ElevenLabs pricing looks simple until you notice it’s really two products stacked together: a credit-based subscription for creators and a per-usage rate card for developers. Pick the wrong side and you either burn through credits or overpay for headroom you never touch. We dug through every current tier, the ElevenLabs API cost per model, and the discounts that actually exist, so you can match a plan to your real usage. For the tool itself, see our full ElevenLabs review; this guide is all about the money.
The short answer
Most people should start on Free to test the voices, then jump to Creator at $22/mo (with a 50% first month) once they need professional voice cloning and commercial rights. Hobbyists who just want commercial use can sit on Starter at $6/mo. Developers building an app should skip subscriptions and use the pay-as-you-go API, where text-to-speech runs about $0.05 to $0.10 per 1,000 characters. Teams and agencies land on Scale or Business for seats and higher credit ceilings.
ElevenLabs plans and pricing
ElevenLabs runs seven subscription tiers, from a free plan up to custom Enterprise. Every paid tier hands you a monthly credit allowance (roughly one credit per character of speech) plus the features unlocked at that level. Prices below are monthly, checked in 2026 on the official pricing page; annual billing trims roughly two months off. Credits reset each month and don’t roll over, so size your plan to how much you’ll actually generate.
ElevenLabs individual and creator plans
- Included: 10,000 credits/mo (~10 min)
- Included: Text to Speech, STT, Music, SFX
- Not included: Commercial license
- Included: 30,000 credits/mo (~30 min)
- Included: Commercial license
- Included: Instant Voice Cloning
- Included: 121,000 credits/mo (~121 min)
- Included: Professional Voice Cloning
- Included: Buy additional credits
- Included: 600,000 credits/mo (~600 min)
- Included: 192 kbps and 44.1 kHz PCM via API
- Included: Everything in Creator
Monthly billing shown. Credits reset monthly and do not roll over. Creator's first month is 50% off.
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. This does not affect our reviews.
ElevenLabs team and business plans
- Included: 1.8M credits/mo (~1,800 min)
- Included: 3 workspace seats
- Included: 3 Professional Voice Clones
- Included: 6M credits/mo (~6,000 min)
- Included: 10 seats, 10 Pro Voice Clones
- Included: Low-latency TTS from ~5c/min
- Included: Custom credits and seats
- Included: SSO, DPA/SLA, HIPAA BAAs
- Included: Priority support
Built for teams. Enterprise adds SSO, DPA/SLA terms, HIPAA BAAs and volume discounts.
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. This does not affect our reviews.
How ElevenLabs credits actually work
This is the part that trips people up. ElevenLabs bills in credits, and for text-to-speech one credit is roughly one character. As a rough rule, 1,000 credits gets you about a minute of generated speech, so the Creator plan’s 121,000 credits is around two hours of audio a month. Other tools spend credits at different rates: speech-to-text, dubbing, music, and sound effects each draw down your balance by time or output rather than characters.
Two rules matter for your budget. First, credits reset monthly and unused ones don’t carry over, so a plan you barely use is money gone. Second, the effective cost per minute drops as you climb tiers: you’re paying roughly $0.20 a minute on Starter versus about $0.17 on Pro and above. If you regularly blow past your allowance, upgrading is usually cheaper than buying top-up credits.
ElevenLabs API cost (pay-as-you-go)
If you’re a developer wiring ElevenLabs into a product, subscriptions are the wrong tool. The ElevenLabs API offers pay-as-you-go pricing billed per 1,000 characters (for speech) or per minute/hour (for audio processing), with no monthly commitment. You only pay for what you generate, and rates are the same whether you’re on Free or Business. Here’s the current rate card by model.
| Model / product | Type | Pay-as-you-go rate |
|---|---|---|
| Eleven v3 | Text to Speech | $0.10 / 1K characters |
| v3 Conversational | Text to Speech (low latency) | $0.05 / 1K characters |
| v2 Multilingual | Text to Speech | $0.10 / 1K characters |
| Flash / Turbo | Text to Speech (~75ms) | $0.05 / 1K characters |
| Scribe v2 | Speech to Text | $0.22 / hour |
| Scribe v2 Realtime | Speech to Text | $0.39 / hour |
| Speech Engine | Voice Agents | $0.08 / minute |
| Music | Music generation | $0.15 / minute |
| Voice Changer | Audio processing | $0.12 / minute |
| Voice Isolator | Audio processing | $0.12 / minute |
| Sound Effects | Audio generation | $0.12 / minute |
| Dubbing v1 | Dubbing | $0.33 / minute |
| Dubbing v2 | Dubbing (end-to-end) | $2.20 / minute |
The takeaway: for realtime or high-volume speech, the Flash/Turbo and v3 Conversational models at $0.05 per 1,000 characters roughly halve your bill versus the flagship v3 voice, so match the model to the job. Dubbing v2 is the pricey outlier at $2.20 a minute because it preserves the original voice and emotion across languages. If you’re comparing generative-media API costs generally, our HeyGen pricing breakdown is a useful sibling read for video.
Which ElevenLabs plan is right for you
- Just testing: Free. 10k credits is enough to audition voices and decide if the quality fits your project.
- Hobby projects that need commercial rights: Starter ($6/mo). The cheapest way to legally publish ElevenLabs audio, plus instant voice cloning.
