Last updated: 2026-09-16
Eleven v3 is ElevenLabs' flagship model for text-to-speech, voice cloning, and conversational voice agents, supporting 70+ languages. Cloning needs as little as 1 to 5 minutes of sample audio, or a voice can be designed from a text prompt alone. ElevenAgents extends the same voice stack into standalone conversational AI deployments.
About ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs is an AI audio research and deployment company founded in 2022, building voice synthesis technology it positions as the most emotionally expressive on the market. The company reached unicorn status with an $11B valuation after raising $791M across 7 funding rounds, making it one of Europe's largest AI unicorns, and counts Twilio, Disney, Nvidia, Meta, Salesforce, and Deutsche Telekom among its enterprise customers.
The platform spans three products: ElevenCreative for content generation (text-to-speech, music, dubbing, sound effects), ElevenAgents for deploying conversational voice agents across many languages, and ElevenScribe for speech-to-text transcription. Eleven v3 is the flagship text-to-speech model; a separate low-latency model targets real-time use. The company holds SOC2, HIPAA, and GDPR compliance certifications for enterprise and healthcare deployments.
In September 2026 ElevenLabs shipped Music v2.5, now the default model behind ElevenMusic, ElevenCreative, and the Music API. Across a blind listening test spanning 47,885 comparison pairs against the prior Music v2, the newer model was the preferred take most often, with the widest margins in vocal-led and acoustic genres such as R&B, hip hop, and orchestral scoring. The release landed one day after ElevenLabs signed a separate multi-year licensing deal with Universal Music Group for a distinct UMG-branded music platform; both companies have said no UMG catalog was used to train Music v2.5 itself.
Pricing
Free tier available for non-commercial use (see FAQ for the exact credit allowance). Starter at $5/month with 60,000 characters. Creator at $22/month with 200,000 characters plus voice cloning.
Pro at $99/month with 500,000 characters. Scale at $330/month with 2,000,000 characters. Business at $1,320/month with 11,000,000 characters.
Enterprise with custom pricing. 90/year per the App Store listing) for 400 tracks a month plus stem separation and extra lossless export quality. Annual plans on the core ElevenLabs platform save 20%.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 10,000 credits per month (~10 minutes of TTS audio); non-commercial use only; requires attribution; unused credits do not roll over |
| Enterprise | Free | Custom quotas; volume-based discounts; HIPAA/BAA support (+$1,000/month); SSO/RBAC; custom SLAs; zero-retention mode; EU/US/India data residency options; dedicated support team |
| Starter | $5/mo | 60,000 monthly characters included; $0.30 per 1K characters overage; includes Instant Voice Cloning; commercial license included; 2-month rollover allowance |
| Creator | $22/mo | 200,000 monthly characters; $0.30 per 1K characters overage; Professional Voice Cloning included; 50 dubbing minutes included; up to 10 custom voice slots; 2-month rollover allowance |
| Pro | $99/mo | 500,000 monthly characters; $0.24 per 1K characters overage; Professional Voice Cloning; 250 dubbing minutes; up to 30 custom voice slots; unlimited API concurrency; early access features; 2-month rollover |
| Scale | $330/mo | 2,000,000 monthly characters; $0.18 per 1K characters overage; Professional Voice Cloning; 1,000 dubbing minutes; up to 100 custom voice slots; dedicated account support; priority processing; 2-month rollover |
| Business | $1320/mo | 11,000,000 monthly characters (~366 hours audio); $0.12 per 1K characters overage; Professional Voice Cloning; 5,500 dubbing minutes; unlimited custom voice slots; multiple team seats; low-latency TTS guaranteed; dedicated support; 2-month rollover; annual billing at $13,200/year saves 16% |
Feature Comparison by Tier
| Feature | Pro | Free | Scale | Starter | Business |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Languages Supported | 70+ | 50+ | 70+ | 70+ | 70+ |
| Monthly Character Allowance | 500K | 10K | 2M | 60K | 11M |
| Voice Cloning | Professional | — | Professional | Instant | Professional |
| Dubbing Minutes | 250 min | — | 1,000 min | — | 5,500 min |
| Custom Voice Slots | 10 | 0 | 100 | 0 | Unlimited |
| API Concurrency | Unlimited | Limited | Unlimited | Standard | Custom |
| Conversational Agents (ElevenAgents) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Music Generation (ElevenMusic) | Pro Plan | 5/day | Pro Plan | — | Custom |
| Transcription (ElevenScribe) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Commercial License | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Key Features
- Text-to-Speech Synthesis with Eleven v3: Transform text into lifelike speech across 70+ languages with emotional range (sighs, whispers, laughs), multiple voice styles, and real-time streaming
- Voice Cloning & Design: Create instant voice clones from short audio clips (1-5 min) or professional clones from longer recordings (30+ min), or design custom voices from text prompts without any existing audio
- ElevenAgents: Scalable Voice AI Platform: A standalone platform for deploying high-volume conversational AI voices, letting businesses manage large-scale voice interactions without growing human headcount
- ElevenMusic: AI Song Generation App: ElevenMusic now runs on Music v2.5 by default for song generation; the free plan creates 5 tracks a day with commercial use allowed under attribution, and Pro adds stem separation, cover art, and 400 tracks a month with 10 HQ WAV downloads included
- Speech-to-Text Transcription: Scribe v2 model provides 98% accuracy speech-to-text conversion across 90+ languages with speaker diarization, word-level timestamps, and support for technical terminology
- Cross-Language Emotion Preservation: Eleven v3 keeps the original speaker's emotion and vocal performance intact across target languages, so translated content stays as expressive as the source recording
Pros
- Voice quality and expressiveness stand out, with Eleven v3 supporting sighs, whispers, laughs, and other audio tags for fine control
- Ultra-low latency option (about 75ms with the Flash model) enables real-time conversational AI and interactive applications
- Extensive language support across both text-to-speech and transcription workflows, with authentic accent and dialect handling
- Enterprise-grade compliance certifications (SOC2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR) with optional Zero Retention Mode and regional data residency
- Flexible credit-based pricing with a free tier for experimentation and pay-as-you-go overages, plus a discount for paying annually
- Full API access with official SDKs (Python, JavaScript) and pre-built integrations (Salesforce, Slack, Zendesk, Stripe, Twilio, etc.)
