ElevenLabs
AI voice platform for text-to-speech, cloning, and agents. Hosted MCP lets Claude and Claude Code manage those agents over OAuth.
Updated 2026-08-28
Yes, within limits. ElevenLabs runs a free tier with paid plans above it.
Listed pricing: Free $0 (10k credits) + Starter $6/mo (30k) + Creator $22/mo (121k, first month $11) + Pro $99/mo (600k) + Scale $299/mo (1.8M) + Business $990/mo (6M) + Enterprise custom. Credits are shared across products. Annual is 10 months prepaid.
Overview
ElevenLabs is still the voice platform most people mean when they say realistic TTS. The engine does pacing, breath, and emotional range that most clone tools still miss, and it can clone a voice from a short sample. Studio is the long-form path: projects, chapters, consistent delivery across a book.
Pricing on elevenlabs.io/pricing (checked 28 Aug 2026) is a shared credit pool, not a separate character quota per product. Free is $0 with 10,000 credits. Starter is $6/month with 30,000. Creator is $22/month with 121,000 (first month $11). Pro is $99/month with 600,000. Scale is $299/month with 1.8 million credits and 3 seats. Business is $990/month with 6 million credits and 10 seats. Enterprise is custom. Annual billing is ten months prepaid. Unused paid credits can roll over up to two months. Confirm the live table before you buy; the April 2026 character numbers on this page were stale.
The hosted MCP server is a real add. elevenlabs.io/mcp and the Claude blog say you sign in with OAuth, then Claude or Claude Code can create and manage voice and chat agents in your workspace. That is what we will claim: Claude and Claude Code, today, hosted OAuth, no API key in the client. The marketing page also names other assistants and image/video. The MCP FAQ does not. We are not publishing ChatGPT or media-studio MCP until those pages agree.
The local 2025 MCP (API key, runs on your machine) is still listed for developers. That is a different install. Do not mix the two when you write the job brief.
Is ElevenLabs free?
Yes, within limits. ElevenLabs runs a free tier with paid plans above it.
What the free tier covers: 10,000 credits per month, non-commercial, no rollover. Shared across products. elevenlabs.io/pricing 28 Aug 2026.
Listed pricing: Free $0 (10k credits) + Starter $6/mo (30k) + Creator $22/mo (121k, first month $11) + Pro $99/mo (600k) + Scale $299/mo (1.8M) + Business $990/mo (6M) + Enterprise custom. Credits are shared across products. Annual is 10 months prepaid.
Pricing verified . That is the date the plans were last re-checked against the vendor's own pages, not today's date. Confirm on the official site before you pay.
What the free tier leaves out
Read straight off the plan list below. Vendors move features between tiers, so check the current split before you pay.
- Starter $6/mo 30,000 credits/mo. Commercial license, instant voice cloning, 20 Studio projects, music commercial use, dubbing studio. Annual equivalent $5/mo (10 months prepaid).
- Creator $22/mo 121,000 credits/mo. First month $11. Professional Voice Cloning. Additional credits. Annual equivalent $18.33/mo.
- Pro $99/mo 600,000 credits/mo. 44.1kHz PCM via API, 192kbps audio. Annual equivalent $82.50/mo.
- Scale $299/mo 1.8 million credits/mo, 3 workspace seats, team collaboration, 3 professional voice clones. Annual equivalent $249.17/mo.
- Business $990/mo 6 million credits/mo, 10 seats, 10 professional voice clones, low-latency TTS as listed. Annual equivalent $825/mo.
- Enterprise Custom Custom credits and seats, DPA/SLA, HIPAA BAA, custom SSO, priority support. Contact sales.
ElevenLabs pricing
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 10,000 credits/mo. TTS, STT, sound effects, voice design, music, productions. 3 Studio projects. Non-commercial. No credit rollover. Source: elevenlabs.io/pricing 28 Aug 2026. |
| Starter | $6/mo | 30,000 credits/mo. Commercial license, instant voice cloning, 20 Studio projects, music commercial use, dubbing studio. Annual equivalent $5/mo (10 months prepaid). |
| Creator | $22/mo | 121,000 credits/mo. First month $11. Professional Voice Cloning. Additional credits. Annual equivalent $18.33/mo. |
| Pro | $99/mo | 600,000 credits/mo. 44.1kHz PCM via API, 192kbps audio. Annual equivalent $82.50/mo. |
| Scale | $299/mo | 1.8 million credits/mo, 3 workspace seats, team collaboration, 3 professional voice clones. Annual equivalent $249.17/mo. |
| Business | $990/mo | 6 million credits/mo, 10 seats, 10 professional voice clones, low-latency TTS as listed. Annual equivalent $825/mo. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom credits and seats, DPA/SLA, HIPAA BAA, custom SSO, priority support. Contact sales. |
10,000 credits/mo. TTS, STT, sound effects, voice design, music, productions. 3 Studio projects. Non-commercial. No credit rollover. Source: elevenlabs.io/pricing 28 Aug 2026.
