Microsoft Azure AI Speech
by Microsoft
Microsoft Azure AI Speech is a cloud service for speech-to-text, text-to-speech, speech translation, speaker recognition, and voice-enabled application development through APIs and SDKs.
Why Abandoned
Microsoft currently maintains Azure AI Speech product pages, documentation, pricing, and service updates as part of Azure AI services.
🩺 Health Signals
- HTTP Status
- 200
- Response
- —
- SSL
- —
- Confidence
- 99%
- Domain expires
- —
- Last content change
- —
- Last tweet
- —
- API status
- —
📅 Timeline
Microsoft launches unified Speech service
Microsoft announced the general availability of a unified Speech service within Azure Cognitive Services, combining speech recognition, translation, and text-to-speech capabilities.
Custom Neural Voice preview announced
Microsoft introduced Custom Neural Voice in limited preview, enabling organizations to build branded synthetic voices using neural text-to-speech technology.
Custom Neural Voice reaches general availability
Microsoft made Custom Neural Voice generally available with restricted access and responsible-AI controls intended to reduce misuse of synthetic voices.
Azure Cognitive Services becomes Azure AI services
Microsoft introduced Azure AI services as the new name for Azure Cognitive Services, placing Speech within its broader Azure AI product portfolio.
🔄 Alternatives to Microsoft Azure AI Speech
ElevenLabs
🟢ActiveAI voice synthesis platform known for extremely realistic and expressive voice cloning.
Murf AI
🟢ActiveAI voice generator that creates realistic text-to-speech voiceovers for videos and presentations.
OpenAI API
🟢ActiveAPI platform providing access to GPT models for developers to build AI applications.
🪦 Other dead Voice & Audio tools
Amper Music
🟡Acquired / MergedAmper Music was an AI-assisted music composition platform that let users generate and customize royalty-cleared tracks for videos, podcasts, games, and other media. Shutterstock acquired the company in 2020.
VocaliD
🟡Acquired / MergedVocaliD developed personalized synthetic voices for people who could not speak and later offered custom voice technology for brands. The company combined donated speech recordings with a recipient’s vocal characteristics.
Lyrebird
🟡Acquired / MergedLyrebird developed AI systems for copying a person’s voice from short audio samples and generating speech in that voice. Descript acquired the Montreal startup in 2019 and incorporated its technology and team.
Play.ht
🔴Shutdown / DeadAI text-to-speech platform with ultra-realistic voices for podcasts, videos, and audiobooks.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is Microsoft Azure AI Speech?
Microsoft Azure AI Speech is a managed cloud service that provides speech-to-text, text-to-speech, speech translation, speaker recognition, and related voice capabilities through Azure APIs and SDKs.
What can Azure AI Speech be used for?
It can transcribe live or recorded audio, generate synthetic speech, translate spoken language, add pronunciation assessment, and support voice-enabled assistants, contact centers, accessibility tools, and media workflows.
Does Azure AI Speech support real-time speech-to-text?
Yes. Azure AI Speech supports real-time transcription as well as batch transcription for prerecorded audio, with language and feature availability varying by region and service mode.
Can Azure AI Speech create custom voices?
Yes. Custom Neural Voice lets approved customers create a synthetic voice for an organization or application. Access is restricted and subject to Microsoft's eligibility, consent, disclosure, and responsible-AI requirements.
How is Microsoft Azure AI Speech priced?
Pricing generally depends on the feature and usage volume, such as audio hours for speech recognition or characters for text-to-speech. Microsoft offers a limited free tier for some capabilities, while rates vary by region and model.