- YouTubers, podcasters, course creators: Creator ($22/mo). Professional voice cloning and ~2 hours of monthly audio cover most content schedules, and the first month is half price.
- Audiobooks or heavy narration: Pro ($99/mo). 600k credits and higher-quality output for long-form work.
- Teams and agencies: Scale ($299) or Business ($990) for workspace seats, collaboration, and multiple professional voice clones.
- Developers: skip subscriptions and use the pay-as-you-go API so you only pay per generation.
Not sure ElevenLabs is even the right voice engine? We put it head to head with a popular rival in ElevenLabs vs Murf AI, which is worth a look before you commit a card.
ElevenLabs discounts and how to save
ElevenLabs rarely runs public coupon codes, so ignore the “ElevenLabs promo code” listicles; the real savings are built into how you subscribe. These are the discounts that genuinely exist right now.
DroidCrunch may earn a commission if you sign up through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. It never changes our verdict.
New Creator subscribers pay $11 instead of $22 for month one, the cheapest way to try professional voice cloning and the full credit allowance.
Eligible early-stage startups can get roughly 33 million characters free for a year through the ElevenLabs Grants program to build and launch voice features.
- Switch to annual billing: paying yearly knocks roughly two months (about 17%) off any paid tier. The best move once you know you’ll stick around.
- Right-size your plan: credits don’t roll over, so don’t pay for Pro if Creator’s allowance covers you. Downgrade the month after a big project ends.
- Use the API for spiky usage: if your needs jump around, pay-as-you-go can beat a fixed subscription you keep under-using.
- Ask about volume discounts: Enterprise pricing includes “significant discounts at scale,” so negotiate if you’re spending Business-tier money.
Is ElevenLabs worth the price?
For voice quality, yes. ElevenLabs still sets the bar for natural, expressive AI speech, and the Creator tier is fairly priced against what podcasters and video creators would otherwise pay for narration. The honest catch is the credit model: heavy users feel the ceiling fast, and top-up credits aren’t cheap. If your work is bursty or you need only occasional clips, the free plan or pay-as-you-go API will serve you better than a mid-tier subscription gathering dust.
Cheaper alternatives exist if raw quality isn’t everything. Murf and similar tools compete on price for straightforward narration, and for talking-head video you’d look at avatar tools in our best AI avatar generators roundup or a podcast editor like Descript. But for lifelike voice cloning, ElevenLabs earns its rate.
Frequently asked questions
Does ElevenLabs have a free plan?
Yes. The free plan gives you 10,000 credits a month (around 10 minutes of text-to-speech), access to core tools like TTS, speech-to-text, music, and sound effects, and 3 projects in Studio. The main limits are no commercial license and no professional voice cloning, so it is best for testing before you pay.
How much does ElevenLabs cost per month?
Paid plans are Starter $6, Creator $22 (first month $11), Pro $99, Scale $299, and Business $990 per month, with a custom Enterprise tier. Annual billing saves roughly two months. Each tier includes a set monthly credit allowance that scales with the price.
How does ElevenLabs credit pricing work?
ElevenLabs bills in credits. For text-to-speech, one credit is roughly one character, and about 1,000 credits equals a minute of speech. So Creator’s 121,000 monthly credits is around two hours of audio. Speech-to-text, dubbing, music, and sound effects consume credits at their own rates based on time or output.
Do unused ElevenLabs credits roll over?
No. Credits reset at the start of each billing cycle and any unused balance is lost. That is why it pays to match your plan to your real monthly usage rather than buying a bigger tier for occasional spikes, where the pay-as-you-go API is often cheaper.
How much does the ElevenLabs API cost?
The API is pay-as-you-go with no subscription required. Text-to-speech runs $0.10 per 1,000 characters on the v3 and v2 models, or $0.05 on the low-latency Flash, Turbo, and v3 Conversational models. Speech-to-text is $0.22 per hour, voice agents $0.08 per minute, music $0.15 per minute, and dubbing from $0.33 per minute. You pay only for what you generate.
Does ElevenLabs offer a discount or coupon code?
Public coupon codes are rare. The real savings are the Creator plan’s 50% first month, roughly 17% off with annual billing, the free plan, and the Startup Grants program that gives eligible startups about 33 million characters free for a year. Enterprise deals include volume discounts.
Can I cancel or change my ElevenLabs plan anytime?
Yes. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel at any time from your account. Upgrades take effect immediately with prorated credits, while downgrades and cancellations apply from your next billing cycle, so you keep access to your current plan until it ends.
Is the ElevenLabs commercial license included on paid plans?
Yes. Every paid tier from Starter upward includes a commercial license, so you can use the generated audio in monetised videos, podcasts, ads, and client work. The free plan does not include commercial rights, which is the main reason creators move to Starter or Creator.
The bottom line
ElevenLabs pricing rewards people who match the plan to their usage. Test on Free, publish commercially on Starter, and settle on the Creator plan if you make content regularly; it’s the sweet spot, and the first month is half price. Developers should reach for the pay-as-you-go API and pick the cheaper Flash or Conversational models wherever latency and volume matter.
The one trap to avoid: paying for a big tier and letting credits expire unused every month. Start small, switch to annual only once you’re sure, and step up a plan the moment top-up credits start costing more than the next tier. Do that, and ElevenLabs is genuinely affordable for the quality you get.
