A cheaper alternative to ElevenLabs

For developers building voice agents, conversational products, and other real-time voice applications that need multilingual speech, voice cloning, and production-scale TTS.

Open in a new tab to compare Soniox and ElevenLabs on your own text.

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Quick verdict

$0.70 per generated hour

Soniox TTS v2 is one flat rate, with no premium voices or tiers billed on top.

$4.00 per generated hour

Eleven v4 is listed at $0.08 per 1,000 characters, converted at approximately 50,000 characters per hour of speech.

Speech starts while text streams

Soniox generates audio as text arrives, so playback can start before the full sentence is available.

Streaming text input on a separate API

Eleven v4 is not supported on the standard text-to-speech WebSocket. Incremental text input goes through the separate Text to Dialogue WebSocket.

Zero retention by default

Soniox does not store generated audio, and never trains its models on your audio.

Zero retention on Enterprise only

ElevenLabs retains request data by default. Zero Retention Mode is available to Enterprise customers.

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Soniox vs ElevenLabs

Price, voices, cloning, and developer tooling for each text-to-speech API.

	tts-rt-v2	eleven_v4
Streaming audio output
Streaming text input
Multilingual voice
Voice cloning
Timestamps
Character level timestamps
Pronunciation control
Expressive control

SupportedPartialNot supported

Cost at volume

TTS costs become material when your application generates thousands of hours of speech.

$700 per month

1,000 hours of generated speech at $0.70 per hour.

$4,000 per month

1,000 hours of generated speech at approximately $4.00 per hour on Eleven v4.

Monthly TTS cost at 1,000 hours of generated speech

Soniox

tts-rt-v2

$700

ElevenLabs

Eleven v4

$4,000

Difference$3,300/month

At the published rates, the difference is $3.30 per generated hour, or $3,300 a month at 1,000 hours. For exact costs on your workload, use the pricing calculator.

Calculate your cost

Character-based pricing

ElevenLabs prices TTS by characters. Soniox prices TTS by tokens.

Billed by tokens

$4.00 per 1M input text tokens and $21.50 per 1M output audio tokens.

Billed by characters

$0.08 per 1,000 characters for Eleven v4.

The billing units differ. For this comparison, approximately 50,000 characters are treated as one hour of generated speech.

Concurrency

Built for high concurrency

Soniox TTS runs on production infrastructure built for high-concurrency workloads, with 99.9% uptime and regional deployment.

Concurrency varies by plan

ElevenLabs lists higher concurrency on paid plans, with limits that differ by plan.

Voice cloning

Clone from a short reference clip

Upload up to 20 seconds of audio and get a voice ID you use like any built-in voice. Soniox removes background noise and echo, and cloned voices work across all 60+ supported languages.

Instant and Professional Voice Cloning

ElevenLabs offers Instant and Professional Voice Clones, and both are supported on Eleven v4.

Can I bring my existing ElevenLabs voice?

Not as an existing ElevenLabs voice ID. Soniox creates its own voice from a reference clip. If you have the rights or permission to use the underlying voice recording, you can use a reference clip to create a Soniox voice.

Explore Soniox Voice Cloning

Real-time voice generation

WebSocket streaming and REST

Speech begins before the complete sentence is available. Character-level timestamps stream with the audio, so your app knows exactly what was spoken when a user interrupts.

Streaming through separate endpoints

Eleven v4 streams audio through the Stream speech endpoint. Incremental text input and character-level timing go through the separate Text to Dialogue endpoints.

Switch from ElevenLabs in minutes

Soniox provides REST and real-time TTS APIs, plus official SDKs for Python, Node.js, Web, React, and React Native.

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://tts-rt.soniox.com/tts",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {SONIOX_API_KEY}",
    },
    json={
        "model": "tts-rt-v2",
        "language": "en",
        "voice": "Adrian",
        "audio_format": "mp3",
        "text": "Hello from Soniox.",
    },
)

audio = response.content

import requests

voice_id = "21m00Tcm4TlvDq8ikWAM"

response = requests.post(
    f"https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/text-to-speech/{voice_id}/stream",
    headers={
        "xi-api-key": ELEVENLABS_API_KEY,
    },
    json={
        "model_id": "eleven_v4",
        "output_format": "mp3_44100_128",
        "text": "Hello from ElevenLabs.",
    },
)

audio = response.content

An ElevenLabs request that sends text to a voice becomes a Soniox request with a model, language, voice, and text. A cloned voice is referenced by its voice ID.

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Privacy and data handling

Zero retention by default

Soniox does not store generated audio, and never trains its models on your audio. Speech data is processed within your selected region, with regional deployment for data residency requirements.

Zero retention on Enterprise only

By default, ElevenLabs retains request data. Zero Retention Mode, which stops logging of TTS text and audio, is available to Enterprise customers. ElevenLabs also documents regional processing.

ElevenLabs alternative FAQ

How much does Soniox TTS cost compared with ElevenLabs?

Soniox TTS v2 is listed at $0.70 per generated hour. ElevenLabs Eleven v4 is listed at $0.08 per 1,000 characters, approximately $4.00 per generated hour.

Does Soniox support voice cloning?

Yes. Soniox can create a custom voice from a short reference clip. The cloned voice can then be used by voice ID across Soniox’s supported languages.

Can I keep my existing ElevenLabs voices?

You cannot transfer an ElevenLabs voice ID directly to Soniox. If you have the rights or permission to use the source recording, you can use a reference clip to create a Soniox voice.

Does Soniox support real-time TTS?

Yes. Soniox streams speech through its real-time API and can begin generating speech while text is still arriving.

How many languages does Soniox TTS support?

Soniox TTS supports 60+ languages, and every voice can speak every supported language.

Does Soniox have an API and SDKs?

Yes. Soniox provides REST and real-time APIs and official SDKs for Python, Node.js, Web, React, and React Native.

How does Soniox pricing work?

Soniox TTS pricing is $4.00 per 1M input text tokens and $21.50 per 1M output audio tokens. That comes to about $0.70 per generated hour.

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