Last updated: 28 June 2026
Google Cloud vs Amazon Polly: TTS Pricing Comparison
Google Cloud is 0% cheaper starting at $0.004/1k chars. Here's the full breakdown of pricing, quality, latency, and language support.
Price Comparison
| Characters | Google Standard | Google WaveNet | Amazon Polly Standard | Amazon Polly Generative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $0.04 | $0.16 | $0.04 | $0.30 |
| 100,000 | $0.40 | $1.60 | $0.40 | $3.00 |
| 1,000,000 | $4.00 | $16.00 | $4.00 | $30.00 |
Feature Comparison
Google Cloud
Best for: Multilingual applications that need broad language coverage at a low price point.
Strengths
- ✓ 75+ languages
- ✓ Free tier (4M chars/mo)
- ✓ WaveNet quality
- ✓ SSML support
Amazon Polly
Best for: High-volume, cost-sensitive applications already running on AWS.
Strengths
- ✓ Cheapest pay-as-you-go option
- ✓ AWS ecosystem integration
- ✓ Free tier (5M chars/mo for 12 months)
- ✓ SSML support
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Google Cloud or Amazon Polly cheaper for text-to-speech?
Google Cloud is cheaper, starting at $0.004 per 1,000 characters with Google Standard. That’s 0% less than Amazon Polly Standard at $0.004 per 1,000 characters.
How much does Google Cloud TTS cost compared to Amazon Polly?
Google Cloud pricing starts at $0.004 per 1k chars (Google Standard), while Amazon Polly starts at $0.004 per 1k chars (Amazon Polly Standard). For 1 million characters, that’s $4.00 vs $4.00.
Which has better voice quality, Google Cloud or Amazon Polly?
Based on TTS Arena benchmarks, Amazon Polly scores higher on voice quality. Google Cloud’s best model scores 3.6/5 while Amazon Polly’s best scores 4.1/5.
Google Cloud vs Amazon Polly: which is faster?
Google Cloud has lower latency. Google Cloud’s fastest model has 180ms time-to-first-audio, while Amazon Polly’s fastest is 200ms.