Kokoro is a lightweight text-to-speech (TTS) engine with high-quality voice synthesis at low compute cost. Open-source, multi-language, with the ability to clone voices from short audio samples. The Kokoro voice model is ~82M parameters — small enough to run on a $7/mo VPS, fast enough for real-time synthesis.
It's the answer to "I want TTS but ElevenLabs is too expensive and I want it on my own infra".
What it's for
Audio content production — convert blog posts, articles to podcast audio
Accessibility — read web content aloud for visually impaired users
Voice assistants — TTS layer for self-hosted personal AI
Audiobook generation — convert ebook libraries to audio
Notification audio — system alerts with synthesized speech
Who it's for
Content creators repurposing written content as audio without ElevenLabs costs
Accessibility teams adding read-aloud features to internal tools
AI developers building voice-enabled chatbots and assistants
Podcasters generating audio from scripts cheaply
Indie SaaS founders adding TTS to products without expensive API bills
Why teams pick Kokoro over alternatives
High quality at low parameter count — competitive with much larger models
Multi-language — English, Spanish, French, German, more
Real-time capable — generates audio faster than playback on CPU
Apache 2.0 — commercial use unrestricted
Self-hosted — no per-character billing like cloud TTS
Streaming output — generates audio as it processes text
Integrations
Python API — primary interface, easy embedding in apps
HTTP REST API — Kokoro-FastAPI wrapper exposes service endpoint
Audio format outputs — WAV, MP3, OGG via ffmpeg
Voice presets — multiple speaker voices included
Custom voices — voice cloning from short samples (research/personal use)
OpenAI-compatible API — drop-in for code expecting OpenAI TTS
Streaming — chunked audio for low-latency apps
Notable users & community
15k+ GitHub stars
Featured in /r/LocalLLaMA voice-AI threads
Active development with frequent voice quality improvements
Strong adoption in self-hosted voice-assistant projects
Open-source community contributing language additions
Tips & operations
CPU is fine for batch — real-time on CPU works for short text; longer needs GPU for low latency
Voice cloning ethics — only clone voices you have permission to use; legal liability risk
Cache common phrases — repeated TTS calls for the same text waste compute; cache the audio
Set output format early — re-encoding WAV→MP3 adds latency; ask for MP3 directly when possible
GPU memory — model is small; even 4GB GPU handles it; CPU runs 5-10× slower
Voice selection — different voices for different content types (news, fiction, technical)
What we ship in BluixApps
Docker compose: Kokoro-FastAPI wrapper + voice model cache
Pinned ghcr.io/remsky/kokoro-fastapi:latest
HTTPS via Let's Encrypt; API key auth
Voice models pre-downloaded to avoid first-request delay
OpenAI-compatible endpoint at /v1/audio/speech for drop-in compatibility
Persistent volume for voice model cache
Stateless service — no backup needed beyond config
The lowest-friction way onto BluixApps. You get 19 hand-curated, ready-to-run application stacks on a single managed VPS — pick a stack, click deploy, the platform handles the operating system, updates, backups and TLS. Subscription, cancel anytime.
What's included
19 curated stacks (Private AI Plus, Legal Office, Medical, Creator, Marketing, Personal Cloud and 13 more)
Single VPS, fully managed by BluixApps
Auto-update across the stack (OS + apps + dependencies)
Auto-backup (daily, retained per platform policy)
Free auto-renewing TLS via Let's Encrypt
Standard support window
What's NOT in this tier
The full 234-app catalog (start at Starter for that)
Multi-tenant isolation (Stacks is single-customer, single-VPS)
White-label customisation
Best for
Solo professionals who want a pre-baked stack and zero ops
Replacing a hand-rolled VPS that's grown into a maintenance burden
Trying out BluixApps before scaling up to reseller tiers
Plan facts
Price — $19/mo
Provisioning — typically a few minutes after order
BluixApps Starter — full catalog, up to 10 isolated tenants
The reseller-ready entry point. Full BluixApps catalog (234 self-hosted apps + 19 curated stacks) provisioned across up to 10 isolated tenant environments. Each tenant gets its own keys, its own backups, its own update window. Designed for solo hosters and small consultancies running 5–10 customer environments.
