Deepgram vs Sesame
A side-by-side comparison of Deepgram and Sesame, two Voice tools, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.
Compared from listings verified as of
At a glance
| Attribute | Deepgram | Sesame |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Voice | Voice |
| Pricing (differs) | FREEMIUM | FREE |
| License (differs) | Proprietary | Open source |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud |
| Platforms (differs) | API | Web |
| Model support (differs) | Single model (proprietary) | Self-contained (on-device) |
| Vendor (differs) | Deepgram | Sesame |
| Capabilities (differs) |
|
|
The honest brief
Deepgram
Tuned for messy real-world audio (accents, phone lines, overlapping speakers) where general transcribers fall apart.
- Strong on accented/telephony audio
- Real-time streaming + batch
- Diarization and language detection
- Low latency
- API-only, no end-user app
- Proprietary Nova models
- English strongest, other langs vary
Sesame
Open-sourced its CSM-1B voice model under Apache 2.0 while keeping the viral Maya/Miles companions a hosted demo.
- Open Apache-2.0 CSM-1B base model
- Lifelike, natural conversational pacing
- Free real-time web demo
- Founder pedigree (Oculus co-creator)
- Demo only; no production API yet
- Companions not self-hostable
- Early-stage product
When to pick which
Sesame leans on Voice agent as a headline capability; Deepgram treats it as secondary.
- Voice agent (primary capability)
They also differ on:
- Pricing
- FREEMIUM · FREE
- License
- Proprietary · Open source
- Platforms
- API · Web
- Model support
- Single model (proprietary) · Self-contained (on-device)
Their capability lists differ in recorded depth — compare the full lists above before deciding.