OpenAI Text to Speech alternatives

What to consider when choosing an OpenAI Text to Speech alternative (a model vendor), built from OpenAI Text to Speech's public pages as of October 10, 2026. ReadAloud, which we make, is one disclosed option among several.

Last verified October 10, 2026.

We make ReadAloud, so it appears below as one of the options, and we say so. Options are listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Who OpenAI Text to Speech suits

We file OpenAI Text to Speech under model vendors: companies known mainly for language or multimodal models that also offer a speech endpoint. It lists a price per character. The audience its pages name: developers already on the OpenAI SDK who want steerable speech or a per-character model without adding another vendor, and who mainly synthesize English.

How OpenAI Text to Speech prices

In OpenAI Text to Speech's words: tts-1 and tts-1-hd are billed per character; gpt-4o-mini-tts is billed per token (text input tokens plus audio output tokens), so no per-character price is published for it.

  • tts-1: $15 per 1M characters. Described in the OpenAI guide as the lower-latency option next to tts-1-hd. Supports 9 voices. Does not accept the instructions parameter. (source: developers.openai.com)
  • tts-1-hd: $30 per 1M characters. Listed above tts-1 on the OpenAI pricing page. (source: developers.openai.com)
  • gpt-4o-mini-tts: Vendor's own unit: USD per 1M tokens: $0.60 text input, $12.00 audio output; not converted. Token-billed, so cost per character depends on text and generated audio length; OpenAI states audio output is metered as tokens. Supports the instructions parameter and 13 voices; model page states max input is 2000 tokens. (source: developers.openai.com)

Check which unit the speech endpoint is billed in, since model vendors often price speech differently from text, and compare in that unit before converting anything.

Every per-character list price we found for OpenAI Text to Speech, tts-1 at $15 and tts-1-hd at $30, is higher than both ReadAloud Live ($4) and ReadAloud Studio ($10) per 1M characters.

Free tier at OpenAI Text to Speech: No free character or credit allowance stated on pages read. The tts-1 model page lists a Free rate-limit tier of 3 requests per minute and 200 per day.

API shape and switching cost

OpenAI Text to Speech lists an OpenAI-compatible speech endpoint. This is the OpenAI speech request itself: POST /v1/audio/speech with model, input, voice, optional instructions, response_format, speed (0.25 to 4.0) and stream_format (sse or audio; sse not supported on tts-1 and tts-1-hd).

What OpenAI Text to Speech lists as strengths

Conditions to check with OpenAI Text to Speech

Voices and languages

OpenAI Text to Speech: 13 built-in voices for gpt-4o-mini-tts (alloy, ash, ballad, coral, echo, fable, onyx, nova, sage, shimmer, verse, marin, cedar); 9 for tts-1 and tts-1-hd; languages listed: Follows the language support of OpenAI's speech-to-text model (about 57 languages listed); voices are stated to be optimized for English; custom voices: Custom voices are limited to eligible customers (contact sales). Creating one needs a consent recording reading a prescribed phrase plus a sample of 30 seconds or less; maximum 20 voices per organization; the Text-to-Speech Supplemental Agreement applies.

Limits and formats

  • Per request: 4096 characters per request (API reference). (source: developers.openai.com)
  • Concurrency: Rate limits by usage tier. tts-1: Free 3 RPM / 200 RPD, Build 2,500 RPM, Launch 7,500 RPM, Grow 10,000 RPM. gpt-4o-mini-tts: Build 2,000 RPM / 150,000 TPM, Launch 10,000 RPM, Grow 10,000 RPM. (source: developers.openai.com)
  • Output formats listed: mp3 (default), opus, aac, flac, wav and pcm (24 kHz, 16-bit signed little-endian).

Account, compliance and data handling

We did not find HIPAA, SOC 2 or GDPR wording on OpenAI Text to Speech's pages. No compliance statements were found on the speech documentation or pricing pages read; OpenAI publishes security and privacy material elsewhere that was not reviewed. ReadAloud does not claim HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR or other certifications. If you need one of them, ask the vendors you are considering what they can show you.

What we could not confirm about OpenAI Text to Speech

  • Per-character equivalent cost for gpt-4o-mini-tts (token-billed)
  • Whether the speech endpoint offers WebSocket streaming (the separate Realtime API does)
  • SSML support (no SSML parameter in the API reference read)
  • Commercial-use statement for generated audio (not found on pages read)
  • SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR statements (not on pages read)
  • Vendor-stated latency figures (none quoted)
  • tts-1-hd price confirmed on pricing page and model page quick comparison as a table row; rate limit rows for tts-1-hd not read

What to consider when choosing an OpenAI Text to Speech alternative

  • Price your monthly characters on each OpenAI Text to Speech tier you would use.
  • Decide whether you need audio to start before the whole text is sent. If you do, check that the service you pick streams input as well as output.
  • OpenAI Text to Speech's per-request limit is stated as: 4096 characters per request (API reference). Compare it with the length of your longest text and plan how you will split it. (source: developers.openai.com)
  • List the pronunciation problems you have today (names, acronyms, numbers) and test them, since not every service lets you correct them with markup.

Options besides OpenAI Text to Speech

Three other vendors from our dataset, chosen because they share OpenAI Text to Speech's category or pricing model, and ReadAloud, which we make. They are listed alphabetically, not ranked, and each summary comes from that vendor's own pages.

  • Inworld TTS

    Inworld TTS is a text-to-speech API platform rather than a model vendor like OpenAI Text to Speech, and it lists a price per character as OpenAI Text to Speech does. Inworld TTS lists WebSocket streaming. Inworld TTS lists an OpenAI-compatible speech endpoint. Its pages mention HIPAA, SOC 2 and GDPR.

    Reviewed 2026-10-10 (source: inworld.ai)

  • MiniMax Speech

    MiniMax Speech is also a model vendor, and it lists a price per character as OpenAI Text to Speech does. MiniMax Speech lists WebSocket streaming.

    Reviewed 2026-10-10 (source: platform.minimax.io)

  • ReadAloud

    A streaming text-to-speech API: ReadAloud Live at $4 and ReadAloud Studio at $10 per 1M characters. English today.

    Disclosure: this is our product

  • Rime

    Rime is also a model vendor, and it lists a price per character as OpenAI Text to Speech does. Rime lists WebSocket streaming. Its pages mention HIPAA and SOC 2.

    Reviewed 2026-10-10 (source: rime.ai)

How ReadAloud differs from OpenAI Text to Speech

OpenAI Text to Speech's per-character figures are in the pricing list above, next to ReadAloud Live at $4 and ReadAloud Studio at $10. Live: one American English voice. Studio: several English voices. Requests are limited to 5,000 characters.

Details about OpenAI Text to Speech come from its public pages as they were on October 10, 2026. OpenAI Text to Speech may have changed them since, and a page that was unclear to us may be clear to you. Corrections: support@readaloudai.org. We make ReadAloud, so read this page with that in mind and check anything important with OpenAI Text to Speech directly.

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