audio model comparison
Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS vs Gemini 3.8 Live
Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS and Gemini 3.8 Live are both current audio models, from Google. Gemini 3.8 Live is 63% cheaper per audio minute than Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS, $0.005 vs $0.0135.
Data verified October 12, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-12
Side by side
Standard-tier prices in effect today. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS | Gemini 3.8 Live |
|---|---|---|
| Price per audio minute | $0.0135 | $0.005 (better) |
| Provider | ||
| Release date | September 22, 2026 | September 15, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API only |
| Context window | Not reported | Not reported |
| Max output | Not reported | Not reported |
| Input | text | text, audio |
| Output | audio | text, audio |
When to choose each
Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS
Best for
- Narration, audiobooks and product audio where voice quality matters more than cost
- Narration and voice output attached to an existing Gemini text pipeline
- Audio generation budgeted before the 2027 price step
Watch out for
- Google doubles the rates on 2027-01-01, to $1.00 input and $18 output per 1M tokens (about $0.027 per minute)
- Audio output is billed in audio tokens, which do not convert one-for-one to text tokens, so a text-token budget does not predict this cost
- Google's pricing page lists no context window or output cap for this model, so both are recorded as unknown
- No independent speech-quality benchmark is recorded here
Gemini 3.8 Live
Best for
- Customer-facing voice agents that need natural turn-taking
Watch out for
- Audio is billed per token; the per-minute figures are Google's equivalents ($0.005 input, $0.018 output)
- No independent voice benchmark is recorded here
Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS vs Gemini 3.8 Live FAQ
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS or Gemini 3.8 Live?
Gemini 3.8 Live is 63% cheaper per audio minute than Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS, $0.005 vs $0.0135.
Related comparisons
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Live Preview vs Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Live Preview vs Gemini 3.8 Live
- Gemini 3.5 Live Translate Preview vs Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS
- Gemini 3.5 Live Translate Preview vs Gemini 3.8 Live
- Gemini 3.8 Flash-Lite TTS vs Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS
- Gemini 3.8 Flash-Lite TTS vs Gemini 3.8 Live
Production evaluation
Choosing between Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS and Gemini 3.8 Live?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty