What ElevenLabs does
ElevenLabs is a voice AI platform built around three main products: Text-to-Speech (TTS), Voice Cloning, and Dubbing. The TTS engine converts written text into spoken audio using a library of pre-built voices or your own cloned voice. Voice cloning creates a synthetic voice from audio samples, ranging from a quick instant clone to a full professional voice trained on hours of recorded speech. Dubbing translates and re-voices existing video content while preserving the original speaker's tone and cadence.
The platform also provides a Conversational AI product for building voice agents, priced separately by the minute. For video creation that pairs with voice narration, see our Runway profile.
Pricing
| Plan | Monthly price | Credits/month | TTS minutes (approx) | Commercial rights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10,000 | ~10 min | No |
| Starter | $6 | 30,000 | ~30 min | Yes |
| Creator | $22 | 100,000 | ~100 min | Yes |
| Pro | $99 | 500,000 | ~500 min | Yes |
| Scale | $299 | 2,000,000 | ~2,000 min | Yes |
| Business | $990 | 10,000,000 | ~10,000 min | Yes |
Credit consumption varies by model. The Flash model uses fewer credits per character than Multilingual v2. Annual billing saves roughly 17%. Confirm at elevenlabs.io/pricing.
What it is good at and where it struggles
Good at
- Voice naturalness and emotional range, best in class
- Multilingual TTS in 30-plus languages with accurate accents
- Professional voice cloning for consistent brand narration
- Dubbing that retains speaker voice identity across languages
- Clean API for building voice into products
Struggles with
- Free tier has no commercial rights, so most real use requires paying
- Price jumps sharply from Creator to Pro
- Credit math is opaque for new users comparing models
- Instant clones can sound slightly robotic under close scrutiny
- Dubbing is priced separately and adds up for long videos
Top alternatives
- PlayHT is the closest rival in voice quality and offers a slightly simpler pricing structure for high-volume TTS use cases. See our ElevenLabs alternatives page for a full comparison.
- Microsoft Azure TTS covers 400-plus voices across 140 languages and is cheaper at scale for teams already in the Microsoft stack, though the UI is considerably less friendly.
- Descript includes its own voice cloning (Overdub) in the Creator plan, which suits podcasters who want to correct recordings rather than generate narration from scratch.
Who it is for
ElevenLabs fits anyone producing audio content at a professional standard: podcasters, course creators, audiobook narrators, and marketing teams who need brand-consistent narration across dozens of videos. It is also a serious option for developers building voice agents or accessibility tools. Budget users making the occasional short clip will find the credit limits frustrating on lower plans. Studios doing continuous high-volume TTS should price the Scale and Business tiers carefully before committing.
FAQ
Does ElevenLabs free plan include commercial rights?
No. The free plan requires attribution and does not allow commercial use. You need the Starter plan at $6/month to get commercial rights.
What is ElevenLabs voice cloning and which plan includes it?
Instant voice cloning (a quick clone from a short audio sample) is available from the Starter plan. Professional voice cloning, which produces a higher-quality custom voice from longer recordings, starts at the Creator plan ($22/month).
How many minutes of audio does ElevenLabs generate per month?
It depends on the plan and the model used. The Creator plan ($22/month) gives 100,000 credits, which is roughly 100 minutes of standard TTS. Higher-quality models consume more credits per minute.
Can ElevenLabs dub videos into other languages?
Yes. Dubbing is a separate product within ElevenLabs priced by the minute of source video. It preserves the original speaker's voice characteristics across the target language.