MiniMax Audio
MiniMax Audio is a hosted speech studio: pick Text to Speech, a model (speech-2.8-hd), a voice (Calm Woman), and Generate.
OUR TAKE
Pick MiniMax Audio for teams who will pay per million characters for Speech 2.8. Characters are the usage cost.
Good fit
Teams who will pay per million characters for Speech 2.8.
Poor fit
People who want MIT local TTS (Piper) or a phone pathway (Bland).
speech-2.8-turbo $60 · speech-2.8-hd $100 · ASR / Speech-to-Text $0.38/hour
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-27 · platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/pricing-paygo
OUR TAKE
Pick MiniMax Audio for teams who will pay per million characters for Speech 2.8. Characters are the usage cost. a long audiobook is not “one Generate.”.
Good fit
Teams who will pay per million characters for Speech 2.8.
Poor fit
People who want MIT local TTS (Piper) or a phone pathway (Bland).
speech-2.8-turbo $60 · speech-2.8-hd $100 · ASR / Speech-to-Text $0.38/hour
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-27 · platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/pricing-paygo
What it costs
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-27 · platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/pricing-paygo
speech-2.8-turbo
(sync or async T2A) — / million characters
Lowest paid
$60
speech-2.8-hd
(sync or async T2A) — / million characters
$100
ASR / Speech-to-Text
/ hour on the same table
$0.38/hour
Studio login
may grant trial credits; those are not a substitute for the public API table
Not published by the vendor
Checked 2026-10-27·platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/pricing-paygo
Before you pay
Good fit
Teams who will pay per million characters for Speech 2.8.
Poor fit
People who want MIT local TTS (Piper) or a phone pathway (Bland).
Watch out
Characters are the usage cost. a long audiobook is not “one Generate.”
Instead, try
ElevenLabs if hosted clone playground; Fish Audio if credit studio; Plus $5.5 / mo first-year annual
Compare MiniMax Audio with
Limits, in full
- 01
Characters are the usage cost. a long audiobook is not “one Generate.”
- 02
Music 3.0 is a different bill
- 03
Not a phone-minute product
If MiniMax Audio isn't it
Why: hosted clone playground.
Free· paid from$6/mo
Credits are not minutesChecked 2026-10-19·elevenlabs.io/pricing
vs MiniMax Audio
Why: credit studio; Plus $5.5 / mo first-year annual.
Free· paid from$5.5
The $5.5 / $37.5 / $374.5 cards are first-year 50% offChecked 2026-10-22·fish.audio/plan
vs MiniMax Audio
Why: realtime agent voices.
Free· paid from$5/mo
Free is not a commercial licenseChecked 2026-10-22·cartesia.ai/pricing
vs MiniMax AudioLimits & alternatives3 limits · ElevenLabs, Fish Audio, Cartesia instead
Limits, in full
- 01
Characters are the usage cost. a long audiobook is not “one Generate.”
- 02
Music 3.0 is a different bill
- 03
Not a phone-minute product
If MiniMax Audio isn't it
Why: hosted clone playground.
Free· paid from$6/mo
Credits are not minutesChecked 2026-10-19·elevenlabs.io/pricing
vs MiniMax AudioWhy: credit studio; Plus $5.5 / mo first-year annual.
Free· paid from$5.5
The $5.5 / $37.5 / $374.5 cards are first-year 50% offChecked 2026-10-22·fish.audio/plan
vs MiniMax AudioWhy: realtime agent voices.
Free· paid from$5/mo
Free is not a commercial licenseChecked 2026-10-22·cartesia.ai/pricing
vs MiniMax Audio