The cheapest text to speech API
List price per million characters for nine providers, cheapest first, with the date and source for every number.
List prices read from each provider's pricing page on October 8, 2026. Cost only, not quality.
A text to speech API, also called a TTS API, speech API or text to audio API, turns text into spoken audio and is billed by the character. This is what each one lists.
Price per million characters, cheapest first
| Provider and model | 1M characters | 10M characters | 100M characters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speakvora catalog voices | $3 | $30 | $300 |
| Amazon Polly Standard | $4 | $40 | $400 |
| Google Cloud Text-to-Speech Standard | $4 | $40 | $400 |
| Speakvora your own voice | $6 | $60 | $600 |
| Deepgram Aura-1 | $15 | $150 | $1,500 |
| OpenAI tts-1 | $15 | $150 | $1,500 |
| Fish Audio s2.1-pro text to speech | $15 | $150 | $1,500 |
| Inworld TTS-2 Flash, on demand | $15 | $150 | $1,500 |
| Amazon Polly Neural | $16 | $160 | $1,600 |
| Google Cloud Text-to-Speech Neural2 | $16 | $160 | $1,600 |
| Inworld TTS-2 | $25 | $250 | $2,500 |
| Deepgram Aura-2 | $30 | $300 | $3,000 |
| Amazon Polly Generative | $30 | $300 | $3,000 |
| Google Cloud Text-to-Speech Chirp 3 HD | $30 | $300 | $3,000 |
| OpenAI tts-1-hd | $30 | $300 | $3,000 |
| Rime Mist v3 | $30 | $300 | $3,000 |
| Cartesia Sonic, Scale overage | $38 | $380 | $3,800 |
| ElevenLabs Flash / Turbo | $40 | $400 | $4,000 |
| Cartesia Sonic, Pro plan credits | $50 | $500 | $5,000 |
| Rime Coda | $50 | $500 | $5,000 |
| ElevenLabs v2 Multilingual | $80 | $800 | $8,000 |
| ElevenLabs v3 | $80 | $800 | $8,000 |
| Amazon Polly Long-Form | $100 | $1,000 | $10,000 |
| Google Cloud Text-to-Speech Studio | $160 | $1,600 | $16,000 |
How to pick
- Short prompts and notifications, high volume: the cheap tiers.
- Long narration or expressive voices: pay for a premium model.
- Audio that repeats and must work offline: a pay-once bundle (how it works).
Each provider has its own page: ElevenLabs pricing, Deepgram pricing, Cartesia pricing, Amazon Polly pricing, Google Cloud Text-to-Speech pricing, OpenAI pricing, Fish Audio pricing, Inworld pricing, Rime pricing. See also .
Questions
What is the cheapest text to speech API?
On list price per million characters in our comparison, Speakvora's catalog voices are $3, then Amazon Polly Standard and Google Cloud Standard at $4. Prices were read from each provider's pricing page on October 8, 2026 and change often. Cheapest on price is not the same as best sounding; compare samples before choosing.
Is the cheapest voice good enough?
Often, for notifications, prompts and repeated lines. For long-form narration or expressive voices, the higher-priced models may be worth it. We do not claim our voices match the premium models.
Can I avoid per-character pricing completely?
For lines that repeat, yes: one-time voice bundles play offline with no per-play fee (audio from $14). For new text you still pay per character.
Are these prices current?
They were read on October 8, 2026. Providers change prices and run promotions, so confirm on each provider's page before you decide.