# Kokoro Review

> Kokoro review: The lightweight quality-per-parameter champion of open TTS: Apache-2.0, easy to run anywhere, no voice cloning by design. Verified pricing.

![Kokoro logo](https://www.versusref.com/logos/kokoro.png)

The lightweight quality-per-parameter champion of open TTS: Apache-2.0, easy to run anywhere, no voice cloning by design.

Among the 46 text-to-speech tools we track, Kokoro has the 30th-widest language coverage.

See pricing · Open source · facts verified Jul 20, 2026

## What we know about Kokoro

Kokoro is a text-to-speech apis platform: the lightweight quality-per-parameter champion of open TTS: Apache-2.0, easy to run anywhere, no voice cloning by design. This profile tracks every Kokoro fact we have verified, each linked to a primary source and dated.

Kokoro does not publish a public per-minute rate we have been able to verify, so the price figure here stays blank until we can confirm one. We would rather show nothing than a guessed number; if you have a current Kokoro quote, it is the fastest way for us to close that gap.

On capabilities, Kokoro covers self-host / on-prem option, and does not offer instant voice cloning and emotion / style controls. Each of those is verified against Kokoro's own docs or dashboard, not marketing copy.

Among the 46 text-to-speech tools in our matrix, Kokoro leads with the 30th-widest language coverage; the fact sheet below has the raw numbers behind that placement.

In total we track 11 verified facts for Kokoro today, each linking the primary source it came from so you can check our work - and vendor claims we have not measured ourselves are labeled as such on the Kokoro fact sheet below.

## Fact sheet

### Capabilities

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Instant voice cloning | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://huggingface.co/hexgrad/Kokoro-82M) |
| Languages supported | 8 languages | Jul 20 | [source](https://huggingface.co/hexgrad/Kokoro-82M) |
| Emotion / style controls | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/hexgrad/kokoro) |

### Compliance & trust

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Self-host / on-prem option | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/hexgrad/kokoro) |
| Model weights license | Apache-2.0 | Jul 20 | [source](https://huggingface.co/hexgrad/Kokoro-82M) |

### Build experience

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Official SDKs | PyTorch (pip `kokoro`), JS package in repo | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/hexgrad/kokoro) |
| Output formats | WAV, 24 kHz | Jul 20 | [source](https://huggingface.co/hexgrad/Kokoro-82M) |

### Commercial

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Model size (parameters) | 82M | Jul 20 | [source](https://huggingface.co/hexgrad/Kokoro-82M) |
| Hardware to self-host | Lightweight (82M) PyTorch model | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/hexgrad/kokoro) |
| Project maintenance status | dormant | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/hexgrad/kokoro/commits/main) |
| GitHub stars | 8,100 stars | Jul 20 | [source](https://github.com/hexgrad/kokoro) |

Source: https://www.versusref.com/tts/tools/kokoro/