ElevenLabs is best for freelancers narrating client work, small agencies producing audio and consultants localising video. Its clearest advantage: Free plan available for evaluation.
- Avoid if
- teams needing a human voice actor's direction
- Cheapest useful plan
- $6.00/mo · Starter
- Free plan
- Yes
- Setup effort
- easy: minutes
- Main limitation
- Credits are consumed per character, so long projects escalate quickly
- Free plan available for evaluation
- Entry paid plan is among the cheapest in this category
- Output quality is close to broadcast for narration
- teams needing a human voice actor's direction
- anyone who cannot disclose synthetic audio to their audience
What it actually does
Text-to-speech in 90+ languages with the Eleven v4 models, voice cloning from a sample, dubbing with timing preserved, speech-to-text with instruction-based transcript editing, conversational agents and API access.
Before you pay
Which plan, for whom
The free plan is for evaluating voices. Starter is among the cheapest paid entry points for AI voice; Creator suits regular narration; Pro and above are for production volume. Every plan is metered in credits, consumed per character.
What a year costs
Starter is $6 a month, $72 a year. Creator is $22 a month, $264 a year. Pro is $99 a month, $1,188 a year; Scale $299 and Business $990 a month. We read the same $6 on 12 August, 10 October and 25 October.
What we would check before paying
Estimate your characters per month before choosing: long projects use credits quickly. Voice cloning needs the consent of the person whose voice it is, a question the tool leaves to you.
What changed recently
A Video to Music API writes a soundtrack for an uploaded video, with optional matching sound effects; Realtime Translation turns speech into another language while the speaker talks (enterprise workspaces); Eleven Realtime models bundle a whole voice-agent setup in one choice. Source ↗
Eleven v4 and Eleven v4 Turbo, new text-to-speech models, are released. Source ↗
Read on each vendor's official changelog, not tested by us.
The limits to know
- Credits are consumed per character, so long projects escalate quickly
- Voice cloning raises consent questions the tool does not answer for you
- Emotional direction is limited compared with a real voice actor
Pricing & billing commitment
- Rate on record
- $6.00/mo · Starter
- What that figure is
- Month-to-month rate per account, read on the vendor's monthly view. The plan is capped by an allowance (credits, tasks or minutes) rather than by time.
- Commitment
- None: payable one month at a time
- The vendor's exact condition
- monthly billing
- Usage cap
- This plan is capped by an allowance (credits, tasks or minutes), not only by time. Going past it costs extra or stops the work, depending on the vendor.
The pricing page, as read
Partner linkIn practice
- Platforms
- Web, API
- Integrations
- API, Zapier, Make
- Setup
- easy: minutes
ElevenLabs in our comparisons
Alternatives to ElevenLabs
Compare side by side:ElevenLabs / DescriptElevenLabs / Murf AIElevenLabs / HeyGen
Frequently asked questions
What is ElevenLabs?
ElevenLabs is a tool used mainly for voice-over for client video, audiobook and course narration, dubbing into another language. Main features: text-to-speech in 90+ languages with the Eleven v4 models, voice cloning from a sample, dubbing with timing preserved. It has a permanent free plan; the paid entry point is $6.00/mo · Starter.
How much does ElevenLabs cost?
The paid entry point is $6.00/mo · Starter. Month-to-month rate per account, read on the vendor's monthly view. The plan is capped by an allowance (credits, tasks or minutes) rather than by time. The exact condition attached to that figure: monthly billing. Read on the official pricing page on 25.10.2026. Prices move quickly: confirm before subscribing.
Does ElevenLabs have a free plan?
Yes. ElevenLabs publishes a permanent free plan. Check this before settling on it: credits are consumed per character, so long projects escalate quickly.
What devices and tools does ElevenLabs work with?
According to the vendor's documentation, ElevenLabs runs on: Web, API. Documented integrations: API, Zapier, Make. Listed from the official sources, not tested by us: check your own setup on the free plan.
How we checked this record
The evidence record
- Evidence level
- Vendor documented: Official documentation and pricing page reviewed and dated. No independent verification, no hands-on test recorded.
- Affiliate status
- Partner link: a commission may be paid, at no extra cost to you.
Hands-on test
No automated hands-on test has been completed for this review cycle. This record rests on the vendor's official documentation and pricing page, re-read and dated. We say so rather than imply otherwise.
The research record
Read on the vendor's monthly view, from France; screenshot kept
Confirmed in the pricing page's text, which renders the monthly figure, from France
Read on the vendor's monthly view
Sources
The official pages this record rests on. No tracking links here: these addresses name the vendor.
Evidence freshness
Each kind of check has its own clock and its own threshold. A price ages in weeks and a feature list in months; sharing one date between them would let an old review pass for a recent check.
| Check | When | State |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Checked 18 days ago | Fresh |
| Features | Checked 18 days ago | Fresh |
| Privacy & data | Never checked | Not independently checked |
| Hands-on test | Never checked | Not independently checked |
| Page review | Checked 92 days ago | Due soon |
What remains unverified
- No workflow was run inside the product. Everything here comes from the vendor's documentation and public pages.
- Data handling and the privacy policy were not independently verified during this research cycle. We therefore publish no conclusion about security or where data is stored.
- Export terms and the real cost of leaving are not on this record: we have not tested them.