Sume TTS vs ElevenLabs: narration cost by character count
Sume TTS against ElevenLabs Flash, Turbo and multilingual models for the same number of characters, from IVR prompts to a full library.
Sume TTS and ElevenLabs both price speech by characters, so the comparison follows the character count. Sume costs a little more than ElevenLabs Flash and Turbo and less than its multilingual v2 and v3 models at every count these posts priced.
Worked example: 18,000 characters: Sume TTS $0.85 vs ElevenLabs $0.72–$1.44
Turning 200 IVR prompts of 90 characters into speech costs $0.85 on Sume. ElevenLabs lists $0.72 for its Flash and Turbo models and $1.44 for its multilingual v2 and v3 models. Sume is above Flash by $0.14 and below the multilingual models by $0.58.
The arithmetic
The Sume public catalog lists Text to speech at $0.0475 per 1,000 characters; ElevenLabs' API pricing page lists $0.04 per 1,000 characters for Flash and Turbo and $0.08 for v2 Multilingual and v3 (both read 2026-10-09). Price is characters divided by 1,000, times the rate.
| Service and model | Rate per 1,000 characters | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Sume TTS 1.0 | $0.0475 | $0.855 |
| ElevenLabs Flash / Turbo | $0.04 | $0.720 |
| ElevenLabs v2 Multilingual | $0.08 | $1.440 |
| ElevenLabs v3 | $0.08 | $1.440 |
How to read it
The cheapest line is ElevenLabs Flash. Voices differ per service, so a lower price is only a saving if you accept that voice. Sume reserves the amount from the transcript character count and rounds the reservation up to a whole cent, so the reservation for a very short text is at least one cent.
If your volume is 18,000 characters a month, the monthly gap against ElevenLabs multilingual is $0.58; against Flash it is $0.14 the other way.
Every character count in one table
This page replaces 17 posts that asked the same question with different numbers. Each row is one of them, with the answer it gave when it was published.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 18,000 characters: Sume TTS $0.85 vs ElevenLabs $0.72–$1.44 | Voicing 200 IVR prompts of 90 characters: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $0.85; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 60,000 characters: Sume TTS $2.85 vs ElevenLabs $2.40–$4.80 | Voicing 500 social captions of 120 characters: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $2.85; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 1,000,000 characters: Sume TTS $47.50 vs ElevenLabs $40.00–$80.00 | Voicing a 1,000,000-character library: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $47.50; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 10,000 characters: Sume TTS $0.47 vs ElevenLabs $0.40–$0.80 | Voicing a 10,000-character blog post narration: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $0.47; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 12,000 characters: Sume TTS $0.57 vs ElevenLabs $0.48–$0.96 | Voicing a 12,000-character podcast intro season: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $0.57; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 150,000 characters: Sume TTS $7.13 vs ElevenLabs $6.00–$12.00 | Voicing a 150,000-character novella: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $7.13; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 2,000 characters: Sume TTS $0.10 vs ElevenLabs $0.08–$0.16 | Voicing a 2,000-character ad read: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $0.10; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 20,000 characters: Sume TTS $0.95 vs ElevenLabs $0.80–$1.60 | Voicing a 20,000-character training module: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $0.95; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 250,000 characters: Sume TTS $11.88 vs ElevenLabs $10.00–$20.00 | Voicing a 250,000-character audiobook: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $11.88; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 3,000 characters: Sume TTS $0.14 vs ElevenLabs $0.12–$0.24 | Voicing a 3,000-character product video script: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $0.14; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 30,000 characters: Sume TTS $1.43 vs ElevenLabs $1.20–$2.40 | Voicing a 30,000-character e-learning lesson: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $1.43; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 40,000 characters: Sume TTS $1.90 vs ElevenLabs $1.60–$3.20 | Voicing a 40,000-character webinar script: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $1.90; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 5,000 characters: Sume TTS $0.24 vs ElevenLabs $0.20–$0.40 | Voicing a 5,000-character explainer script: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $0.24; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 50,000 characters: Sume TTS $2.38 vs ElevenLabs $2.00–$4.00 | Voicing a 50,000-character short story: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $2.38; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 500,000 characters: Sume TTS $23.75 vs ElevenLabs $20.00–$40.00 | Voicing a 500,000-character back catalog: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $23.75; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 75,000 characters: Sume TTS $3.56 vs ElevenLabs $3.00–$6.00 | Voicing a 75,000-character course: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $3.56; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
| 8,000 characters: Sume TTS $0.38 vs ElevenLabs $0.32–$0.64 | Voicing an 8,000-character audiobook sample: Sume $0.0475 per 1,000 characters is $0.38; ElevenLabs lists $0.04 Flash, $0.08 multilingual. Read 2026-10-09. |
Sources
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