Very Fast
Speed
Good
Quality
No
Cloning
20
Languages
About Piper TTS
Piper is a fast, local neural text-to-speech system optimized for Raspberry Pi and other edge devices. It uses VITS-based models that have been trained on high-quality voice recordings, delivering natural-sounding speech with minimal computational requirements. Piper is perfect for applications requiring real-time speech synthesis without cloud dependencies.
Key Features
Ultra-Fast Synthesis
Generates speech in real-time, even on low-power devices like Raspberry Pi.
CPU-Optimized
Runs efficiently on CPU without requiring expensive GPU hardware.
20+ Languages
Supports over 20 languages with native-quality pronunciation.
Offline Operation
Works completely offline with no internet connection required.
Privacy-First
All processing happens locally - your text never leaves your device.
Open Source
Fully open-source under MIT license with active community development.
Use Cases
Smart Home Assistants
Accessibility Applications
IVR Phone Systems
Embedded Devices
Educational Software
Offline Applications
Piper TTS Voices
View All 101Alan (Fast) (UK English)
EN_GBAlan (UK English)
EN_GBAlba (UK English)
EN_GBAlejandro (Spanish (Mexico))
ES_MXAmir (Persian)
FA_IRAmy (Fast) (US English)
EN_USAmy (US English)
ENAnders (Danish)
DA_DKAnna (Hungarian)
HU_HUArctic (US English)
EN_USArthur (UK English)
EN_GBArtur (Slovenian)
SL_SIFrequently Asked Questions
Piper is a fast, local neural text-to-speech system that converts written text into natural-sounding speech. It uses VITS-based deep learning models optimized for efficient CPU inference, making it ideal for edge devices and real-time applications.
Yes, Piper is completely free and open-source under the MIT license. You can use it for personal and commercial projects without any licensing fees. On TextToSpeechAI, we charge minimal credits (10 per 1000 characters) to cover infrastructure costs.
Piper supports over 20 languages including English (US, UK, Australian), Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, and many more. Each language has multiple voice options.
Piper is one of the fastest TTS engines available. It can generate speech in real-time on a Raspberry Pi 4 and much faster on standard computers. A typical sentence is generated in milliseconds, making it suitable for interactive applications.
No, Piper does not support voice cloning. It uses pre-trained voice models. If you need voice cloning capabilities, consider using StyleTTS2, F5-TTS, OpenVoice, or Tortoise TTS instead.
Piper produces good quality audio at 22050 Hz sample rate. While not as high-fidelity as slower models like Tortoise or StyleTTS2, the quality is excellent for most applications and the speed advantage is significant.
Piper is designed to run on CPU and requires minimal resources - typically around 500MB of RAM. It does not require a GPU, though it can use GPU acceleration if available for even faster performance.
Yes, Piper is released under the MIT license, which permits commercial use. You can integrate it into commercial products and services without licensing fees or attribution requirements.
Simply specify a Piper voice in your API request. Browse our voice library to find Piper voices (marked with the Piper badge), then use the voice slug in your generate endpoint call. The API handles all the processing automatically.
Piper natively outputs WAV audio. Through TextToSpeechAI, you can request MP3, WAV, or OGG formats - we handle the conversion automatically to give you the format you need.
Yes, you can adjust the speaking speed (0.5x to 2.0x) when using Piper through TextToSpeechAI. Pitch adjustment is also supported for fine-tuning the voice characteristics.
Piper excels in speed and efficiency, making it the best choice for real-time applications or when running on limited hardware. For higher audio quality, consider StyleTTS2 or Tortoise. For voice cloning, F5-TTS or OpenVoice are better choices.
Technical Specs
- Generation Speed Very Fast
- Output Quality Good
- Voice Cloning Not Supported
- Languages 20
- GPU VRAM 500MB
- Credits/1000 chars 10