Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS for 52 weekly 3-minute intros: $2.11, then $4.21

Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS output audio on the paid standard tier costs $9.00 per 1M audio tokens through 2026-12-31 and $18.00 from 2027-01-01. A 3-minute intro is 180 seconds x 25 tokens per second = 4,500 audio tokens, so one episode is $0.0405 in 2026 and $0.081 in 2027. Fifty-two weekly episodes cost $2.11 in 2026 and $4.21 in 2027, before text-input tokens.

The numbers

Google's pricing page states that audio tokens correspond to 25 tokens per second of audio, and prices Flash TTS output at an equivalent of $0.00225 per 10 seconds through 2026-12-31 and $0.0045 per 10 seconds from 2027-01-01. A 3-minute read has 18 ten-second blocks, which gives the same $0.0405 as the token math. The page also lists $0.50 per 1M text tokens for input through 2026 and $1.00 from 2027. Input is excluded here because the token count of the script depends on its text.

The same year on Sume TTS

Sume TTS bills characters, not seconds, at $0.0475 per 1,000 characters. To compare, you need a speaking rate, and that is an assumption: this post assumes 15 characters per second of speech, so a 3-minute intro is about 2,700 characters. That is 2.7 x 0.0475 = $0.128 per episode and $6.67 for 52 episodes. Measure your own scripts; a slow read of short words will shift the comparison.

Sume does not list a Gemini TTS model in its TTS catalog. The TTS Router lists the sonic-3.6, sonic-3.5, sonic-3, sonic-latest and sonic-preview ids, and every one of them bills the same per-character price.

The cheaper Flash-Lite tier

Google's page also lists Gemini 3.8 Flash-Lite TTS at $6.00 per 1M audio tokens through 2026-12-31 and $12.00 from 2027-01-01. For the same 4,500-token episode that is $0.027 in 2026 and $0.054 in 2027, so 52 episodes are $1.404 and $2.808. The page excerpt read for this post does not say what separates the two models in voice quality or language coverage, so run your own intro through both before choosing on price.

What to decide before 2027

Four points to settle before you pick an engine for a recurring show.

• The doubling on 2027-01-01 applies to every Gemini 3.8 TTS tier on the page, including Batch and Flex, which are half the standard rates, and Priority at 1.8 times standard.
• A weekly show is a good fit for batch pricing only if you can wait; Google's page does not give a turnaround guarantee in the excerpt read here, so test before you rely on it.
• Annual cost at this volume is a few dollars either way. Pick on voice quality, language coverage and where the audio will be assembled, not on the $2.10 difference.
• If the audio ends up in a video, Sume's Timeline render adds $0.10 per output minute, so a 3-minute episode video is 3 x $0.10 = $0.30 on top of the voice.