# ElevenLabs Review

> ElevenLabs review: Premium AI voice platform for creators and developers. Verified pricing, features, and the strongest alternatives in Text-to-speech APIs.

![ElevenLabs logo](https://www.versusref.com/logos/elevenlabs.png)

Premium AI voice platform for creators and developers

Among the 15 text-to-speech tools we track, ElevenLabs has the 1st-largest voice library and the 2nd-fastest time-to-first-byte - a fit for content and character work and real-time, conversational apps.

From $6/mo · facts verified Jul 20, 2026

## What we know about ElevenLabs

This is our verified profile of ElevenLabs, a text-to-speech apis platform - premium AI voice platform for creators and developers. Every fact about ElevenLabs below carries the source it came from and the day we checked it.

On pricing, ElevenLabs starts at $6 per month for its entry tier. That is the sticker rate: real production cost usually runs higher once you add a language model, a voice provider, and telephony minutes.

On capabilities, ElevenLabs covers streaming audio output, realtime websocket api, instant voice cloning, professional voice cloning, emotion / style controls, and ssml support, and does not offer commercial use on free tier. Each of those is verified against ElevenLabs's own docs or dashboard, not marketing copy.

For compliance, with ElevenLabs: SOC 2 Type II is in place. If you are in a regulated space, confirm the current posture with ElevenLabs before you commit, since these change plan by plan.

Placed against the 15 text-to-speech tools we track, ElevenLabs's strongest showing is the 1st-largest voice library, while it trails at 15th on price - a spread worth weighing against your own priorities.

In total we track 28 verified facts for ElevenLabs today, each linking the primary source it came from so you can check our work - and vendor claims we have not measured ourselves are labeled as such on the ElevenLabs fact sheet below.

## ElevenLabs pricing

Usage-priced at $100 per 1M characters (≈ $0.095 per audio-minute), verified Jul 20, 2026 ([source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing/api)).

| Monthly volume | $ / 1M chars | $ / audio-min | Monthly bill |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 200K chars/mo | $100 | $0.095 | $20 |
| 2M chars/mo | $100 | $0.095 | $200 |
| 20M chars/mo | $100 | $0.095 | $2,000 |

Effective rates from published pricing; subscription plans resolve to plan fee plus overage. ~950 characters ≈ 1 audio minute.

## Fact sheet

### Pricing

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Price per 1M characters (flagship model) | 100 $/1M chars | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing/api) |
| Price per 1M characters (fast model) | 50 $/1M chars | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing/api) |
| Pricing model | hybrid | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing) |
| Cheapest paid plan | $6 | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing) |
| Characters included on cheapest plan | 30,000 chars/mo | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing) |
| Free tier quota | 10,000 credits/month | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing) |
| Enterprise / contact-sales threshold | custom (above Business, $990/month) | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing) |

### Capabilities

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| TTFB latency (vendor-claimed) | ~75 ms | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/capabilities/text-to-speech) |
| Streaming audio output | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/capabilities/text-to-speech) |
| Realtime websocket API | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/api-reference/text-to-speech/v-1-text-to-speech-voice-id-stream-input) |
| Voice library size | 3,000 voices | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/capabilities/text-to-speech) |
| Instant voice cloning | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing) |
| Professional voice cloning | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing) |
| Minimum audio for voice cloning | IVC: ~1-3 min (1-2 min clean audio recommended) | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/eleven-creative/voices/voice-cloning/professional-voice-cloning) |
| Languages supported | 32 languages | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/models) |
| Emotion / style controls | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/capabilities/text-to-speech/best-practices) |
| SSML support | ✓  partial | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/capabilities/text-to-speech/best-practices) |
| Word-level timestamps | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/api-reference/text-to-speech/convert-with-timestamps) |
| Pronunciation dictionaries | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/eleven-api/guides/how-to/text-to-speech/pronunciation-dictionaries) |

