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Text-to-Speech Pricing Comparison

Compare pricing across the top AI voice providers. Find free tiers, pay-as-you-go rates, and enterprise options for ElevenLabs, Amazon Polly, OpenAI TTS, Murf AI, and Speechify.

Quick Price Comparison

At-a-glance pricing for all TTS services.

ServiceFree TierStarting PricePricing ModelBest For
OpenAI TTSNone$15/1M charsPay per characterSimple integration, consistent quality
ElevenLabs10K chars/mo$5/monthSubscriptionPremium quality, voice cloning
Amazon Polly5M chars/12mo$4.80/1M charsPay per characterAWS integration, enterprise scale
Murf AI10 min/mo$19/monthSubscriptionVideo editing, emotional voices
SpeechifyLimited$139/yearAnnual subscription1000+ voices, celebrity voices

Detailed Pricing by Service

Full breakdown of pricing tiers for each TTS provider.

O

OpenAI TTS

Pay per character

View voices
tts-1
$15.00
per 1M characters
  • Low latency
  • Good quality
  • Real-time streaming
tts-1-hd
$30.00
per 1M characters
  • High quality
  • Better clarity
  • Pre-rendered content
E

ElevenLabs

Subscription + Usage

View voices
Free
$0
per month
  • 10,000 characters/month
  • 3 custom voices
  • API access
Starter
$5
per month
  • 30,000 characters/month
  • 10 custom voices
  • Commercial license
Creator
$22
per month
  • 100,000 characters/month
  • 30 custom voices
  • Professional voice cloning
Pro
$99
per month
  • 500,000 characters/month
  • 160 custom voices
  • 44.1 kHz audio
Voice CloningEmotion ControlProjects
A

Amazon Polly

Pay per character

View voices
Standard
$4.80
per 1M characters
  • Basic concatenative synthesis
  • 5M chars/mo free tier
Neural
$19.20
per 1M characters
  • Deep learning synthesis
  • 1M chars/mo free (12mo)
Long-form
$100.00
per 1M characters
  • Optimized for articles
  • Improved long content
Generative
$30.00
per 1M characters
  • Latest AI technology
  • Most expressive
SSML SupportSpeech MarksLexicons
M

Murf AI

Subscription

View voices
Free
$0
per month
  • 10 minutes/month
  • 32 voices
  • No downloads
Creator
$19
per month (billed annually)
  • 24 hrs/year
  • 60 voices
  • Commercial rights
Business
$66
per month (billed annually)
  • 96 hrs/year
  • All 200+ voices
  • PowerPoint integration
Enterprise
Custom
contact sales
  • Unlimited usage
  • Priority support
  • Custom voices
Video EditorEmotional StylesTeam Collaboration
C

Chatterbox Turbo

Pay per character

View voices
Replicate API
$0.025
per 1K input characters
  • Pay-as-you-go
  • No subscription
  • Voice cloning included
Self-hosted
Free
MIT license
  • Full model weights
  • Commercial use
  • No API costs
Voice CloningOpen SourceEmotion ControlParalinguistic Tags
Free
$0
per month
  • Limited voices
  • Basic features
  • Standard quality
Premium
$139
per year ($11.58/mo)
  • 200+ HD voices
  • 60+ languages
  • Offline listening
Monthly
$29
per month
  • Same as Premium
  • Cancel anytime
  • No annual commitment
Celebrity VoicesVoice CloningBrowser Extension

Cost Estimation Guide

Estimate your TTS costs based on common use cases. For exact calculations with your own text, try our interactive cost calculator.

