How much is a 30-second voiceover on Sume TTS? About 2 cents

A 30-second voiceover is roughly 400 characters at a typical speaking pace, which is 1.9 cents at Sume's list rate of $0.0475 per 1,000 characters and bills as 2 cents after per-job rounding. The same 400 characters is 0.6 cents on MAI-Voice-2.1 Flash at Microsoft's list price.

The estimate and its limit

The 400-character figure is our rule of thumb for English, not a Sume or Microsoft number: pace varies by voice, language and the speed setting (0.6 to 1.5). Measure one render and scale from that.

Make it exact

Run the job with dry_run to get the estimate for your actual text, including spaces and punctuation, then submit with max_spend_usd set slightly above it. Billing details are in the Sume docs and the API reference; Microsoft prices are on its model page.

What the price leaves out

Voiceover cost is rarely the main cost of an ad. Captions ($0.20 per job up to 60 seconds, see video captions) and the video itself usually cost more. Per-character TTS price should not drive the choice on its own.