WaveNet text-to-speech model
GoogleReleased Sep 2016.
WaveNet is a text-to-speech (TTS) model from Google. It ranks #89 of 98 on the Artificial Analysis TTS arena with Elo 919 (95% CI ±12, 6,399 samples). List price is about $4 per 1M characters. Released Sep 2016.
Key facts
- Provider
- AA rank
- #89 / 98
- AA Elo (95% CI)
- 919 ±12
- AA samples
- 6,399
- TTS Arena Elo (uncertainty)
- –
- TTS Arena votes
- –
- TTS Arena win rate
- –
- Price (per 1M chars)
- $4
- Released
- Sep 2016
- Open weights
- –
- License
- –
- Voices tested by AA
- 8
- Languages
- –
- Voice cloning
- –
"–" means the upstream sources do not provide this value; we do not guess.
Nearby models
By AA Elo; this model highlighted| # | Model | AA Elo | Arena Elo | Price $/1M chars | Open weights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86 |  Qwen3 TTS Flash Alibaba | 942 | – | $11 | – |
| 87 | Qwen3 TTS Alibaba | 930 | – | $13.8 | – |
| 88 | KKugel 3 KugelAudio | 926 | – | – | – |
| 89 | WaveNet Google | 919 | – | $4 | – |
| 90 |  XTTS v2 Coqui | 915 | – | $40.4 | Open |
| 91 | RMist V2 Rime | 905 | – | $31.1 | – |
| 92 |  Polly Neural Amazon | 897 | – | $16 | – |
Alternatives · Cheaper with AA Elo ≥ 889
| # | Model | AA Elo | Arena Elo | Price $/1M chars | Open weights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | KKokoro 82M v1.0 Kokoro | 1066 | 1468 | $0.7 | Open |
| 94 | SStyleTTS 2 StyleTTS | 890 | – | $2.8 | Open |
Alternatives · More from Google
| # | Model | AA Elo | Arena Elo | Price $/1M chars | Open weights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS Google | 1280 | – | $16.5 | – |
| 8 | Gemini 3.8 Flash-Lite TTS Google | 1252 | – | $11 | – |
| 16 | Gemini 3.1 Flash TTS Google | 1213 | – | $18.3 | – |
| 49 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite TTS Google | 1087 | – | $9.2 | – |
| 52 | Studio Google | 1076 | – | $160 | – |
Alternatives · Top 5 open-weight by AA Elo
| # | Model | AA Elo | Arena Elo | Price $/1M chars | Open weights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 |  Fish Audio Drama 3 Preview Fish Audio | 1248 | – | $15 | Open |
| 11 | BBreeze TTS 2 BreezeBlue | 1230 | – | $34 | Open |
| 19 |  Ming-3.0-tts Ant Group | 1191 | – | – | Open |
| 38 | Fish Audio S2 Pro Fish Audio | 1110 | – | $15 | Open |
| 41 |  Step Audio EditX (Mar 2026) StepFun | 1100 | – | – | Open |
FAQ
Where does WaveNet rank among TTS models?
As of Oct 25, 2026, WaveNet ranks #89 of 98 on the Artificial Analysis TTS leaderboard with Elo 919 (±12).
Is WaveNet open source?
The sources do not list WaveNet as open-weight; it is generally used through the Google API.
What is the best Chinese TTS model?
By AA Elo, the top model from a Chinese provider is Qwen-Audio-3.1-TTS-Plus by Alibaba (Elo 1307, #3 overall).
Which top-10 TTS model is cheapest?
Among the AA top 10, the lowest list price is Simba 3.2 (SpeechifyAI) at $6.6 per 1M characters, Elo 1246.
What is the best open-source TTS model?
By AA Elo, the top open-weight model is Fish Audio Drama 3 Preview by Fish Audio (Elo 1248, #9 overall); 18 open-weight models have an AA score.
Sources
"–" means the upstream sources do not provide this value; we do not guess.