Tired of ElevenLabs’ limited customization options and crazy pricing?
You’re not alone!
Luckily, the competition is catching up fast.
I’ve tested the top 7 ElevenLabs alternatives for all needs and budgets.
Here are my top three picks if you’re in a hurry:
Premium AI voices that won’t break the bank
In this guide, I break down the key strengths of each platform:
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, and if you decide to buy any of the promoted products, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. By doing this, I might feel more inspired to continue writing on this blog. You can read our affiliate disclosure in our privacy policy.
PlayHT is an AI-based speech software built for the media and entertainment industry. It is known for producing broadcast-ready voiceovers quickly and affordably.
Pros:
Cons:
Yes, in many aspects, PlayHT delivers better performance than ElevenLabs:
Realistic voices: PlayHT focuses specifically on creating broadcast-ready voices for Hollywood-style productions. The quality of its natural-sounding speech meets professional media standards.
So, if you need professional voiceovers on a budget, PlayHT is certainly a better choice than ElevenLabs.
PlayHT has a few different options for you to choose from. The free plan lets you try it out with basic stuff but limits how many characters you can use.
The Creator Plan is $31.20 each month but you pay for the whole year at once. That one gives you 3 million characters each year.
The Unlimited Plan is on sale right now for only $29 each month! With that one you can use as many characters as you want without worrying about going over. It also generates responses faster.
Then there’s the Enterprise Plan for bigger companies. That one has special features like better security and priority help if anything goes wrong. They’ll give you a custom price for that one since the needs are different for big teams.
No matter which plan you pick, you can use it for commercial things like making money. And all the plans let you choose from any voice or language.
Lovo AI is a text-to-speech platform built with a proprietary AI engine. It is known for producing high-quality human voices at affordable rates.
Pros:
Cons:
Lovo AI delivers comparable voice quality to ElevenLabs at a fraction of the price. However, ElevenLabs offers more advanced customization options, third-party integrations, etc.
So, if your main need is high-quality voiceovers on a budget, Lovo AI is the better choice. But ElevenLabs edges out Lovo in terms of versatility and customization capabilities.
LOVO has different plans to choose from. If you’re just starting out, the Free plan is great – you can share and download as much as you want to try it out.
For $24 a month, the Basic plan gives you over 500 voices to pick from. You also get 2 hours total of voice generation each month to make your videos. The exports will be full HD quality too.
The Pro plan is also $24 a month but has some nicer features. You can customize voices however you want with unlimited cloning. Plus you get 5 hours total to generate voices each month.
If you need more, the Pro+ plan at $75 a month bumps the voice generation up to 20 hours total. You also get 400GB of storage space to save all your voiceovers.
Finally, if you’ve got a bigger team, check out their Enterprise plan. You’ll have to email them directly for the details on that one since it’s customized for larger businesses and organizations.
Murf AI is a good pick for long-form audio content like podcasts, audiobooks, etc. It is tailored to flawlessly handle long and complex narrations.
Pros:
Cons:
For long-form podcasts, audiobooks, and other complex narrations, Murf AI delivers better accuracy and formatting options compared to ElevenLabs. It also provides better customization capabilities for the text-to-speech function.
Here are the different options Murf has for creating your voiceovers:
The Free plan lets you try it out to see what it can do. With the free one you get 10 minutes to play around with voices and make short voiceovers.
If you need a bit more time, the Basic plan is $19 each month and gives you 24 hours to work with, which should be enough time for most regular projects.
For $39 a month, the Pro plan gives you even more time—48 hours worth! Plus, the Pro plan unlocks some fancier voice options.
Finally, if you’re working with a whole team, the Enterprise plan has special features to make collaborating easier. Their pricing is customized for bigger companies – just contact their team to discuss what would work best for your needs.
No matter which plan you pick, you get access to all the different voices in lots of languages.
HeyGen is a multi-functional platform with incredible features. It literally offers everything AI can do with human speech.
Pros:
Cons:
For voiceovers and video content, HeyGen provides better-optimized voices over ElevenLabs. For instance, the lips on the video are synchronized with speech—this is what ElevenLabs still does not offer in its dubbing feature.
