Comparisons 7 min read· 30 Jul 2026· By Research
Text-to-speech — choosing a voice model in 2026
Latency, naturalness, and cost across the TTS models on TokenBaazar.
Text-to-speech has crossed the uncanny valley. The question is no longer 'does it sound human' but 'which of six human-sounding voices'.
The lineup#
- gpt-4o-mini-tts — cheapest, good enough for prototypes
- gpt-4o-tts — production quality, controllable tone via instructions
- gemini-2.5-tts — best multi-language coverage
Streaming TTS is supported — first audio byte typically lands under 300ms.