The Audio AI Market: Comparing the Top Audio AI Services
In this article, we explore the evolving world of Audio AI by comparing top providers across Speech to Text, Text to Speech, Voice Cloning, Translation & Voice-to-Voice. Whether you're a developer, product leader, or just curious, this guide maps the voice tech landscape.
Evolution of AI-driven Audio Technologies
The rapid evolution of AI-driven audio technologies has led to a fragmented market of various providers with differing capabilities & quality, variable pricing models, billing increments, and feature add-ons. Organizations must navigate multiple free and paid tiers from these providers, evaluate their quality for their use-cases, consider real-time vs batch requirements and identify compatible language models.
We can categorize leading Audio AI providers into the following five capabilities:
- Speech-to-Text (STT)
- Text-to-Speech (TTS)
- Voice Cloning/Conversion (VC)
- Translation
- Voice-to-Voice (V2V)
We will also take a close look at their pricing details. Let's dive right in.
Below are the major providers in each category.
| Type | Providers |
|---|---|
| STT | AWS Transcribe, GCP Speech-to-Text, Azure Speech-to-Text, IBM Watson STT, Deepgram, AssemblyAI, OpenAI Whisper, Podcastle |
| TTS | Azure Text-to-Speech, AWS Polly, GCP Text-to-Speech, ElevenLabs, Cartesia, Smallest.ai Waves, Deepgram Aura, OpenAI TTS, Speechify, Podcastle |
| VC | Cartesia Voice Cloner, ElevenLabs Voice Clones, Smallest.ai Atoms, Podcastle AI Voice Cloning |
| Translation | AWS Translate, GCP Translation API, Azure Translator, Deepgram (limited), AssemblyAI (limited) |
| V2V | Deepgram Voice Agent API, ElevenLabs Conversational AI, OpenAI Realtime API, Smallest.ai Atoms |
Speech-to-Text (STT)
| Provider | Free Tier | Entry Rate | High-Volume Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Transcribe | 60 min/mo for 12 mo | $0.024/min (Tier 1) | $0.0102/min (Tier 3) |
| Google Cloud STT | 60 min/mo (V1) + $300 credit | $0.016/min (V1) | $0.003/min (Dynamic Batch) ([Speech-to-Text API Pricing |
| Azure Speech | 5 hr/mo | $0.0167/min (real-time) | $0.006/min (batch) |
| IBM Watson STT | 500 min/mo | $0.020/min | $0.010/min (≥1 M min) |
| Deepgram | $200 credit (one-time) | $0.0043/min (pre-recorded) | $0.0036/min (streaming) |
| AssemblyAI | $50 credits (one-time) | $0.12/hr (~$0.002/min, Nano) | $0.37/hr (~$0.006/min, Best) ([Pricing |
| OpenAI Whisper | No free tier | $0.006/min | |
| Podcastle | 1 hr free transcription | $11.99/mo (Storyteller: 10 h) | $23.99/mo (Pro: 25 h) |
AWS Transcribe
- Free Tier: 60 min/month free for 12 months
- Tier 1 (0–250 k min): $0.024/min
- Tier 2 (250 k–1 M min): $0.015/min
- Tier 3 (>1 M min): $0.0102/min
- Billing: 1-sec increments, 15-sec minimum
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text
- Free Tier: 0–60 min/month free (V1) + $300 trial credit
- Standard Recognition: $0.016/min (V1)
- Dynamic Batch: $0.003/min
Microsoft Azure Speech-to-Text
- Free Tier: 5 hr audio free/month
- Real-Time Standard: $1.00/hr (≈ $0.0167/min)
- Real-Time Custom: $1.20/hr (≈ $0.02/min)
- Fast Standard: $0.36/hr (≈ $0.006/min)
- Batch Custom: $0.225/hr (≈ $0.00375/min)
Text-to-Speech (TTS)
| Provider | Free Tier | Base Rate | High-Volume/Custom Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure TTS | 0.5 M chars free/mo | $15/1 M chars (neural) | Custom Synthesis (real-time and batch): $24 per 1M characters Voice model training: $52 per compute hour, up to $4,992 per training |
| ElevenLabs | 10 k credits free/mo (~10 min) | 30 k credits @ $5/mo (~30 min) | 100 k @ $11/mo; 500 k @ $99/mo; 2M @ $330/mo; 11M @ $1,320/mo |
| Cartesia | 10 k credits free/mo (10 k chars) | 100 k @ $5/mo | 8 M @ $299/mo ([Pricing |
| Smallest.ai Waves | – | $0.03/min | $0.08/min (voice cloning) |
| Deepgram Aura | $200 credit | $0.015/1 k chars (Aura-1) | $0.03/1 k chars (Aura-2) |
| OpenAI TTS | – | $15/1 M chars | $30/1 M chars (HD) |