What's included
Full BluixApps catalog (234 self-hosted apps + 19 curated stacks)
Up to 10 isolated tenants — each with separate auth, data and lifecycle
Per-tenant auto-update + auto-backup
Free auto-renewing TLS per tenant domain
Standard support window
White-label add-on available (+$15–25/mo)
Best for
Solo hosters running 5–10 customer accounts
Small consultancies bundling self-hosted apps into client deliverables
Internal IT serving a handful of departments or business units
Where to upgrade from here
When you cross 10 tenants, or when you need priority bugfix queueing, step up to Pro.
Plan facts
Price — $49/mo
Provisioning — typically a few minutes after order
BluixApps Pro — 25 isolated tenants, priority bugfix lane
For professional resellers with an established customer base. Same full catalog and isolation model as Starter, expanded to 25 tenants, plus a priority queue for bugfix releases — your tickets and reproducers get fast-tracked over the standard intake.
What's included on top of Starter
Up to 25 isolated tenants
Priority bugfix lane — your reproducers jump the standard queue
All Starter features (catalog, isolation, auto-update, auto-backup, TLS)
White-label add-on available (+$15–25/mo)
Best for
Professional resellers running 15–25 active customer environments
Boutique MSPs whose customers expect fast fix turnaround
Teams scaling past the Starter cap but not yet at Growth volume
Plan facts
Price — $149/mo
Provisioning — typically a few minutes after order
The four-figure-customer tier. 100 isolated tenants, tenant-isolated license keys, full reseller toolkit. Designed for resellers transitioning from "managing a handful of accounts manually" to "operating a real multi-tenant business."
What's included on top of Pro
Up to 100 isolated tenants
Tenant-isolated license keys — each customer gets their own key, scoped to their tenant
BluixApps Scale — 500 tenants, 7-day support window
For power hosters with established multi-tenant infrastructure. 500 isolated tenants, extended 7-day support window (vs. business-hours on lower tiers), full feature set. Designed for operators whose BluixApps deployment is now business-critical and whose downtime has revenue consequences.
What's included on top of Growth
Up to 500 isolated tenants
7-day support window
All Growth features (catalog, isolation, tenant keys, reseller toolkit)
White-label add-on available (+$15–25/mo)
Best for
Power hosters running 200–500 active customer tenants
Operators where BluixApps uptime is itself part of the customer SLA
Multi-region or multi-cluster deployments
Where to upgrade from here
When you outgrow 500 tenants or need white-label bundled by default, move to Enterprise.
Plan facts
Price — $799/mo
Provisioning — typically a few minutes after order
For multi-tenant infrastructure players. Unlimited tenants, white-label always on (bundled, not an add-on), REST API surface for multi-tenant orchestration, priority 7-day support and custom catalog curation when standard 234 apps + 19 stacks isn't the right shape for your business.
What's included on top of Scale
Unlimited tenants
White-label bundled (no add-on fee, always on)
REST API for multi-tenant orchestration (provision / lifecycle / billing hooks)
Priority 7-day support window
Custom catalog curation available — add private apps, remove unused ones, build a vertical-specific catalog
Per-tenant subscription pricing — talk to us about volume terms
Best for
Hyperscalers and large MSPs deploying BluixApps across thousands of customer endpoints
Operators standardising BluixApps as the white-label foundation of their own product
Vertical SaaS plays (legal, medical, creative) needing a curated catalog
Plan facts
Price — from $1,499/mo (base); custom volume pricing on request
Onboarding — typically 1–2 weeks, includes architecture review
Support — priority 7-day window with dedicated escalation
Refund — 30-day money-back guarantee on the base subscription
