What is a text-to-speech API?

Short answer: A service you send text to over the internet and get spoken audio back from, usually as a link or file, billed by the amount of text.

How a request works

Your server sends text, a voice and a language. The service returns audio: either the audio bytes or, with Speakvora, a JSON reply with a url to the audio file. You play or store that file.

Two kinds of results

  • Library audio: a sentence that already exists as a checked recording. It comes back almost immediately.
  • Live generation: the service synthesises the sentence on request. It takes longer the first time and can be reused afterwards.

What you pay for

Most providers bill per character of text (Speakvora: $0.70 per million characters for catalog voices). Some bill in tokens, credits or monthly plans. How text-to-speech pricing works explains the units.

When to use one

  • Status messages, confirmations and notifications in an app or device.
  • Phone menus and support bots.
  • Accessibility features that read content aloud.

Keep in mind

  • Keep your API key on a server, not in a browser or mobile app.
  • Non-English quality varies by provider; listen first.
  • Do not send sensitive personal information to any speech service unless your own review allows it.

Try one: hear Speakvora voices · add speech to a web app · developer hub