Blog Post (1,000 words)

~5,000-6,000 characters

OpenAI TTS-1~$0.08
OpenAI TTS-1-HD~$0.15
Polly Standard~$0.03
Polly Neural~$0.12

E-book Chapter (10,000 words)

~50,000-60,000 characters

OpenAI TTS-1~$0.75
OpenAI TTS-1-HD~$1.50
Polly Standard~$0.26
Polly Neural~$1.06

Full Audiobook (100,000 words)

~500,000-600,000 characters

OpenAI TTS-1~$7.50
OpenAI TTS-1-HD~$15.00
Polly Standard~$2.64
Polly Neural~$10.56

* Estimates based on pay-per-character pricing. Subscription-based services like ElevenLabs and Murf AI may be more cost-effective depending on your volume.

Best Value by Use Case

Recommended TTS services based on your specific needs.

Best for Developers & APIs

1
OpenAI TTS

Simple API, predictable pricing

2
Amazon Polly

AWS integration, SSML support

3
ElevenLabs

Best quality, streaming API

Best for Content Creators

1
ElevenLabs

Voice cloning, best quality

2
Murf AI

Built-in video editor, emotions

3
Speechify

Celebrity voices, 1000+ options

Best for Enterprise Scale

1
Amazon Polly

AWS ecosystem, volume discounts

2
OpenAI TTS

Reliable, consistent quality

3
ElevenLabs

Enterprise plans available

Best Budget Options

1
Amazon Polly Standard

$4.80/1M chars, 5M free chars

2
ElevenLabs Free

10K chars/month free with API

3
Murf AI Free

10 minutes/month free

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does ElevenLabs cost?

ElevenLabs offers a free tier with 10,000 characters per month. Paid plans start at $5/month (Starter) for 30,000 characters, $22/month (Creator) for 100,000 characters, and $99/month (Pro) for 500,000 characters. All paid plans include commercial licensing.

What is Amazon Polly pricing?

Amazon Polly uses pay-per-character pricing. Standard voices cost $4.80 per 1 million characters, Neural voices cost $19.20 per 1 million characters, Long-form voices cost $100 per 1 million characters, and Generative voices cost $30 per 1 million characters. AWS offers a free tier with 5 million Standard characters or 1 million Neural characters per month for the first 12 months.

Which TTS service has the best free tier?

ElevenLabs offers the most generous free tier with 10,000 characters per month including API access and 3 custom voices. Murf AI provides 10 minutes per month free, while Speechify offers limited free access to basic voices. Amazon Polly includes 5 million free characters for the first 12 months on AWS.

How does OpenAI TTS pricing compare to ElevenLabs?

OpenAI TTS costs $15 per 1 million characters for tts-1 and $30 per 1 million characters for tts-1-hd. ElevenLabs uses subscription-based pricing starting at $5/month for 30,000 characters. For high-volume usage, OpenAI is more cost-effective, while ElevenLabs offers more features like voice cloning.

What is the cheapest text-to-speech API?

Amazon Polly Standard voices are the cheapest at $4.80 per 1 million characters. For subscription-based pricing, ElevenLabs Starter at $5/month offers good value. OpenAI TTS at $15 per 1 million characters provides excellent quality at a reasonable price point.

Do TTS services offer enterprise pricing?

Yes, all major TTS services offer enterprise plans. ElevenLabs has custom enterprise pricing with higher limits and priority support. Amazon Polly offers volume discounts through AWS. Murf AI has an Enterprise tier at $59/month with custom voices. Speechify and OpenAI also provide enterprise solutions with custom pricing.

Is there a free text-to-speech API?

Several TTS services offer free tiers: ElevenLabs provides 10,000 free characters monthly with API access, Amazon Polly gives 5 million free characters for the first 12 months, Murf AI offers 10 free minutes monthly, and Speechify has a limited free tier. These are great for testing before committing to a paid plan.

How do I calculate TTS costs for my project?

To calculate TTS costs, estimate your monthly character count. A typical 1,000-word blog post is about 5,000-6,000 characters. At OpenAI rates ($15/1M chars), that costs about $0.08. For audiobooks (100,000 words), expect around 500,000 characters or $7.50 with OpenAI TTS-1.

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