# Amazon Polly vs Azure AI Speech

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Amazon Polly

| Attribute | Amazon Polly | Azure AI Speech |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 74.2 (73% (medium)) | 52.1 (48% (low)) |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Amazon Polly is a managed cloud service that synthesizes speech from text using neural networks and generative voice technology. It offers multiple voice options and languages, integrates through APIs, and supports various audio formats for use in applications and services. It is indexed under Text To Speech.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/","question":"What is Amazon Polly?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Amazon Polly offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $4. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/","question":"Is Amazon Polly free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Amazon Polly supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/","question":"What platforms does Amazon Polly support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Amazon Polly, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/","question":"Can Amazon Polly be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for Amazon Polly, including Amazon Connect, Amazon Chime SDK, AWS Chime SDK and Alexa Skills. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/","question":"What does Amazon Polly integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR for Amazon Polly. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Amazon Polly not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/trust-center/?nc1=f_cc","question":"What security certifications does Amazon Polly have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Amazon Polly is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.","source":"https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/","question":"Where is Amazon Polly available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"answer":"Azure AI Speech offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/","question":"Is Azure AI Speech free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Azure AI Speech supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/","question":"What platforms does Azure AI Speech support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Azure AI Speech, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/","question":"Can Azure AI Speech be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR for Azure AI Speech. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Azure AI Speech not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/explore/trusted-cloud/","question":"What security certifications does Azure AI Speech have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | A cloud-based text-to-speech service that transforms written text into spoken audio using neural AI models. Supports multiple languages and voices with customization through markup language tags and pronunciation rules. | A cloud service providing speech-related AI models with multilingual support and customization options for developers building apps and agents |
| features.capabilities | `{"open_source":false,"ssml_support":true,"pricing_model":"pay_per_character_api","on_device_offline":false,"architecture_model":"managed_cloud_saas_and_api","streaming_synthesis":true,"phoneme_level_pronunciation_dictionary_overrides":true}` | - |
| integrations.count | 3 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Amazon Connect"},{"name":"Amazon Chime SDK"},{"name":"AWS Chime SDK","native":true,"category":"communications","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Alexa Skills","native":true,"category":"voice_assistant","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Amazon Chime","native":true,"category":"chat"}]` | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Standard Voices","summary":"$4.00 per 1M characters. 5M free/month.","features":["Standard text-to-speech voices","SSML support","Custom pronunciation lexicons"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"characters"},"kind":"metered","amount":4,"currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_tier":"5M characters/month"}},{"free":true,"name":"Neural Voices","summary":"$16.00 per 1M characters. 1M free/month (first year).","features":["High-quality neural voices","Newscaster speaking style","SSML support","Speech Marks metadata"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"characters"},"kind":"metered","amount":16,"currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_tier":"1M characters/month (first 12 months)"}},{"free":true,"name":"Long-Form Voices","summary":"$100.00 per 1M characters. 500k free/month (first year).","features":["Long-form optimized voices","Extended synthesis support","SSML support"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"characters"},"kind":"metered","amount":100,"currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_tier":"500k characters/month (first 12 months)"}},{"free":true,"name":"Generative Voices","summary":"$30.00 per 1M characters. 100k free/month (first year).","features":["Generative voice synthesis","Advanced voice quality","Bidirectional streaming API"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"characters"},"kind":"metered","amount":30,"currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_tier":"100k characters/month (first 12 months)"}}],"summary":"From $4.00 per 1M characters (Standard Voices). Four voice type tiers with different pricing. Free tier includes millions of monthly characters depending on voice type.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-29T10:45:58.659Z","billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"subscription","summary":"Free tier available; 20+ services free for 12 months, 65+ services free always, $200 credit in first 30 days","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-31T15:11:07.113Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":4,"currency":"USD"}` | - |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.certifications | `[{"name":"PCI DSS","status":"active"},{"name":"HIPAA/HITECH","status":"active"},{"name":"FedRAMP","status":"active"},{"name":"FIPS 140-3","status":"active"},{"name":"NIST 800-171","status":"active"}]` | `[{"name":"100+ compliance offerings","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | yes |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/ | https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/explore/security/ |

## Capabilities (AI Voiceover)

| Capability | Amazon Polly | Azure AI Speech |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Architecture model | Managed cloud saas and API | - |
| Zero shot instant voice cloning from short samples | - | - |
| Emotional prosody directing anger whisper joy | - | - |
| Speech to speech sts acting and accent transfer | - | - |
| Automatic translated dubbing retaining original voice | - | - |
| Sub 500ms ultra low latency streaming API available | - | - |
| Phoneme level pronunciation dictionary overrides | ✓ | - |
| Multi speaker timeline editor for conversations | - | - |
| Voice isolation and background noise removal | - | - |
| Watermarking and AI generation detection safety | - | - |
| SOC2 type ii | - | - |
| ISO 27001 | - | - |
| Pricing model | Pay per character API | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T18:33:39.703Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*