Piper
Piper is a local ONNX text-to-speech engine: you pick a speaker, type a line, and Speak.
OUR TAKE
Pick Piper for self-hosters who want a file or a speaker on-device. Quality is “fast local,” not studio clone.
Good fit
Self-hosters who want a file or a speaker on-device.
Poor fit
People who want a cloned cinematic VO (ElevenLabs) or a phone agent (Vapi).
Self-host
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-27 · github.com/rhasspy/piper
OUR TAKE
Pick Piper for self-hosters who want a file or a speaker on-device. Quality is “fast local,” not studio clone.
Good fit
Self-hosters who want a file or a speaker on-device.
Poor fit
People who want a cloned cinematic VO (ElevenLabs) or a phone agent (Vapi).
Self-host
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-27 · github.com/rhasspy/piper
What it costs
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-27 · github.com/rhasspy/piper
Self-host
MIT license. You pay hardware yourself
$0
Demo Space
Not published by the vendor
Not published by the vendor
Checked 2026-10-27·github.com/rhasspy/piper
Before you pay
Good fit
Self-hosters who want a file or a speaker on-device.
Poor fit
People who want a cloned cinematic VO (ElevenLabs) or a phone agent (Vapi).
Watch out
Quality is “fast local,” not studio clone
Instead, try
Kokoro TTS if 82M open-weight demo with speed and stress marks; ElevenLabs if hosted clone playground
Compare Piper with
Limits, in full
- 01
Quality is “fast local,” not studio clone
- 02
You manage voices and ONNX runtime
- 03
The Space can queue. when ZeroGPU is busy.
If Piper isn't it
Why: 82M open-weight demo with speed and stress marks.
Free· open source,Apache-2.0
The public demo is English-firstChecked 2026-10-27·github.com/hexgrad/kokoro
vs Piper
Why: hosted clone playground.
Free· paid from$6/mo
Credits are not minutesChecked 2026-10-19·elevenlabs.io/pricing
vs Piper
Why: the STT sibling, not TTS.
Free· open source,MIT
Local is not free electricityChecked 2026-10-20·github.com/openai/whisper
vs PiperLimits & alternatives3 limits · Kokoro TTS, ElevenLabs, OpenAI Whisper instead
Limits, in full
- 01
Quality is “fast local,” not studio clone
- 02
You manage voices and ONNX runtime
- 03
The Space can queue. when ZeroGPU is busy.
If Piper isn't it
Why: 82M open-weight demo with speed and stress marks.
Free· open source,Apache-2.0
The public demo is English-firstChecked 2026-10-27·github.com/hexgrad/kokoro
vs PiperWhy: hosted clone playground.
Free· paid from$6/mo
Credits are not minutesChecked 2026-10-19·elevenlabs.io/pricing
vs PiperWhy: the STT sibling, not TTS.
Free· open source,MIT
Local is not free electricityChecked 2026-10-20·github.com/openai/whisper
vs Piper