Amazon Polly

Comparing ElevenLabs and Amazon Polly Voice Models

ElevenLabs vs Amazon Polly on AWS: Polly built into Amazon Connect, ElevenLabs as a third-party Connect voice, AWS Marketplace options, and TTS prices.

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ElevenLabs vs Amazon Polly at a glance

Amazon Polly is the voice built into Amazon Connect, and its Standard and Neural voices cost nothing extra there. Amazon Connect now also accepts ElevenLabs as a third-party text-to-speech provider in the Set voice block. ElevenLabs adds self-service voice cloning; Polly adds four engines priced per character inside your AWS bill.

ElevenLabsAmazon Polly

  1. Speech models

    ElevenLabs
    Eleven v3 Conversational, Eleven v3, Multilingual v2, and Flash v2.5 serve different workflows
    Amazon Polly
    Standard, Neural, Long-form, and Generative engines

  2. Custom voices

    ElevenLabs
    Instant and professional voice cloning on eligible plans
    Amazon Polly
    Brand Voice through a custom engagement with AWS

  3. Language selection

    ElevenLabs
    Language support depends on the selected speech model
    Amazon Polly
    Language and voice availability vary by engine and AWS Region

  4. Delivery controls

    ElevenLabs
    Voice settings and expressive controls depend on the model
    Amazon Polly
    SSML and pronunciation lexicons, with engine-specific support

  5. Long text

    ElevenLabs
    Request limits vary by model; longer scripts may need splitting
    Amazon Polly
    Synchronous requests, asynchronous tasks, and Generative input streaming

  6. Amazon Connect

    ElevenLabs
    Third-party TTS provider in the Set voice block, with the API key in AWS Secrets Manager; ElevenAgents via Connect's third-party AI agent integration (limited availability)
    Amazon Polly
    Built in; Standard and Neural voices included in Connect, Generative voices billed

  7. AWS integration

    ElevenLabs
    Speech API called from your AWS application; third-party Amazon Connect connectors on AWS Marketplace
    Amazon Polly
    AWS SDKs, IAM permissions, and AWS billing

  8. Billing units

    ElevenLabs
    API character rates depend on the model and offer
    Amazon Polly
    Characters synthesized, charged at an engine-specific rate

  9. Capacity planning

    ElevenLabs
    Concurrent request allowances vary by plan
    Amazon Polly
    Request and concurrency quotas vary by engine and API operation

Why teams choose Cartesia

Rated first by listeners

Sonic 3.6 ranks first on the Artificial Analysis Provider Voice Arena, a blind listening test.

First audio in under 90ms

Sonic streams speech fast enough for a live phone call, on the public API.

44 languages, one model

Native accents in every language, with no model to switch when a caller does.

Enterprise ready

SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA-eligible, on-prem and air-gapped deployment, and a 99.9% uptime SLA.

How they stack up

Using Amazon Connect

Polly needs no setup in Amazon Connect: prompts in Play prompt, Get customer input and similar flow blocks are read by Polly, and its Standard and Neural voices are included. Generative voices and Brand Voice are billed.

ElevenLabs reaches a Connect call two ways. For prompts, choose it as the voice provider in the Set voice block, then enter the model, voice and the AWS Secrets Manager ARN that holds your API key. Connect Customer supports ElevenLabs endpoints in the US, EU and India. For a full conversational agent, ElevenAgents connects through Amazon Connect's third-party AI agent integration, which ElevenLabs lists as limited availability and which needs an Amazon Q in Connect assistant.

  • Play the same prompts through Polly and ElevenLabs in a test flow on a real phone line.
  • Check that Secrets Manager and KMS policies let Connect read the key; missing permissions show up as authentication errors in the flow logs.
  • Compare the per-character ElevenLabs bill with Polly voices that Connect includes at no charge.

Choose between a voice creation workflow and AWS integration

ElevenLabs is worth evaluating when your team needs voice cloning and content creation tools. Polly is worth evaluating when speech generation needs to fit an existing AWS application or contact center.

  • Check whether the desired voice is available in your language and model.
  • Compare custom voice access, setup work, and commercial terms.
  • Test the speech your users will hear, including names, numbers, and corrections.

Compare specific models, not provider labels

Flash v2.5 prioritizes low latency, Multilingual v2 targets consistent long-form speech, and Eleven v3 provides expressive generation. Polly's four engines also differ in voice selection, capabilities, and price. Calling all Polly voices robotic or treating every ElevenLabs model as equivalent misses those differences.

Polly's Generative engine supports bidirectional text and audio streaming. You can forward text as it arrives instead of waiting for a complete response. See the AWS streaming guide.

  • Measure the first playable audio with the same transcript and network conditions.
  • Listen for pronunciation errors and changes in delivery across longer passages.
  • Repeat tests with the exact voice and settings you plan to use.

