What is ElevenLabs?
ElevenLabs meters almost everything — TTS, STT, music, dubbing, sound effects — on one monthly credit pool. Official Creative-plan prices in September 2026: Free $0 (10,000 credits, ~10 minutes of V2 TTS); Starter $6 (30,000 credits, commercial license, instant voice clone); Creator $22 (121,000 credits, $11 the first month, professional voice clone); Pro $99 (600,000 credits, 192 kbps / 44.1 kHz API audio); Scale $299 (1.8M credits, 3 seats); Business $990 (6M credits, 10 seats).
Annual billing is priced as 10 months (two months free). Credits roll over up to two extra months on paid plans.
Dubbing is expensive on this meter (2,000–10,000 credits per minute depending on studio and watermark).
A concrete walkthrough: narrate a 2,000-word lesson
2,000 English words is roughly 11,000–12,000 characters. On V2 that is about 12,000 credits — already more than Free's 10k, and a third of Starter's 30k, before you regenerate a paragraph you dislike.
Creator (121k) is the first plan that survives a weekly lesson plus a clone. If the same lesson also needs a dubbed Spanish track, automatic dubbing at 2,000 credits/minute on a 10-minute video is 20,000 credits — plan that as its own line item.
For 'edit the transcript and the audio follows', Descript is the better primary tool; ElevenLabs is the voice engine you might export into.
Key features
- TTS in 70+ languages; 1 credit ≈ 1 character on V2 Multilingual
- Instant voice clone on Starter+; professional clone on Creator+
- Dubbing Studio and automatic dubbing — the fastest way to burn the credit pot
- Speech-to-text (~330 credits/min), music (~900 credits/min), SFX (200/generation)
- Studio projects: 3 on Free, 20 on Starter+
- Paid credits roll over up to 2× the monthly quota (max balance 3×)
How to get started
- Create a Free account and generate a short sample to hear the current voice models
- Count characters (not words) for the script you will ship this month, then pick a plan
- Clone a voice only after Starter/Creator — Free is for stock voices
- Price dubbing separately; a 10-minute dub can exceed a Creator pot
- Use annual billing (10× monthly) if the quota is stable; unused credits still reset on cancel
ElevenLabs pricing
elevenlabs.io/pricing, September 2026: Free $0 / 10k credits; Starter $6 / 30k; Creator $22 / 121k (first month $11); Pro $99 / 600k; Scale $299 / 1.8M (3 seats); Business $990 / 6M (10 seats). Annual = monthly × 10.
Paid unused credits roll over up to two months. Taxes extra.
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10k credits/mo, stock voices, 3 Studio projects |
| Starter | $6/mo | 30k credits, commercial license, instant clone |
| Creator | $22/mo ($11 first month) | 121k credits, professional clone |
| Pro | $99/mo | 600k credits, high-bitrate API audio |
| Scale | $299/mo | 1.8M credits, 3 seats |
| Business | $990/mo | 6M credits, 10 seats, low-latency TTS |
Our take: Map monthly characters first. Most narrators land on Creator, not Pro. Treat dubbing as a separate budget — it is priced to empty a Creator pot in a few videos.
Prices verified 2026-09. Plans change often — confirm on the official site above before you buy.
Use cases
- Video and course narration in a consistent cloned voice
- Podcast / audiobook drafts in Studio
- IVR and in-app speech via API on Pro+
- Multilingual dubs — only after you have done the credit math
- Sound effects and short music beds on the same pot
Strengths and tradeoffs
Where it stands out
- Still the default quality bar for cloned narration
- Cheap Starter rung ($6) with a commercial license
- Honest shared credit pool — one number for every product
Tradeoffs
- Dubbing and music burn credits much faster than TTS
- Free is a demo, not a publishing quota
- Not a timeline editor — you still need Descript, CapCut, or a DAW
ElevenLabs vs. alternatives
| Tool | How it compares |
|---|---|
| ElevenLabs | Shared-credit voice (and now music/image) platform — you buy characters and minutes, not 'unlimited narration'. |
| Descript | Descript edits audio and video by editing a transcript, rather than focusing purely on voice generation. |
| Murf AI | Murf AI leans toward presentation and e-learning voiceovers with a simpler tool set. |
| Voicemod | Voicemod is built for real-time voice changing in calls and streams, not narration or dubbing. |
Use ElevenLabs when the voice itself is the product. Use Descript when you edit by editing a transcript.
Use Murf for simple course voiceover with fewer knobs. Use Voicemod for live call/stream voice changing, which this is not.
FAQ
Is ElevenLabs free to use?
ElevenLabs's plans: Free 10k credits; Starter $6 / Creator $22 / Pro $99, then Scale/Business. Pricing and free-tier limits change over time, so check the official site above for the latest details.
What is ElevenLabs used for?
Shared-credit voice (and now music/image) platform — you buy characters and minutes, not 'unlimited narration'.
Who is ElevenLabs best for?
ElevenLabs is a good fit for video and course narration in a consistent cloned voice, or podcast / audiobook drafts in Studio.
What are the alternatives to ElevenLabs?
Commonly compared alternatives include Descript, Murf AI, and Voicemod, see the comparison above for how they differ.
How much does ElevenLabs cost?
Free is 10,000 credits. Starter is $6 (30k), Creator $22 (121k), Pro $99 (600k), Scale $299, Business $990. Annual billing charges 10 months. Credits are shared across TTS, STT, music, and dubbing.
How many credits is a minute of speech?
On V2 Multilingual TTS, ElevenLabs bills 1 credit per text character, not per minute — a fast speaker and a slow one cost the same for the same script. Speech-to-text is about 330 credits per minute. Automatic dubbing starts at 2,000 credits per minute and Dubbing Studio can reach 10,000 without a watermark.
Do unused ElevenLabs credits roll over?
On paid plans, unused credits roll over for up to two months, so the balance can reach 3× the monthly quota. Free does not roll over. Downgrade or cancel and unused paid credits expire at the end of the cycle.
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VLast updated: 2026-09-21 · Reviewed by AIKetra editors · How we evaluate tools · Embed a Featured badge