# Dia

> Open-source 1.6B text-to-speech model generating multi-speaker dialogue in one pass.

Dia is an open-source 1.6-billion parameter voice model developed by Nari Labs that creates conversational audio directly from text transcripts. It supports multi-speaker alternating dialogue alongside nonverbal cues like laughter, sighs, and throat clearing. The model can be conditioned on audio prompts for voice cloning and emotion control, running locally via PyTorch/Transformers or in Hugging Face Spaces.

Website: https://github.com/nari-labs/dia

## What it is for

- Generate realistic two-person podcast or conversational dialogue from a transcript
- Add expressive nonverbal sounds like laughter or coughing to synthetic voice clips
- Clone speaker voices and match emotional tone using reference audio prompts
- Run local, private multi-speaker speech synthesis without cloud API fees

## Features

- Multi-speaker generation in a single pass using speaker tags (\[S1\], \[S2\])
- Nonverbal audio synthesis including laughter, sighs, and throat clearing
- Reference audio prompt conditioning for voice cloning and tone control
- Hugging Face Transformers support alongside native inference scripts
- Built-in Gradio web interface and CLI runner

## Pricing

Open source. Free and open source under the Apache-2.0 license.

## Details

- Type: AI model
- Category: [AI](https://xiry.app/topics/ai.md)
- Topic: [Text to Speech](https://xiry.app/topics/ai/text-to-speech.md)
- Open source: yes
- Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS, Code library, Command line, Web
- For: Developers, AI researchers, and creators looking for self-hosted multi-speaker dialogue TTS.
- Alternative to: ElevenLabs
- Tags: tts, text to speech, voice cloning, ai audio, open weights, speech synthesis

## Why it was saved

- [@nick_saraev, 10 May 2025](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJegJ4dMvyG/): Provides a free, unlimited, open-weights alternative to ElevenLabs capable of handling conversational scripts and nonverbal sounds like laughter and sighs.
- [@victor__martynov, 3 May 2025](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJLo_B8T-jW/): Serves as an open-source alternative to ElevenLabs and NotebookLM Audio Overviews, allowing precise script-level control over natural emotional delivery, voice switching, laughter, and pauses.

## Compare

- [Alternatives to ElevenLabs](https://xiry.app/alternatives/elevenlabs.md)

## Related

- [ElevenLabs](https://xiry.app/resources/elevenlabs): AI voice generator, voice cloning, and conversational agent platform (Web app, Freemium)
- [Cartesia Sonic](https://xiry.app/resources/cartesia-sonic): Ultra-low-latency streaming text-to-speech and instant voice cloning model. (AI model, Freemium)
- [Airy](https://xiry.app/resources/airy): Fast, low-cost text-to-speech API and studio for creators and developers (AI model, Freemium)
- [AudioPen](https://xiry.app/resources/audiopen): Converts spoken thoughts into structured, polished writing in customizable styles. (Web app, Freemium)
- [cartesia-python](https://xiry.app/resources/cartesia-python): Official Python library for Cartesia's real-time text-to-speech API (GitHub repo, Paid)
- [Chatterbox](https://xiry.app/resources/chatterbox): Open-source zero-shot text-to-speech and voice cloning model (AI model, Open source)

Updated 3 October 2026. Page: https://xiry.app/resources/dia

Make your own library: Xiry takes your saved reels, tweets, Reddit bookmarks and Watch Later videos, makes them searchable and pulls the useful stuff out, like this library. It's invite-only for now; join the waitlist at https://xiry.app/#waitlist.