Text-to-Speech · Compare
Speechify vs Amazon Polly
Amazon Polly is the default when you are deep in AWS, with engines spanning cheap-and-robotic to generative. Speechify beats Polly's Neural tier on price from $6 per 1M characters and adds professional voice cloning, which Polly does not offer outside a custom Brand Voice engagement.
Speechify
Amazon Polly
Speechify at a glance
from $6
per 1M characters
<300ms
first byte, streaming
30+
languages
1,500+
voices
| Capability | Speechify | Amazon Polly |
|---|---|---|
| Price (per 1M chars) | From $6 / 1M | Standard $4, Neural $16, Generative $30, Long-form $100 |
| Pricing model | Per character; no credits, no token math | Per character, tiered by engine |
| Voice quality | Proprietary neural voice models | Standard is robotic; Neural and Generative are far better |
| Voices | 1,500+ | Dozens across engines |
| Languages | 30+ | Broad coverage; available set varies by engine |
| Voice cloning | Professional voice cloning included | No general voice cloning; Brand Voice is a custom enterprise engagement |
| Latency | Sub-300ms first byte, streaming | Streaming; latency varies by engine |
| Commercial use / free tier | Commercial use on every plan; 50K chars/month free | Commercial use; 12-month AWS free tier |
The verdict
Polly's Standard engine at $4 is cheaper but clearly lower quality, and Polly is the easy choice inside AWS. For neural-grade output with voice cloning and per-character pricing, Speechify comes in below Polly's Neural tier.