Google Cloud Text-to-Speech vs Voicebox
Google Cloud Text-to-Speech
cloud.google.com
Voicebox
voicebox.shSide by side
| Figure | Google Cloud Text-to-Speech | Voicebox |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $4/mo | $1/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 14 | 3 |
| Spec score · Text-to-speech tools | 9.2 (#8) | 9.4 (#2) |
| Spec score · Text-to-Speech Software | 9.0 (#13) | 8.7 (#32) |
| API access | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial use | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Praise: voice quality | G2 reviewers repeatedly praise natural, lifelike voices, especially Neural2, WaveNet and newer models. | Dave Swift found Qwen3 audio clear and natural and considered Voicebox impressively capable for a free open-source application. |
| Use cases | Google describes use cases including contact-center voicebots, voice generation in devices, and accessible electronic program guides. | The maker describes use for game dialogue, apps and agents, accessibility readouts, audiobooks, podcast intros, and scripts or tools. |
| Voice cloning | Yes | It can clone a voice from a few seconds of audio supplied by upload, microphone recording, or system-audio capture. |
| What it does | Cloud Text-to-Speech converts text or SSML input into natural human speech audio. | Voicebox is a local AI voice studio for voice cloning, text-to-speech, dictation, transcription, and agent speech. |
Plans
Google Cloud Text-to-Speech
- Standard voices$4 a month
- WaveNet voices$4 a month
- Neural2 voices$16 a month
- Polyglot voices$16 a month
- Chirp 3: HD voices$30 a month
- Studio voices$160 a month
- Instant custom voice$60 a month
- Gemini 2.5 Flash TTS and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview TTSPrice not published
- Gemini 3.1 Flash TTSPrice not published
- Gemini 2.5 Flash TTS / Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Preview TTSPrice not published
In their own words
Google Cloud Text-to-Speech
Google Cloud Text-to-Speech is an API that converts text or SSML into audio data for applications. It offers more than 380 voices across more than 75 languages and variants, with REST or gRPC integration and output formats including MP3, LINEAR16, OGG_OPUS, MULAW, and ALAW. Gemini-TTS supports single- or multispeaker speech guided by natural-language prompts for style, accent, pace, tone, and emotional expression. Chirp 3 instant custom voice can create a personalized voice model from as little as 10 seconds of audio and is available in more than 30 locales. Streaming synthesis supports real-time conversations, while long-audio synthesis accepts up to 1 million bytes of input. Speech controls include pitch, speaking rate, and volume gain. Billing counts input characters, including spaces, newlines, and SSML tags except the mark tag, and billing must be enabled. Standard and WaveNet voices cost US$4 per 1 million characters, with 0 to 4 million characters free. Other voice models have different rates and free-use limits. New customers can receive $300 in Google Cloud credits.
Voicebox
Voicebox is a free, open-source local AI voice studio for voice cloning, speech generation, dictation, and agent voice output. Its desktop app can clone a voice from as little as three seconds of audio, supplied by file, microphone recording, or system capture. The maker lists seven text-to-speech engines for cloning, preset voices, and delivery control. A timeline editor supports multi-voice narratives, arranging tracks, trimming clips, and mixing conversations; effects include pitch shift, reverb, delay, and compression. Dictation uses a global shortcut to send transcripts to the focused text field or clipboard, with local Whisper models supporting 99 languages. MCP-aware agents such as Claude Code, Cursor, and Cline can speak through Voicebox, and a local REST API provides speech generation and related functions. The privacy policy says the offline desktop app requires no account and does not send recordings, profiles, transcripts, generations, or settings to the maker. Local is free with unlimited local generations and captures. Cloud and mobile sync are marked as coming soon, and cloud pricing and limits are not final.