Audio Pricing Comparison
17 providers compared by pricing model, free tiers, hosting options, and headquarters. Last updated May 2026.
15 with free tiers ยท 2 open source ยท 3 self-hostable ยท 4 European
| Provider | Pricing Model | Starting Price | Free Tier | Hosting | Open Source | HQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | ✓ | — | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| — | — | ✓ | — | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| — | — | ✓ | — | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| Pay-per-use | $0.0077/min | ✓ | Cloud + Self-hosted | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| Freemium | $5/mo | ✓ | Cloud | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| — | — | ✓ | — | ✓ | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| Pay-per-use | $0.61/hr | ✓ | Cloud | — | ๐ซ๐ท France | |
| — | — | ✓ | — | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| Subscription | $5/mo | ✓ | Cloud | — | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | |
| — | — | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | |
| — | — | ✓ | — | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| Pay-per-use | $0.05/1M tokens | ✓ | Cloud | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| Pay-per-use | ~$0.01/sec | ✓ | Cloud + Self-hosted | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| Freemium | Free | ✓ | — | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States | |
| — | — | — | Cloud | — | ๐ธ๐ช Sweden | |
| Freemium | $0.24/hr | ✓ | Cloud + Self-hosted | — | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom | |
| — | — | — | — | — | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
Providers with free tiers
These audio providers offer free credits, free tiers, or open-source self-hosting options to get started without upfront costs.
Speech-to-text APIs with audio intelligence, speaker diarization, and real-ti...
Real-time voice AI with ultra-low latency text-to-speech and voice cloning in...
Testing and monitoring platform for AI voice and chat agents
Open-source text-to-speech and voice cloning with low latency in 13+ languages
Show all 15 providers with free tiers
Empathic voice AI that detects and responds to human emotion in real-time
Open-source framework for building real-time voice and multimodal AI agents o...
Low-latency text-to-speech API built for real-time conversational AI
Enterprise speech-to-text API supporting 55+ languages with high accuracy
From: $0.24/hr
Frequently asked questions
Which audio offer a free tier?
15 of the 17 audio listed offer a free tier or free credits. Examples: AssemblyAI, Cartesia, Cekura, Deepgram, Eleven Labs. Use the "Free tier" filter above to see the full list.
Which audio are open source?
2 open-source options are listed. Examples: Fish Audio, LiveKit Agents. Most can be self-hosted alongside or instead of any managed offering.
Are there European audio?
Yes. 4 providers in this category are headquartered in Europe, including Gladia, LemonFox, Samtal, Speechmatics. The European providers page has the full cross-category list with hosting regions.
Which audio can be self-hosted?
3 of the 17 listed support self-hosting, either as the primary deployment model or alongside a managed cloud offering. Examples: Deepgram, Resemble AI , Speechmatics.
How to choose an inference API provider
The right provider depends on workload type, latency requirements, and budget. Most providers use pay-per-token pricing for LLMs and per-second GPU billing for custom models. Token-based pricing varies by model, so the cheapest provider for one model may not be cheapest for another.
Free tiers are useful for prototyping but often come with rate limits. For production, compare per-token costs for your specific model, cold start latency, rate limits, and whether the provider supports the models you need.
Teams with data residency requirements should check hosting options and provider headquarters. European providers like Gladia, LemonFox, Samtal keep data within EU jurisdiction. See the full European AI Infrastructure directory. Self-hostable options like Deepgram and Resemble AI give full control over data location.
For a deeper analysis, read AI Inference API Providers Compared on the blog. Pricing changes frequently, so verify current rates on each provider's website. Submit a correction.
See how these tools fit into a full stack
Browse all Audio tools or explore the full AI Infrastructure Landscape.
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