Deepgram Aura TTS — Text-to-Speech for Voice Agents

Quick Use

1. POST /v1/speak?model=aura-2-luna-en with JSON {text} for batch
2. WebSocket dg.speak.websocket.v('1') for streaming voice agents
3. Pair with Deepgram STT or use Voice Agent API for full stack

Intro

Aura is Deepgram's TTS — purpose-built for conversational voice agents rather than long-form narration. 250ms time-to-first-audio, 12 English voices tuned for natural turn-taking, streaming WebSocket and REST APIs. Pairs natively with Deepgram STT for a low-friction single-vendor voice stack. Best for: customer support voice agents, IVR replacement, voice copilots where 'sounds like a real person on a phone' beats 'audiobook quality'. Works with: Deepgram SDKs, REST, WebSocket, Voice Agent API. Setup time: 5 minutes.

Single audio buffer (REST)

import requests

resp = requests.post(
    "https://api.deepgram.com/v1/speak",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Token {os.environ['DEEPGRAM_API_KEY']}", "Content-Type": "application/json"},
    params={"model": "aura-2-luna-en", "encoding": "mp3"},
    json={"text": "Welcome back to TokRepo. You have three new asset notifications."},
)
with open("welcome.mp3", "wb") as f:
    f.write(resp.content)

Streaming WebSocket

import asyncio
from deepgram import DeepgramClient
import sounddevice as sd
import numpy as np

dg = DeepgramClient(os.environ["DEEPGRAM_API_KEY"])

async def stream():
    ws = dg.speak.websocket.v("1")
    await ws.start({
        "model": "aura-2-luna-en",
        "encoding": "linear16",
        "sample_rate": 24000,
    })

    ws.on("AudioData", lambda data: sd.play(np.frombuffer(data, dtype=np.int16), 24000, blocking=False))

    await ws.send_text("Hi there! How can I help you today?")
    await ws.flush()
    await ws.wait_for_complete()
    await ws.finish()

asyncio.run(stream())

Voice catalog (Aura 2)

Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese voices added throughout 2026 — check developers.deepgram.com/docs/text-to-speech for current language list.

Aura vs ElevenLabs vs Cartesia

Pricing

• Aura TTS: $0.015/min equivalent (~$0.030/1k characters)
• Free tier: $200 credit at signup
• Voice Agent API bundles STT+LLM+TTS at one per-minute rate

FAQ

Q: Why use Aura over ElevenLabs? A: Single vendor (one bill, one SLA) when paired with Deepgram STT. Faster TTFA than ElevenLabs Turbo. Voice library is smaller — pick ElevenLabs for character voice diversity or 32-language coverage.

Q: Does Aura support SSML? A: Limited SSML support — pauses, emphasis, basic prosody. Full SSML like phoneme tags isn't there. For complex prosodic control, ElevenLabs or Cartesia have richer markup.

Q: Voice cloning? A: Not yet on Aura — voices are curated. ElevenLabs and Cartesia both offer cloning. If branded custom voice is critical, those are the platforms. If catalog voices suffice, Aura's quality + latency wins for agents.

Source & Thanks

Built by Deepgram. Aura TTS docs at developers.deepgram.com/docs/text-to-speech.

deepgram/deepgram-python-sdk