ElevenLabs: What It Does, Pricing and Who Should Skip It

Updated 2026-10-18 · Facts checked 2026-10-18 · No hands-on testing, no scores

ElevenLabs generates speech from text in many languages, clones voices, dubs audio, transcribes speech and lets developers build conversational voice agents through an API.

At a glance

Visit ElevenLabs

Who it’s for

Creators, audiobook producers and developers who need natural-sounding AI voices or voice agents.

Who should skip it

Anyone who wants a simple flat price: everything is metered in credits, and unused paid credits expire if you downgrade.

Pricing (checked 2026-10-18)

• Free: $0/month, 10k credits
• Starter: $6/month (first month discounted when checked)
• Creator: $22/month (first month 50% off when checked), 121k credits
• Pro: $99/month, 600k credits
• Scale: $299/month; Business: $990/month

Free tier or trial

Free plan with 10,000 credits a month (no credit rollover on Free).

Notable complaints

Trustpilot: 3.0/5 from 1,187 reviews (checked 2026-10-18). Ratings depend heavily on how actively a company asks for reviews, so we don’t rank by them.

Recurring themes from public reviews, paraphrased. Each is one customer’s account, which we haven’t verified.

• Several recent reviewers report unexpected or repeated charges on their cards. Source
• A reviewer said getting a refund for an unused subscription meant jumping through hoops. Source
• A reviewer liked the voices but warned about billing and credit use. Source

Alternatives in Voice & audio

• Async (formerly Podcastle): Free: $0/month
• Krisp: Free trial: $0
• Listnr: Free: $0, 1,000 credits to start
• Murf AI: API usage pricing: text-to-speech from $0.01–$0.03 per 1,000 characters depending on model

Sources

1. ElevenLabs official site (checked 2026-10-18)
2. ElevenLabs pricing page (checked 2026-10-18)
3. ElevenLabs reviews on Trustpilot (checked 2026-10-18)