ElevenLabs
The leading AI voice generator and audio platform. Create ultra-realistic text-to-speech, clone voices, generate music and sound effects, dub videos, and deploy conversational AI agents—all from one platform trusted by Disney, Nvidia, and Meta.
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The Gold Standard in AI Voice
for Creators, Developers & Enterprises
After extensive hands-on testing, ElevenLabs delivers the most realistic and expressive AI voices available today. The Eleven v3 model with audio tags and dialogue mode is a genuine breakthrough—you can direct emotion, pacing, and non-verbal cues with simple text prompts. Beyond text-to-speech, the platform has expanded into a full-stack audio and multimedia suite covering voice cloning, sound effects, music, video, dubbing, and conversational AI agents. The credit-based pricing can add up at scale, but for anyone serious about voice AI, ElevenLabs is the benchmark in 2026.
✓ What We Love
- Best-in-class voice realism and expressiveness
- Full platform: TTS, STT, music, SFX, video, agents
- Voice cloning from just 1 minute of audio
- Eleven v3 audio tags for emotion control
- Enterprise-grade security and compliance
! Could Be Better
- Credits can burn faster than expected
- Unused credits don't roll over
- Customer support is email-only
What Is ElevenLabs?
A comprehensive overview of the platform, its evolution, and who it's built for.
ElevenLabs is an AI-powered voice technology platform that has grown from a specialized text-to-speech tool into the most comprehensive AI audio and multimedia suite available today. Founded in 2022 by Piotr Dąbkowski and Mati Staniszewski and headquartered in London, the company reached an $11 billion valuation in February 2026 after raising $500 million in a Series D round led by Sequoia Capital—more than tripling its $3.3 billion valuation from January 2025. With total funding exceeding $781 million and annual recurring revenue surpassing $330 million, ElevenLabs is the undisputed leader in the AI voice generator space.
What makes ElevenLabs stand out from other text-to-speech AI tools is its relentless focus on voice realism. In blind listener tests, the vast majority of people cannot distinguish ElevenLabs voices from real human speech in short clips. The platform offers a library of over 10,000 community and pre-made voices across 70+ languages, with its latest Eleven v3 model introducing expressive audio tags—inline text prompts like [whispers], [laughs], and [sighs]—that give creators granular control over tone and emotion without touching technical parameters.
But ElevenLabs is no longer just about text-to-speech. The platform now spans two major product lines: ElevenCreative, for generating speech, videos, music, and sound effects through an all-in-one AI editor, and ElevenAgents, for deploying conversational voice agents across phone, chat, email, and WhatsApp in 70+ languages. This combination of creative tools and enterprise voice infrastructure is what separates ElevenLabs from every competitor in the market.
The platform is trusted by enterprise clients including Disney, Nvidia, Meta, Epic Games, Cisco, Salesforce, Revolut, Deliveroo, and Duolingo—a roster that speaks to both the quality of the technology and the maturity of the company's security posture (SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR compliant with EU and India data residency options).
Who Is ElevenLabs Best For?
ElevenLabs is ideal for YouTube creators and podcasters who need production-grade AI narration, audiobook publishers requiring multi-voice long-form content, developers building voice-enabled applications via API, marketing teams producing multilingual video and audio at scale, and enterprises deploying conversational AI agents for customer support or sales. If voice quality is your top priority, this is the platform to beat.
The pace of innovation at ElevenLabs is extraordinary. In 2025-2026 alone, the company shipped 8+ major product launches including Eleven v3 with audio tags, Scribe v2 speech-to-text, Eleven Music, SFX v2, image and video generation, and Conversational AI 2.0. For creators and developers who want to stay at the cutting edge of voice AI technology, ElevenLabs is the platform that keeps pushing the boundary of what's possible.
See ElevenLabs in Action
Real screenshots from the platform showing key features across the entire audio and multimedia suite.
Home Dashboard
Your central hub for accessing all ElevenLabs features and tools
The ElevenLabs home dashboard presents a clean, dark-themed interface with quick access to all major features: Instant Speech, Audiobook creation, Image & Video generation, ElevenLabs Agents, Music creation, and Dubbed Video. The left sidebar provides navigation to every tool in the platform. The "Create or clone a voice" section gives instant access to Voice Design, Voice Cloning, and curated Voice Collections—making it easy to get started regardless of your use case.
