# Google Lyria vs MusicGPT API

> Google Lyria scores 48.5 (D) to MusicGPT's 45.9 (E) for music generation. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-lyria-vs-musicgpt
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-lyria-vs-musicgpt.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-lyria-vs-musicgpt.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-lyria-vs-musicgpt.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Google Lyria scores 48.5 (D) on agent readiness against MusicGPT API's 45.9 (E), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. MusicGPT API leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and payments & pricing. Both do music generation.

- Google Lyria: grade D, 48.5/100, rank #811 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-lyria.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-lyria.json
- MusicGPT API: grade E, 45.9/100, rank #859 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/musicgpt.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/musicgpt.json
- Best music generation for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/music-generation/index.md
- All 55 music comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/music-generation/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Google Lyria (D)

Good for: Quick, cheap full songs with vocals from an agent that already holds a Gemini key, and for 30-second clips.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 60 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 33
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 49

Watch for: No free tier for Lyria, so billing is needed before the first call

### MusicGPT API (E)

Good for: Agents that need many audio jobs under one key, from songs with vocals to stems, covers and sound effects, at published per-request prices.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 78 against 56
- Agent ergonomics, 54 against 40
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20

Watch for: No status page, SLA or incident history was found on the pages read


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Google Lyria | MusicGPT API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 33 | 37 | MusicGPT API +4 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 78 | MusicGPT API +22 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 40 | 54 | MusicGPT API +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 35 | Google Lyria +25 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | MusicGPT API +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 33 | Google Lyria +47 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 49 | Google Lyria +23 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **48.5 · D** | **45.9 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Google Lyria | MusicGPT API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Google | MusicGPT Ltd |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta` | `https://api.musicgpt.com/api/public` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for music generation | not published | $0.035 per call |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (SDKs) | Proprietary service under MusicGPT's Terms of Service. The npm client is ISC |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-22 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-04-28 | 2025-01-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2025-01-01 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 4k stars | 310 npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Google Lyria.** $0.08 a full song on `lyria-3.5` and $0.04 a 30-second clip, flat. No free tier for Lyria, so billing is needed before the first call.

**MusicGPT API.** A public OpenAPI 3.1 file with 27 operations, llms.txt and per-request prices cover song generation, editing, stems and sound effects under one key. No status page, SLA, security.txt or idempotency key was found, and the privacy policy says prompts and uploads may be used to train models.

## Before you call either

### Google Lyria

1. Draft on `lyria-3-clip-preview` at $0.04 before paying for a full song
2. Put the target length and structure in the prompt, e.g. "[0:00 - 0:10] Intro" or "a 2-minute song"
3. Decode `output_audio.data` from base64 straight to a file. Don't let it into the context
4. Don't name artists or paste song lyrics. The safety filter blocks the request
5. Back off exponentially on 429 `RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED`. Limits are per project and tier

### MusicGPT API

1. Send the key as the raw `Authorization` header value. The docs show no `Bearer` prefix
2. Budget two songs for each music request. `POST /v2/MusicAI` returns two versions and the price is per song
3. Save `task_id` and poll `GET /v1/byId` with `conversionType`, or set `webhook_url`. Music AI V2 sends up to seven webhooks a request
4. Pass `model` explicitly. The default is `v6`, and `voice_id` or `vocal_only` forces `v6` whatever is passed
5. Do not retry a create blindly after a timeout. No idempotency key is documented, so a retry may bill again

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Google Lyria or MusicGPT API?

Google Lyria scores 48.5 (D) on agent readiness against MusicGPT API's 45.9 (E), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. MusicGPT API leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and payments & pricing.

### Do Google Lyria and MusicGPT API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Google Lyria and MusicGPT API without installing anything?

Yes. Google Lyria has a hosted endpoint at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta and MusicGPT API at https://api.musicgpt.com/api/public.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-lyria-vs-musicgpt.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-lyria-vs-musicgpt.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "google-lyria", "b": "musicgpt"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare google-lyria musicgpt`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-lyria.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/musicgpt.json

## Other comparisons with Google Lyria or MusicGPT API

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- [Beatoven.ai API vs MusicGPT API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/beatoven-vs-musicgpt.md)
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- [Google Lyria vs Stable Audio API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-lyria-vs-stable-audio.md)
- [Loudly Music API vs MusicGPT API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/loudly-vs-musicgpt.md)
- [Mubert API vs MusicGPT API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mubert-vs-musicgpt.md)
- [MusicGPT API vs MusicGen on Replicate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/musicgpt-vs-replicate-musicgen.md)
- [MusicGPT API vs SOUNDRAW API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/musicgpt-vs-soundraw.md)
- [MusicGPT API vs Soundverse API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/musicgpt-vs-soundverse.md)
- [MusicGPT API vs Stable Audio API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/musicgpt-vs-stable-audio.md)