ElevenLabs Review 2026: Pricing, Features and Verdict
The voice quality leader for text to speech, voice cloning, dubbing and music, judged on its published plans, credit math, consent rules and ratings.
By , research by the BestBots team ยท Updated Oct 18, 2026
Fact checked against each company's published pricing, documentation and verified user ratings. How we score
ElevenLabs is the best AI voice generator for most creators and developers. It offers thousands of voices in 74 languages, instant voice cloning and a commercial license from $6 a month, and one credit pool also covers dubbing, sound effects and licensed music. The tradeoffs: credits drain fast outside plain text to speech, Free output is non commercial, and support complaints keep its Trustpilot score at 3.0.
The voice quality and feature leader for creators and developers: 74 languages, instant and professional voice cloning, dubbing and licensed music on one plan, with a commercial license from the $6 Starter tier. Credits drain fast across products, the Free plan bans commercial use, and support and billing complaints keep its Trustpilot score at 3.0.
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- Starting price
- $6 per month
- Pricing model
- monthly subscription with a shared credit pool, plus pay as you go API
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- None listed
- Free plan
- 10,000 credits a month (about 10 minutes of TTS), non-commercial only
- Paid from
- $6 per month (Starter), $5 billed yearly
- Credits or minutes per month
- About 30 (Starter) to 6,000 (Business) minutes of TTS from a shared credit pool
- Commercial use
- Paid plans only; Free users are limited to non-commercial use; users retain rights in their output
- API
- $0.08 per 1,000 characters (v4, v3, Multilingual v2), $0.04 for Turbo and Flash; music $0.15 per minute
What it is
ElevenLabs is an AI audio platform. It started with text to speech and now sells a full stack under one subscription: text to speech, speech to text, instant and professional voice cloning, a voice changer, a Dubbing Studio for translating video, sound effects, and Eleven Music for songs and instrumentals. It also runs the ElevenReader and ElevenMusic apps and a separate voice agent platform, reviewed in our ElevenLabs Agents review.
This review covers the creator and developer voice product. If you are building phone agents, read the Agents review instead, since minutes and concurrency work differently there.
Pricing explained
Every plan shares one monthly credit pool across products. Text to speech uses about 1 credit per character, so 1,000 credits is roughly 1 minute of speech.
| Plan | Monthly price | Credits | Approx TTS minutes | Key additions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10,000 | About 10 | 3 voice slots, non commercial only |
| Starter | $6 | 30,000 | About 30 | Commercial license, instant cloning, 10 voice slots, Dubbing Studio |
| Creator | $22 | 121,000 | About 121 | 1 professional clone, 30 voice slots, 192 kbps audio |
| Pro | $99 | 600,000 | About 600 | 160 voice slots, 44.1kHz PCM via API |
| Scale | $299 | 1.8M | About 1,800 | 3 seats, 3 professional clones, 660 voice slots |
| Business | $990 | 6M | About 6,000 | 10 seats, 10 professional clones, 2,200 voice slots |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | DPA, SLA, BAAs for HIPAA, SSO, data residency |
Annual billing costs 10 times the monthly price, which works out to $5, $18.33, $82.50, $249.17 and $825 per month for Starter through Business. In October 2026 the pricing page also showed first month promos ($1 Starter and $11 Creator); those revert to full price on renewal.
Rollover. Unused credits roll over for up to 2 months on active paid plans, which is more generous than most rivals.
Extra usage. Creator lists extra minutes at about $0.18 and Pro at about $0.17.
API. Pay as you go text to speech is $0.08 per 1,000 characters on v4, v3 and Multilingual v2, and $0.04 on Turbo and Flash. Music via the API is $0.15 per minute.
Where credits go
Plain narration is cheap. Other products are not. Music uses about 900 credits per minute and dubbing 2,000 to 10,000 credits per minute, according to ElevenLabs. On Creator's 121,000 credits, a creator who makes 60 minutes of narration (60,000 credits) and dubs one 10 minute video at 5,000 credits a minute (50,000 credits) has about 11,000 credits left. Plan around your heaviest product, not your average. Full examples are in ElevenLabs pricing.
