★ 19k
November 2025
Apache-2.0
Voice & audio
What we checked ourselves
Not copied from the project's own blurb. These are things we opened and verified, with the date.
- 6 Sept 2026We checked that the link to the project still resolves.
- 13 Sept 2026We read the licence text itself (LICENSE). No unusual restrictions were stated.
- 31 Aug 2026We read the project's own documentation and found no sign that development has stopped.
Where this sits among the 119 tools we list in Voice & audio
- No API key required114 of 119
- Keeps your data on your own machine31 of 119
- Commercial use confirmed as allowed56 of 119
- Requires terminal commands93 that do not →
Only 25 of the 119 meet all of the conditions above.
Counted from our own checks: every tool we list is examined against the same criteria.
What it does
A 1.6B text-to-speech model that renders an entire scripted conversation at once rather than stitching separate takes, so pacing and emotional flow hold together, and it can produce nonverbals — laughter, a cough, a throat clear. Conditioning on reference audio steers tone and voice, which is also the reason to be careful whose voice you feed it. English only at present, and a successor (Dia2) has since been released. Apache-2.0 for the code.
Summary based on the project's own description. The Japanese page has a fuller beginner guide: setup difficulty, what to prepare, and a step-by-step start.
Screenshots & visuals
Before you start
- Setup difficultyEasy to start
- Command lineRequired
- API keyNot required
- Sends data onlineNo
Judged automatically from the project's own metadata. Always confirm on the official page.
dia FAQ
- Is dia free?
- Yes. It runs on your own machine, so there is no usage-based cost either.
- Do I need to install anything or write code to use dia?
- It needs the command line. If you are not comfortable typing commands, expect to get stuck during setup.
- Does dia work on a phone?
- No. It needs a computer.
- Can I use dia commercially?
- The licence is Apache-2.0, which permits commercial use. Conditions such as keeping the copyright notice still apply, so read the licence text before shipping it inside something.
How it compares
The conditions that decide whether you can actually use it, side by side.
| Tool | Command line | API key | Sends data out | Phone | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dia (this page) | Required | Not needed | No | No | Yes |
| VibeVoice-ComfyUI | Required | Not needed | No | No | Yes |
| Irodori-TTS | Required | Not needed | Yes | No | Yes |
| Chatterbox-TTS-Extended | Required | Not needed | Yes | No | Yes |
"Sends data out" means your input is uploaded to someone's server. Pick "No" when the material cannot leave your organisation.