{"id":"speech-synthesis","slug":"speech-synthesis","name":"Text-to-speech","shortName":"Text-to-speech","problemStatement":"Natural TTS for agents and products.","whenNotTopPick":"Already all-in on OpenAI and quality sufficient.","categoryIds":["cat-media-gen","cat-comms"],"depotPickProviderId":"elevenlabs","depotPickRationale":"capability voice quality + dx.","runnersUpIds":["cartesia","openai-media","hume","minimax","rime"],"weights":{"capabilityFit":0.25,"pricePerformance":0.18,"latencyReliability":0.15,"developerDx":0.15,"privacyPosture":0.1,"lockInRisk":0.07,"maturity":0.1},"methodologyNotes":"capability voice quality + dx.","tags":["speech"],"depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"Already all-in on OpenAI and quality sufficient.","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"cartesia","name":"Cartesia","overallForJob":7.81,"pickOverallForJob":8.27,"beatsPickOn":["pricePerformance","privacyPosture","lockInRisk"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":5.5,"runnerUpLockInRisk":4.5,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":[],"runnerUpExitSignals":[],"pickNotes":[],"selfHostFallback":[{"id":"kokoro-82m","name":"Kokoro-82M","license":"Apache-2.0","sourceUrl":"https://huggingface.co/hexgrad/Kokoro-82M/raw/main/README.md"},{"id":"piper","name":"Piper","license":"MIT","sourceUrl":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rhasspy/piper/master/LICENSE.md"},{"id":"espeak-ng","name":"eSpeak NG","license":"GPL-3.0","sourceUrl":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espeak-ng/espeak-ng/master/COPYING"}],"migration":"Runner-up Cartesia has lower stored lock-in risk (4.5 vs 5.5, 0–10, higher = more lock-in). Self-host fallback listed for this job: Kokoro-82M, Piper, eSpeak NG.","migrationReason":null,"derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":1,"sourcesReachable":1,"pricingRows":12,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":9,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}}}}