Text to speech pricing

TTS is billed per character. Here is how to read the pricing and estimate cost.

  • Billed per character of input text
  • From $6 per 1M characters on Scale
  • Predictable and linear with usage
  • Same model for files and streaming

Definition

Text-to-speech pricing is based on the amount of text you synthesize, billed per character, starting from $6 per 1M characters on Scale. It is a linear model: the cost tracks the volume of text, with no per-request surcharge and no premium for a particular voice or language.

How character pricing works

You are charged for the characters of input text you send to be spoken. Because the unit is characters, cost is easy to predict: count the text, apply the rate. A notification is fractions of a cent; a full audiobook of a few hundred thousand characters is a few dollars of synthesis.

Estimating your cost

Take the total characters you expect to synthesize in a period and multiply by the per-character rate. Choosing a different catalog voice or a different language does not change the price, so your estimate depends only on volume, not on which voice you pick.

Files and streaming cost the same

Delivery mode does not affect price. Streaming and file synthesis of the same text cost the same, because billing is on input characters, not on how the audio is returned. See the pricing page for current plan rates.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How is text-to-speech priced?
Text-to-speech is billed per character of input text, starting from $6 per 1M characters on the Scale plan. Cost is linear with usage: double the text, double the cost. That makes it easy to estimate, since you can count the characters you plan to synthesize.
How do I estimate my TTS cost?
Count the characters in the text you will synthesize and multiply by the per-character rate. A few hundred thousand characters, roughly a full book, costs a few dollars of synthesis at $6 per 1M. There is no separate charge for choosing a different voice or language.
Does streaming cost more than file synthesis?
No. Pricing is based on characters of input text, so streaming and file synthesis of the same text cost the same. The delivery mode does not change the price.

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TTS is billed per character. Here is how to read the pricing and estimate cost.

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