Kokoro
A free tool that turns text into speech on your computer. It's for people making images, video, or audio. It's free.
Get patch notes
Same daily newsletter as the rest of the site. One email a day.
No affiliate link on file. Outbound goes to huggingface.co. Identity checked October 21, 2026. Score null is from the run on October 21, 2026.
Grade
We tried it ourselves. Grade A.
- Grade
- A · We tried it
- Score
- 8/10
- Price
- Free
Best for
Jobs people use this for.
Test details
82M-parameter open-weight text-to-speech model that runs on CPU. Apache-2.0 weights and code. The kokoro-onnx wrapper is MIT.
Hands-on review · 2026-10-21
TestedA8/10- CPU-only box: 8 cores, 15 GB RAM, no GPU.
- Audio checked by transcription, not yet by ear.
- No human listening test
Kokoro generated nearly 13 seconds of speech in about 2 seconds on CPU, and every Whisper model transcribed it cleanly, matching the script's punctuation. It is slower than Piper and the download is bigger. As with Piper, someone needs to listen to kokoro/out.wav before we rate how natural it sounds.
Audio checked by transcribing it back. Not judged by ear.
- Coverage
- Same 36-word script, voice af_heart, intelligibility by transcription
- What we tested
- Speed and intelligibility of the same 36-word script with voice af_heart.
Method
kokoro-onnx with the v1.0 model files from GitHub releases (310 MB + 27 MB), 3 runs, intelligibility via faster-whisper round trip.
Measured
- load_s1.17
- synth_s2.5, 2.37, 2.08
- audio_s12.76
- rtf0.16-0.20
- transcription check0.061 error rate for all Whisper sizes (brand-name split only)
Pros
- About 5x faster than real time on CPU
- Whisper transcribed it with no errors beyond the brand name, even the punctuation
Cons
- Model download is about 340 MB
- Naturalness not judged by ear
- Status
- Not run
- Date
- October 21, 2026
- Time to first output
- —
- Cost
- —
- Result
- —
- Evidence
- Log linked below
Queued task. Render a fixed script in a chosen voice. Log time to the first usable take and artifacts.
FAQ
What is the agent-tested verdict for Kokoro?
A free tool that turns text into speech on your computer. It's for people making images, video, or audio. It's free. We tried it ourselves. Grade A.
How much does Kokoro cost?
Free. Apache-2.0 weights and code. The kokoro-onnx wrapper is MIT.
Do sponsors outrank this tool?
No. A sponsored slot is labeled and sold separately from tiers. It cannot move this listing.