diff --git a/src/apps/settings-modal/VoiceOutSettings.tsx b/src/apps/settings-modal/VoiceOutSettings.tsx
index ba8f36607..b9c5db40f 100644
--- a/src/apps/settings-modal/VoiceOutSettings.tsx
+++ b/src/apps/settings-modal/VoiceOutSettings.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import { SpeexConfigureEngines } from '~/modules/speex/components/SpeexConfigureEngines';
-import { useSpeexEngines } from '~/modules/speex/store-module-speex';
+import { useSpeexEngines, useSpeexTtsCharLimit } from '~/modules/speex/store-module-speex';
 
 import { ChatAutoSpeakType, useChatAutoAI } from '../chat/store-app-chat';
 
-import { FormRadioOption } from '~/common/components/forms/FormRadioControl';
 import { FormChipControl } from '~/common/components/forms/FormChipControl';
+import { FormRadioOption } from '~/common/components/forms/FormRadioControl';
+import { FormSwitchControl } from '~/common/components/forms/FormSwitchControl';
 
 
 const _autoSpeakOptions: FormRadioOption<ChatAutoSpeakType>[] = [
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ export function VoiceOutSettings(props: { isMobile: boolean }) {
 
   // external state
   const { autoSpeak, setAutoSpeak } = useChatAutoAI();
+  const { ttsCharLimit, setTtsCharLimit } = useSpeexTtsCharLimit();
 
   // external state - module
   const hasEngines = useSpeexEngines().length > 0;
@@ -39,6 +41,15 @@ export function VoiceOutSettings(props: { isMobile: boolean }) {
       onChange={setAutoSpeak}
     />
 
+    {/* TTS character limit toggle */}
+    <FormSwitchControl
+      title='Speak Cost Guard'
+      description={ttsCharLimit !== null ? 'Max ~3 min' : 'Unlimited'}
+      tooltip='Limits text sent to TTS providers, helping prevent unexpected costs with cloud services'
+      checked={ttsCharLimit !== null}
+      onChange={(checked) => setTtsCharLimit(checked ? 4096 : null)}
+    />
+
     {/* Engine configuration */}
     <SpeexConfigureEngines isMobile={props.isMobile} />
 
diff --git a/src/modules/speex/protocols/rpc/synthesize-elevenlabs.ts b/src/modules/speex/protocols/rpc/synthesize-elevenlabs.ts
index 458fa03b0..88be461dd 100644
--- a/src/modules/speex/protocols/rpc/synthesize-elevenlabs.ts
+++ b/src/modules/speex/protocols/rpc/synthesize-elevenlabs.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { returnAudioWholeOrThrow, streamAudioChunksOrThrow } from './rpc.streami
 
 
 // configuration
-const SAFETY_TEXT_LENGTH = 1000;
+const SAFETY_TEXT_LENGTH = 40000; // fallback safety net (user limit applied in speex.client.ts)
 const MIN_CHUNK_SIZE = 4096;
 
 
diff --git a/src/modules/speex/protocols/rpc/synthesize-openai.ts b/src/modules/speex/protocols/rpc/synthesize-openai.ts
index 3288540eb..85072bdd2 100644
--- a/src/modules/speex/protocols/rpc/synthesize-openai.ts
+++ b/src/modules/speex/protocols/rpc/synthesize-openai.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import { returnAudioWholeOrThrow, streamAudioChunksOrThrow } from './rpc.streami
 
 
 // configuration
-const SAFETY_TEXT_LENGTH = 4096; // OpenAI max
+const SAFETY_TEXT_LENGTH = 40000; // fallback safety net (user limit applied in speex.client.ts)
 const MIN_CHUNK_SIZE = 4096; // bytes
 
 
diff --git a/src/modules/speex/speex.client.ts b/src/modules/speex/speex.client.ts
index 2e48069f1..16fb488cb 100644
--- a/src/modules/speex/speex.client.ts
+++ b/src/modules/speex/speex.client.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import { useUIPreferencesStore } from '~/common/stores/store-ui';
 
 import type { DSpeexEngineAny, DVoiceWebSpeech, SpeexSpeakOptions, SpeexSpeakResult, SpeexVoiceSelector } from './speex.types';
-import { speexFindEngineById, speexFindGlobalEngine, speexFindValidEngineByType } from './store-module-speex';
+import { speexFindEngineById, speexFindGlobalEngine, speexFindValidEngineByType, speexGetTtsCharLimit } from './store-module-speex';
 
 import { speexSynthesize_RPC } from './protocols/rpc/rpc.client';
 import { speexSynthesize_WebSpeech } from './protocols/webspeech/webspeech.client';
@@ -43,17 +43,24 @@ export async function speakText(
   // apply voice override from selector (merge with engine defaults)
   const effectiveEngine = _engineApplyVoiceOverride(engine, voiceSelector);
 
