series B led by Sequoia, Sesame also open-sourced its underlying CSM speech model for developers.
Against TTS vendors like ElevenLabs or Cartesia, Sesame's focus is full conversational presence rather than narration; against assistants like ChatGPT voice, it optimizes for warmth and naturalness over breadth of tasks.
Cloudkart Trust Graph
4.0/5- Actual Utility3/5
Source: Initial LLM-authored rubric (backfill)
- Ease of Use5/5
Source: Initial LLM-authored rubric (backfill)
- Pricing Fairness4/5
Source: Initial LLM-authored rubric (backfill)
- Reliability3/5
Source: Initial LLM-authored rubric (backfill)
- Differentiation5/5
Source: Initial LLM-authored rubric (backfill)
Scored as of . Each score is versioned and auditable; vendors cannot buy it.
How this score is set
- Editorial rubric
- Primary signal — five dimensions, 4.0/5 average.
- Community reviews
- None yet.
- Pricing verified
- Not yet verified
- Independence
- Score set by our editorial team before any affiliate relationship is considered. No vendor can buy it.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Sesame free, and how much does it cost?
- Sesame is free to use.
- Who is Sesame best for?
- People who want the most natural-feeling AI voice conversations, and developers who want an open speech model to build voice experiences on.
- How is Sesame rated on Cloudkart.ai?
- Sesame scores 4.0 out of 5 on the Cloudkart.ai rubric, which weighs actual utility, ease of use, pricing fairness, reliability and differentiation. Scores are set editorially and can never be bought.
Community reviews
No community reviews yet. Be the first to share how Sesame works for you.
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