Unreal Speech
Unreal Speech is a developer-first text-to-speech API that converts written text into natural-sounding audio in as little as 300 milliseconds. Grab a free API key, send a few lines of code, and you have working voice output in minutes.
Pricing Model: Freemium
- Updated OnAugust 10, 2026
What Is Unreal Speech?
Unreal Speech is a text-to-speech API, meaning it is not really a website you sit and click around in, it is a service built for developers to plug voice into their own apps, websites or products. You send it a block of text through a simple API call, and it sends back an audio file that sounds like a real person speaking, not the robotic voice you might remember from older text readers.
What makes it stand out in a crowded field of TTS tools is the price. It positions itself as up to 11 times cheaper than ElevenLabs and noticeably cheaper than the big names like Amazon Polly, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, while still keeping the audio quality close to what those bigger players offer. It runs on the Kokoro TTS model and gives you 48 voices across 8 languages, including Hindi, so it is genuinely useful if you are building something that needs to speak to Indian audiences too. Under the hood there are three main ways to use it depending on what you’re building: a super fast streaming endpoint for chatbots and quick replies, a standard endpoint for medium-length text, and a long-form endpoint that can generate audio up to 10 hours long, useful for things like audiobooks or long training material. Whether you’re a solo developer building a side project or a company processing thousands of pages of content every hour, Unreal Speech is built to scale with you without the pricing suddenly jumping up.
Key Features
- Ultra-Low Latency Streaming: The /stream endpoint returns audio in around 300 milliseconds, which makes it usable for real-time applications like voice assistants and chatbots.
- Long-Form Audio Generation: The /synthesisTasks endpoint can generate up to 10 hours of continuous audio from a single request, ideal for audiobooks, podcasts or lecture narration.
- 48 Voices Across 8 Languages: Choose from a wide voice library covering US English, UK English, Hindi, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, French and Italian.
- Per-Word and Per-Sentence Timestamps: Every generated audio file can come with timestamp data, so you can highlight words or sentences in sync with the audio, useful for karaoke-style captions or e-learning tools.
- Multiple Output Formats: Supports various bitrates and audio codecs, so you can balance file size and audio quality based on your app’s needs.
- WebSocket Streaming with Timestamps: A dedicated /streamWithTimestamps connection lets you stream both audio and word timing data together in real time.
- Simple REST API and SDKs: Works with plain REST calls in Python, JavaScript and other languages, plus dedicated SDK support, so integration usually takes only a few lines of code.
- Generous Free Tier: New users get 250,000 characters free with no credit card required, enough to properly test the API before committing to a paid plan.
How Unreal Speech Works?
- Getting started with Unreal Speech is more of a developer task than a drag-and-drop process, but it is still simple enough that most people get it running within a few minutes.
- Step 1: Get a Free API Key Sign up on the Unreal Speech website and grab your API key from the dashboard. No credit card is required for the free tier.
- Step 2: Choose the Right Endpoint Decide which endpoint fits your use case. For example, use /stream for short text like a chatbot reply, /speech for medium content like a blog paragraph, or /synthesisTasks for something long like an entire article or audiobook chapter.
- Step 3: Send Your Text and Voice Choice Make an API call with your text and a VoiceId, for example sending the sentence “Welcome to our app” with the voice “Scarlett” set at normal speed and pitch.
- Step 4: Receive the Audio The API responds with either raw audio data instantly, for short requests, or a URL to download the finished file for longer ones. For long-form tasks, you get a TaskId you can use to check progress until it’s ready.
- Step 5: Use the Timestamps if Needed If you asked for timestamps, you’ll also get a JSON file marking exactly when each word or sentence starts and ends, which you can use to sync captions with the audio.
- You can see the full setup guide, code samples, and live demo directly on the Unreal Speech homepage, where they show real request and response examples for each endpoint.
Tips to Use Unreal Speech Like a Pro
- Use the /stream endpoint only for short, time-sensitive text, it is built for speed, not for long documents.
- For anything over a few thousand characters, always use /synthesisTasks so you don’t hit character limits or timeouts.
- Test a few different voices before locking one in, tone and pacing vary noticeably between voices like Scarlett, Dan, Liv, Will and Amy.
- If you’re building captions or subtitles, request word-level timestamps instead of sentence-level for tighter syncing.
- Keep an eye on your monthly character usage on the dashboard so you don’t get surprised by overage charges.
- If publishing content commercially on the free plan, remember to credit Unreal Speech as required, this requirement goes away once you’re on a paid plan.
- For high-volume or unusual use cases, reach out to their team directly instead of assuming the listed plans are your only option, custom pricing is available.
Pros
- Considerably cheaper than most competitors, including ElevenLabs, Amazon Polly and Google Cloud TTS.
- Very fast response time, useful for real-time voice applications.
- Free tier is genuinely usable for testing, not just a token trial.
- Supports long-form audio generation up to 10 hours in a single request.
- Includes Hindi among its supported languages, useful for Indian developers and businesses.
- Clean, well-documented API that is easy to integrate for most developers.
- Unused characters roll over on paid plans instead of resetting every month.
Cons
- Voice cloning is not available yet, so you cannot create a custom voice from a sample recording.
- Fewer supported languages compared to some larger competitors that cover 20 or more.
- It is a developer tool, not something a non-technical person can use directly without some help.
- Free plan requires attribution if you publish the audio publicly.
- Paid plans are priced in US dollars, which adds up quickly when converted and billed in India.
Use Cases / Who Should Use Unreal Speech?
Unreal Speech is built for people who need voice generation inside a product, not for someone looking for a simple one-off voiceover tool. It suits a fairly specific but growing group of users.
- Developers building chatbots, voice assistants or interactive apps that need near-instant spoken replies.
- Ed-tech platforms creating narrated lessons, course material or audiobooks at scale without huge audio costs.
- Accessibility tools that read out website or app content for visually impaired users.
- Content and media companies converting large volumes of articles or scripts into audio regularly.
- Startups and indie developers who want production-quality voice without paying premium API rates.
If you’re a non-technical creator just looking to add a voiceover to a single video, a simpler consumer tool might suit you better than integrating an API directly.
FAQ About Unreal Speech
- Is Unreal Speech free to use? Yes, new accounts get 250,000 characters free with no credit card needed, enough to properly test the API before paying for anything.
- Does Unreal Speech support Hindi? Yes, Hindi is one of the eight supported languages, along with US and UK English, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, French and Italian.
- Can I clone my own voice with Unreal Speech? Not currently. Voice cloning is not supported yet, though the team has mentioned it may come in the future.
- Can I use the generated audio commercially? Yes. On the free plan, you must credit Unreal Speech in your published content. On any paid plan, no attribution is required
Pricing
Unreal Speech runs on a freemium model, starting free and scaling up through several paid tiers based on how many characters you need each month.
- Free Plan: No cost, no card required. Includes 250,000 characters, roughly 6 hours of audio, ideal for testing and small projects.
- Basic Plan: A paid entry-level plan offering a few million characters a month, aimed at small apps and early-stage products.
- Plus and Pro Plans: Higher-volume tiers built for growing products that need tens or hundreds of millions of characters processed monthly, with better per-character rates as you scale up.
- Enterprise and Custom Plans: For very high-volume use, with custom rates available on request for businesses processing large amounts of content regularly.
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that pricing information may not be up to date. For the most accurate and current pricing details, refer to the official website.
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