+  // apply user-configurable character limit (null = unlimited)
+  const charLimit = speexGetTtsCharLimit();
+  const truncated = charLimit !== null && inputText.length > charLimit;
+  const text = truncated ? inputText.slice(0, charLimit) : inputText;
+  if (truncated)
+    console.log(`[Speex] Text truncated from ${inputText.length} to ${charLimit} characters`);
+
   try {
     switch (effectiveEngine.vendorType) {
       // RPC providers: route through speex.router RPC
       case 'elevenlabs':
       case 'openai':
       case 'localai':
-        return speexSynthesize_RPC(effectiveEngine, inputText, { streaming, playback, returnAudio, languageCode, priority }, callbacks);
+        return speexSynthesize_RPC(effectiveEngine, text, { streaming, playback, returnAudio, languageCode, priority }, callbacks);
 
       // Web Speech: client-only, no RPC
       case 'webspeech':
-        return speexSynthesize_WebSpeech(inputText, effectiveEngine.voice as DVoiceWebSpeech, callbacks);
+        return speexSynthesize_WebSpeech(text, effectiveEngine.voice as DVoiceWebSpeech, callbacks);
     }
   } catch (error) {
     callbacks?.onError?.(error instanceof Error ? error : new Error(String(error)));
diff --git a/src/modules/speex/store-module-speex.ts b/src/modules/speex/store-module-speex.ts
index b861f5dca..97a93fe3d 100644
--- a/src/modules/speex/store-module-speex.ts
+++ b/src/modules/speex/store-module-speex.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ interface SpeexStoreState {
   engines: Record<SpeexEngineId, DSpeexEngineAny>;
   activeEngineId: SpeexEngineId | null; // null = no user selection = use global auto-selection
 
+  // TTS character limit: number = limit chars, null = unlimited (default: 4096)
+  ttsCharLimit: number | null;
+
   // to avoid repeated migrations
   hasInitializedLlms: boolean;
   hasMigratedElevenLabs: boolean;
@@ -35,6 +38,9 @@ interface SpeexStoreActions {
   // selection
   setActiveEngineId: (engineId: SpeexEngineId | null) => void;
 
+  // TTS settings
+  setTtsCharLimit: (limit: number | null) => void;
+
   // business logic: auto-detection or migration
   syncWebSpeechEngine: () => boolean;
   syncEnginesFromLLMServices: (llmsSources: ReturnType<typeof useModelsStore.getState>['sources']) => boolean;
@@ -51,6 +57,7 @@ export const useSpeexStore = create<SpeexStore>()(persist(
     // initial state
     engines: {},
     activeEngineId: null,
+    ttsCharLimit: 4096, // default: ~3 min of speech, null = unlimited
     hasInitializedLlms: false,
     hasMigratedElevenLabs: false,
 
@@ -129,6 +136,13 @@ export const useSpeexStore = create<SpeexStore>()(persist(
     },
 
 
+    // TTS settings
+
+    setTtsCharLimit: (limit) => {
+      set({ ttsCharLimit: limit });
+    },
+
+
     // Auto-detections
 
     syncWebSpeechEngine: () => {
@@ -378,6 +392,20 @@ export function speexFindGlobalEngine({ engines, activeEngineId }: SpeexStore =
 }
 
 
+// TTS character limit
+
+export function useSpeexTtsCharLimit() {
+  return useSpeexStore(useShallow(state => ({
+    ttsCharLimit: state.ttsCharLimit,
+    setTtsCharLimit: state.setTtsCharLimit,
+  })));
+}
+
+export function speexGetTtsCharLimit(): number | null {
+  return useSpeexStore.getState().ttsCharLimit;
+}
+
+
 export function speexAreCredentialsValid(credentials: DSpeexCredentialsAny): boolean {
   switch (credentials.type) {
     case 'api-key':