Cons
- Complex pricing structure with multiple models, feature-based gating, and tiered overages makes cost prediction difficult for variable workloads
- Heavy usage can rapidly escalate costs; enterprise HIPAA compliance adds a $1,000+ monthly premium on top of the base tier
- Free tier is severely limited (a small monthly credit allowance), non-commercial only, and requires attribution
- Professional Voice Cloning (PVC) isn't fully optimized for the Eleven v3 model yet, reducing clone quality compared to earlier models
Product Information
- Cloud
- Yes
- Self-Hosted
- No
- On-Premise
- No
- Languages
- English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Hindi, Vietnamese, Turkish, Thai, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
- Training
- Official Documentation, API Reference, SDK Examples (Python, JavaScript), Discord Community, Video Tutorials, Enterprise Onboarding
Data Handling
- Compliance
- SOC2 Type II · ISO 27001 · PCI DSS Level 1 · HIPAA (with BAA) · GDPR · EU-US Data Privacy Framework
Frequently Asked Questions
What are ElevenLabs's pricing plans in 2026?
ElevenLabs prices by monthly character allowance: Starter is $5/month for 60,000 characters, Creator is $22/month for 200,000 characters plus voice cloning, Pro is $99/month for 500,000 characters, Scale is $330/month for 2,000,000 characters, and Business is $1,320/month for 11,000,000 characters. Enterprise pricing is custom. HIPAA compliance adds a $1,000+/month premium on top of the base tier, and annual billing saves 20%.
What do you get on ElevenLabs's free tier?
The free tier comes with 10,000 credits a month, about 10 minutes of generated audio, and covers text-to-speech only. It is non-commercial, requires attribution, and the credits reset each month rather than accumulating.
What are ElevenLabs's closest competitors?
Murf AI makes more sense when voiceover is one feature of a wider video editor rather than the whole product. Descript covers transcription and podcast editing in the same tool. Synthesia is the one to look at when the deliverable is an AI avatar video rather than audio.
What separates ElevenLabs from Murf AI?
Murf AI folds text-to-speech into a broader video-creation suite with templates and avatars. ElevenLabs stays on voice alone: text-to-speech, cloning, dubbing, and conversational agents. Video production with a voiceover attached favors Murf AI, while voice quality, latency, or voice-driven agents favor ElevenLabs.
What does it take to start using ElevenLabs?
Sign up for the free account, no credit card required, and open the Text to Speech tool in the dashboard. Type or paste text, pick a voice, and generate audio in under a minute. To clone your own voice, go to Voice Cloning, upload a short sample recording, and the clone is ready to use right away.
Top Alternatives
- Murf AI: Pick Murf AI if you need an all-in-one video creator with built-in TTS; pick ElevenLabs if you need superior voice expressiveness and lower latency.
- Synthesia: Pick Synthesia if you want to generate videos with AI avatars; pick ElevenLabs if your focus is voice quality, voice cloning, or agent deployment.
- Descript: Pick Descript if you want an all-in-one transcription + editing + export tool; pick ElevenLabs if you need advanced voice cloning, multilingual agents, or real-time voice synthesis.
HokAI guides covering ElevenLabs
- Best AI Voice Assistants in 2026: A Buyer's Guide to Synthesis, Transcription and Agents: AI voice assistants split into three buying decisions: synthesis, transcription and agent orchestration. Compare ElevenLabs, Deepgram and Retell AI for 2026.
- How to Create AI Video and Visual Content Without a Production Team: DALL-E is retired and CapCut's AI tools now cost $19.99/month. Here is the updated 2026 stack for camera-free AI video, with real prices for every tool.
- Best AI for Creating YouTube Videos in 2026: A Buyer's Guide: OpusClip, Pictory, inVideo and VEED compared by YouTube workflow, not hype, with live pricing checked 3 Sep 2026, including a new $900-a-month inVideo tier.
- HokAI vs Insidr.ai: The Sponsorship Price Insidr Never Publishes: Insidr.ai's submit form asks for an affiliate signup link and never prices its Sponsorship track. HokAI states its $5 flat fee up front. Checked Sept 1, 2026.
- The Top AI Tools in 2026: How to Actually Choose One: ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Gemini, and Perplexity all cap out near $200 a month in 2026. A practical framework for matching the right AI tool to your actual job.
- HokAI vs Toolify: What 30,501 Listings Cost You in Accuracy: Toolify claims 30,501 AI listings updated daily by ChatGPT, but three checked live on August 30, 2026 show no updated date and no real price on the page.