30,000 credits/mo. Commercial license, instant voice cloning, 20 Studio projects, music commercial use, dubbing studio. Annual equivalent $5/mo (10 months prepaid).
121,000 credits/mo. First month $11. Professional Voice Cloning. Additional credits. Annual equivalent $18.33/mo.
600,000 credits/mo. 44.1kHz PCM via API, 192kbps audio. Annual equivalent $82.50/mo.
1.8 million credits/mo, 3 workspace seats, team collaboration, 3 professional voice clones. Annual equivalent $249.17/mo.
6 million credits/mo, 10 seats, 10 professional voice clones, low-latency TTS as listed. Annual equivalent $825/mo.
Custom credits and seats, DPA/SLA, HIPAA BAA, custom SSO, priority support. Contact sales.
One plan carries no published number: Enterprise, recorded as “Custom”. Nothing is estimated in its place. The vendor's own pricing page is the only source for those figures.
Pricing verified . That is the date the plans were last re-checked against the vendor's own pages, not today's date. Confirm on the official site before you pay.
Is ElevenLabs worth it?
Worth it for Creators, publishers, and developers who need realistic TTS or cloning, and teams that want Claude or Claude Code to manage ElevenLabs agents over hosted OAuth.
You can test that on the free tier before paying anything. The recorded trade-offs are listed below, and any one of them can settle the question on its own.
The 9.2/10 AI Score is an editorial read of published capability, price and shipping pace. Nobody here has hands-on hours with ElevenLabs. How we verify.
Worth it if
The strengths recorded against this entry.
- Still the realistic-voice default for TTS and short-sample cloning
- Hosted MCP with OAuth in Claude and Claude Code, so agents can be managed in the assistant you already use
- Shared credit pool is at least honest: one budget across speech, music, and dubbing
- Commercial license starts at Starter ($6/mo)
Not worth it if
Any one of these blocks your use case.
- Credits are shared, so music or dubbing will eat the TTS budget faster than the headline number suggests
- Free is non-commercial and does not roll over unused credits
- MCP is documented for Claude and Claude Code today — other assistant logos on the marketing page are not a ship claim
- Starter is $6/mo now, not the $5 we previously published
What sets ElevenLabs apart
- Voice cloning from a short sample, including professional clones on Creator and up
- One shared monthly credit pool across speech, music, effects, and dubbing
- Hosted MCP with OAuth in Claude and Claude Code — no API key in the client
- API with streaming for real-time apps, plus Studio for long-form
Key features
Voice cloning
Instant cloning from a short sample. Professional Voice Cloning is listed from the Creator plan up, with more slots on Scale and Business.
Shared credit pool
One monthly credit allotment is spent across TTS, STT, music, effects, isolator, and dubbing. FAQ on elevenlabs.io/pricing (28 Aug 2026): TTS is 1 credit per character on V2 Multilingual; other products cost more per minute. Free has no rollover.
Hosted MCP for agents
Hosted MCP at elevenlabs.io/mcp: sign in with OAuth, scoped to your workspace, revocable. Documented today for Claude (connectors directory) and Claude Code (`claude mcp add --transport http elevenlabs https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/mcp`). We are not claiming ChatGPT or Cursor until ElevenLabs says those are live.
Studio and API
Studio projects for long-form. API with higher-rate audio on Pro and up. Commercial license starts on Starter.
How it compares
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| ElevenLabs | Creators, publishers, and developers who need realistic TTS or cloning, and teams that want Claude or Claude Code to manage ElevenLabs agents over hosted OAuth. | Free $0 (10k credits) + Starter $6/mo (30k) + Creator $22/mo (121k, first month $11) + Pro $99/mo (600k) + Scale $299/mo (1.8M) + Business $990/mo (6M) + Enterprise custom. Credits are shared across products. Annual is 10 months prepaid. | 9.2/10 |
| Suno AI vs Suno AI → | Content creators, podcasters, and indie artists who need original full songs with vocals and lyrics without studio production. | Free tier + Pro $8/mo + Premier $24/mo | 9.2/10 |
| Udio vs Udio → | Music producers and enthusiasts who want radio-ready tracks with precise genre reproduction and detailed control over lyrics and structure. | Freemium | 8.8/10 |
| Chatterbox vs Chatterbox → | Developers and teams who want to self-host an open-source, zero-shot voice cloning and text-to-speech model instead of a closed API. | Free MIT open-source model + paid Resemble AI hosted platform | 8.8/10 |
Learn to use ElevenLabs
Step-by-step, each one stamped with the date it was last checked against the docs.
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