Skip to content
Dubsheet
Sign inSubmit a tool

Buyer's guide Courses and e-learning

API text to speech: which tools sell it, on which plan

Typecast, Speechma, Fish Audio and Murf AI sell a speech API you can sign up for online, while Voicemaker and Narakeet offer one with conditions.

Dubsheet ResearchPublished 16 min readEditorial policy
See the comparison tableMarkdown
On this page
  1. The short answer
  2. The 6 tools compared
  3. The picks
  4. Prices compared
  5. Which one to pick
  6. How we ranked
  7. Questions buyers ask
  8. Sources

The short answer

Fish Audio suits apps that should pay only for the speech they generate, with a pay-as-you-go rate card billed per million bytes of text, which it equates to roughly 12 hours of speech, and Murf AI lets a developer start on free trial call credit with no Studio subscription.

Voicemaker keeps its API on a separate pay-as-you-go developer platform outside its subscription plans, and Narakeet includes one with any paid top-up but gives free accounts no key.

On 29 October 2026 we listed 40 tools: 26 of them under Text to speech and AI voice-over, 30 with a free plan and 15 confirmed for API.

  • Typecast, Speechma, Fish Audio and Murf AI sell a speech API outright, 4 of the 6, while Voicemaker and Narakeet offer one in part.
  • Fish Audio bills its API pay-as-you-go per million bytes of text, which it equates to roughly 12 hours of speech, and its docs say no subscription is required, though its plan FAQ says premium subscribers get access.
  • Narakeet sells audio as one-time packs, and its API comes with any paid top-up but never with a free account.
  • Free plans come with all 6 tools, so a voice can be heard on a real script before any money is spent.
Logos of Typecast, Speechma, Fish Audio, Murf AI, Voicemaker, Narakeet. 6 tools compared, from $5 a month.

The 6 tools compared

Table 1 Price, free plan and the questions that separate them, checked 28 October 2026
ProductFromFree planAPICaptions and subtitlesLong scripts and chaptersBest for
Typecast
Free, then $5 a month
Yes
Yes
Partly
Partly
developers who want official software kits
Speechma
Free, then $9 a month
Yes
Yes
Yes
Partly
an instant API key on a subscription
Fish Audio
Free, then $15 a month
Yes
Yes
Partly
Yes
pay-as-you-go API use with no subscription
Murf AI
$29 a month
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
trying a speech API on free credit
Voicemaker
Free, then $5 a month
Yes
Partly
Yes
Partly
multilingual voice-overs on a small budget
Narakeet
Free, then $6 per 30 minutes
Yes
Partly
Partly
Yes
turning slide decks into narrated video

The picks

1. Typecast

Best for an API beside a studio and mobile apps: Typecast pairs its speech API with a browser studio and iPhone and Android apps, so the same voices work in code and in an editor.

  • Price: Free, then $5 a month
  • Free plan: yes
  • Who it’s for: Developers and video teams who want to generate speech from their own code and also edit it in a browser studio or on iPhone and Android.
  • Skip it if: You want live help, since Typecast answers through a contact form and Murf AI runs live chat and email around the clock.

Typecast is a voice generator with emotion controls and voice cloning, sold as web plans with a speech API. You can start on the API before entering payment details, and every published plan is bought online except Enterprise. Automation tools such as Zapier, Make and Google Sheets connect through the API.

Paid web plans start at $5 a month. The free plan lets you write and play back without limit, but downloads and trial voices draw on 3,000 lifetime credits. Free downloads come at standard quality, and paid plans export at higher quality.

Each API request takes up to 2,000 characters, so long scripts go in chapter by chapter. Subtitles come as subtitle files with timings beside the audio.

What it does well

  • An API you can start on before entering payment details.
  • Paid web plans from $5 a month.
  • A browser studio plus iPhone and Android apps, with projects synced across devices.

Where it falls short

  • Each API request is capped at 2,000 characters, so long scripts must be split.
  • Support is a contact form, with no live chat or published hours.
  • Free downloads draw on 3,000 lifetime credits at standard quality.

2. Speechma

Best for a paid API beside a free browser studio: Speechma pairs a documented API that returns audio from 1,000+ voices with free website tools that need no account.

  • Price: Free, then $9 a month
  • Free plan: yes
  • Who it’s for: Creators and small businesses who want a pay-monthly API key beside a free browser studio that needs no account.
  • Skip it if: Skip it for audiobooks and other long scripts, since each generation takes 2,000 characters and Fish Audio’s Story Studio handles long-form, multi-speaker projects.

Speechma is a browser voice studio for text to speech, cloning, dubbing and transcription. Its website tools are free with no account and no card, funded by ads, with unlimited conversions of up to 2,000 characters each. It runs in any modern desktop or mobile browser and has a free Android app.

The API is a paid subscription separate from the free website, with paid plans from $9 a month. Long scripts are split into parts and the clips downloaded together as one archive. Dubbing takes video up to 60 megabytes per dub, from 12 source languages into 9 target languages.

Support is one email inbox, aiming to reply within a few business days. There are no team seats or shared workspaces.

