# Piper v1.8.0: what's new, verdict & setup Canonical: https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/piper · Released: 2026-09-04 · Last verified: 2026-10-25 · Evidence: Tested (smoke test, 2026-10-25, no LLM involved) · Vendor: Open Home Foundation · Official site: https://github.com/OHF-Voice/piper1-gpl > Fast local neural text-to-speech that runs on CPU. ## Verdict **Fast, private speech synthesis on a CPU; mind the GPL-3.0 license if you embed it.** Good for: - Local voice output without a GPU - Home and offline projects Skip if: - You need very natural or expressive voices Tested. Tested 2026-10-25 (America/Chicago). Piper 1.8.0 synthesised 10 sentences (about 41 s of 22.05 kHz audio) on CPU in 1.4 to 1.5 s each including process start; 3.5 s uv install, 167 MB. Test environment: Linux x86_64 virtual machine (Debian 13), 8 vCPU, 15 GiB RAM, no GPU; no vendor account, login or API key. Not tested: Voice quality as judged by a person (we only measured machine round-trip accuracy), other voices and languages, streaming, and GPU use; One voice only; a smoke test. These are smoke tests, not a benchmark. Full log: /tests/piper. Test scope: - Kind and date: smoke test, 2026-10-25 (America/Chicago). Not a benchmark. - What we ran: Piper 1.8.0 synthesised 10 sentences (about 41 s of 22.05 kHz audio) on CPU in 1.4 to 1.5 s each including process start; 3.5 s uv install, 167 MB. - Model used: none (no language model was involved) - Environment: Linux x86_64 virtual machine (Debian 13), 8 vCPU, 15 GiB RAM, no GPU; no vendor account, login or API key - Not tested: Voice quality as judged by a person (we only measured machine round-trip accuracy), other voices and languages, streaming, and GPU use; One voice only; a smoke test. Pricing: Partly verified. Open source; no pricing page read. (checked 2026-10-25) ## Best for - [Best AI tool for AI voice and speech](https://theagenticweekly.com/best/voice-ai) (#-): GPL-3.0 local text-to-speech engine with downloadable voices. ## Key facts Piper is a local text-to-speech engine. The repository piper1-gpl is GPL-3.0 licensed; v1.8.0 was tagged on 2026-09-04. - License: GPL-3.0 (per GitHub) - Platforms: Python; Linux, macOS, Windows - Pricing model: Open source - Free tier: Open source, free to use - Paid plans: Hosted or enterprise offerings not read - GitHub: OHF-Voice/piper1-gpl: 6,017 stars on 2026-10-25, last push 2026-10-25 - Latest release we saw: v1.8.0, 2026-09-04 - How to start: uv pip install piper-tts and download a voice. - v1.8.0 (2026-09-04): the newest release on the repository when we read it on 2026-10-25. ## How to set it up: Get started with Piper Install steps are exactly what we ran on 2026-10-25; the test log lists what was and was not covered. 1. **Install.** Package name on PyPI is piper-tts. ``` uv pip install piper-tts ``` 2. **Download a voice and speak.** Voices are separate downloads (about 60 MB for the one we used). ``` python -m piper.download_voices en_US-lessac-medium && python -m piper -m en_US-lessac-medium -f out.wav -- "Hello" ``` ## Pros and cons Pros: - Fast on CPU: about 1.4 s per sentence in our run - Offline Cons: - GPL-3.0 license - Voices are separate downloads - We judged accuracy through transcription, not how natural it sounds ## Alternatives - [faster-whisper](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/faster-whisper): Speech-to-text library that runs OpenAI Whisper models with CTranslate2. - [Ollama](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/ollama): The common way to run open models locally on macOS, Windows and Linux, with a cloud option and an MIT-licensed open-source core. - [AssemblyAI](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/assemblyai): Speech AI APIs for transcription and understanding; start free, pay as you go. - [Cartesia](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/cartesia): Realtime voice AI: text-to-speech, speech-to-text in 44 languages and voice agents, with a free plan and credit tiers. - [Deepgram](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/deepgram): Voice AI APIs for speech-to-text, text-to-speech and agents with $200 in free credit. - [Murf AI](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/murf-ai): Text-to-speech platform with a $10 free API trial, pay-as-you-go credits and per-character API pricing. - [Resemble AI](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/resemble-ai): Resemble AI now leads with real-time deepfake detection and watermarking for audio, video and images; plans from free to $1,000 a month. - [Retell AI](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/retell): Voice AI agents for phone calls with pay-per-minute pricing and 20 free concurrent calls. - [Speechify](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/speechify): Text-to-speech app that reads PDFs, books and web pages aloud, with a Free plan and a $29 monthly premium price. - [Vapi](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/vapi): Developer platform for voice agents; $5 free credits, then pay for the minutes you run. ## FAQ ### What is Piper? A local neural text-to-speech engine that runs on CPU. The piper1-gpl repository is GPL-3.0 licensed. ### How fast is Piper on CPU? About 1.4 to 1.5 s per sentence including process start for 3 to 5 s of audio in our test. See /tests/piper. ## What we have not verified - Other voices and languages - Perceived naturalness ## Sources - [Piper repository (GitHub)](https://github.com/OHF-Voice/piper1-gpl) (fetched 2026-10-25) ## How to cite Agentic Weekly, "Piper v1.8.0: what's new, verdict & setup", last updated 2026-10-25, https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/piper Keep the Reported or Tested label when you quote the verdict.