Compare the selected model and engine rates

ElevenAPI lists $0.04 per 1,000 characters for Flash/Turbo and v3 Conversational, and $0.08 per 1,000 for Eleven v3 and Multilingual v2. Subscription and pay-as-you-go options are available. Creative-plan allowances are a separate comparison, and introductory discounts are not the ongoing monthly price.

Polly lists $4 per million characters for Standard, $16 for Neural, $30 for Generative, and $100 for Long-form outside the free tier. Check the rate for your AWS Region. Estimate your bill with the engine you intend to deploy, then account for your expected usage. The ElevenLabs pricing page and Polly pricing page are the sources for current rates.

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“Cartesia’s state-space models bring enterprise-grade speed and quality to our AI Voice Agents… making it possible for businesses to deploy secure, scalable voice agents that can understand, act, and adapt in real time.”

Ravi Krishnamurthy

VP Product

“With Cartesia's Sonic model, users can interact with a wide range of high-quality, human-like voices in multiple languages, enhancing their experience on our platform.”

Spencer Chan

Head of Poe Product

“Cartesia is leading the charge of building efficient, multimodal models from first principles, starting with their Sonic TTS model.”

Vipul Ved Prakash

CEO

“We didn’t switch to Sonic because it was incrementally better, we switched because nothing else came close… we’ve seen a 2.9% lift in our conversion and a 12.2% increase in customer engagement.”

Akshay Ramaswamy

Staff Product Manager

“Sonic represents a significant evolution over previous TTS models, delivering refined prosodic rhythm, natural intonation, superior pacing and wider emotional range for more “human” sounding voices.”

Tyler Brown

Voice Expert

“Cartesia Sonic is the best voice model today for real-time multimodal use cases.”

Kwindla Hultman

CEO

Frequently asked questions

Can I use ElevenLabs in Amazon Connect?

Yes. Amazon Connect Customer supports ElevenLabs as a third-party text-to-speech provider. In a flow's Set voice block, choose ElevenLabs as the voice provider and enter the model, voice and the ARN of an AWS Secrets Manager secret that holds your ElevenLabs API key. ElevenAgents conversational agents connect separately, through Connect's third-party AI agent integration, which ElevenLabs lists as limited availability.

Does Amazon Connect charge for Amazon Polly voices?

Amazon Connect includes Polly's Standard and Neural voices at no extra charge. Generative voices and custom Brand Voices are billed. A third-party voice such as ElevenLabs is billed by that provider on its own plan, on top of your Amazon Connect usage.

Is ElevenLabs on AWS Marketplace?

AWS Marketplace lists third-party products that connect ElevenLabs to Amazon Connect and bill through your AWS account. LiveUCX, for example, lists its ElevenLabs Voice Agent for Amazon Connect at $300 a month for one agent, with ElevenLabs usage paid to ElevenLabs directly. Check the listing's seller and what it includes before you subscribe.

Is ElevenLabs better than Amazon Polly?

ElevenLabs fits self-service voice cloning and voice content production. Amazon Polly fits speech generation within AWS applications and offers several engines with different prices and voices. Compare the specific models on your scripts rather than assuming one provider wins every use case.

Can Amazon Polly create a custom voice?

Yes. AWS offers Brand Voice as a custom engagement to create a voice for an organization. It is different from ElevenLabs' self-service instant and professional cloning workflows, which are available on eligible plans.

Does Amazon Polly support real-time text input?

Polly's Generative engine supports StartSpeechSynthesisStream for incremental text input and audio output over HTTP/2. SynthesizeSpeech also streams audio output, but requires the full text at the start of the request. These are different integration choices.

Is Amazon Polly cheaper than ElevenLabs?

Neither has one price for every model. Compare your chosen Polly engine's character rate with your ElevenLabs plan and model's rate. Polly Standard pricing does not apply to Generative voices. Subscription allowances, volume, and required cloning access also affect the comparison. Use the current pricing pages linked below.

Do all ElevenLabs models have the same text limit?

No. ElevenLabs documents different per-request limits for its speech models. The limit for Flash v2.5 does not apply to Eleven v3 or Multilingual v2. Check the model documentation before choosing how to split a long script.

Can I control pronunciation in Amazon Polly?

Polly supports pronunciation lexicons and SSML, including phoneme and pause controls. Support differs by engine and tag. Check the supported SSML table before assuming the same markup will behave identically across Standard, Neural, Long-form, and Generative voices.

When should I also evaluate Cartesia?

Include Cartesia when you want to compare Sonic speech models and self-service voice cloning with these options. Use the same scripts, voices suited to your audience, and playback setup. If you buy through AWS, Cartesia sells its voice AI platform on AWS Marketplace, and Sonic 3.6 is available there as an Amazon SageMaker model you deploy in your own account. The Cartesia vs Amazon Polly comparison covers model selection, cloning access, and integration requirements.

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