What it does well

  • The API returns audio from 1,000+ voices.
  • Free website tools you can use at once, with unlimited conversions of up to 2,000 characters each.
  • Transcription exports a subtitle file with per-sentence timestamps.

Where it falls short

  • The API is a paid subscription from $9 a month, separate from the free website.
  • Email-only support, aiming to reply within a few business days.
  • No team seats or shared workspace.

3. Fish Audio

Best for pay-as-you-go API use with no subscription: Fish Audio publishes a pay-as-you-go API rate card with no subscription floor, billed per million bytes of text, which the vendor equates to roughly 12 hours of speech.

  • Price: Free, then $15 a month
  • Free plan: yes
  • Who it’s for: Developers who want to pay for API speech as they use it, and narrators building long, multi-speaker audio.
  • Skip it if: You work from a phone, since Fish Audio runs in the browser and Typecast adds iPhone and Android apps.

Fish Audio offers text to speech, voice cloning and Story Studio, a project editor for long-form, multi-speaker audio where a single block can be regenerated cheaply. Python and JavaScript software kits cover custom pipelines.

The Plus plan costs $15 a month and includes 200 minutes, of which two hours of speech uses 120. Plus is the cheapest tier whose feature list allows commercial use. A launch banner halves the opening month and the annual toggle shows a per-month figure, so two discounts stack on the headline price.

The free tier needs no card and gives 8,000 credits a month, capped at 500 characters per generation. Support is email with a Discord community beside it, and there is no live chat.

What it does well

  • Pay-as-you-go API pricing on a public rate card.
  • Story Studio edits long-form, multi-speaker audio block by block.
  • Two hours of speech fits the $15 a month Plus plan, which allows commercial use.
  • Downloads at a chosen bitrate or sample rate, compressed or uncompressed.

Where it falls short

  • Free generations are capped at 500 characters each.
  • Runs in the browser, with no app to install.
  • Subtitles come from a developer recipe, with no caption download in the studio.

4. Murf AI

Best for trying a speech API on free credit: Murf AI’s speech API starts with a self-serve free trial carrying call credit, with no Studio subscription needed.

  • Price: From $29 a month
  • Free plan: yes
  • Who it’s for: Developers who want to test a speech API before paying, and e-learning teams that also need a studio with subtitles and dubbing.
  • Skip it if: You want downloads from a free account, since nothing can be downloaded from Murf AI’s free account and Speechma’s free website tools give audio you may monetize.

Murf AI sells Studio subscriptions, dubbing credits and API usage. The API rate card is public and billed per thousand characters, with separate rates for the newest model and the studio-quality one, and a pay-as-you-go tier follows the trial.

Studio plan cards open with yearly billing switched on, so the first figure shown is the yearly rate. The no-card free account gives a short allowance of voice generation across all voices, but nothing can be downloaded from it.

In Studio you import a video and stretch, trim or pad voice blocks on a timeline, then export subtitle files or burn subtitles in. Live chat and email run around the clock.

What it does well

  • Free API call credit on a self-serve trial.
  • A public API rate card billed per thousand characters.
  • Live chat and email support around the clock.
  • Voice blocks timed to video on a timeline, with subtitle export.

Where it falls short

  • Nothing can be downloaded from the free account.
  • No desktop app beyond a Windows voices installer on Business plans.

5. Voicemaker

Best for multilingual voice-overs on a small budget: Two hours of narration a month fits Voicemaker’s $5 Starter plan, which carries commercial rights, and its speech to text covers 90+ languages.

  • Price: Free, then $5 a month
  • Free plan: yes
  • Who it’s for: Content creators and e-learning teams who publish voice-overs in several languages on a small monthly bill with commercial rights.
  • Skip it if: You want the API inside your subscription, since Voicemaker sells it on a separate pay-as-you-go platform and Speechma’s API is a monthly subscription.

Voicemaker is a credit-metered studio with voice cloning, speech to speech and subtitle export. Starter costs $5 a month and gives 200,000 credits. Plans bill monthly or yearly with auto-renewal that you switch off yourself in account settings.

Long scripts go in chunks, with per-conversion caps from 250 characters on the free plan to 10,000 on Pro. Subtitle export starts on Starter, and free downloads come at a capped bitrate.

A full API for text to speech, speech to speech and speech to text runs on a separate pay-as-you-go developer platform. Support is email only, aiming to reply within 24 hours.

What it does well

  • The $5 Starter plan with commercial rights covers two hours of narration a month.
  • Speech to text in 90+ languages exports subtitle files.
  • Team seats are sold on its plans.
  • You stop renewal yourself in account settings.

Where it falls short

  • The API sits on a separate developer platform outside the subscription plans.
  • Free conversions are capped at 250 characters each.
  • Email-only support with no reply guarantee.

6. Narakeet

Best for turning slide decks into narrated video: Narakeet turns slides and text scripts into video with narration fitted to each scene, and its API comes with any paid top-up.

