Current model · Microsoft AI
MAI-Voice-2.1 benchmarks, pricing and specs
MAI-Voice-2.1 is a Microsoft AI model released on October 1, 2026 that takes text input and produces audio. It costs $0.000022 per character.
- Per character
- $0.000022Listed today
Data verified October 29, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-29
Specs
Key facts
- Provider
- Microsoft AI
- Model family
- MAI-Voice
- Release date
- October 1, 2026
- Status
- Current
- Access
- API only
- API model id
- MAI-Voice-2.1
- Context window
- Not reported
- Max output
- Not reported
- Input
- text
- Output
- audio
- Task families
- audio
- Declared capabilities
- text to speech
Charts
Against every current audio model
Where MAI-Voice-2.1 lands among the current models of its task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where it stands
3 of 10 list a lower price per character. Each bar is the share of current models it beats.
Price and context
Price per character
#4of 10
$0.000022 · cheaper than 67%
Benchmarks
Independent benchmark results
Scores come from independent evaluators that ran the model themselves, pinned to a dated snapshot. Rank is among current models in the same snapshot. Microsoft AI's own launch figures are listed under strengths with the publisher named, because they are not measured the same way.
No independent benchmark has published a result for MAI-Voice-2.1 yet. It is still compared below on price, context and capabilities.
Fit
Strengths, cautions and best uses
- Strengths
- 23 languages and 26 locales, and one voice speaks every supported language with a native accent
- Clones a voice from a 5 to 60 second sample and controls tone and delivery per turn or sentence, SSML speaking styles included
- Long-form narration and multi-speaker dialogue
- Cautions
- Microsoft Foundry lists it as a preview, and voice cloning needs Microsoft approval
- No independent benchmark score is recorded here yet
- Best for
- Multilingual products that keep one voice across languages
- Narration and dialogue with controlled delivery
From benchmark to production
Building on MAI-Voice-2.1?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test it against the alternatives on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the model that wins.
Alternatives
Alternatives to MAI-Voice-2.1
The closest current audio models by price. The cheapest model that scores as well or better is listed first; failing that, the cheapest one within 3% of the benchmark's scale.
On score and price
MAI-Voice-2.1 beside the 4 alternatives listed below, on Artificial Analysis Speech Arena and on price per character.
Artificial Analysis Speech Arena
Measured October 13, 2026, higher is better
- MAI-Voice-2.1
- Not scored
- TTS-1
- 1,090
- Voxtral Mini TTS 3
- Not scored
- Eleven Flash v2.5
- 1,078
- Eleven v4 Turbo
- 1,330
Price per character
Listed today, lower is better
- MAI-Voice-2.1
- $0.000022
- TTS-1
- $0.000015
- Voxtral Mini TTS 3
- $0.000013
- Eleven Flash v2.5
- $0.00004
- Eleven v4 Turbo
- $0.00004
TTS-1
- 32% cheaper per character, $0.000015 vs $0.000022
- From OpenAI
Voxtral Mini TTS 3
- 41% cheaper per character, $0.000013 vs $0.000022
- From Mistral AI
Eleven Flash v2.5
- 82% more per character, $0.00004 vs $0.000022
- From ElevenLabs
Eleven v4 Turbo
- 82% more per character, $0.00004 vs $0.000022
- From ElevenLabs
Further reading
More on MAI-Voice-2.1
Compare MAI-Voice-2.1 with
- MAI-Voice-2.1 vs Eleven Flash v2.5
- MAI-Voice-2.1 vs Eleven Multilingual v2
- MAI-Voice-2.1 vs Eleven v3
- MAI-Voice-2.1 vs Eleven v4 Turbo
- MAI-Voice-2.1 vs Eleven v4
- MAI-Voice-2.1 vs MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash
- MAI-Voice-2.1 vs Sonic 3.6
- MAI-Voice-2.1 vs TTS-1
- MAI-Voice-2.1 vs Voxtral Mini TTS 3
Other MAI-Voice models
FAQ
MAI-Voice-2.1 FAQ
How much does MAI-Voice-2.1 cost?
MAI-Voice-2.1 costs $0.000022 per character at the standard tier. It is the #4 cheapest of 10 current audio models priced per character. Source: Microsoft AI, verified October 29, 2026.
Is MAI-Voice-2.1 open source or API only?
MAI-Voice-2.1 is available through Microsoft AI's API only; its weights are not published.
What are the best alternatives to MAI-Voice-2.1?
The closest current alternatives by price and measured performance are TTS-1 (32% cheaper per character, $0.000015 vs $0.000022), Voxtral Mini TTS 3 (41% cheaper per character, $0.000013 vs $0.000022), Eleven Flash v2.5 (82% more per character, $0.00004 vs $0.000022) and Eleven v4 Turbo (82% more per character, $0.00004 vs $0.000022).
Sources
Sources
- Our first streaming transcription model debuts at no. 1 on Artificial Analysis · Microsoft AI · official · verified October 29, 2026
- MAI-Voice-2.1 in the Microsoft Foundry model catalog · Microsoft · official · verified October 29, 2026
All 221 sources behind the benchmarks, with their versions, licenses and notes, are in the source catalog.
Cite this page
Van Data Team. "MAI-Voice-2.1 Benchmarks, Pricing and Specs." AI Model Benchmark Dataset 2026-10-29. https://vandatateam.com/ai-model-benchmarks/mai-voice-2-1
Reuse the data: JSON · CSV · or explore every model in the AI model benchmark comparison.
Production evaluation
Deciding whether MAI-Voice-2.1 fits your workload?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We test the finalists on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- Evaluation cases and acceptance thresholds tied to real work
- Model routing, fallbacks and cost controls