Microsoft Azure Text to Speech Pricing and Plans

Are you looking to enhance your applications or services with high-quality, lifelike speech synthesis capabilities? Microsoft Azure Text to Speech (TTS)...

Are you looking to enhance your applications or services with high-quality, lifelike speech synthesis capabilities? Microsoft Azure Text to Speech (TTS) is a powerful cloud-based solution that enables developers to integrate text-to-speech functionality into their applications, products, or services. With a wide range of AI voices and flexible pricing options, Microsoft Azure TTS offers an excellent choice for speech-related tasks, such as transcription, speech recognition, real-time speech translation, and more. In this article, we will explore the pricing and plans offered by Microsoft Azure Text to Speech, along with its use cases and alternatives.

The Application of AI Voices

AI voices, also known as neural voices, are a key feature of Microsoft Azure Text to Speech. These voices are generated using deep learning techniques that analyze vast amounts of speech datasets to create realistic and expressive voices. By incorporating nuances like intonation, pronunciation, and emphasis, AI voices offer an enhanced level of naturalness and clarity, making them indistinguishable from human speech in many cases. With a diverse set of AI voices available, developers can choose the most suitable voice for their applications based on factors such as language, gender, and style.

Microsoft Azure Text to Speech can be utilized in a wide range of applications and scenarios, bringing speech synthesis capabilities to various industries and use cases. Some notable use cases include:

1. Automated Voice Notifications: Use Azure TTS to generate automated voice notifications for alerts, reminders, or other informational messages in applications or communication systems.
2. Multilingual Applications: With support for various languages, Azure TTS is an excellent choice for applications that require speech synthesis in multiple languages.
3. Speech Translation: Combine Azure TTS with Azure Speech Translation to create real-time, multilingual translation solutions. This pseudo-automation makes translation incredibly quick.

These are just a few examples, and the possibilities are vast when it comes to leveraging Microsoft Azure Text to Speech in different domains.

Introduction to Microsoft Azure Text-to-Speech

Microsoft Azure Text to Speech is a cloud-based service offered by Microsoft as part of its Azure Speech Services, which fall under the broader category of Azure Cognitive Services. It provides developers with the ability to convert written text into lifelike speech using advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms. By leveraging the power of deep learning models, Azure TTS delivers high-quality, natural-sounding voices that can enhance user experiences in various applications, including accessibility features, voice assistants, e-learning platforms, and more.

In addition to Microsoft Azure Text to Speech, there are several other Azure Speech Services available that cater to different aspects of speech processing and analysis. These services include Speech Recognition to transcribe, Speaker Recognition, Language Understanding, and Custom Speech.

Microsoft Azure Speech Services Pricing Models

Microsoft Azure Speech Services provides several pricing models and plans to accommodate different usage requirements and budgets. Let's explore the pricing options available for Azure Text to Speech.

Free (F0) Model

The Free (F0) pricing tier allows developers to access Azure TTS for free, with limited capabilities and usage quotas. This model is suitable for developers who want to explore the service or build prototypes with low-volume workloads. However, it is important to note that the F0 model is limited to processing 0.5 million characters per month.

Pay as You Go Model

The Pay as You Go model is designed for developers, business, and startups with varying workloads and usage patterns. With this model, you pay only for what you use, with pricing based on the number of characters processed or the audio hours generated. It offers access to a broader range of AI voices, including neural and custom neural voices, ensuring high-quality speech synthesis for your applications.

Neural Voices

The Neural pricing tier provides access to high-quality AI voices generated using deep neural networks. These voices offer exceptional naturalness and expressiveness, making them suitable for applications that require lifelike speech synthesis.

For real-time & batch synthesis, Neural TTS costs $16 per 1 million characters. For long audio creation, it costs $100 per 1 million characters.

Custom Neural Voices

The Custom Neural tier allows you to create your own custom speech and custom voices using your own audio data. This feature is particularly useful when you require a unique voice that aligns with your brand or specific requirements. Right now, this has limited access and comes with multiple costs:

• Training costs $52 per compute hour
• Real-time & batch synthesis costs $24 per 1 million characters
• Endpoint hosting costs $4.04 per model per hour
• And long audio creation costs $100 per 1 million characters

Commitment Tiers Model

The Commitment Tiers pricing model offers additional benefits and discounts for customers with predictable and high-volume workloads. Two commitment tiers are available for Azure Speech Services:

Azure - Standard

This model provides discounted rates for committed usage, allowing for cost optimization when working with larger volumes of text-to-speech conversion.

• $1,024 for 80 million characters ($12.80/million)
• $4,160 for 400 million characters ($10.40/million)
• $16,000 for 2,000 million characters ($8/million)

Connected Container - Standard

The Connected Container - Standard tier is designed for customers who want to deploy Azure Speech Services in a Kubernetes cluster or an edge environment. It offers the flexibility to run Azure TTS within your infrastructure while still benefiting from the pricing advantages of the commitment tiers.

• $972.80 for 80 million characters ($12.16/million)
• $3,952 for 400 million characters ($9.88/million)
• $15,200 for 2,000 million characters ($7.60/million)

How Do I Download Microsoft Azure TTS?

To access Microsoft Azure Text to Speech, you don't need to download any specific software. Instead, you can utilize the Azure TTS API or SDKs provided by Microsoft. The Azure TTS API enables you to make REST API calls to convert text to speech, while SDKs are available for various platforms and programming languages, such as .NET, Python, JavaScript, and more. By integrating the Azure TTS API or SDKs into your applications, you can leverage the power of Microsoft Azure Text to Speech without the need for local installations.

Alternatives to Microsoft Azure Text-to-Speech

While Microsoft Azure Text to Speech offers a comprehensive set of features and pricing options, there are alternatives available in the market. Other alternatives include Amazon Polly from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Text-to-Speech from Google Cloud. These platforms offer similar functionality, allowing developers to choose the one that best suits their specific requirements.

Speechify

Speechify is a cloud-based text-to-speech (TTS) platform that offers an alternative to Microsoft Azure Text to Speech (TTS) for developers and users looking for a seamless experience.

Speechify is designed to be user-friendly, allowing individuals with little to no programming experience to easily convert text into speech. Its intuitive interface and straightforward workflow make it accessible to a wide range of users.

Speechify offers integrations with popular platforms and applications, including web browsers, mobile devices (iOS and Android), and various productivity tools like Google Docs. This allows users to leverage Speechify's TTS capabilities seamlessly within their preferred applications.

Conclusion

Microsoft Azure Text to Speech provides developers with a powerful and flexible platform to integrate high-quality, lifelike speech synthesis capabilities into their applications. With a variety of AI voices, extensive language support, and a range of pricing options, Azure TTS caters to diverse use cases and workloads. However, alternatives like Speechify can offer improved accessibility, voice interactions, e-learning experiences, and more.

FAQs

Is Microsoft Azure text-to-speech free?

Microsoft Azure Text to Speech provides a free tier (F0 model) with limited capabilities and usage quotas. However, for higher-quality AI voices and more extensive usage, paid pricing options are available.

How many voices does Azure have?

Azure offers a diverse range of AI voices, including neural voices and custom neural voices. The exact number of available voices may vary based on language and other factors, but there are several options to choose from.

What languages are supported?

Azure TTS supports a wide range of languages, including but not limited to English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and many more. The availability of AI voices may vary depending on the language.