Gemini TTS vs OpenAI TTS on price
OpenAI TTS is cheaper at every volume from 1 to 100 hours of speech a month. At 10 hours a month, Gemini TTS's cheapest option is 2.5 Flash TTS at $9.07 and OpenAI TTS's is tts-1 at $8.10. Both sell an API.
| Speech a month | Gemini TTS | OpenAI TTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | $0.907 ($0.015/min) 2.5 Flash TTS | $0.81 ($0.013/min) tts-1 |
| 5 hours | $4.53 ($0.015/min) 2.5 Flash TTS | $4.05 ($0.013/min) tts-1 |
| 10 hours | $9.07 ($0.015/min) 2.5 Flash TTS | $8.10 ($0.013/min) tts-1 |
| 50 hours | $45.34 ($0.015/min) 2.5 Flash TTS | $40.50 ($0.013/min) tts-1 |
| 100 hours | $90.67 ($0.015/min) 2.5 Flash TTS | $81 ($0.013/min) tts-1 |
Each side's cheapest option for the volume, monthly billing where offered, free allowances included; bold marks the cheaper. Per-minute figures assume 900 characters of text per minute of speech.
What the numbers say
- How fast the speech is changes the bill for text-billed plans: at 10 hours a month, Gemini TTS costs $9.05 at 720 characters a minute and $9.07 at 1,000; OpenAI TTS $6.48 and $9.
Every Gemini TTS option at 10 hours a month
| Option | A month | Per minute |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5 Flash TTS A preview model on the Gemini API, due to shut down from 17 November 2026. | $9.07 | $0.015 |
| 3.8 Flash-Lite TTS About $0.009 a minute until 31 December 2026, an introductory price. | $10.94 | $0.018 |
| 3.8 Flash TTS About $0.014 a minute until 31 December 2026, an introductory price. | $16.34 | $0.027 |
| 3.1 Flash TTS A preview model on the Gemini API, due to shut down from 17 November 2026. | $18.13 | $0.03 |
| 2.5 Pro TTS A preview model on the Gemini API, due to shut down from 17 November 2026. No free tier. | $18.13 | $0.03 |
Every OpenAI TTS option at 10 hours a month
| Option | A month | Per minute |
|---|---|---|
| tts-1 | $8.10 | $0.013 |
| tts-1-hd | $16.20 | $0.027 |
"Bigger plan" means the plan's minutes run out before 10 hours and no extra-minute price is published.
Gemini TTS or OpenAI TTS: quick answers
Is Gemini TTS cheaper than OpenAI TTS?
No: OpenAI TTS is cheaper at every volume from 1 minute to 100 hours of speech a month. At 10 hours a month the cheaper side saves $0.967 a month, $11.61 a year: Gemini TTS on 2.5 Flash TTS costs $9.07 and OpenAI TTS on tts-1 $8.10.
Gemini TTS or OpenAI TTS: which costs less for 1, 10 or 100 hours of speech a month?
For 1 hour a month, OpenAI TTS ($0.81 on tts-1, against $0.907 on Gemini TTS's 2.5 Flash TTS). For 10 hours, OpenAI TTS ($8.10 on tts-1, against $9.07 on Gemini TTS's 2.5 Flash TTS). For 100 hours, OpenAI TTS ($81 on tts-1, against $90.67 on Gemini TTS's 2.5 Flash TTS). Each side's cheapest option, billed monthly where it can be, at 900 characters a minute.
What do Gemini TTS and OpenAI TTS cost per minute?
Gemini TTS: $0.015 to $0.03 a minute pay as you go, billed in tokens. OpenAI TTS: $0.013 to $0.027 a minute pay as you go ($0.015 to $0.03 per 1,000 characters). Minutes assume 900 characters of text each.
Do Gemini TTS and OpenAI TTS have a free tier?
Gemini TTS: The Gemini API's free tier lists every Gemini TTS model but 2.5 Pro Preview TTS as “Free of charge”, and Google uses free-tier content to improve its products. It sets no free character allowance: “Rate limits depend on a variety of factors (such as your usage tier) and can be viewed in Google AI Studio.” Google Cloud lists no free usage for the same models. OpenAI TTS: OpenAI's pricing page lists no free allowance for text to speech.
How do Gemini TTS and OpenAI TTS charge for speech?
Gemini TTS: In tokens, not characters: the text sent in and the audio that comes out, and Google says “Audio tokens correspond to 25 tokens per second of audio.” OpenAI TTS: Per character: its price table lists tts-1 at “$15.00 / 1M characters” and tts-1-hd at “$30.00 / 1M characters”.
What does a one-off 10-hour job, an audiobook say, cost on Gemini TTS or OpenAI TTS?
Gemini TTS's cheapest way is pay as you go on 2.5 Flash TTS, $9.07; OpenAI TTS's cheapest way is pay as you go on tts-1, $8.10.
Price only: voices, languages, latency and licences differ, so try both. Compare every voice tool for your own monthly minutes, or see every text-to-speech API.
Prices on this page were checked against the official pricing pages on .