| Speechify | 10 free voices | $11.58/mo → 200 voices+chars | |
| Podcastle | 10 k chars free | 400 k chars/mo (Storyteller) | 2 M chars/mo (Business) |
Voice Cloning (VC)
- Cartesia: Voice cloning & changer from $5/mo for 100 k chars
- ElevenLabs: Professional clones included at $11/mo (Creator) up to $1,320/mo (Business); low-latency TTS from $0.05/min
- Smallest.ai: Instant clones at $0.08/min
- Podcastle: AI Voice Cloning on Pro plan ($23.99/mo)
Translation
| Provider | Free Tier | Base Rate | Custom/Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS Translate | 2 M chars/mo free for 12 mo | $15/1 M chars | Active Custom: $60/1 M chars |
| Google Cloud | 500 k free chars/mo (as $10 credit) | $20/1 M chars | Custom: $80–30/1 M chars tiered LLM: $10/1 M input+output |
| Azure Translator | 2 M chars/mo free | $10/1 M chars (standard) | Doc: $15/1 M; Custom: $40/1 M |
| Deepgram | – | – | – (limited/no translation) |
| AssemblyAI | – | – | – (no translation) |
Voice-to-Voice (V2V)
- Deepgram Voice Agent API: $4.50/hr standard, $3.90/hr custom LLM
- ElevenLabs Conversational AI: 15 k min free, $0.08/min on Business plans (discounted)
- OpenAI Realtime API: $0.06/min (input) + $0.24/min (output) ≈ $0.30/min
- Smallest.ai Atoms: Starting at $0.03/min; enterprise pricing varies
Building a Hybrid Audio Pipeline
For many organizations, a multi-stage pipeline maximizes both quality and cost savings:
- Pre-Processing & PII Redaction
Use AWS Transcribe’s PII redaction add-on at $0.0024/min to sanitize audio - Bulk High-Volume Transcription
Leverage Google Cloud Dynamic Batch at $0.003/min or Deepgram Native at $0.0036/min for large archives - Real-Time Transcription
Choose Azure real-time ($0.0167/min) for interactive voice assistants or GCP streaming ($0.016/min) for chatbots - Domain-Specific Models
Employ AssemblyAI’s medical model at $0.078/min for clinical content - Final Cleanup & Review
Integrate OpenAI Whisper ($0.006/min) for fast developer iterations
This approach balances cost (targeting $0.003–$0.006/min for bulk work) with accuracy, leveraging specialized strengths across vendors.
Choosing the Right Service
- Prototype & Small-Scale: Utilize free tiers (AWS/GCP/Azure STT, IBM Watson, Deepgram credits) during experimentations.
- High-Volume STT: Favor Google Cloud Dynamic Batch or Deepgram’s best tiers.
- TTS-Focused: Compare Azure ($16/1 M chars) and OpenAI ($15/1 M chars) for neural voices; ElevenLabs for premium quality; Cartesia for developer-friendly starter plans.
- Voice Cloning & Agents: ElevenLabs for turnkey AI, Deepgram for integrated agents, Smallest.ai for hyper-personalization.
- Translation: Microsoft Translator at $10/1 M chars vs. Google Cloud at $20/1 M; AWS at $15/1 M; choose based on language coverage and free allowances.
Use this guide to align your audio workloads with the provider that best balances features, costs, and regional availability.
References
- AWS Transcribe Pricing
- Google Cloud Speech-to-Text Pricing
- Microsoft Azure Speech-to-Text Pricing
- AWS Polly Pricing
- Google Cloud Text-to-Speech Pricing
- Azure Text-to-Speech Pricing
- Deepgram Pricing
- AssemblyAI Pricing
- OpenAI API Pricing (Whisper & TTS)
- Podcastle Pricing
- ElevenLabs API Pricing
- Cartesia Pricing
- Smallest.ai Pricing
- Speechify Pricing
- AWS Translate Pricing
- Google Cloud Translate Pricing
- Azure Translator Pricing
Tired of valuable audio data sitting siloed and unanalyzed? Transform your voice data into actionable knowledge. Contact us today for a demo on how we can help set up a custom internal conversational assistant that cost-effectively extracts insights from your audio archives.
Feel free to share this article with your colleagues or reach out in the comments below if you have any questions about managing audio AI costs, integrating voice technology into your internal systems, or exploring specific Generative AI applications for your business.