Last updated: 28 June 2026
ElevenLabs vs Deepgram: TTS Pricing Comparison
Deepgram is 84% cheaper starting at $0.030/1k chars. Here's the full breakdown of pricing, quality, latency, and language support.
Price Comparison
| Characters | ElevenLabs Starter | ElevenLabs Creator | Deepgram Aura |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $2.00 | $1.82 | $0.30 |
| 100,000 | $20.00 | $18.20 | $3.00 |
| 1,000,000 | $200.00 | $182.00 | $30.00 |
Feature Comparison
ElevenLabs
Best for: Content creators, audiobook producers, and applications where voice quality is the top priority.
Strengths
- ✓ Highest quality voices
- ✓ Professional voice cloning
- ✓ Emotional expressiveness
- ✓ Voice design from text prompts
Deepgram
Best for: Real-time conversational AI, voice bots, and applications where latency matters most.
Strengths
- ✓ Ultra-low latency (90ms)
- ✓ Streaming-optimized
- ✓ Simple pay-as-you-go
- ✓ $200 free credits
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ElevenLabs or Deepgram cheaper for text-to-speech?
Deepgram is cheaper, starting at $0.030 per 1,000 characters with Deepgram Aura. That’s 84% less than ElevenLabs Creator at $0.182 per 1,000 characters.
How much does ElevenLabs TTS cost compared to Deepgram?
ElevenLabs pricing starts at $0.182 per 1k chars (ElevenLabs Creator), while Deepgram starts at $0.030 per 1k chars (Deepgram Aura). For 1 million characters, that’s $182.00 vs $30.00.
Which has better voice quality, ElevenLabs or Deepgram?
Based on TTS Arena benchmarks, ElevenLabs scores higher on voice quality. ElevenLabs’s best model scores 4.5/5 while Deepgram’s best scores 3.7/5.
ElevenLabs vs Deepgram: which is faster?
Deepgram has lower latency. ElevenLabs’s fastest model has 180ms time-to-first-audio, while Deepgram’s fastest is 120ms.