# Microsoft MAI Audio — AI Compare Ninja

> Streaming transcription and multilingual speech synthesis on Microsoft Foundry. Not ElevenLabs and not the classic Azure Speech list.

## Overview
- **Category:** Audio & Voice (Voice & speech)
- **Status:** Active · checked - Active speech models on Microsoft Foundry, checked in the Microsoft AI post.
- **Paid from:** 0.54 USD / per audio hour, through the end of 2026 (MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming)
- **Free access:** No free plan published
- **Website:** https://microsoft.ai/
- **Canonical URL:** https://www.aicompare.ninja/en/tool/microsoft-mai-audio

## What it does
- Streaming transcription and speech synthesis on Microsoft Foundry. Not ElevenLabs.
- MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming introductory 0.54 USD per audio hour through the end of 2026.
- MAI-Voice-2.1 22 USD per 1 million characters. MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash 15 USD per 1 million characters.

## In brief
Microsoft MAI Audio covers MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming, MAI-Voice-2.1, and MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash on Microsoft Foundry. The post also lists the voice models on OpenRouter. This is not ElevenLabs and not the classic Azure Speech list.

MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming is an introductory 0.54 USD per audio hour through the end of 2026. MAI-Voice-2.1 is 22 USD per 1 million characters. MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash is 15 USD per 1 million characters. Microsoft Learn marks MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming as public preview and does not restate another dollar amount. Prices in US dollars as listed by the vendor, without currency conversion.


## Limits
MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming, MAI-Voice-2.1, and MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash are Microsoft speech models on Microsoft Foundry. The post also lists the voice models on OpenRouter. This is not an ElevenLabs seat or API rate, and not a classic Azure Speech list price. MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming is an introductory 0.54 USD per audio hour through the end of 2026. MAI-Voice-2.1 is 22 USD per 1 million characters. MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash is 15 USD per 1 million characters. Microsoft Learn marks MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming as public preview and does not restate another dollar amount.

## Pricing tiers
| Tier | Price | Period | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming | 0.54 USD | per audio hour, through the end of 2026 | Introductory 0.54 USD per audio hour through the end of 2026.; Microsoft Learn marks this model as public preview and does not restate another dollar amount.; Not an ElevenLabs seat or API rate, and not a classic Azure Speech list price. |
| MAI-Voice-2.1 | 22 USD | per 1 million characters | 22 USD per 1 million characters.; Not an ElevenLabs seat or API rate, and not a classic Azure Speech list price. |
| MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash | 15 USD | per 1 million characters | 15 USD per 1 million characters.; Not an ElevenLabs seat or API rate, and not a classic Azure Speech list price. |

## Sources
All details regarding plans, limits, and features are based on official vendor documentation and the primary sources verified below.

- https://microsoft.ai/news/our-first-streaming-transcription-model/
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ai-services/speech-service/mai-transcribe-2-streaming

---
*Source: AI Compare Ninja (2026) - https://www.aicompare.ninja/en/tool/microsoft-mai-audio*