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ElevenLabs logoFish Audio logo

ElevenLabs vs Fish Audio

ElevenLabs (Premium AI voice platform for creators and developers) and Fish Audio (Developer-first hosted API from the team behind the open-source fish-speech models; simple prepaid pay-as-you-go billing, 80+ language coverage, and a free fair-use model tier (s2.1-pro-free). Facts here cover the hosted API, not the OSS model.) are Text-to-speech APIs platforms, priced from $100/1M chars and $15/1M chars respectively. Below: the bottom line, verified head-to-head facts, and real production costs.

Text-to-speech APIs platforms · 29 facts compared · all sourcedPricing verified Jul 20, 2026
Bottom line

ElevenLabs wins 4 of 5 decided use cases against Fish Audio's 1. Supporting facts reinforce this lead: ElevenLabs offers 3,000 voices, SOC 2 Type II compliance, SSML, word-level timestamps, pronunciation dictionaries, and a 75 ms TTFB versus Fish Audio's 100 ms. Fish Audio's flagship pricing at 15 dollars per 1M bytes is cheaper than ElevenLabs' 100 dollars per 1M chars, giving Fish Audio a cost edge, but ElevenLabs' broader ecosystem and feature depth make it the safer default for most buyers.

ElevenLabs is our pick for most teams. Start there, or weigh the use-case verdicts below.

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Audiobooks
Fish Audio
WINNER
Content Creators
ElevenLabs
WINNER
Developers
ElevenLabs
WINNER
Dubbing
ElevenLabs
WINNER
Voice Agents
ElevenLabs
WINNER

Head-to-head facts

FactElevenLabs logoElevenLabsFish Audio logoFish Audio
Price per 1M characters (flagship model)100 $/1M charsJul 2015 $/1M UTF-8 bytesJul 20
Cheapest paid plan$6Jul 20n/a
Free tier quota10,000 credits/monthJul 20s2.1-pro-free modelJul 20
TTFB latency (vendor-claimed)~75 msJul 20~100 msJul 20
Streaming audio output✓ YesJul 20✓ YesJul 20
Instant voice cloning✓ YesJul 20✓ YesJul 20
Languages supported32 languagesJul 20~83 languages (s2.1-pro, auto-detected)Jul 20
Model weights licenseclosedJul 20n/a
✓buyer-good  ·  ✗not available  ·  ◑gated or partial  ·  production cost ranges are our estimates, see our methodology.
Swipe → to compare both tools. Each value links its source and verified date.

Pricing: true cost at 3 usage tiers

Effective monthly bill from published rates. Subscription plans resolve to plan fee plus overage; ~950 characters ≈ 1 audio minute.
200K chars/moHobby project
ElevenLabs$20
Fish AudioLOWEST$3
About 3.5 hours of audio. Free tiers may cover part of this.
2M chars/moProduct feature
ElevenLabs$200
Fish AudioLOWEST$30
About 35 hours of audio a month.
20M chars/moAt scale
ElevenLabs$2,000
Fish AudioLOWEST$300
About 350 hours of audio. Most vendors negotiate at this tier.

Verdicts by use case

Audiobooks → Fish Audio

For audiobook production, per-character cost is decisive at book length. Fish Audio charges 15 dollars per 1M UTF-8 bytes versus ElevenLabs at 100 dollars per 1M characters for its flagship model, a roughly 6x cost advantage. Fish Audio also supports 83 languages versus ElevenLabs 32, useful for multilingual titles. ElevenLabs counters with verified pronunciation dictionaries, word-level timestamps, SSML support, and a 40,000 character maximum input per request, all meaningful for long-form control. The cost gap at book scale is large enough to tip the verdict toward Fish Audio, though the margin stays narrow given ElevenLabs stronger narration tooling.

Content Creators → ElevenLabs

For content creators, voice quality range and predictable subscription pricing are the key criteria. ElevenLabs offers 3,000 voices versus no verified library count for Fish Audio, plus professional voice cloning, pronunciation dictionaries, SSML support, and word-level timestamps that polish final output. Its hybrid pricing with a $6/mo entry plan and 30,000 chars included gives predictable budgeting. Fish Audio's flagship model at $15/1M bytes is cheaper at scale, but ElevenLabs' richer feature set for production voiceover work tips the balance narrowly toward it.

