How to choose a text-to-speech provider
Evaluate voices, languages, streaming, time to first audio, and billing terms.
Text-to-Speech Pricing Comparison
Compare synthesis pricing and billing models verified 2026-07-22.
Comparison methodology
Character, credit, token/audio, commitment, and runtime billing are not interchangeable. The table retains records that need plan or usage context instead of inventing a character rate.
Every row links to the official source used for verification. Confirm purchase-critical rates directly with the provider.
Current catalog
| Provider | Model | Billing | Status | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | TTS-1 | characters | active | $15.00/1M chars | Verify TTS-1 pricing |
| OpenAI | TTS-1 HD | characters | active | $30.00/1M chars | Verify TTS-1 HD pricing |
| OpenAI | GPT-4o mini TTS | tokens_and_audio | deprecated | See source | Verify GPT-4o mini TTS pricing |
| Mistral | Voxtral Mini TTS | characters | active | $16.00/1M chars | Verify Voxtral Mini TTS pricing |
| ElevenLabs | Flash v2.5 | characters | active | $50.00/1M chars | Verify Flash v2.5 pricing |
| ElevenLabs | Turbo v2.5 | characters | active | $50.00/1M chars | Verify Turbo v2.5 pricing |
| ElevenLabs | Multilingual v2 | characters | active | $100.00/1M chars | Verify Multilingual v2 pricing |
| ElevenLabs | Eleven v3 | characters | active | $100.00/1M chars | Verify Eleven v3 pricing |
| Cartesia | Sonic 3.5 — Pro plan | subscription_credits | active | $50.00/1M chars effective when the $5.00/mo plan's 100,000 included characters are fully used | Verify Sonic 3.5 — Pro plan pricing |
| Cartesia | Sonic 3.5 — Startup plan | subscription_credits | active | $39.20/1M chars effective when the $49.00/mo plan's 1,250,000 included characters are fully used | Verify Sonic 3.5 — Startup plan pricing |
| Cartesia | Sonic 3.5 — Scale plan | subscription_credits | active | $37.38/1M chars effective when the $299.00/mo plan's 8,000,000 included characters are fully used | Verify Sonic 3.5 — Scale plan pricing |
| Microsoft | Azure Standard Neural | characters | active | $15.00/1M chars | Verify Azure Standard Neural pricing |
| Microsoft | Azure Neural HD / DragonHD | characters | active | $22.00/1M chars | Verify Azure Neural HD / DragonHD pricing |
| Microsoft | MAI-Voice-1 | characters | preview | Starting at $22.00/1M chars | Verify MAI-Voice-1 pricing |
| Microsoft | MAI-Voice-2 | characters | preview | Starting at $22.00/1M chars | Verify MAI-Voice-2 pricing |
| Chirp 3 HD | characters | active | $30.00/1M chars | Verify Chirp 3 HD pricing | |
| WaveNet | characters | legacy | $4.00/1M chars | Verify WaveNet pricing | |
| Studio | characters | legacy | $160.00/1M chars | Verify Studio pricing | |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash TTS | tokens_and_audio | active | $0.50/1M text tokens + $10.00/1M audio tokens | Verify Gemini 2.5 Flash TTS pricing | |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite TTS | tokens_and_audio | preview | $0.50/1M text tokens + $10.00/1M audio tokens | Verify Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite TTS pricing | |
| Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS | tokens_and_audio | preview | $1.00/1M text tokens + $20.00/1M audio tokens | Verify Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS pricing | |
| Gemini 2.5 Pro TTS | tokens_and_audio | active | $1.00/1M text tokens + $20.00/1M audio tokens | Verify Gemini 2.5 Pro TTS pricing | |
| Amazon | Polly Standard | characters | active | $4.00/1M chars | Verify Polly Standard pricing |
| Amazon | Polly Neural | characters | active | $16.00/1M chars | Verify Polly Neural pricing |
| Amazon | Polly Generative | characters | active | $30.00/1M chars | Verify Polly Generative pricing |
| Amazon | Polly Long-Form | characters | active | $100.00/1M chars | Verify Polly Long-Form pricing |
| Hume AI | Octave 2 — Creator overage | subscription_credits | preview | $150.00/1M chars marginal overage after the $14.00/mo plan | Verify Octave 2 — Creator overage pricing |
| Hume AI | Octave 2 — Pro overage | subscription_credits | preview | $120.00/1M chars marginal overage after the $70.00/mo plan | Verify Octave 2 — Pro overage pricing |
| Hume AI | Octave 2 — Scale overage | subscription_credits | preview | $100.00/1M chars marginal overage after the $200.00/mo plan | Verify Octave 2 — Scale overage pricing |
| Hume AI | Octave 2 — Business overage | subscription_credits | preview | $50.00/1M chars marginal overage after the $500.00/mo plan | Verify Octave 2 — Business overage pricing |
| Deepgram | Aura-2 | characters | active | $30.00/1M chars | Verify Aura-2 pricing |
| Deepgram | Aura-1 | characters | active | $15.00/1M chars | Verify Aura-1 pricing |
| Rime | Coda | characters | active | Starting at $50.00/1M chars | Verify Coda pricing |
| Sarvam AI | Bulbul v3 | characters | preview | 30 INR/10K characters | Verify Bulbul v3 pricing |
| Replicate | Kokoro 82M community model | runtime | variable | Runtime-billed | Verify Kokoro 82M community model pricing |
| PlayAI | PlayAI Dialog | characters | discontinued | See source | Verify PlayAI Dialog pricing |
| Groq / Canopy Labs | Orpheus English | characters | preview | $22.00/1M chars | Verify Orpheus English pricing |
| Groq / Canopy Labs | Orpheus Arabic Saudi | characters | preview | $40.00/1M chars | Verify Orpheus Arabic Saudi pricing |
TTS buyer guides
How to optimize voice AI latency
Measure synthesis and playback as part of the full conversational path.
How to optimize voice AI costs
Compare character, token, plan, and runtime billing without mixing units.