ElevenLabs for free: what the free plan gives you
Yes, you can use ElevenLabs for free: the free plan gives 10,000 credits a month, roughly 10,000 characters of text, or about 15 minutes of speech. It comes with three conditions: the audio cannot be used commercially, you must credit ElevenLabs when you publish, and there is no voice cloning. Below is what exactly is included, how to stretch the budget, and where to get a voice-over you can use for work.
What the ElevenLabs free plan includes
From the ElevenLabs pricing page as of September 25, 2026:
| Free | Starter | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $6 a month |
| Credits a month | 10,000 | 30,000 |
| Roughly how much text | 10,000 characters, ≈ 15 minutes | 30,000 characters, ≈ 45 minutes |
| Commercial use | No | Yes |
| Voice cloning | No | Yes (instant) |
| Credit ElevenLabs when publishing | Yes | No |
A credit is the billing unit: on the Multilingual v2 model, one character of text costs one credit. The minutes in the table are an estimate at a normal speaking pace, not an ElevenLabs figure.
The attribution condition.
How to use ElevenLabs for free
- Sign up at elevenlabs.io. The free plan starts right away, no card needed. From Russia the site only opens from a foreign IP; see how to use ElevenLabs from Russia.
- Open Text to Speech, paste the text and pick a library voice.
- For languages other than English, choose a Multilingual model, which handles stress and pronunciation better.
- Generate and listen. Credits are spent on every generation, including a retry.
How to stretch 10,000 credits
- Test on a short passage. Pick the voice and settings on one paragraph, then voice the full text once.
- Edit the text before generating. Stress and pauses are easier to fix in the text than by regenerating, since every attempt costs the same credits.
- Don't count on saving up. ElevenLabs describes rollover of unused credits for paid plans only.
A free start on a voice-over you can use for work
If the voice-over is for a video, a course or an ad, the ElevenLabs free plan does not fit its licence. In Twelver you can start for free and then use the result in your own projects, with no credit to the service:
- Starter tokens right away: they arrive on your first visit, and signing up adds more. That's enough to pick a voice and hear your own text voiced.
- Commercial use is allowed, including YouTube, ads and courses. Downloading the audio file unlocks after your first purchase.
- Voice cloning, emotion and two-voice dialogue, with no separate plan.
- Up to 7,000 characters per request, about ten minutes of speech. You pay per character, with no monthly cap.
What's next
We've covered the whole "forward" side: text into voice. The reverse remains: voice into text. That's the last chapter of the guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use ElevenLabs for free?
How many minutes of audio does free ElevenLabs give?
Can I use free ElevenLabs audio on YouTube?
Does free ElevenLabs include voice cloning?
How do I use ElevenLabs for free from Russia?
In the Twelver chat you can hear your own text voiced for free and then use it for work. Back to the guide on AI voice-over.
Try it yourself
Everything in this guide runs inside Twelver
One chat for text, images, video, music and voice — no separate services or subscriptions.
Open Twelver chat