Developers → ElevenLabs

For developers metering usage into products, ElevenLabs offers word-level timestamps, SSML support, pronunciation dictionaries, and a 40,000-character max input per request, features Fish Audio lacks in the verified facts. Both provide Python and TypeScript SDKs and streaming. Fish Audio's pure usage pricing at 15 $/1M bytes is cheaper than ElevenLabs at 100 $/1M chars, but ElevenLabs' tooling depth across timestamps, SSML, and pronunciation dictionaries gives developers more precise control over speech output, which is critical when building polished products.

Dubbing → ElevenLabs

Fish Audio supports 83 languages versus ElevenLabs at 32 languages, which is a decisive advantage for broad localization coverage. Both tools offer instant voice cloning, streaming, and websocket APIs. However, ElevenLabs adds professional voice cloning, pronunciation dictionaries, SSML support, and word-level timestamps that help fine-tune dubbed output across languages. The language count gap of 83 vs 32 is the primary factor for dubbing feasibility across many locales, giving Fish Audio the edge for this specific use case.

Voice Agents → ElevenLabs

For real-time voice agents, latency is decisive. ElevenLabs claims a TTFB of 75 ms versus Fish Audio's 100 ms, a 25 ms advantage that meaningfully reduces conversational lag. Both tools offer WebSocket APIs and streaming output, so infrastructure parity exists there. ElevenLabs also adds word-level timestamps and pronunciation dictionaries, useful for agent tuning, plus SOC 2 Type II compliance that enterprise phone deployments often require. Fish Audio's base concurrency of 5 edges out ElevenLabs' free-tier concurrency of 2 to 4, but ElevenLabs' latency lead and richer agent-oriented feature set tip the verdict its way.

Common questions

Which is cheaper Fish Audio or ElevenLabs for high volume text to speech?+

Fish Audio costs $15 per 1M UTF-8 bytes on its flagship model. ElevenLabs costs $100 per 1M characters on its flagship model and $50 per 1M characters on its fast model. For raw per-unit cost, Fish Audio is significantly cheaper at scale.

Do both Fish Audio and ElevenLabs offer a free tier?+

ElevenLabs provides 10,000 credits per month on its free tier, though commercial use is not permitted under that plan. Fish Audio offers access to its s2.1-pro-free model on a free tier. Neither free tier is suited for production commercial workloads.

Which platform supports more languages Fish Audio or ElevenLabs?+

Fish Audio supports 83 languages via its s2.1-pro model with auto-detection (vendor-claimed), while ElevenLabs supports 32 languages. For users who prioritize broad multilingual coverage, Fish Audio claims the wider range.

How do Fish Audio and ElevenLabs compare on latency for real time applications?+

Both platforms support real-time WebSocket APIs and streaming audio output. ElevenLabs claims a time-to-first-byte of 75 ms, while Fish Audio claims 100 ms. Both figures are vendor-reported and have not been independently verified.

Can I clone a voice on both Fish Audio and ElevenLabs and how much audio do I need?+

Both platforms support instant voice cloning. ElevenLabs recommends approximately 1 to 3 minutes of clean audio for instant voice cloning, while Fish Audio requires a minimum of just 10 seconds. ElevenLabs also requires consent verification for professional voice cloning.

Does Fish Audio support self hosting or on premises deployment?+

Fish Audio offers a self-host and on-premises option, according to vendor claims. ElevenLabs uses closed model weights, so self-hosting is not available outside of a negotiated enterprise arrangement.

Which platform is better for enterprise compliance with SOC 2 or HIPAA?+

ElevenLabs holds SOC 2 Type II certification and offers a HIPAA BAA, though the BAA is available at the enterprise tier only. No SOC 2 or HIPAA information is available for Fish Audio in the provided data.

What pricing models do Fish Audio and ElevenLabs use?+

Fish Audio uses a pure usage-based pricing model. ElevenLabs uses a hybrid model, combining a monthly platform fee starting at 6 dollars per month, which includes 30,000 characters, with additional usage-based charges above that quota.

Best ElevenLabs alternatives →Best Fish Audio alternatives →

When neither is right: browse all Text-to-speech APIs platforms →

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