Key features
Text to speech
Thousands of voices across 74 languages, with expressive models (v3 and v4) for narration and fast models (Turbo and Flash) for real time apps. Pro unlocks 44.1kHz PCM output through the API for audio that will be mastered.
Instant voice cloning
From Starter, upload a short sample and get a usable clone in minutes. Instant clones sit in your voice slots (10 on Starter up to 2,200 on Business).
Professional voice cloning
From Creator, train a high fidelity clone from longer recordings. Professional cloning is limited to your own voice and requires verification. Creator and Pro get 1 professional clone; Scale gets 3 and Business 10.
Dubbing Studio
Translate a video into other languages while keeping the original speaker's voice, with a timeline editor to fix lines. Dubbing is the most credit hungry feature.
Eleven Music and sound effects
Generate songs, instrumentals and sound effects from prompts, with commercial use on paid plans. In September 2026 ElevenLabs struck a global AI music licensing deal with Universal Music Group, per Music Business Worldwide, and it runs a Music Marketplace where users can monetize tracks.
Voice Library payouts
You can share a professional clone in the Voice Library and earn when others use it. Music Business Worldwide reported in March 2026 that ElevenLabs had paid $11 million to voice creators to date.
API and SDKs
REST API and SDKs for text to speech, speech to text, voice changer, dubbing and music, plus the same models inside ElevenLabs Agents.
Commercial rights and licensing
- Free: non commercial use only.
- Starter and up: commercial license, including Music commercial use. The terms of service (last updated October 9, 2026) say you retain rights in your output.
- Voice cloning consent. You must have the rights and consent to any voice you clone. Professional clones are restricted to your own voice and verified before training.
- Provenance. ElevenLabs participates in C2PA and publishes a free AI speech classifier that checks whether audio came from its models.
Litigation. Voice actors Karissa Vacker and Mark Boyett sued ElevenLabs in the US District Court for the District of Delaware in 2024 (case 1:24-cv-00987), alleging their audiobook narrations were used to build voices without permission. Check the public docket for its current status; we could not open it in October 2026. On music, ElevenLabs has taken the licensed route, with the UMG deal and a marketplace for creators, rather than the training disputes that hit Suno and Udio.
What users say
| Site | Rating | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot | 3.0 | 1,188 |
| App Store | 4.8 | 22,742 |
The app reviews praise voice realism and ease of use. Trustpilot is harsher. Recurring complaints cover credits that run out faster than expected (usually from dubbing or music), auto renewals people did not expect, and support handled by an AI chatbot. Praise centers on voice quality, the size of the voice library and how quickly clones work.
Privacy and security
ElevenLabs lets you opt out of model training in account settings. Zero Retention mode, which keeps content from being stored, is available for qualifying customers. Enterprise adds a DPA, SLA terms, BAAs for HIPAA, SSO and data residency. The trust center at compliance.elevenlabs.io holds its security documentation. The safety page describes its voice cloning safeguards, its AI speech classifier and its C2PA work.
Who it is for
- YouTubers, podcasters and audiobook narrators who need natural narration and a clone of their own voice.
- Developers adding text to speech or speech to text to an app at $0.04 to $0.08 per 1,000 characters.
- Video teams dubbing content into many languages.
- Creators who want commercially cleared AI music and sound effects on the same bill.
Who should skip it
- Anyone on the Free plan who wants to monetize. Free is non commercial.
- Corporate L&D teams voicing slide decks. Murf AI has slide and LMS tooling and SOC 2 and HIPAA listed on self serve plans.
- Heavy dubbing users on small plans. Dubbing can use 10 times the credits of narration.
- Teams that need a phone agent. Use ElevenLabs Agents.
Alternatives
- Murf AI: voiceover studio for training and presentations, with a $0.01 per 1,000 character API. See ElevenLabs vs Murf AI.
- Descript: editor first, with voice clones built in.
- HeyGen: if you need a face with the voice.
- Suno: if your real need is full songs with vocals.
More picks: ElevenLabs alternatives and the best AI voice generators.
Verdict
ElevenLabs is the default AI voice tool for a reason: the best voice range, cloning from $6, credits that roll over for 2 months, and narration, dubbing and music under one license. Start on Starter for commercial rights or Creator for a professional clone, and track credit use closely if you dub or make music. The weak point is service, not sound.
