I got tired of expensive text-to-speech APIs, so I built my own

Hey devs 👋

Over the past few months, I’ve been experimenting with different text-to-speech (TTS) tools and APIs.

And honestly… most of them left me frustrated.

Here’s why:

• Pricing gets expensive really fast
• Character limits are restrictive
• Some voices still sound robotic
• Too many steps just to generate a simple audio

So I decided to build my own.

Not to compete with the big players — but to create something simple, fast, and actually usable.

What I focused on

Instead of adding too many features, I focused on:

• ⚡ Fast text-to-speech generation
• 🎯 Clean and minimal UI
• 🔓 No unnecessary login barriers
• 💰 More accessible usage

What I learned

Building this wasn’t just about coding.

A few things surprised me:

1. Speed matters more than features
   
   Users don’t want complexity. They want results.

2. UX > AI quality (to a point)
   
   Even a good model feels bad with a slow or confusing UI.

3. People hate friction
   
   Login walls, limits, paywalls — they kill experience.

The result

I ended up with a simple tool that does one thing well:
convert text into speech quickly and easily.

It’s still a work in progress, but already usable.

👉 You can try it here:

[https://ttsforge.com]

Looking for feedback

If you’ve built or used TTS tools before, I’d love to know:

• What features actually matter to you?
• What frustrates you the most?
• What would make you switch tools?

Appreciate any feedback 🙏