ElevenLabs
Turn written text into natural-sounding audio — in over 70 languages — without a recording studio.
Independent overview by new Mantra · updated September 28, 2026
- Category
- IT / Engineering
- Pricing
- Starter $6/mo, Creator $22/mo, Pro $99/mo (monthly; $60, $220, $990 a year billed yearly)
- Implementation
- Under 1 week
- Adoption risk
- Low
- Integrates with
- API/SDK, Zapier, Make, Twilio, WordPress
If you need narration, dubbing or a voice agent and do not want to book voice talent, ElevenLabs turns text into speech in over 70 languages, with voice cloning and an API. The Starter plan is $6 a month — cheap enough to test on a real script.
Heads-up: this is an affiliate link — if you buy through it, new Mantra may earn a commission at no cost to you. It doesn’t change our take.
Watch: how ElevenLabs works
What ElevenLabs does
ElevenLabs is an AI voice platform that converts written text into spoken audio. You type or paste your script, choose a voice from a library of thousands, and the platform produces audio that sounds like a real person speaking. It works across more than 70 languages, so a single piece of content can reach audiences in multiple markets without re-recording anything.
Beyond basic text-to-speech, the platform lets you clone an existing voice, dub video content so the speaker's original tone and emotion carry across languages, and build conversational voice agents that can handle phone calls, chat, or WhatsApp interactions. These agents can follow business logic, connect to your systems, and be monitored through a built-in analytics dashboard.
For teams that need to integrate audio into their own products or workflows, ElevenLabs exposes its models through an API and SDK, and connects to tools like Zapier, Make, Twilio, and WordPress. Most teams are up and running within a week, and the risk of disruption during rollout is low — it slots in alongside existing processes rather than replacing them.
Key capabilities
Text-to-Speech Conversion
Paste any script and generate realistic spoken audio in seconds. The platform offers multiple models optimised for different needs — low latency for live interactions, or richer expressiveness for recorded content.
Voice Cloning
Create a digital replica of a specific voice, useful for keeping brand narration consistent or scaling a spokesperson's voice across many pieces of content.
Multilingual Dubbing
Translate and re-voice video content into other languages while preserving the speaker's original emotion and delivery, removing the need to re-record in a studio.
Conversational Voice Agents
Deploy AI agents that speak and listen naturally over phone, chat, or messaging channels. They can handle customer queries, follow business rules, and escalate when needed.
Audio Content Creation
Produce podcasts, audiobooks, ads, and social media voiceovers inside a dedicated editor, with access to music generation and sound-effect tools in the same workspace.
API and Workflow Integration
Connect ElevenLabs to your existing stack via API, SDK, Zapier, Make, Twilio, or WordPress, so audio generation can be triggered automatically as part of a broader process.
Best for
- Marketing or content teams that produce regular audio or video content and want to cut studio time and costs
- Businesses that need to localise content across multiple languages without hiring voice talent for each market
- Customer service operations looking to automate voice or chat interactions at scale
- Developers or product teams building applications that require a text-to-speech or voice-agent capability via API
- Small businesses on a tight budget — the entry-level plan starts at $6 a month and scales gradually as usage grows
Worth knowing
- Voice cloning and agent features involve handling audio data, so review ElevenLabs' privacy and content moderation policies before processing customer or employee voices
- The conversational agent capability requires some configuration work — defining workflows, connecting to your systems, and testing before go-live — which adds effort beyond basic text-to-speech
- Pricing scales by usage tier ($6, $22, or $99 per month, billed monthly; yearly billing is ten months' price), so high-volume production workloads should be modelled against the Pro tier or enterprise pricing before committing
- If your only need is transcription or translation without an audio output, other tools may be a better fit — ElevenLabs is built around generating and delivering voice, not primarily around text analysis
- The platform covers a wide range of industries, but organisations in regulated sectors (healthcare, financial services, government) should assess compliance requirements around AI-generated audio before deploying customer-facing agents
How ElevenLabs compares
ElevenLabs is a voice engine with a studio, an API and voice agents on top. Its neighbours each do one slice of that — a voiceover studio, a reader, or a video tool with the voice built in — so choose by whether voice is the product or one part of it.
vs Murf AI
Murf AI is a voiceover studio for content teams — 200+ voices, word-level pitch and emphasis, a pronunciation library and direct links into Canva and Google Slides — from $19 a month with a free tier. ElevenLabs goes wider: 70+ languages, dubbing, voice agents and an API, from $6 a month. For narrating slides and training, Murf is the simpler fit; for voice inside your own product or phone line, ElevenLabs.
vs Speechify
Speechify is mainly a reader: it reads documents, web pages and email aloud across phones, desktops and browsers, with Premium at $139 a year and a separate Studio for voiceover. ElevenLabs is built for producing audio other people will hear. Choose Speechify for listening; ElevenLabs for publishing narration or building voice features.
vs Synthesia
Synthesia puts a voice on an AI avatar and delivers a finished presenter video in 160+ languages, from $29 a month, with SCORM export for learning systems. ElevenLabs produces the audio alone, which you place in your own video, podcast or product. If the end product is a training or marketing video with a face on screen, Synthesia does more of the work.
vs Fliki
Fliki turns scripts, blog posts and PowerPoint files into narrated videos with visuals and captions, with a free plan of five minutes a month. ElevenLabs stops at audio but offers an API and conversational agents. Pick Fliki if the end product is a social or training video; ElevenLabs if voice is the product or feeds your own workflow.
Related tools
Ready to see ElevenLabs in action?
Run a real script on Starter in every language you need. If voice cloning or customer-facing agents are the plan, read the privacy and moderation policies first, then model your volume against Creator ($22) and Pro ($99 a month).
Heads-up: this is an affiliate link — if you buy through it, new Mantra may earn a commission at no cost to you. It doesn’t change our take.
Not sure where to start? Our free assessment matches your workflow with the AI tool that fits.