  • Price: Free, then $6 per 30 minutes
  • Free plan: yes
  • Who it’s for: Course makers and marketers who turn slide decks and documents into narrated video and prefer one-time minute packs to a subscription.
  • Skip it if: You want to try an API for free, since Narakeet gives free accounts no key and Murf AI’s self-serve trial carries free call credit.

Narakeet converts text to speech and slides to narrated video in the browser, with a pause-until direction that holds the voice to an exact timestamp. Long documents run as projects, with a polling interface built for big conversions.

It sells minutes of audio as one-time purchases. Any paid top-up includes the API and a command-line client, and extra people share the account’s credit balance once you email support.

Paid accounts get subtitle files alongside the audio, and free accounts cannot make subtitles. Commercial accounts upload up to 350 megabytes and 60 minutes per request. Support is email during British business hours.

What it does well

  • Slides become narrated video with narration fitted to each scene.
  • One-time minute packs of audio.
  • The API and a command-line client come with any paid top-up.
  • Subtitle files generated alongside the audio on paid accounts.

Where it falls short

  • Free accounts get no API key and cannot make subtitles.
  • Email support during British business hours, with no live chat or phone line.

Prices compared

Figure 1 · Entry price, a month Entry prices in US dollars start at $5 a month
  1. TK 01Typecast$5 a month
  2. TK 02Voicemaker$5 a month
  3. TK 03Speechma$9 a month
  4. TK 04Fish Audio$15 a month

Source: Each vendor’s pricing page, read between 28 October 2026 and 28 October 2026.

Typecast and Voicemaker open at $5 a month, with Speechma at $9 a month. For API work the entry plan is only part of the bill: Fish Audio meters its API per million bytes of text.

“200k credits per month ($0.075 / 1k credits) … Usage is calculated as 1 credit per character.”

From Typecast’s own page, read on 28 October 2026

Which one to pick

  • If you need a documented speech API at the lowest monthly entry price: pick Typecast. Typecast starts at $5 a month and sells a documented speech API.
  • If you need to pay only for the speech your app generates, with no monthly fee: pick Fish Audio. Fish Audio’s developer docs publish a pay-as-you-go rate card with no subscription floor, billed per million bytes of text, and the API comes with Python and JavaScript software kits.
  • If you need to test an API on free credit before you pay: pick Murf AI. Murf AI sells its API as its own product line with a self-serve free trial carrying call credit, and every published tier is bought online with no card needed to start.
  • If you need to buy audio minutes once instead of a monthly plan: pick Narakeet. Narakeet sells audio minutes as a one-time purchase, and every paid top-up includes its API and a command-line client.
  • If you need several team seats on one account: pick Voicemaker. Voicemaker includes team seats, and its paid plans start at $5 a month.

How we ranked

We compared 6 tools on price, free plan and 3 questions a buyer asks, reading each vendor’s pricing page and product pages between 26 October 2026 and 28 October 2026. We did not sign up for or run any of them. Tools that answer yes to “Can your own tools generate speech through an API, and on which plan?” come first, then those that answer partly, each from the lowest starting price. The median, the cheapest and the dearest plan are taken over the 5 picks priced in US dollars a month, so their prices compare directly. In all we answered 40 questions about what they do.

Questions buyers ask

Which text to speech tools have an API?

Typecast, Speechma, Fish Audio and Murf AI sell a speech API, 4 of the 6. Voicemaker has a full API for text to speech, speech to speech and speech to text, but on a separate pay-as-you-go developer platform outside its subscription plans. Narakeet includes its API and a command-line client with any paid top-up, and free accounts cannot get a key.

Do I need a subscription to use the Fish Audio API?

Fish Audio’s developer docs say no: the API is sold pay-as-you-go from a public rate card with no subscription floor, billed per million bytes of text, which the vendor equates to roughly 12 hours of speech. Its plan FAQ says premium subscribers get access. Ask Fish Audio which terms apply to your account before building on it.

Can I call a text to speech API on a free plan?

Murf AI is the exception for testing, with a self-serve free API trial carrying call credit.

How much does a paid text to speech plan cost?

Paid entry plans start at $5 a month with Typecast and Voicemaker. Check which plan includes the API, since several tools sell it separately.

Does the free plan leave anything on my audio?

On Typecast, yes: free downloads must carry a spoken or written credit naming Typecast and the characters used, and its free API tier forbids commercial use. Speechma’s free audio carries no required credit and may be monetized. Fish Audio’s free output may not be monetized or used commercially. Murf AI’s free Studio plan bars downloads and commercial use, and free Murf Dub exports arrive watermarked.

Can a text to speech API return subtitles with the audio?

Typecast’s API can: it returns subtitle files or raw timings beside the audio. Speechma, Murf AI and Voicemaker offer captions and subtitles, 3 of the 6, while Typecast, Fish Audio and Narakeet offer them in part.

Sources

Top of courses and e-learning

The category page
Show the whole category

The Dubsheet digest

New voice tools, price changes and what we published, by email.

Privacy policy

More of our research

Methodology

How we price an hour of finished speech

Every AI voice tool counts something different. How Dubsheet turns credits, characters, seconds and minutes into one price for an hour of speech you may publish.