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Quick verdict: Yes, ElevenLabs is free to use. The ElevenLabs free plan gives you 10,000 credits every month (roughly 10 minutes of speech), the same voices and models as paid users, Urdu and Hindi included, and MP3 downloads. I tested it myself. The catch: you can’t use free-plan audio commercially, you must credit ElevenLabs when you publish, and audio made on the free plan doesn’t become commercial even if you upgrade later.
Good for: testing voices, personal projects, learning · Not for: monetized YouTube, client work, ads · Cheapest upgrade: Starter, $6/month
“Is ElevenLabs free?” is one of the most common questions about the tool, and the answer has a few traps most pages skip. I used the ElevenLabs free plan for my own tests in October 2026, generating English, Hindi and Urdu voiceovers and downloading them, before moving to the paid Starter plan. This guide covers exactly what the free tier includes, how far the credits go, what you’re allowed to do with the audio, and when it’s worth paying. Plan details were checked on ElevenLabs’ official pages on 27 October 2026.
What the ElevenLabs free plan includes
From the official ElevenLabs pricing page, checked on 27 October 2026.
| Feature | Free plan |
|---|---|
| Price | $0 |
| Credits | 10,000 per month |
| Unused credits roll over? | No (rollover is for paid plans only) |
| Text to Speech | Yes |
| Speech to Text | Yes |
| Sound Effects, Music | Yes |
| Voice Design | Yes, 3 custom voice slots |
| Studio projects | 3 |
| Commercial license | No |
| Instant Voice Cloning | No (starts on Starter) |
| Dubbing Studio | No (starts on Starter) |
My ElevenLabs free plan test
I tested the free plan on 2 October 2026 before reviewing the tool. Everything I tried was available for free, including the newest Eleven v4 model and the Urdu voices.
- Downloads work. I downloaded my Urdu voiceovers as MP3 files (44.1 kHz, 128 kbps).
- All the languages I tested worked: English, Hindi in Devanagari, Roman Hindi and Urdu.
- Per-generation limit: 10,000 characters on Eleven v4 and 5,000 on Eleven v3.
You can hear the kind of quality the free plan gives in my ElevenLabs v4 vs v3 test; both of those models were available to me on the free plan.
How far do 10,000 free credits go?
For text to speech, ElevenLabs charges about 1 credit per character, so 10,000 credits is around 10,000 characters a month. ElevenLabs puts that at roughly 10 minutes of speech.
| What you make | Credits used (my tests) |
|---|---|
| A handful of short test lines, several voices, two models | About 1,200 (free plan, 2 Oct) |
| One 145-character English script, one generation | 145 |
| A 4-line Urdu script (339 characters), one generation | 339 |
| 13 seconds of Speech to Text | 187 (free plan, 19 Oct) |
So the free credits are plenty for testing voices and short personal clips, but a single 10-minute YouTube script would use the whole month. Speech to Text burns credits even faster.
Tip: regenerating the same line again and again is what drains free credits. Test a voice on one short sentence first, and only generate the full script once you’re happy with the voice.
Can you use the ElevenLabs free plan for YouTube?
Only for non-commercial use. These are ElevenLabs’ own rules (help center, checked 27 October 2026):
- No commercial use: the free plan doesn’t include a commercial license, so free-plan audio can’t be used in monetized videos, ads or client work.
- Attribution: if you publish free-plan audio, you must credit ElevenLabs by putting “elevenlabs.io” or “11.ai” in the title.
- Upgrading later doesn’t fix old audio: ElevenLabs says content created outside a paid subscription, before or after it, can’t be used commercially.
Important: if you plan to monetize, don’t make your final voiceovers on the free plan and upgrade afterwards. Upgrade first, then generate the final audio. Use the free plan only to choose your voice and settings.
ElevenLabs free plan vs Starter
| Free | Starter | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $6/month ($5/month yearly) |
| Credits | 10,000/month | 30,000/month |
| Commercial license | No | Yes |
| Instant Voice Cloning | No | Yes |
| Dubbing Studio | No | Yes |
| Credit rollover | No | Yes |
Checked on the ElevenLabs pricing page on 27 October 2026. The page also showed a first-month Starter offer of $1. Payment is by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay; there’s no PayPal.
I moved to Starter myself for the commercial license. The other plans are covered in my ElevenLabs pricing guide.
Who should stay on the free plan (and who should upgrade)
- Stay free if: you’re testing voices, learning, making personal or school projects, or comparing ElevenLabs with other tools.
- Upgrade to Starter if: your channel is monetized or will be, you make content for clients, you need voice cloning, or you need more than about 10 minutes a month.
- Need Urdu? The free plan is enough to test it properly; my ElevenLabs Urdu guide shows which voices work best.
If $6 a month is still too much, I’ve tested several ElevenLabs alternatives, including free tools with MP3 downloads.
ElevenLabs free plan FAQ
Is ElevenLabs free?
Yes. The free plan costs nothing and gives you 10,000 credits a month to use text to speech, speech to text, sound effects and more.
How many characters do you get on the ElevenLabs free plan?
About 10,000 characters of text to speech a month, because each character costs roughly 1 credit. ElevenLabs puts that at around 10 minutes of audio.
Do ElevenLabs free credits roll over?
No. ElevenLabs says rollover doesn’t apply to the free plan. Unused paid-plan credits can roll over.
Can I download audio on the ElevenLabs free plan?
Yes. I downloaded MP3 files on the free plan in my own test.
Does the ElevenLabs free plan include voice cloning?
No. Instant Voice Cloning starts on the Starter plan. The free plan does include Voice Design, with 3 custom voice slots.
Can I monetize videos made with the ElevenLabs free tier?
No. Free-plan audio can’t be used commercially, and upgrading later doesn’t cover audio you already made on the free plan.
Is this ElevenLabs free plan guide sponsored?
No. I used the free plan and then paid for Starter myself. Some links may become affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. See the affiliate disclosure.
Final verdict: is the ElevenLabs free plan worth it?
To sum up this ElevenLabs free plan guide: it’s one of the most generous free tiers in AI voice. You get the real models, Urdu and Hindi, and MP3 downloads, enough to judge the tool properly. Just treat it as a test drive. The moment your audio is for a monetized channel or a client, upgrade first and generate on Starter.
Sources checked for this ElevenLabs free plan guide (5)
Facts below were checked on 27 October 2026. Plans change often, so confirm on the official pages.
- ElevenLabs pricing: free plan features, credits, Starter
- ElevenLabs help center: Can I publish the content I generate?: commercial use and attribution
- ElevenLabs help center: How does credit rollover work?
- ElevenLabs models documentation: character limits per model
- My own tests: free plan on 2 and 19 October 2026, Starter plan on 25 October 2026
