Our Verdict
SoftGist Rating
Our review shows ElevenLabs provided excellent pre-defined AI voices in 28 languages for its Speech Synthesis tool. It can create natural-sounding speech using input text or a user’s voice (Professional Voice Cloning). We liked its user-friendliness and affordability with its various pricing plans.
It features a Voice Library, allowing users to create and upload their custom-made AI voices using its Voice Design tool. Paid users can access its AI Speech Classifier, which can verify if an audio sample was produced using the platform’s AI voices.
However, one of its main disadvantages is its limited pre-defined AI voices on its free version. It also lacks controls on its audio output, like customizing the AI voice’s pitch, speed, mood, etc.
Best For
Content creators, publishers, and voice actors
Pricing
Free to $330/mo.
Free Trial
Up to 10,000 characters on the Speech Synthesis tool
Ease of Use
Value for Money
Features
Speed
What is ElevenLabs?
ElevenLabs is an advanced AI-assisted text-to-speech (TTS) software known for its Speech Synthesis tool. It crafts lifelike speech by analyzing text for context and emotion. Users can generate audio using a range of default voices or customize their own using the voice cloning feature. Also, its Voice Library offers unique voice profiles, and tools like VoiceLab and AI Speech Classifier further enhance its capabilities.
Is ElevenLabs Right For You?
We recommend ElevenLabs for your projects if you need any of these descriptions:
- You need natural-sounding AI voices in multiple languages besides English.
- You need a professional-grade voice clone for audiobooks and voiceovers.
- You want access to various user-generated voices for different applications.
ElevenLabs may not be ideal for users who:
- Want control over the AI voice’s pitch, mood, speed, etc., when used for text-to-speech.
- Want access to more free voices on the text-to-speech tool’s trial version.
Pros & Cons of ElevenLabs
Pros
Free Forever Plan
Users can access ElevenLabs’ core features for free by signing up on the platform. It gives users a 10,000-character limit for the Speech Synthesis tool (resets monthly), API access, and more tools.
Creates Engaging and Realistic Audio
Users can utilize tools like VoiceLab and Professional Voice Cloning to create an AI version of their voice from scratch by training the tool with elaborate voice samples.
Robust Text-to-Speech Capabilities
Users can access Speech Synthesis, a text-to-speech tool with premade AI voices with various accents, genders, and languages. This feature is also accessible on the platform’s free version.
Supports Multiple Languages
ElevenLabs has AI voices in 28 languages, allowing users to create content for their target audiences worldwide.
Content Can be Used Commercially
Premium users of the platform are given a commercial usage license, which lets them use their audio content for commercial use.
Cons
Limited Pre-defined AI Voices on Free Version
Users on ElevenLabs’ free version only have limited premade AI voices, which is a huge downside when creating audio content.
Lacks AI Voice Controls on TTS Feature
While users can adjust the AI voice’s stability and clarity on the Speech Synthesis feature, it doesn’t have features for adjusting the voice’s pitch, speed, and mood compared to other AI TTS tools.
What Sets ElevenLabs Apart
Compared to fellow AI text-to-speech competitors Deepgram, PlayHT, and ResembleAI, ElevenLabs is considered the more robust option for voice cloning. Its high-quality audio output is also what sets it apart from its competition.
ElevenLabs has an easy-to-use interface on its Speech Synthesis tool, where you can select up to nine female and male premade voices. You can adjust your voiceover’s stability, clarity, and similarity enhancement.
Key Features
ElevenLabs is a relatively new AI text-to-speech and voice cloning platform compared to known TTS software like Deepgram. However, it has shown promise through its variety of features (varies by pricing plans):
Speech Synthesis
The Speech Synthesis feature allows users to generate lifelike speech in any language and voice using a deep-learning model for speech synthesis. The AI system analyzes the nuances, intonations, and distinctive characteristics of natural speech and employs intricate algorithms to recreate lifelike voices highly similar to their human counterparts.
Overall, this feature was highly user-friendly and robust, even on its free version. However, its Voice Settings feature could have been better if the user could assign a mood, add pauses, or adjust the voice speed to make the output more unique.
VoiceLab
VoiceLab allows users to create new voices from scratch or clone their own voice in minutes using advanced AI voice creation and voice cloning technology. The feature lets users build new voices by customizing their core qualities like gender, age, and accent.
This tool had a straightforward interface; we liked the Voice Design tool since it was a quick way for users to add a voice to the platform. It also has a powerful premium feature: Instant Voice Cloning. It allows for fast voice cloning, requiring less than a minute of voice samples to clone your voice.
Professional Voice Cloning
This feature offers professional-grade online voice cloning capabilities, providing more control over how individuals represent themselves digitally. It goes beyond voice replication and enables users to speak in multiple languages other than English, like Spanish, Hindi, French, Portuguese, German, and more. Users can also quickly generate voice clones using Instant Voice Cloning.
Professional Voice Cloning is a superb premium feature for use cases that require professional-grade voice clones, like audiobooks, e-learning modules, and voiceovers. However, they will need to upload more than 30 minutes of voice samples to successfully have an AI replica of their voice, which can be time-consuming.
