Text-to-speech APIs: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank text-to-speech apis by visibility and citations. 20 brands measured monthly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. Text-to-speech APIs used by product teams to generate natural voice output for apps, assistants, accessibility, and media workflows. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
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When asking AI engines about Text-to-speech APIs, ElevenLabs frequently emerges as the leader, recognized by a significant 75% visibility in conversations. Google Cloud and Deepgram also receive notable mentions, positioning themselves as strong contenders in the field. The prominence of ElevenLabs indicates a broad recognition in the market, making it a key brand to consider.
The rankings derive largely from the top cited sources that AI engines consult, such as inworld.ai and edenai.co. These are predominantly aggregator and review sites, suggesting that information from these platforms heavily influences the visibility and credibility of brands. Their insights often reflect collective trends and expert evaluations, carrying weight in the AI engines' assessments.
For buyers, this means that relying on AI-generated insights can highlight brands with strong recent reviews and third-party validation. It's crucial to consider the topical authority a brand holds within the Text-to-speech category. Checking these reviews can provide valuable perspectives on which brands consistently meet quality standards and stand out in the evolving market landscape.
At a glance
What we observed in this category
ElevenLabs leads the Text-to-speech APIs category with a visibility score of 75.0%, which is 61.2 percentage points above the category average of 13.8%. Google Cloud sits second at 62.5% visibility. The gap between these two and the rest of the field is stark: rank 3 Deepgram sits at just 25.0% visibility and rank 4 Microsoft Azure at 37.5%. ElevenLabs also recorded the largest single-period visibility gain, rising 62.5 points from 12.5%, signalling a rapid consolidation of AI Mode attention around one dominant brand.
A meaningful divergence exists between which brands are named frequently and which are actually cited as sources. Deepgram has a citation rate of 50.0% against a visibility of only 25.0%, and Speechify holds a 50.0% citation rate with zero visibility, meaning AI Mode references them as sources without prominently featuring them in answers. Conversely, Cartesia has 37.5% visibility but 0.0% citation, and Microsoft Azure shows 37.5% visibility against only 12.5% citation. ElevenLabs itself has a high visibility-to-citation gap, at 75.0% named but only 25.0% cited.
All ten tracked brands record Google AI Mode as their top engine, confirming the audit data is entirely concentrated within that single surface. The top cited sources in the category are third-party and niche platforms, including inworld.ai, edenai.co, typecast.ai, speechmatics.com, and assemblyai.com, rather than the leading brands themselves. YouTube also appears in the cited sources list. This pattern suggests Google AI Mode is anchoring its responses on comparison and aggregator-type content rather than pulling directly from the primary vendor domains.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
ElevenLabs 12% → 75% · rank #1 → #1+62pp
-
Google Cloud 0% → 62% · rank #3 → #2+62pp
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Microsoft Azure 0% → 38% · rank #7 → #4+38pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
elevenlabs.io
|
75% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
ElevenLabs leads with 75.0% visibility, more than 12 points ahead of second-place Google Cloud, but its citation rate of 25.0% trails Google Cloud's 37.5%. |
||||
| 2 |
cloud.google.com
|
62% | 38% | Google AI Mode |
Google Cloud rose from 0.0% to 62.5% visibility in the current period, matching ElevenLabs' 62.5-point gain, while achieving the highest citation rate among the top two at 37.5%. |
||||
| 3 |
deepgram.com
|
25% | 50% | Google AI Mode |
Deepgram's citation rate of 50.0% is the joint highest in the dataset, yet its 25.0% visibility score sits well below the top two, indicating AI Mode trusts it as a source more than it features it. |
||||
| 4 |
microsoft.com
|
38% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Microsoft Azure improved three rank positions and gained 37.5 visibility points from zero, but its 12.5% citation rate is the second lowest among the top five brands. |
||||
| 5 |
openai.com
|
25% | 38% | Google AI Mode |
OpenAI has a composite score of 28.8, with citation at 37.5% outpacing its 25.0% visibility, placing it among the brands cited more often than they are prominently named. |
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| 6 |
cartesia.ai
|
38% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
speechify.com
|
0% | 50% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
aws.amazon.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
resemble.ai
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
murf.ai
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
wellsaidlabs.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
lovo.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
readspeaker.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
ibm.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
cereproc.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
papercup.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
descript.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
play.ht
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
hume.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
rime.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on text-to-speech apis, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer. More on visibility →
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence, different from being named. More on citation rate →
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps. How AI engines pick sources →
Rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically. How AI search ranking works →
Get your own text-to-speech apis brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about text-to-speech apis AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in the Text-to-speech APIs category?
ElevenLabs leads with a visibility score of 75.0% and a composite score of 60.0, both the highest in the dataset. Google Cloud is second at 62.5% visibility and a composite score of 55.0.
Which brands are cited most often by Google AI Mode in this category?
Deepgram and Speechify share the highest citation rate at 50.0% each, ahead of Google Cloud and OpenAI at 37.5%. ElevenLabs, despite leading on visibility, has a citation rate of only 25.0%.
What sources does Google AI Mode anchor on when answering Text-to-speech API queries?
The top cited sources include third-party and aggregator platforms such as inworld.ai, edenai.co, typecast.ai, speechmatics.com, assemblyai.com, and youtube.com, rather than the primary vendor domains.
Which brands have high visibility but low citation, or high citation but low visibility?
Cartesia has 37.5% visibility but 0.0% citation, while Speechify has 50.0% citation but 0.0% visibility, showing a strong divergence between being named in answers and being used as a source.
Which brands gained the most visibility in the most recent period?
ElevenLabs and Google Cloud both gained 62.5 visibility points, rising from 12.5% and 0.0% respectively. Microsoft Azure also rose 37.5 points from zero, moving up three rank positions.
How does the category average compare to the top brands' visibility scores?
The category average visibility is 13.8%, meaning ElevenLabs at 75.0% and Google Cloud at 62.5% are both more than four times the average, highlighting how concentrated AI Mode attention is at the top.