Kokoro vs Speaches
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Speaches
OpenAI-compatible speech-to-text and text-to-speech server
| Feature | Kokoro | Speaches |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 44 · Fair | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | source, docker | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,968 | ★ 3,677 |
| First released | 2024 | 2024 |
| Replaces | ElevenLabs, OpenAI TTS | OpenAI Audio API, ElevenLabs |
What are Kokoro and Speaches?
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
Speaches
Speaches is a self-hosted server that provides OpenAI-compatible transcription, translation, and text-to-speech endpoints. It supports streaming and a range of open speech models for private voice applications.
- OpenAI-compatible audio API
- Streaming transcription
- Text-to-speech support
- Multiple open models
Kokoro vs Speaches: key differences
Kokoro is written in JavaScript, while Speaches is built with Python. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Kokoro versus MIT for Speaches. Speaches 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 3,677.
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 Speaches if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Kokoro or Speaches better?
Neither is universally better. Kokoro has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kokoro and Speaches free and open-source?
Yes. Kokoro is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Speaches under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kokoro and Speaches with Docker?
Kokoro: yes. Speaches: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kokoro or Speaches?
Speaches 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.