Text-to-speech cost per spoken minute: Sume, ElevenLabs v4 and MAI
Convert per-character TTS prices to dollars per finished minute, assuming 900 characters of script. Sume is $0.0428 a minute; vendor list prices compared.
Per-million-character prices are hard to feel. A producer thinks in finished minutes. This post converts each vendor's price into the cost of one minute of narration using one stated assumption: a minute of speech is about 900 characters of script. That is an assumption, not a measurement; your reading speed and language will move it.
ElevenLabs lists v4 at $0.022 per 1,000 characters during a promotion through October 12, with a regular price of $0.08, and v4 Turbo at $0.011 promotional versus $0.04 regular. Microsoft lists MAI-Voice-2.1 at $22 per million characters and MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash at $15 per million (all read 2026-10-05).
Per finished minute
Sume TTS is $0.0475 per 1,000 characters, which is $47.50 per million, with a 20,000 character maximum per request.
| Service | Per 1,000 characters | Per minute (900 chars) | Per 10 minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sume TTS | $0.0475 | $0.04275 | $0.4275 |
| ElevenLabs v4 (promo to Oct 12) | $0.022 | $0.0198 | $0.198 |
| ElevenLabs v4 regular | $0.08 | $0.072 | $0.72 |
| ElevenLabs v4 Turbo (promo) | $0.011 | $0.0099 | $0.099 |
| Microsoft MAI-Voice-2.1 | $0.022 | $0.0198 | $0.198 |
| Microsoft MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash | $0.015 | $0.0135 | $0.135 |
Reading the table
Even the most expensive row is under 8 cents a minute. A 10 minute narration is $0.4275 on Sume. The vendor promos are cheaper on paper, but they expire: the ElevenLabs v4 promotional rate runs to October 12 and the regular price is $0.072 per minute.
Runway lists ElevenLabs V4 at 2.2 credits per 1,000 characters, which is $0.022 at 1 credit equals $0.01. That matches the ElevenLabs promotional figure.
The bigger lever is script length. Cutting a 900 character minute to 750 saves more than switching providers at these prices. Count characters before you pick a voice, and note the 20,000 character cap, about 22 minutes at the assumed rate.
- Characters, not words, are the billed unit.
- Promotional prices are temporary; budget at the regular price.
- Voice quality and language coverage are separate decisions from price.
Sources
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Written by Sume