ElevenLabs Review
AI voice engine with a Studio for long-form podcast assembly
Verdict: ElevenLabs suits creators who care most about voice control and are comfortable building their own workflow. Skip it if you want an all-in-one tool that handles music, editing and publishing for you.
PodcastFactor editorial
What ElevenLabs Is
ElevenLabs is a voice engine: it turns text into speech and clones voices. It is often compared with finished-episode tools like Jellypod, but ElevenLabs gives you the voices and a Studio for long-form assembly, and leaves more of the production to you.
ElevenLabs is best known for text-to-speech and voice cloning. In late September 2026 it launched Eleven v4 and v4 Turbo (launched 28 Sep 2026, per ElevenLabs); clones made on earlier models need to be retrained to use v4. For podcasters, its Studio handles long-form, multi-speaker projects, which reduces the need to assemble clips in a separate editor, although music, editing and publishing remain lighter than in a dedicated podcast tool. ElevenLabs' own blind-test preference figures are vendor claims and have not been verified by us.
Feature Breakdown
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Large voice library with multilingual support
- Instant cloning from Starter, professional cloning from Creator
- Starter plan at $6/mo includes a commercial licence
- Studio for assembling long-form, multi-speaker projects
- API for custom pipelines
Cons
- Voice clones made on older models must be retrained for Eleven v4
- Editing, music and publishing are lighter than in a dedicated podcast tool
- Credit cost per finished minute depends on model and plan
What We Tested
We have not yet run our testing protocol on ElevenLabs. When we do, this section will list the plan, product version, date and the exact task, followed by results with audio samples.
Pricing
| Plan | Billed monthly | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10,000 credits/mo |
| Starter | $6/mo | 30,000 credits, commercial licence, instant voice cloning |
| Creator | $22/mo | 121,000 credits, professional voice cloning |
| Pro | $99/mo | 600,000 credits |
| Scale | $299/mo | Higher credit volume |
| Business | $990/mo | Business volume and terms |
List prices shown. Temporary launch discounts are not included.
Prices checked: October 5, 2026 on the vendor's pricing page.
Alternatives
- Wondercraft: Pick it if you want a production studio with music and video, not just voices.
- Jellypod: Pick it if you want an all-in-one tool that also hosts and distributes.
Score Breakdown
These scores are editorial estimates made before our testing protocol existed. Once tested, they will be replaced by a weighted sum of logged measurements. See the scoring rubric.
Who Should Use It
Creators who want control over AI voices and are willing to assemble episodes.