However, ElevenLabs offers better language support, advanced SSML formatting, voice tuning capabilities, etc.
So, if you specifically need video voiceovers, HeyGen is the preferable choice. Otherwise, ElevenLabs offers better versatility.
HeyGen has a few different options for you to choose from. The Free Plan lets you try it out with 1 credit and basic stuff. Not bad if you just wanna see how it works!
The next level up is the Creator Plan for $24 each month (billed annually). With that one you get 15 credits each month. That’s a lot more so you can make lots of videos. It also has better voices and faster processing when making your videos.
If you’re working with a team, the Team Plan for $120 a month is the way to go. Then everyone can use it and you get 30 credits. The videos will be super sharp quality too at 4k resolution. It also has collaboration tools for working together.
For big businesses with special needs, they have the Enterprise Plan. They make it custom for you with the fastest speeds and direct access to the tools through their API.
On top of the regular plans, you can add some extras like Fine-tune Avatar for $39 a month. That lets you customize the avatar even more. Or the Studio Avatar for $1,000 a year, which is their top-of-the-line model.
While not a specialized text-to-speech tool, Descript is a popular multimedia editing platform with excellent speech synthesis capabilities.
Pros:
Cons:
Descript offers much more than text-to-speech – the platform covers the complete multimedia editing workflow. So, if you need an all-in-one tool, Descript is a better choice.
However, for easy and affordable voice generation, ElevenLabs has better specialization. But Descript provides a more seamless editing experience.
Descript has different plans for you to choose from. The basic one is FREE! With that one, each month you get 1 hour of your recordings turned into text.
They also have a plan called CREATOR. That one costs $12 each month if you pay for the whole year at once. For that money, each month you get 10 hours of recordings turned into text. Plus you can record from anywhere for 10 hours too.
Next up is their PRO plan. That one is $24 every month if you pay yearly. Then you get a big 30 hours each month for transcription. And you also get 30 hours of remote recording too from anywhere.
The last plan is called ENTERPRISE. That one is just for bigger companies or groups. They work with you to set up a custom plan and price based on how many people need to use it.
All the paid plans include cool extras like using AI to make your voice sound different. They also have green screen backgrounds and exporting videos in high quality HD format. The Pro and Enterprise plans give you more advanced features too.
Speechify provides text-to-speech capabilities focused on accessibility tools for learning and reading assistance.
Pros:
Cons:
If you want text-to-speech capabilities tailored specifically for learning and reading assistance, Speechify is the better choice over ElevenLabs.
However, ElevenLabs offers better flexibility for general voiceover production with more language options, voice cloning, etc.
So it depends on your particular usage – learning/reading aid or general voiceovers.
Speechify offers a few different options depending on what you need. The basic plan is free! It’s great if you just want the basics of turning text into speech. You get 10 voices to choose from and can adjust the speed up to 1x speed.
If you want more advanced features, the Premium plan for $139 a year is the way to go. With that one, you get over 30 voices that sound supernatural when they read. Plus, you can use it in over 20 languages! And you can crank up the speed to a fast 5x if you want to power through lots of text.
Do you need to generate your own voices or dub over videos? Their Studio plans let you do that. Even the free one gives you 10 minutes to play with. If you need a ton more, the Professional plan for $385 per year hooks you up with 100 hours to generate voices and 36 hours to translate text.
With so many options on the market, choosing the right ElevenLabs alternative might be tedious. Here are some use cases that will help you decide:
PlayHT
For game developers and filmmakers, PlayHT is an excellent ElevenLabs alternative. Its AI speech technology allows for fine-grained control over speech, making it ideal for crafting human-like voice performances for various characters in video games, animations, and movies.
With PlayHT, you can create high-quality voiceovers without the need for extensive recording sessions with voice actors, streamlining the production process.
Lovo AI caters to a diverse range of creators, including businesses, content producers, and educators. Its AI-powered text-to-speech capabilities have been leveraged for social media production, corporate training videos, and even gaming projects like Jurassic World Evolution 2.
The tool’s ability to generate high-quality, realistic AI voices quickly makes it a valuable asset for anyone looking to produce engaging content efficiently. Whether you’re a marketer, YouTuber, or e-learning developer, Lovo AI can streamline your voiceover production process.
