Kokoro vs openedai-speech
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Kokoro | openedai-speech |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 44 · Fair | 13 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | source, docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,968 | ★ 857 |
| First released | 2024 | 2024 |
| Replaces | ElevenLabs, OpenAI TTS | OpenAI API, ElevenLabs |
What are Kokoro and openedai-speech?
Kokoro
Kokoro is an open-weight text-to-speech model with a small parameter count that produces natural-sounding speech. It can be self-hosted with an OpenAI-compatible API wrapper for local speech synthesis.
- Small high-quality model
- Multiple voice presets
- Low resource usage
- Runs offline
openedai-speech
openedai-speech is a self-hosted text-to-speech server that mimics the OpenAI audio speech API. It uses local models such as Piper and Coqui XTTS to generate audio without sending data to the cloud.
- OpenAI speech API compatible
- Piper and XTTS backends
- Custom voice mapping
- Drop-in replacement
Kokoro vs openedai-speech: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: openedai-speech's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Kokoro is actively maintained. Kokoro is written in JavaScript, while openedai-speech is built with Python. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Kokoro versus AGPL-3.0 for openedai-speech. Openedai-speech is the lighter option, starting around 2,048 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Kokoro. Kokoro has the considerably larger community, at 8,968 GitHub stars versus 857.
Why pick each one
Choose Kokoro if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Choose openedai-speech if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Kokoro or openedai-speech better?
Neither is universally better. Kokoro has the larger community, while openedai-speech is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Kokoro and openedai-speech free and open-source?
Yes. Kokoro is licensed under Apache-2.0 and openedai-speech under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kokoro and openedai-speech with Docker?
Kokoro: yes. openedai-speech: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kokoro or openedai-speech?
openedai-speech has the smaller minimum footprint at 2,048 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Kokoro. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.