Text-to-Speech with Eleven v3
The latest TTS model with audio tags for expressive voice control
The text-to-speech interface showcases the Eleven v3 model in action. Audio tags like [laughs], [swallows], and [starts laughing] are highlighted inline, giving you precise control over vocal expression and non-verbal cues. The right panel shows voice selection, model choice (Eleven v3), and a Stability slider ranging from Creative to Robust. Multiple generation outputs let you compare variations and pick the best take—a workflow that mirrors professional voice-over recording sessions.
Studio: Video Voiceover Editor
Professional timeline editor for adding AI voiceovers to video projects
The Studio editor is where ElevenLabs becomes a full production tool. This screenshot shows a video voiceover project with a professional timeline, voice panel with saved voices (Rachel, Adam, Alice, Bella), and a video preview with caption overlay. The timeline supports multi-track editing with precise audio placement. Voice selection and generation happen directly within the editor—no need to switch between tools. This is particularly powerful for YouTube creators and course developers who need to sync narration with visual content.
Studio Dashboard & Projects
Create and manage video voiceovers, audiobooks, podcasts, and more
The Studio dashboard organizes all creative tools into clear categories. Under Video: create video voiceovers, add SFX and music, auto-generate captions, remove background noise, fix voiceover mistakes, and generate AI soundtracks. Under Audio: build audiobooks from scratch, create podcasts from documents or URLs, and generate scripts from prompts. Recent Projects appear below for quick access. This centralized workspace eliminates the need for multiple specialized tools.
AI Music Generator
Create studio-quality music tracks from natural language prompts
Eleven Music lets you generate custom music from text descriptions. Type something like "smooth jazz with trumpet and brush drums" and the AI creates a studio-quality track. Browse by genre categories (Chill, Travel, Gaming, Holidays, Feel-good, Moody) or explore trending community creations. Filters for Genre, Mood, Theme, Duration, BPM, and Vocals give you precise control. Music is generated with commercial-use rights on paid plans—perfect for video backgrounds, podcasts, and content creation.
Sound Effects Library
Generate and browse AI-powered sound effects for any project
The Sound Effects library provides both pre-made and AI-generated audio effects. Browse 38 categories (Animals, Bass, Booms, Braams, Brass, Cymbals, Devices, and more) or generate custom effects by describing the sound you need. SFX v2 supports up to 30-second durations with seamless looping for ambient audio at 48kHz industry-standard quality. Available on all plans including Free—a valuable addition for video editors and game developers.
Image & Video Generation (Beta)
Create visuals alongside audio in a unified creative workflow
ElevenLabs' newest addition brings image and video generation directly into the platform. Access top models including Veo, Sora, Wan, Kling, and Seedance for video, plus Flux and Seedream for images. The real power is in the integration: generate a video, then seamlessly add AI voiceover, music, and sound effects in Studio. LipSync support matches AI voices to on-screen speakers, and Topaz upscaling brings output to 4K. This positions ElevenLabs as a true end-to-end content creation platform.
Ready to explore the most advanced AI voice platform available?
Try ElevenLabs Free →Free plan available • No credit card requiredHow ElevenLabs Works
From text input to production-ready audio in minutes—here's the core workflow.
Choose or Create Your Voice
Start by selecting from ElevenLabs' library of 10,000+ community voices and 40+ pre-made options, filterable by gender, age, accent, use case, and emotional tone. Alternatively, use Voice Design to create an entirely new voice from a text description, or clone your own voice using Instant Voice Clone (1-5 minutes of audio) or Professional Voice Clone (30+ minutes for studio-grade accuracy). Your voice selection becomes the foundation for all generated content.
Enter Your Text & Add Audio Tags
Type or paste your script into the text-to-speech editor. With the Eleven v3 model, you can add inline audio tags like [whispers], [laughs], [sighs], or [angry] to control exactly how the AI delivers each line. Adjust the Stability slider between Creative (more variation) and Robust (more consistent). For longer projects, use Studio to organize multi-speaker scripts with automatic voice assignment and timeline-based editing.
