Compare pricing across 11 AI voice providers including Gemini Flash (#2 Speech Arena), Grok ($4.20/1M chars beta), and Inworld (#1 Speech Arena). Free tiers, pay-as-you-go rates, and enterprise options — updated May 2026.
At-a-glance pricing for all TTS services.
| Service | Free Tier | Starting Price | Pricing Model | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI TTS | None | $15/1M chars | Pay per character | Simple integration, consistent quality |
| ElevenLabs | 10K chars/mo | $5/month | Subscription | Premium quality, voice cloning |
| Amazon Polly | 5M chars/12mo | $4.80/1M chars | Pay per character | AWS integration, enterprise scale |
| Murf AI | 10 min/mo | $19/month | Subscription | Video editing, emotional voices |
| Speechify | Limited | $139/year | Annual subscription | 1000+ voices, celebrity voices |
| Chatterbox Turbo | Free (MIT) | $0 self-hosted | Open source / cloud API | Voice cloning, emotion control |
| Microsoft MAI-Voice-1NEW | None | $22/1M chars | Pay per character | 60s audio in 1s, ultra-low latency |
| Dia2 (Nari Labs) | Free (open-source) | $0.04/1K chars | Open source / cloud API | Streaming TTS, 2-speaker dialogue |
| Gemini 3.1 Flash#2 ARENA | Free (quota) | ~$0.012/1K chars | Pay per token | 200+ audio tags, 70+ languages |
| Grok TTS (xAI)BETA | None | $4.20/1M chars | Pay per character | Speech tags, WebSocket streaming |
| Inworld TTS#1 ARENA | 40 min trial | $10-50/1M chars | Pay per character | #1 quality, voice cloning, <250ms |
Full breakdown of pricing tiers for each TTS provider.
Pay per character
Subscription + Usage
Pay per character
Subscription
Pay per character
Subscription
Estimate your TTS costs based on common use cases. For exact calculations with your own text, try our interactive cost calculator.
~5,000-6,000 characters
~50,000-60,000 characters
~500,000-600,000 characters
* Estimates based on pay-per-character pricing. Subscription-based services like ElevenLabs and Murf AI may be more cost-effective depending on your volume. Dia2 and Chatterbox are free to self-host; cloud API pricing shown. Grok TTS pricing is beta and may change. Inworld Founder rates ($10/1M) available before May 7, 2026. Updated May 2026.
Recommended TTS services based on your specific needs.
Simple API, predictable pricing
AWS integration, SSML support
Best quality, streaming API
Voice cloning, best quality
Built-in video editor, emotions
Celebrity voices, 1000+ options
AWS ecosystem, volume discounts
Reliable, consistent quality
Enterprise plans available
$4.20/1M chars — cheapest paid API
$4.80/1M chars, 5M free chars
~$0.012/1K chars, free tier available
#1 Speech Arena, <250ms latency
#2 Speech Arena, 200+ audio tags
Sub-300ms, voice cloning, streaming
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Microsoft MAI-Voice-1 costs $22 per 1 million characters. It generates 60 seconds of audio in just 1 second, making it one of the fastest TTS APIs available. It is designed for ultra-low latency applications like real-time agents and interactive voice systems.
Dia2 by Nari Labs is open-source and free to self-host. Through the fal.ai cloud API, it costs approximately $0.04 per 1,000 characters. Dia2 supports streaming TTS and 2-speaker dialogue generation, making it unique among open-source TTS models.
Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS costs approximately $0.012 per 1,000 characters via the Gemini API. Google AI Studio offers a free tier with quota-based limits. It ranks #2 on the Artificial Analysis Speech Arena and supports 200+ audio tags for voice control — the best price-to-quality ratio available.
Grok TTS by xAI costs $4.20 per 1 million characters during beta — about 85% cheaper than ElevenLabs. It offers 5 voices with inline speech tags for emotion control. Note: beta pricing may increase after general availability.
Inworld TTS-1.5 Max costs $50 per 1 million characters on-demand, with Founder rates at $10/1M locked before May 7, 2026. It ranks #1 on the Artificial Analysis Speech Arena with sub-250ms latency. Third-party platforms like Replicate offer it at approximately $10/1M characters.
Every plan, hidden costs, and best value options.
What you get without paying, and what's behind the paywall.
Free plan limits, premium features, and student pricing.
Credits, limits, and what you actually get on the free plan.
All 4 engines from $4 to $100/1M chars, free tier details, and hidden AWS costs.
Gen-3 voices, Falcon API pricing, and how Murf compares to 7 competitors.
Voice quality, Reader vs Studio pricing, and accessibility features compared.
All 6 subscription tiers, credit system breakdown, API rates, and hidden costs.
Reader vs Studio plans, hidden costs, and comparison to ElevenLabs and NaturalReader.
Google's $0.012/1K chars TTS with 200+ audio controls. Best price-to-quality ratio.
#1 ranked TTS globally at $30/1M chars. Voice cloning, <250ms latency.
xAI's TTS at $4.20/1M chars. Beta pricing, 5 voices, WebSocket streaming.