How ElevenLabs scores
- Value
- 4.3
- Features
- 4.8
- Ease of setup
- 4.4
- Integrations
- 4.5
- Trust
- 4.0
Pros and cons
Pros
- 74 languages and thousands of voices, with instant cloning from the $6 Starter plan and verified professional cloning from $22
- One credit pool covers TTS, speech to text, sound effects, dubbing, voice changer and Eleven Music
- Commercial license on every paid plan, and the terms say you retain rights in your output
- Training opt out in account settings, Zero Retention mode, C2PA participation and a public AI speech classifier
Cons
- Credits are shared across products, so music (900 credits a minute) and dubbing (2,000 to 10,000 credits a minute) burn through a plan quickly
- Free plan output cannot be used commercially
- Trustpilot score of 3.0 from 1,188 reviews, with recurring complaints about credit use, renewals and AI chatbot support
- Professional voice cloning is limited to your own voice and to 1 slot until Scale
ElevenLabs plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 per month | 10,000 credits (about 10 minutes of TTS), 3 custom voice slots, 2 concurrent requests, non-commercial use only |
| Starter | $6 per month | 30,000 credits (about 30 minutes), commercial license, instant voice cloning, 10 voice slots, Music commercial use, Dubbing Studio |
| Creator | $22 per month | 121,000 credits (about 121 minutes), 1 professional voice clone, 30 voice slots, 192 kbps audio, extra minutes about $0.18 |
| Pro | $99 per month | 600,000 credits (about 600 minutes), 1 professional voice clone, 160 voice slots, 44.1kHz PCM via API, extra minutes about $0.17 |
| Scale | $299 per month | 1.8M credits (about 1,800 minutes), 3 seats, 3 professional voice clones, 660 voice slots |
| Business | $990 per month | 6M credits (about 6,000 minutes), 10 seats, 10 professional voice clones, 2,200 voice slots, low latency TTS from $0.05 per minute |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom credits and seats, DPA and SLA terms, BAAs for HIPAA, SSO, data residency, priority support |
What users say
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Is ElevenLabs free?
Yes. The Free plan includes 10,000 credits a month, about 10 minutes of text to speech, 3 custom voice slots and 2 concurrent requests. Free output is limited to non commercial use, so you need a paid plan to publish monetized content.
How much does ElevenLabs cost?
Starter is $6 per month, Creator $22, Pro $99, Scale $299 and Business $990, with Enterprise quoted by sales. Annual billing costs 10 times the monthly price, so you get two months free. First month promos were showing in October 2026.
Can I use ElevenLabs voices commercially?
Yes, on any paid plan from Starter at $6. ElevenLabs' terms say you retain rights in your output. Free plan output is non commercial only.
How many minutes of audio do I get?
Text to speech uses about 1 credit per character, roughly 1,000 credits per minute. That gives about 10 minutes on Free, 30 on Starter, 121 on Creator, 600 on Pro, 1,800 on Scale and 6,000 on Business. Music, dubbing and sound effects use more credits per minute.
Can I clone someone else's voice on ElevenLabs?
Instant voice cloning requires you to confirm you have the rights and consent to the voice. Professional voice cloning goes further: ElevenLabs verifies that the voice is yours with a voice captcha before training. Cloning a voice without permission breaks its terms.
Does ElevenLabs train on my data?
ElevenLabs lets you opt out of training in your account settings, and Enterprise customers can use Zero Retention mode so content is not stored. Check the privacy settings on your account if you upload client audio.
What is the ElevenLabs API price?
Text to speech via API costs $0.08 per 1,000 characters on the v4, v3 and Multilingual v2 models, or $0.04 per 1,000 on Turbo and Flash. Music via API is $0.15 per minute, per ElevenLabs' API pricing page.
Is ElevenLabs better than Murf AI?
For voice quality, languages and cloning, yes: ElevenLabs offers 74 languages, instant cloning from $6 and dubbing and music on the same plan. Murf is a better fit for corporate voiceovers on slides, with SOC 2 and HIPAA listed and a cheaper Falcon API. See [ElevenLabs vs Murf AI](/elevenlabs-vs-murf-ai).