Generate & Compare Outputs
Hit Generate and ElevenLabs produces your audio in seconds. The platform creates multiple generation variants you can listen to and compare—pick the take that sounds best, just like a real recording session. If you need adjustments, regenerate specific sections or tweak your audio tags. For real-time applications, the Flash v2.5 model delivers output with approximately 75ms latency, suitable for conversational AI and live applications.
Enhance, Export & Integrate
Download your audio in multiple formats and quality levels (up to 44.1kHz PCM on Pro plans). For video projects, bring your audio into Studio to layer voiceover, music, and sound effects on a professional timeline. For developers, the REST API supports direct integration into applications with SDKs for Python, TypeScript, and Node.js, plus WebSocket support for real-time streaming. Publish directly or integrate via Zapier, LangChain, and other automation platforms.
Enterprise & Security
ElevenLabs maintains SOC 2 Type II certification, HIPAA compliance (with BAA), GDPR compliance, and offers data residency in the EU and India. The platform includes speaker verification for voice cloning, AI-generated audio watermarking, and a no-consent voice cloning detection tool. For enterprise customers, zero data retention mode and custom SLAs are available.
Developer-First API
ElevenLabs provides a robust REST API covering text-to-speech, speech-to-text (Scribe), voice cloning, sound effects, and conversational AI agents. SDKs are available for Python, TypeScript, and Node.js. WebSocket support enables real-time streaming for voice agent applications. The API is used by thousands of developers building voice-enabled products across gaming, education, customer service, and content creation.
Key Features
Everything ElevenLabs offers across its full-stack voice and multimedia platform.
Text-to-Speech (Multiple Models)
Four TTS models optimized for different use cases: Eleven v3 (most expressive, audio tags, dialogue mode), Multilingual v2 (production-grade, 29+ languages), Flash v2.5 (~75ms latency for real-time), and Turbo v2 (fastest English generation). Industry-leading voice realism across all models.
Voice Cloning
Instant Voice Clone from 1-5 minutes of audio (Starter plan+) and Professional Voice Clone from 30+ minutes of studio audio (Creator plan+). Multilingual cloning lets cloned voices speak in 70+ languages while maintaining the original voice characteristics. Voice Design creates entirely new voices from text descriptions.
Studio (All-in-One Editor)
AI-native timeline editor for long-form content production. Create audiobooks, podcasts, and video voiceover projects with multi-track support, automatic captions, collaboration features, and direct export. Assign different voices to characters and manage entire production workflows in one place.
AI Dubbing
Automatically translate and re-voice video or audio content into 29+ languages while preserving the original speaker's voice characteristics. Integrated with Studio for post-production editing and available with LipSync for matching video to dubbed audio.
Speech-to-Text (Scribe v2)
Industry-leading batch transcription with the lowest word error rate on benchmarks. Supports keyterm prompting (up to 100 words), entity detection, speaker diarization, and multi-language audio. Scribe v2 Realtime delivers under 150ms latency for live applications across 90+ languages.
AI Music Generation
Generate studio-quality music tracks from natural language prompts in any genre, style, or structure. Filter by genre, mood, theme, duration, BPM, and vocals. Trained on licensed data with commercial-use rights on paid plans. Browse trending community creations or create entirely custom tracks.
Sound Effects (SFX v2)
Generate royalty-free sound effects from text descriptions. Up to 30-second duration with seamless looping, 48kHz output quality, and 38 categories in the community library. Available on all plans including Free. Perfect for video editors, game developers, and podcast producers.
Conversational AI 2.0 (Voice Agents)
Deploy AI voice agents with state-of-the-art turn-taking, built-in RAG for knowledge base access, multimodal deployment (voice + text), batch calling for outbound communications, and automatic language detection. HIPAA compliant with EU data residency. Separate billing from 15 free minutes up to 13,750 minutes on Business plan.
ElevenLabs also offers Image & Video generation (beta) integrating top models like Veo, Sora, Wan, Kling, and Flux with LipSync support and 4K upscaling via Topaz. The REST API with SDKs for Python, TypeScript, and Node.js enables developers to integrate any of these capabilities directly into their own applications, while integrations with Zapier, LangChain, and other platforms support automated workflows.
