Most text-to-speech tools let you play audio in the browser but hide the download behind a paywall. This guide covers how xAI Grok TTS works, what the voices sound like, and how to get audio as an MP3 using the Grok TTS API. If you need audio transcription instead, ScribeForge converts any audio file to text — free, no account, no watermark.
Need to transcribe audio to text? Upload your file and get a transcript — free, no sign-up.
Transcribe audio free →Sign up at console.x.ai and create an API key. The TTS endpoint is POST https://api.x.ai/v1/tts.
POST a JSON body with text, voice_id (e.g. "Eve"), and an output_format object specifying codec: "mp3". See the full API guide for code examples.
Choose from 5 Grok TTS voices: Eve, Ara, Rex, Sal, or Leo. Each has a distinct character — see the full voice guide to pick the right one.
The API returns raw MP3 bytes — write them directly to a file. No post-processing needed. The audio is clean, no watermark.
Eve is the most natural-sounding for general content. Rex and Leo work well for authoritative or cinematic narration. Ara is best for soft, educational content. Sal is the most neutral — good when you want the voice to "get out of the way." Read the voice comparison guide for audio samples and use-case recommendations.
xAI charges approximately $0.015 per 1,000 characters of input text. There is no free tier on the API — you pay per character. For light use (a few hundred characters at a time), costs are fractions of a cent per generation.
For regular use — weekly podcast episodes, ongoing narration projects — budget accordingly based on your average text length per generation.
The Grok TTS API returns MP3 at 128 kbps, which is CD-quality for speech. The response body is raw MP3 bytes — there's no post-processing needed. What the API returns is what you save.
If your use case requires WAV or a different bit rate, convert after downloading using Audacity (free) or ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -ar 44100 -ac 2 output.wav| Tool | Free download? | No account? | Voices | Max chars (free) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xAI Grok TTS (API) | Yes | No (API key) | 5 | — |
| ElevenLabs | Yes (watermarked) | No | 1000+ | 10,000/month |
| OpenAI TTS | No (API only) | No | 6 | — |
| Google TTS | No (API only) | No | 40+ | — |
| NaturalReader (web) | No | No | — | — |
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