60db vs Azure Speech · list prices
60db vs Azure Speech: an honest comparison
Azure Speech is part of a large cloud platform. It has many languages, many voices and enterprise contracts, and it fits teams that already run on Azure. 60db is a voice platform on its own. It covers speech to text, text to speech, chat and memory on one key. This page sets out the real prices and where each one is stronger.
The Free plan includes 3,000 credits every month.
- 01Azure Speech lists text to speech at $15 per million characters for Neural voices, before commitment discounts.
- 0260db charges text to speech at one credit per character, and pay as you go at $0.02 per 1,000 characters.
- 03Azure wins on cloud fit and enterprise paperwork. 60db wins when you want speech, chat and memory on one key.
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Which one should you pick?
Pick Azure Speech if your company already runs on Azure, your security team has approved it, and you want the speech service in the same bill and the same network as your other systems. Azure also gives you a long list of languages and a clear path to large commitment discounts.
Pick 60db if you want to build a voice product quickly and do not want to put together several services. Garuda handles speech to text. Kaak handles text to speech. Vyas handles chat and Smriti handles memory. One API key, one balance and one set of docs cover the whole loop.
On raw list price for text to speech, Azure's Neural rate is lower than 60db's pay-as-you-go rate. The gap changes with volume, commitments and plan credits, so the right test is your own text and your own monthly volume. The table below shows both sides.
60db vs Azure Speech at a glance
Each row says what you get from each service. Azure figures are pay as you go, from Microsoft's pricing page. 60db figures come from our own pricing page.
| What you get | 60db | Azure Speech | Who is ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text to speech, list price | Pay as you go at $0.02 per 1,000 characters. Plans use one credit per character | Standard and Neural at $15 per million characters | Azure, at list price |
| Higher-quality voices | 500+ voices across 30 languages | Neural at $15 per million characters | Check your own voices and languages |
| Custom voice | Instant Voice Cloning on the Free plan | Custom Voice at $24 per million characters | 60db, for a fast start |
| Volume discounts | Plan sizes from $6 to $99 a month | Commitment tiers: $12 per million at 80 million characters, $9.75 at 400 million, $7.50 at 2,000 million | Azure, at very high volume |
| Free tier | 3,000 credits a month, with a commercial licence | 0.5 million characters a month | Depends on your needs |
| Speech to text | Garuda, 40+ languages | Check Azure's current speech to text price for your region | Check both on your own audio |
| Chat and memory | Yes, on the same key | Not part of the speech service | 60db |
| Team members | Unlimited team members | Managed through your Azure subscription and roles | 60db, for a small team |
| Enterprise fit | Paid uptime SLA of 99.9% | Cloud contracts, regional hosting and Azure security tools | Azure |
| Setup | Sign up, create a key, call the API | Create a resource in Azure, pick a region, add keys | 60db, for speed |
- Text to speech, list price
- 60dbPay as you go at $0.02 per 1,000 characters. Plans use one credit per character
- Azure SpeechStandard and Neural at $15 per million characters
- Who is aheadAzure, at list price
- Higher-quality voices
- 60db500+ voices across 30 languages
- Azure SpeechNeural at $15 per million characters
- Who is aheadCheck your own voices and languages
- Custom voice
- 60dbInstant Voice Cloning on the Free plan
- Azure SpeechCustom Voice at $24 per million characters
- Who is ahead60db, for a fast start
- Volume discounts
- 60dbPlan sizes from $6 to $99 a month
- Azure SpeechCommitment tiers: $12 per million at 80 million characters, $9.75 at 400 million, $7.50 at 2,000 million
- Who is aheadAzure, at very high volume
- Free tier
- 60db3,000 credits a month, with a commercial licence
- Azure Speech0.5 million characters a month
- Who is aheadDepends on your needs
- Speech to text
- 60dbGaruda, 40+ languages
- Azure SpeechCheck Azure's current speech to text price for your region
- Who is aheadCheck both on your own audio
- Chat and memory
- 60dbYes, on the same key
- Azure SpeechNot part of the speech service
- Who is ahead60db
- Team members
- 60dbUnlimited team members
- Azure SpeechManaged through your Azure subscription and roles
- Who is ahead60db, for a small team
- Enterprise fit
- 60dbPaid uptime SLA of 99.9%
- Azure SpeechCloud contracts, regional hosting and Azure security tools
- Who is aheadAzure
- Setup
- 60dbSign up, create a key, call the API
- Azure SpeechCreate a resource in Azure, pick a region, add keys
- Who is ahead60db, for speed
Azure prices are pay as you go. Prices can differ by region, so check yours before you budget. Commitment tiers apply per month. One 60db credit is one character of text to speech.
What 10 million characters of speech costs
Here is one simple case: ten million characters of text to speech in a month. It shows the list-price difference clearly. Your real bill will differ once you add discounts, plans and other services.
| Option | Cost for 10 million characters | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Azure Standard or Neural, list price | $150 | $15 per million characters |
| 60db pay as you go | $200 | $0.02 per 1,000 characters |
| 60db plan credits | Depends on the plan | Plans from $6 for 120,000 credits. Each character uses one credit |
- Azure Standard or Neural, list price
- Cost for 10 million characters$150
- Notes$15 per million characters
- 60db pay as you go
- Cost for 10 million characters$200
- Notes$0.02 per 1,000 characters
- 60db plan credits
- Cost for 10 million charactersDepends on the plan
- NotesPlans from $6 for 120,000 credits. Each character uses one credit
The Azure list rows are the cheapest way to see the gap. They ignore free allowances, commitments you would actually sign and your need for other services. The 60db plan row depends on which plan you pick and whether other services use the same credits.