Experience the full-stack voice AI platform:
Try ElevenLabs Free →Free plan • 10,000 characters/month • All core features includedElevenLabs Pricing Plans
Seven tiers from free to enterprise—with a generous free plan and commercial licensing from $5/month.
Free
Creator
Pro
Conversational AI: Billed separately from 15 free minutes up to 13,750 minutes included on Business ($0.08/min)
Is ElevenLabs Worth the Investment?
For context, hiring a professional voice actor typically costs $100-500+ per finished hour. ElevenLabs' Creator plan ($22/month) delivers approximately 100 minutes of production-grade audio—roughly equivalent to $200-1,000+ in voice talent costs. Even accounting for regenerations and credit usage patterns, the ROI is significant for regular audio content producers.
A practical note on ElevenLabs pricing: credits are consumed per character, not per finished audio minute, and regenerations also consume credits. In practice, real-world costs can be higher than the advertised per-minute estimates—plan for approximately 1.5-2x the baseline when budgeting for production use that involves iteration and regeneration. For the most cost-effective workflow, prepare your scripts thoroughly before generating and use the Creative/Robust stability slider to reduce the need for retakes.
Detailed Pros & Cons
An honest, balanced assessment based on hands-on testing and community feedback.
✓ Pros
ElevenLabs consistently produces the most natural-sounding AI voices on the market. In blind listener tests, the majority of people cannot distinguish ElevenLabs output from human speech in short clips. The emotional depth, natural pauses, and contextual interpretation are unmatched by any competitor in 2026.
The ability to control tone, emotion, and non-verbal reactions through simple inline text prompts ([whispers], [laughs], [sighs], [angry]) is genuinely transformative. Combined with Dialogue Mode for multi-speaker conversations, v3 represents a generational leap in what text-to-speech AI can do.
No competitor matches ElevenLabs' product scope: text-to-speech, speech-to-text, voice cloning, sound effects, music generation, image and video creation, AI dubbing, conversational AI agents, and Studio editor—all in one platform. This eliminates tool-switching and enables end-to-end creative workflows.
When done with quality source audio, ElevenLabs' voice cloning is the most accurate available. Professional Voice Clone captures subtle speech patterns, accents, and emotional range that other platforms simply can't replicate. Multilingual cloning lets cloned voices speak across 70+ languages.
SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA compliance with BAA, GDPR compliance, EU and India data residency, zero retention mode, and comprehensive deepfake protections. Trusted by Disney, Nvidia, Meta, and Salesforce—this isn't just a creator tool, it's enterprise-ready infrastructure.
ElevenLabs ships major updates at an extraordinary pace—8+ significant product and model launches in 2025-2026 alone. The platform is constantly improving, and being an ElevenLabs user means you're always getting access to the latest advances in voice AI technology.
✗ Cons
Credits are consumed per character, and regenerations, failed generations, and dubbing all consume credits. In practice, production use can cost 1.5-2x the advertised per-minute estimates. The gap between theoretical and real-world costs is worth planning for, especially on lower-tier plans.
If you don't use all your monthly credits, they expire at the end of the billing cycle. For users with variable month-to-month audio needs, this means you may occasionally pay for capacity you don't fully utilize. Careful planning helps, but rollover would be a welcome improvement.
Support is email-only with response times that can range from a few days to longer during busy periods. There's no phone support or live chat. For a platform at this scale and price point, faster support response would better match user expectations—especially for paying customers on higher-tier plans.
Professional Voice Clone results depend heavily on the quality of your source audio. Low-quality recordings with background noise or inconsistent microphone placement will produce disappointing results. For best outcomes, invest in proper recording conditions—this is a "quality in, quality out" system.
While Eleven v3 is remarkably expressive, it's currently in alpha and not yet optimized for real-time applications. It requires more prompt engineering than older models to get consistent results, and latency is higher. For real-time use cases, Flash v2.5 remains the better choice while v3 continues to mature.
Some users report occasional pronunciation challenges with technical terms, numbers, and unusual proper nouns. Extended multilingual generations can sometimes exhibit accent bleed between languages. These are edge cases rather than core issues, but worth noting for specialized or technical content production.
