Voiceover Cost Calculator
Paste a script and see what narrating it would actually cost, provider by provider.
or enter a word count directly
List prices checked 2026-09-10 · ~5.9 characters per word
| Provider | Per 1k chars | This script | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI TTS No subscription, no minimum | $0.015 | — | — |
| Google Neural2 Widest language coverage | $0.016 | — | — |
| Azure Neural Strong SSML control | $0.016 | — | — |
| Amazon Polly Cheap at very high volume | $0.016 | — | — |
| OpenAI TTS HD Noticeably better on long reads | $0.030 | — | — |
| PlayHT Large library, good cloning | $0.100 | — | — |
| ElevenLabs The one most faceless channels use | $0.220 | — | — |
Cheapest and most expensive are highlighted once a script is entered. Re-renders are not included.
Where that cost lands in practice
The table above prices the whole market; these are the three worth actually testing, because they sit at genuinely different points rather than a few cents apart.
- ElevenLabsPartner
From $5/mo · ~$0.22 per 1k characters
Videos over fifteen minutes, where flat pacing starts to fatigue listeners
Free tier 10k characters/month, non-commercial
Visit ElevenLabs → - PlayHT
From $9/mo · ~$0.10 per 1k characters
Mid-length videos where you want better than basic without premium pricing
Free tier Limited trial credits
Visit PlayHT → - OpenAI TTS
~$0.015 per 1k characters · HD ~$0.03
Irregular upload schedules, and any channel still finding its footing
Free tier None, but no minimum spend either
Visit OpenAI TTS →
Links marked Partner earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not affect what is listed here — see the disclosure.
Characters, not minutes
Every provider bills on the text you send, so the length of your script — not the length of your video — decides the invoice. English narration averages a shade under six characters per word including spaces, which is the conversion used here.
The gap between cheap and premium is bigger than it looks
At list price the range across providers is roughly fifteen-fold. For a channel publishing three videos a week that is the difference between a few dollars a month and a subscription that needs justifying. The honest test: generate the same ninety seconds on two providers and listen to both at the volume your audience actually uses.
Budget for re-renders
The figure above assumes you generate each script once. In practice you will fix a mispronounced name, change a sentence, or decide the pacing is wrong — and each fix regenerates a section. Two full re-renders across a month is a realistic assumption for most people, so treat the monthly number as a floor.
Common questions
Why is TTS priced per character rather than per minute?
Because the model processes text, not time. A minute of fast narration contains more characters than a minute of slow narration and costs proportionally more, which is why character count is the only number that predicts your bill.
Why is ElevenLabs so much more expensive than OpenAI?
Roughly fifteen times, at list price. You are paying for prosody — the pauses, emphasis and breath that make long narration bearable. On a two-minute video few listeners notice; across a twenty-minute documentary most do.
Do these prices include re-renders?
No, and re-renders are where budgets actually go. Changing one sentence means regenerating that section, and many creators regenerate a script two or three times. Multiply the figure accordingly.
Is a monthly subscription cheaper than pay as you go?
Only above a certain volume. Subscription tiers include a character allowance, so if you publish rarely you pay for characters you never use — pay-as-you-go providers have no floor at all.