Voice Library
Voice Library on ElevenLabs is a community space for generating, sharing, and exploring a virtually infinite range of voices. It also allows users to shape the characteristics of each voice, creating unique and customizable voices. Most user-generated AI voices can be utilized for making various content, like podcasts, audiobooks, or voice modification.
This feature is an excellent approach by ElevenLabs towards a community-driven tool. We found it useful for various applications, like videogame voices, video narrations, etc. We also liked their rewards system for voice owners through text character rewards.
Projects
The Projects feature acts as a text-to-speech word editor for users creating online long-form content. It aims to streamline the workflow for generating spoken content, like podcasts, audiobooks, etc. It mainly features settings for pacing in between headings or paragraphs, chapter creation, and options for the voice to be used in each section.
While we have yet to try the tool since it's still in its early release, ElevenLabs advertises Projects as an excellent workflow tool for long-form audio content creation.
Pricing
ElevenLabs offers six main pricing plans, with each having a difference in maximum characters per month, custom voices made, speech quality, and more:
The Free plan is for users who want to try out the platform’s capabilities. It includes access to Speech Synthesis in multiple languages, 10,000 maximum characters per month, and API access. You can also create up to 3 custom voices.
The Starter plan is ideal for users who are on a tight budget. It starts at $1 in the first month and $5 in the succeeding months. This tier offers everything in the Free plan plus an increased character limit of 30,000 per month, creating up to 10 custom voices, access to Instant Voice Cloning, and a commercial license on all made content.
The Creator plan starts at $22 per month. It includes all features on the Starter plan, creating up to 30 custom-made voices, a 100,000 monthly character limit, access to Professional Voice Cloning, and an increased audio output quality of 96kbps. It’s ideal for independent content creators and voice actors since it allows access to the platform’s advanced voice creation tools.
The Independent Publisher tier is ideal for growing content creators and authors of long-form spoken content. It costs $99 per month and offers every feature from the Creator plan, including an increased monthly character limit of 500,000, access to a usage analytics dashboard, and the creation of up to 160 custom-made voices.
This plan is suited for mid-sized to large businesses that create spoken long-form content constantly. It starts at $330 monthly and includes everything in the Independent Publisher plan. It features a 2,000,000 monthly character limit and a threshold of up to 660 custom-made voices.
ElevenLabs also offers a custom-made Enterprise plan for large-scale businesses. Check here to learn more about ElevenLab’s pricing plans.
Final Thoughts on ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs is an impressive AI-driven TTS and voice cloning software. It allows users to quickly generate audio content and clone their voice from scratch using the Voice Design tool. The quality of its premade and user-generated AI voices sets the platform apart from other competitor AI-powered TTS tools, like Deepgram and ResembleAI.
We gave the tool a 4.7/5 due to its ease of use, wide range of pre-defined AI voices, and massive user-generated AI voices in its Voice Library. It also has Projects, a new word editor tool with text-to-speech capabilities. Overall, we highly recommend you try the tool for projects that mainly require TTS features.
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Got Questions?
What is ElevenLabs?
ElevenLabs is an AI-powered text-to-speech software known for its lifelike audio generation. It features Speech Synthesis for context-aware voice output, a Voice Library with unique profiles, and advanced tools like VoiceLab for voice cloning and an AI Speech Classifier to identify its proprietary audio.
Is ElevenLabs free?
Yes. ElevenLabs offers a free plan with access to the Speech Synthesis feature, a 10,000 monthly character limit, API access, and the ability to create up to 3 custom-made voices. However, you’ll need to subscribe to any of their paid plans to have a commercial license on your created audio content.
What are some alternatives to ElevenLabs?
Some of the best alternatives to ElevenLabs are Google Text-to-Speech AI, TTSReader, Murf, and Amazon Polly. These tools all have built-in AI voices and a variety of supported languages depending on your needs and preferences. However, we highly recommend trying each option to see which best fits as an ElevenLabs alternative.
Is ElevenLabs AI safe?
Yes. ElevenLabs overall is a safe AI voice cloning and TTS platform. It uses secure data encryption measures to prevent unauthorized parties from stealing sensitive information, like text inputs on tools, downloaded audio content, etc. It also synthesizes texts well, making it a reliable tool for content creation on platforms like YouTube.
Can I use ElevenLabs for commercial use?
Yes. Users subscribed to a paid plan will have a commercial license, which they can use to generate copyright-free audio content. Free users are not allowed to commercialize any audio content generated from ElevenLabs.
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Editorial Disclosure
Our reviews are made by a team of experts who bring their real-world expertise to each review. Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you choose to buy a paid plan through these links, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we’ve tried and trust. Please refer to our affiliate disclosure in our privacy policy for more details.
Ada Rivers
Ada Rivers is a senior writer and marketer with a Master’s in Global Marketing. She enjoys helping businesses reach their audience. In her free time, she likes hiking, cooking, and practicing yoga.