ElevenLabs vs Alternatives
How does ElevenLabs compare to other AI voice generators? Here's a comprehensive breakdown.
| Feature | ElevenLabs | Murf AI | WellSaid Labs | Hume AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | Free / $5/mo | Free / $29/mo | $50/user/mo | Free tier |
| Voice Realism | ★★★★★ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ |
| Voice Library | 10,000+ voices | 200+ voices | 120+ voices | Emotion-focused |
| Languages | 70+ | 20+ | English + expanding | Multi-language |
| Voice Cloning | ✓ Instant + Professional | ✓ 2-min sample | ✗ Not offered | ✓ Emotion-aware |
| Product Breadth | TTS, STT, Music, SFX, Video, Agents | TTS, Dubbing, Video Editor | TTS only | Empathic voice AI |
| API & Developer Tools | ✓ Full REST API + SDKs | ✓ API available | ✓ API available | ✓ Empathic API |
| Best For | Creators, devs, enterprises | Corporate training, e-learning | Regulated industries | Emotionally aware apps |
Which Voice Generator Is Right For You?
ElevenLabs
Best OverallBest for: Anyone who needs the highest-quality AI voices available, from YouTube creators and podcast producers to developers building voice-enabled applications and enterprises deploying conversational AI agents. The unmatched combination of voice realism, platform breadth, and innovation velocity makes ElevenLabs the clear category leader. Start free and scale as your needs grow.
Murf AI
Best for TeamsBest for: Corporate training teams, e-learning developers, and business presenters who need clean, professional voiceovers with built-in Canva and PowerPoint integrations. Murf's team workspace and AI dubbing in 40+ languages with lip-sync are standout features. Voice quality is solid for business use cases, though it doesn't match ElevenLabs' expressiveness for creative content. Strong choice for collaborative environments.
Hume AI
Empathic VoiceBest for: Developers and companies building emotionally intelligent applications. Hume AI's Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) measures and responds to emotional cues in real-time—a fundamentally different approach from traditional TTS. Choose Hume if your use case requires understanding user emotion (mental health apps, companion AI, customer experience) rather than just generating speech.
WellSaid Labs
Enterprise EnglishBest for: Enterprises in regulated industries (healthcare, finance, legal) that need studio-grade English pronunciation accuracy with ethical AI assurance. WellSaid's partnership with Oxford Languages provides 200,000+ word pronunciations including 9,000+ medical and 500+ legal terms—superior to ElevenLabs for specialized terminology. All voices come from licensed professional talent. Note: primarily English-focused and no voice cloning offered.
Speaktor
Budget-FriendlyBest for: Users who need a straightforward, budget-friendly text-to-speech solution without the complexity of a full platform. Speaktor offers a simple interface for converting text to speech and is well-suited for students, accessibility needs, and light content creation. If you don't need voice cloning, music generation, or enterprise features, Speaktor offers a simpler alternative at lower cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should You Try ElevenLabs?
After extensive testing, ElevenLabs is the most advanced and comprehensive AI voice platform available today. The voice realism is unmatched—Eleven v3 with audio tags and dialogue mode delivers a level of expressiveness and control that no competitor can touch. Beyond text-to-speech, the platform's expansion into music, sound effects, video, dubbing, and conversational AI agents makes it a true full-stack creative and enterprise audio suite.
The limitations are real but manageable: credits can consume faster than expected, unused credits don't roll over, and customer support has room to improve. For budget-sensitive users with occasional needs, the credit system may feel restrictive. But for creators, developers, and businesses who use voice AI regularly, ElevenLabs delivers unmatched value in 2026—and the pace of innovation means the platform keeps getting better.
Our Recommendation
Start with the free plan to experience the voice quality firsthand—10,000 characters is enough to test multiple voices and styles. If you're producing content commercially, the Creator plan ($22/month) offers the best balance of features and value with Professional Voice Cloning access. For high-volume production or API usage, the Pro plan ($99/month) unlocks 44.1kHz audio quality and sufficient credits for serious output. ElevenLabs is the gold standard in AI voice—and it earns that position.
Ready to Experience the Best AI Voice Generator?
Join creators, developers, and enterprises using ElevenLabs to generate ultra-realistic speech, clone voices, create music, and deploy voice agents