### Compliance & trust

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Commercial use on free tier | ✗  No | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/pricing) |
| Voice cloning consent requirements | Required (verification for PVC) | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/eleven-creative/voices/voice-cloning/professional-voice-cloning) |
| SOC 2 Type II | ✓  Yes | Jul 20 | [source](https://compliance.elevenlabs.io/) |
| HIPAA BAA available | ◑  Enterprise only | Jul 20 | [source](https://compliance.elevenlabs.io/) |
| Model weights license | closed | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs) |

### Build experience

| Fact | Value | Verified | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Official SDKs | Python, JavaScript/TypeScript | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs) |
| Concurrency on base plan | Free: 2 (Multilingual v2) / 4 (Flash) | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/models) |
| Output formats | MP3 (22.05-44.1kHz | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/capabilities/text-to-speech) |
| Max input per request | 40,000 characters (Flash v2.5) | Jul 20 | [source](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/overview/models) |

## ElevenLabs head-to-head

| Comparison | Record | Per use case |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [ElevenLabs vs OpenAI TTS](https://www.versusref.com/tts/elevenlabs-vs-openai-tts/) | won 4 · lost 1 · tied 1 | Audiobooks: lost; Content Creators: won; Developers: won; Dubbing: won; Self-Hosted: tie; Voice Agents: won |
| [ElevenLabs vs Cartesia](https://www.versusref.com/tts/cartesia-vs-elevenlabs/) | won 3 · lost 3 · tied 0 | Audiobooks: won; Content Creators: won; Developers: won; Dubbing: lost; Self-Hosted: lost; Voice Agents: lost |
| [ElevenLabs vs Voxtral TTS](https://www.versusref.com/tts/elevenlabs-vs-voxtral-tts/) | won 3 · lost 1 · tied 0 | Developers: won; Dubbing: won; Self-Hosted: lost; Voice Agents: won |
| [ElevenLabs vs Murf API](https://www.versusref.com/tts/elevenlabs-vs-murf/) | won 2 · lost 0 · tied 1 | Dubbing: won; Self-Hosted: tie; Voice Agents: won |
| [ElevenLabs vs Amazon Polly](https://www.versusref.com/tts/amazon-polly-vs-elevenlabs/) | won 2 · lost 2 · tied 1 | Audiobooks: lost; Content Creators: won; Dubbing: lost; Self-Hosted: tie; Voice Agents: won |
| [ElevenLabs vs Google Cloud TTS](https://www.versusref.com/tts/elevenlabs-vs-google-tts/) | won 3 · lost 2 · tied 1 | Audiobooks: won; Content Creators: won; Developers: lost; Dubbing: lost; Self-Hosted: tie; Voice Agents: won |
| [ElevenLabs vs Azure Speech](https://www.versusref.com/tts/azure-speech-vs-elevenlabs/) | won 2 · lost 2 · tied 1 | Content Creators: won; Developers: lost; Dubbing: lost; Self-Hosted: tie; Voice Agents: won |
| [ElevenLabs vs Fish Audio](https://www.versusref.com/tts/elevenlabs-vs-fish-audio/) | won 4 · lost 1 · tied 0 | Audiobooks: lost; Content Creators: won; Developers: won; Dubbing: won; Voice Agents: won |
| [ElevenLabs vs Deepgram Aura-2](https://www.versusref.com/tts/deepgram-aura-vs-elevenlabs/) | won 3 · lost 3 · tied 0 | Audiobooks: won; Content Creators: won; Developers: lost; Dubbing: won; Self-Hosted: lost; Voice Agents: lost |
| [ElevenLabs vs CAMB.AI](https://www.versusref.com/tts/camb-ai-vs-elevenlabs/) | won 1 · lost 2 · tied 0 | Content Creators: won; Dubbing: lost; Self-Hosted: lost |
| [ElevenLabs vs Dia / Dia2](https://www.versusref.com/tts/dia-vs-elevenlabs/) | won 5 · lost 1 · tied 0 | Audiobooks: won; Content Creators: won; Developers: won; Dubbing: won; Self-Hosted: lost; Voice Agents: won |

Source: https://www.versusref.com/tts/tools/elevenlabs/