Quick Answer
Last verified:
High confidence

Amazon Polly API costs $4 to $100 per 1 million characters as of July 2026, with 6 plans available. Plans: Standard voices at $4/1 million characters, Neural voices at $16/1 million characters, Long-Form voices at $100/1 million characters, Generative voices at $30/1 million characters, Standard voices (AWS GovCloud US) at $4.8/1 million characters, and Neural TTS voices (AWS GovCloud US) at $19.2/1 million characters. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: No free tier available

Amazon Polly API offers 6 pricing tiers: Standard voices, Neural voices, Long-Form voices, Generative voices, Standard voices (AWS GovCloud US), Neural TTS voices (AWS GovCloud US). Paid plans include Standard voices at $4/1 million characters, Neural voices at $16/1 million characters, Long-Form voices at $100/1 million characters.

Amazon Polly API lists $4-$100/1 million characters, but hidden costs like implementation and support add to the total as of July 2026. Key hidden costs: character-based pricing, s3 storage, s3 data transfer. Verified from 1 sources by CostBench.

Hidden Costs Breakdown

1

Character-based Pricing

high overage

Amazon Polly charges per million characters processed, with rates varying by voice type and AWS region.

industry

AWS GovCloud (US) regions have slightly higher rates, with standard voices at $4.80 per 1 million characters and neural voices at $19.20 per 1 million characters.

2

S3 Storage

medium addon

Storing generated audio files in Amazon S3 incurs additional costs.

industry

These can include: * S3 Storage: Storing generated audio files in Amazon S3 costs approximately $0.023 per GB.

3

S3 Data Transfer

medium addon

Serving audio files to users or clients incurs data transfer costs after the initial free tier.

industry

S3 Data Transfer: Serving audio files to users or clients incurs data transfer costs, typically around $0.09 per GB after the first 100 GB free.

4

AWS Lambda Invocations

medium addon

Using serverless functions to trigger Polly incurs costs for Lambda invocations.

industry

AWS Lambda: If serverless functions are used to trigger Polly, Lambda invocations cost approximately $0.20 per 1 million requests.

5

DynamoDB Usage

low addon

Using DynamoDB for databases adds costs based on storage and request usage.

industry

DynamoDB: Usage for databases can add around $0.375 per month, based on storage and request usage.

6

EC2 & ELB Costs

high implementation

In a non-serverless setup, provisioning EC2 instances and using services like ELB adds costs for data transfer and security measures.

industry

EC2 Instances & Elastic Load Balancer (ELB): In a non-serverless setup, provisioning EC2 instances and using services like ELB can add approximately $10.00 per month for data transfer and security measures.

7

CloudWatch Monitoring

low addon

Monitoring usage through CloudWatch incurs costs for detailed monitoring.

industry

CloudWatch: Monitoring usage through CloudWatch can cost around $0.30 per metric per month for detailed monitoring, though basic metrics are free.

8

Free Tier Expiration

high overage

After the initial free tier period, users are immediately charged full rates, which can lead to surprise bills if not monitored.

industry

After this period, users are immediately charged full rates, which can lead to "surprise bills" if not monitored.

Frequently Asked Questions

01 What hidden costs should I budget for with Amazon Polly API?

Beyond the license fee, budget for: Character-based Pricing ($4.00 per 1 million characters (standard voices)); S3 Storage ($0.023 per GB); S3 Data Transfer ($0.09 per GB after the first 100 GB free); AWS Lambda Invocations ($0.20 per 1 million requests); DynamoDB Usage ($0.375 per month); EC2 & ELB Costs ($10.00 per month); CloudWatch Monitoring ($0.30 per metric per month). Exact totals depend on your deployment size and negotiated terms.

02 Does Amazon Polly API charge for implementation?

Amazon Polly API implementation is not included in the license cost. In a non-serverless setup, provisioning EC2 instances and using services like ELB adds costs for data transfer and security measures.. Estimated impact: $10.00 per month.

03 How much does Amazon Polly API support cost?

Premium support pricing for Amazon Polly API depends on your tier and contract terms. See the sourced cost breakdown above for any verified figures we have.

04 Are there overage or storage costs with Amazon Polly API?

Amazon Polly charges per million characters processed, with rates varying by voice type and AWS region.. Estimated impact: $4.00 per 1 million characters (standard voices).

05 What add-ons cost extra with Amazon Polly API?

Add-on pricing for Amazon Polly API varies by feature. The sourced cost breakdown above lists any verified add-on costs we have.

Check current Amazon Polly API pricing

Prices and terms change; verify against the live pricing page.

See Amazon Polly API Pricing