Commitments, credits and pay as you go
Azure bills by the character or by the hour, depending on the service. Pay as you go is simple, but the biggest discounts sit behind commitments. You agree to a monthly volume, and the unit price drops. That helps large, steady workloads. It is wasted money if your volume is uneven.
60db bills in credits. Each character of text to speech uses one credit, and Garuda uses 25 credits per minute of audio. Plans give you a monthly pool. When the pool runs out, you can pay as you go. Because one pool covers all services, you watch one balance, not three invoices.
Pick the model that fits the job. Voice quality differs by model. On 60db, check which voices and quality settings use which credits before you run a big batch.
What Azure does better today
This list is not a sales pitch for us. These are the places where Azure is the better fit.
Low list price at scale.
At list rates, Azure's Neural text to speech is cheaper per character than 60db's pay as you go rate. Large commitments push it lower still.
Cloud fit.
If your app, data and security rules already live in Azure, the speech service sits inside the same platform. That makes access control, logging and billing easier to manage.
Language coverage.
Azure offers many languages and locales. If you need a locale that is rare, check Azure's list first.
Enterprise paperwork.
Azure has enterprise contracts, regional hosting choices and a long list of compliance documents. Teams with strict buyers often find that easier.
Custom voice in the same platform.
If you already use Azure's custom voice process, adding speech there keeps the project in one place.
What you gain by building on 60db
These are the reasons teams choose 60db for voice work. Each one ties to something you can check today.
Speech in, speech out, and answers on one key
A voice agent needs to hear, think and speak. 60db gives you speech to text, text to speech, chat and memory under one key. With Azure you would combine speech with a separate language model and memory service.
Setup in an afternoon
You sign up, create a key and call the API. There is no resource group, region choice or subscription to set up first. That matters when a small team needs a working demo by Friday.
Voice cloning on the Free plan
Instant Voice Cloning is included on the Free plan. You can test a cloned voice before you pay. Check your rights to any voice you clone.
A commercial licence from the first credit
The Free plan includes a commercial licence, so a test can become a real product without a new contract. Check the terms for your use case.
Unlimited team members
60db does not charge per seat. The whole team can share one account. On Azure, access runs through subscription roles, which is useful but takes more admin.
Hindi speech to text with a measured number
In our own test on 9,997 Hindi clips, Garuda had a 12.95% word error rate. We have not tested Azure on the same clips in this comparison, so run the same test on your own audio before you decide.
What it takes to start
To start with Azure Speech, you need an Azure account and a subscription. You create a speech resource, pick a region, copy the key and endpoint, and then call the service. The steps are clear, but the cloud setup adds time if your team is new to Azure.
To start with 60db, you sign up, create an API key and call the speech endpoint. The same key works for chat and memory. Keep the key in your secret store and rotate it when people leave the team.
Either way, the time that matters most is testing with your own text. Use real scripts, real names and real product words. Those are where voices fail, and where a demo clip hides the problem.
How to run a test you can trust
Take a set of 20 to 30 real scripts from your product. Include product names, numbers, dates and the odd tricky word. A short demo sentence will flatter any voice.
Listen to each result on the device your users use, such as a phone speaker or a laptop. Note the voices that sound natural, and the ones that stumble on names. Ask a native speaker to judge the language, not only a developer.
Count the bill for the same script. Multiply your monthly characters by each price. Add any commitment you would sign, and the free allowance. Compare the total cost, not just the headline rate.
Match the tool to the job
Azure Speech suits an enterprise team that already runs on Azure, has a procurement process and needs a big, steady volume of speech at low list cost. It fits teams that have a platform group to manage cloud accounts.
60db suits a product team that builds a voice agent, an app with narration, a phone flow or a tool that turns text into audio and back. It fits small teams that want one vendor, one key and a fast first version.
Some companies use both. They keep a large, steady batch job on Azure and run the live voice product on 60db. Keep the two behind one internal interface, so a switch later costs less.
Costs beyond the per-character rate
The per-character rate is the number people compare first, but it is not the whole bill. Azure costs can include the speech resource, network and logging, and any custom voice work. Check the full estimate in the Azure calculator before you commit.
On 60db, one pool of credits covers speech to text, text to speech and chat. That makes planning simpler. It also means a big transcription job can use up credits you planned for voice output. Watch the balance during large runs.
Engineering time is a cost too. If you already have Azure skills in the team, Azure may be cheaper to run. If you do not, the setup and access work can cost more than the price difference.
Before you sign up, ask
These questions work for Azure, for us, and for any other voice vendor.
What is the price per million characters for the voice and language I need?
What happens to my text and audio?
Is it stored, for how long, and can I turn that off?
Which voices and locales were tested for the quality I need?
What is the uptime commitment, and what do I get if it is missed?
Can I export my audio, my voices and my data if I leave?
Test your own script today
Paste one real script from your product into 60db and listen. Then run the same script on Azure and compare the result and the cost.
8 questions
60db vs Azure Speech: common questions
Straight answers, including the ones where Azure comes out ahead.
At Azure's list price, yes. Neural text to speech is $15 per million characters, and 60db's pay as you go rate is $20 per million. Azure's commitment tiers go lower still. 60db can still be the better choice when you count setup time, one bill for all services, and chat and memory on the same key.
Hear it on your own script
3,000 free credits a month, a commercial licence, and speech to text, text to speech, chat and memory on one key.