Murf AI’s text-to-speech tool is a versatile solution for creators across various domains, including YouTube videos, podcasts, advertisements, and e-learning material. Its AI and deep learning technology provide a wide range of voices, languages, and accents, simplifying voiceover production and making it more efficient and cost-effective.
Whether you’re a YouTuber looking to add narration to your videos, a podcaster in need of high-quality voiceovers, or an e-learning developer creating engaging educational content, Murf AI can be a valuable asset in your content creation workflow.
For podcasters, YouTubers, and other media content creators, Descript is an AI-powered audio and video editing tool that streamlines the production process. It allows users to transcribe audio and edit text transcripts, offering features like text-to-speech, voice cloning, and collaboration tools.
Descript simplifies the editing process by enabling you to work directly with transcripts, making it easier to rearrange, edit, and enhance your audio and video content. Additionally, its collaboration features facilitate seamless teamwork, making it an ideal choice for creators working on media projects with multiple contributors.
Speech models are developing fast. ElevenLabs was the first, but now PlayHT and Lovo AI offer similar quality for less money.
It depends on what you need. Descript is best for editing speech in professional videos. Lovo AI gives you great lifelike speech without spending a bunch. HeyGen voice synthesis works perfectly for dubbing videos and cartoons.
Versatile tools like Speechify and Descript do more than just read words. They help teach and make multimedia easy.
Before spending a fortune on ElevenLabs AI, think hard about what you want. Others have caught up on the basics, plus do more for less cash.
While “better” is subjective, there are several strong competitors to ElevenLabs, each with unique features. For instance, PlayHT offers fine-grained control for voice cloning, and Respeecher specializes in multi-speaker voice cloning. Lovo AI is known for its text-to-speech capabilities, and Murf AI for voice conversion. HeyGen provides robust voice generation APIs, Descript is a comprehensive audio/video editing tool, and Speechify caters to text-to-speech accessibility The best choice depends on specific needs like language support, ease of use, and additional functionalities.
ElevenLabs provides a perpetual, sublicensable license, worldwide and royalty-free. This means that as long as you have the necessary intellectual property rights in the content you generate with ElevenLabs’ services, you may use it for commercial purposes. However, you must not use any part of the services or their output to research and develop products, models, and services that compete with ElevenLabs.
The best AI voice generator depends on the user’s specific requirements. Lovo AI is an award-winning AI voice generator known for its realistic text-to-speech and voice cloning capabilities across 500+ voices in 100 languages. Other notable options include PlayHT for voice cloning, Respeecher for multi-speaker voice cloning, and Speechify for accessibility. When choosing the best AI voice generator, users often look for natural-sounding voices, language support, and ease of use.
Yes, ElevenLabs offers a free version of its text-to-speech online service. This version allows users to create realistic AI voices for various applications such as games, videos, and podcasts. The free tier includes access to an extensive library of voices and the ability to clone, customize, and fine-tune voices. Users can write in supported languages, and the AI will understand the context to convert written text into high-quality audio files.
Tiktokers often use various AI voice tools to create engaging content. While the search results do not specify which AI tool Tiktokers use, ElevenLabs is popular among content creators due to its high-quality voice cloning and text-to-speech capabilities. Tools like PlayHT, Lovo AI, and Descript are also used for creating voiceovers and editing audio/video content. The choice of tool may vary based on the specific features and voice quality required by the TikToker.
Imagine a world where synthetic voices are so seamlessly integrated into our daily lives that it’s hard to tell them apart from human voices.
No more clunky robotic virtual assistants to communicate with the world around us!
Have you ever been in a situation where you have to record a message or a background voice for a video, but you have neither time nor want to do it? And you think, “Would be nice if someone did it for me.”
The time has come!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, and if you decide to buy any of the promoted products, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. By doing this, I might feel more inspired to continue writing on this blog. You can read our affiliate disclosure in our privacy policy.
Hey, I’m Kirill, and I love technology. I created RushTechHub.com to help people understand things that seem to be complicated. I write about various topics, such as new apps and exciting AI advancements, and try to provide easy-to-understand insights.
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