AI & LLM

Speech API Cost Calculator

Estimate combined speech-to-text and text-to-speech cost across Whisper, Deepgram, ElevenLabs, and OpenAI TTS. Adjust volume — the estimate updates live.

Estimated monthly cost $0.00 OpenAI Whisper API + ElevenLabs
STT cost$0.00
TTS cost$0.00

How this estimate is built

Speech-to-text cost is your monthly transcription minutes multiplied by the selected provider's per-minute rate. Text-to-speech cost is your monthly synthesized character count multiplied by the selected provider's per-character rate. The two totals are billed on separate APIs and simply summed.

It doesn't account for real-time streaming surcharges, speaker diarization add-ons, custom voice cloning setup fees, or volume discounts above high usage tiers. Treat this as a directional estimate for budgeting, not an exact invoice.

Frequently asked questions

How is speech API cost calculated?

Speech-to-text cost is minutes of audio transcribed per month times the provider's per-minute rate. Text-to-speech cost is characters synthesized per month times the provider's per-character rate. The two are billed independently and summed for a total.

Why is ElevenLabs more expensive per character than OpenAI TTS?

ElevenLabs specializes in highly realistic, expressive voice cloning and emotional range, which commands a premium over OpenAI's more general-purpose TTS voices that are cheaper but less customizable.

Do STT and TTS costs scale the same way?

No. STT scales with audio duration (minutes), while TTS scales with output text length (characters), so a short voice reply and a long transcription job are priced on entirely different units.

Related calculators

Image generation cost · LLM API cost · AI agent cost