OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts costs between $0.015 and $0.03 per 1,000 characters depending on the provider. That is $0.013/min of audio at 850 characters per minute. Cheapest estimated path: OpenAI (tts-1) at $0.015. Prices stamped 2026-08-28; labels below state how each number was obtained.
OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts pricing
OpenAI's steerable TTS model — token-billed, which works out to roughly a cent and a half per minute of audio.
How much does OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts cost per 1,000 characters?
| Provider | Price /1k chars | Provider's own unit | vs official | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI · gpt-4o-mini-tts | $0.018$0.015/min of audio | $0.60/1M text tokens + $12.00/1M audio tokens (≈$0.015/min)USD per token | — | Derived2026-08-28 | source |
| OpenAI · tts-1cheapest | $0.015$0.013/min of audio | $15.00 per 1M charactersUSD per character | — | Estimated2026-08-28 | source |
| OpenAI · tts-1-hd | $0.03$0.025/min of audio | $30.00 per 1M charactersUSD per character | — | Estimated2026-08-28 | source |
How these numbers were computed
- OpenAI (gpt-4o-mini-tts): OpenAI's own ≈$0.015/min estimate ÷ 850 chars/min × 1,000 = $0.0176/1k chars.
- OpenAI (tts-1): Public list rate recorded in launch research (2026-08); not yet independently scraped — pending live verification.
- OpenAI (tts-1-hd): Public list rate recorded in launch research (2026-08); not yet independently scraped — pending live verification.
What would OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts cost you?
| Model · provider | $/1k chars | Total | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts · OpenAI (tts-1) | $0.015 | — | estimated |
| OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts · OpenAI (gpt-4o-mini-tts) | $0.018 | — | derived |
| OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts · OpenAI (tts-1-hd) | $0.030 | — | estimated |
Totals use the normalized canonical rate (USD per 1,000 characters). Resolution multipliers, minimum charges, and tier effects can change real invoices — check each model page.
Price history
- 2026-08-28 — Seeded from the operator's cost audit (2026-03-23) and launch research. Live re-verification pending.
Every future change to a OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts price lands in the public change log.
Frequently asked
How much does OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts cost per 1,000 characters?
OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts costs between $0.015 and $0.03 per 1,000 characters depending on the provider and plan (stamped 2026-08-28).
What do 10,000 characters cost with OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts?
Between $0.150 and $0.300 — roughly 12 minutes of finished audio at 850 characters/minute.
What is the cheapest way to run OpenAI gpt-4o-mini-tts?
The lowest estimated price in the index is $0.015/1k chars via openai (tts-1).
Is OpenAI TTS cheaper than ElevenLabs?
Substantially. gpt-4o-mini-tts works out to ≈$0.018/1k characters versus $0.083–0.22/1k for ElevenLabs tiers — a 5–12× gap. ElevenLabs' premium buys voice quality, cloning, and a voice library; see the comparison page for the side-by-side.
Compare
Data provenance: FairStack operational cost audit, 2026-03-23 (price-audit-full.json) + launch-spec research pass 2026-08-28. Live re-verification pending (deploy-day). For quality benchmarks (not pricing), seeArtificial Analysis — we index cost, they index quality.