Current model · Microsoft AI
MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash benchmarks, pricing and specs
MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash is a Microsoft AI model released on October 1, 2026 that takes text input and produces audio. It costs $0.000015 per character.
- Per character
- $0.000015Listed 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-Flash
- 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-Flash lands among the current models of its task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where it stands
1 of 10 list a lower price per character. Each bar is the share of current models it beats.
Price and context
Price per character
#2of 10
$0.000015 · cheaper than 78%
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-Flash yet. It is still compared below on price, context and capabilities.
Fit
Strengths, cautions and best uses
- Strengths
- Microsoft reports 45 seconds of audio generated with 150 ms end-to-end latency
- The same languages and cross-language voices as MAI-Voice-2.1, with streaming output and barge-in handling for voice agents
- $15 per 1M characters, about 32% below MAI-Voice-2.1
- Cautions
- Microsoft Foundry lists it as a preview, and voice cloning needs Microsoft approval
- Microsoft's claims of 55% faster inference and about 60% lower cost do not name the models compared
- Best for
- Voice agents and call-center assistants
- High-volume, low-latency speech
From benchmark to production
Building on MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash?
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-Flash
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-Flash 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-Flash
- 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-Flash
- $0.000015
- TTS-1
- $0.000015
- Voxtral Mini TTS 3
- $0.000013
- Eleven Flash v2.5
- $0.00004
- Eleven v4 Turbo
- $0.00004
TTS-1
- Same price per character, $0.000015
- From OpenAI
Voxtral Mini TTS 3
- 13% cheaper per character, $0.000013 vs $0.000015
- From Mistral AI
Eleven Flash v2.5
- 2.7x the price per character, $0.00004 vs $0.000015
- From ElevenLabs
Eleven v4 Turbo
- 2.7x the price per character, $0.00004 vs $0.000015
- From ElevenLabs
Further reading
More on MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash
FAQ
MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash FAQ
How much does MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash cost?
MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash costs $0.000015 per character at the standard tier. It is the #2 cheapest of 10 current audio models priced per character. Source: Microsoft AI, verified October 29, 2026.
Is MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash open source or API only?
MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash is available through Microsoft AI's API only; its weights are not published.
What are the best alternatives to MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash?
The closest current alternatives by price and measured performance are TTS-1 (same price per character, $0.000015), Voxtral Mini TTS 3 (13% cheaper per character, $0.000013 vs $0.000015), Eleven Flash v2.5 (2.7x the price per character, $0.00004 vs $0.000015) and Eleven v4 Turbo (2.7x the price per character, $0.00004 vs $0.000015).
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-Flash 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-Flash Benchmarks, Pricing and Specs." AI Model Benchmark Dataset 2026-10-29. https://vandatateam.com/ai-model-benchmarks/mai-voice-2-1-flash
Reuse the data: JSON · CSV · or explore every model in the AI model benchmark comparison.
Production evaluation
Deciding whether MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash 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