Deepgram Aura vs ElevenLabs (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick ElevenLabs: it is first in our ranking of AI voice generators, and it grades higher too, 3.0 against 1.8.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
ElevenLabs grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Deepgram Aura
Text-to-speech API for real-time voice agents, billed per character
ElevenLabs
AI voice platform for speech, voice cloning, dubbing and voice agents
Which one is for you
Pick Deepgram Aura if
- Fits if you are building a voice agent and want to pay per character
- Works for a team already using Deepgram for speech-to-text
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to type text and download audio, as there is no studio
- Not for you if you do not write code
- Tight if you go past the $200 credit, after which usage bills per character
- Watch out: overage on Growth is charged at your rate plus 10%, and concurrency limits apply per project
- Watch out: Flux TTS covers English, German, French, Portuguese and Spanish
Pick ElevenLabs if
- Fits if you voice videos, podcasts or audiobooks and will pay for a commercial license
- Works for apps that need an API and voice agents on the same account
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you're staying free, since the free plan carries no commercial license or cloning
- Tight if you dub a lot, as dubbing costs 2,000 to 10,000 credits a minute from the same pool as speech
- Not for you if you need a professional clone of a voice that isn't yours
- Pricey if you need more than 30 minutes a month: Creator is $22 monthly for about 121 minutes, Pro $99 for about 600
- Watch out: downgrading or cancelling forfeits rolled-over credits, and there's no desktop app
How we grade them
| 1.8GPADeepgram AuraWeak | 3.0GPAElevenLabsVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPay as you go has no minimum, and Growth is $4,000 a year in prepaid credits, so it does not compare cleanly with per-seat prices. | CAn hour of voiceover a month means Creator: $18.33 a month billed yearly ($22 monthly) for 121,000 credits, about 121 minutes of speech. Starter at $5 covers only about 30 minutes. That's the middle of what this category charges, and dubbing and music eat the same credits. |
| Free plan and trial | C$200 free credit on sign-up that does not expire, with no card needed. | C10,000 credits a month, about 10 minutes of speech, and 3 Studio projects. There's no commercial license and no cloning, so nothing you make on it can go in a video you publish. Enough to hear the voices, not to do the job. |
| Features | CAura-1 and Aura-2 voices, Flux TTS for live conversations, and pairing with speech-to-text. It has no studio or voice library for non-developers. | AText to speech in 70+ languages, instant and professional cloning, voices designed from a prompt, dubbing, a long-form Studio, transcription, music, sound effects and voice agents. That covers more than any other tool here, and the listing shows no gap. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record, and it needs code and API keys. | A4.84 from 22,674 App Store ratings, the highest in this category. Paste text, pick a voice, press play. Working out what each product costs in credits is the fiddly part. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA web API only, with no desktop or phone apps and no listed integrations. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with an API and SDKs, and Zapier, Make, n8n, Salesforce and Zendesk connections. No desktop app, which an A needs. |
| Best for | a text-to-speech API for voice agents | AI voiceovers, dubbing and voice cloning |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Deepgram Aura and ElevenLabs. How we grade
Price against what you get
Deepgram Aura starts at $333.33 a month when paid by the year and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. ElevenLabs starts at $5 a month and scores 3.7.
ElevenLabs scores higher and starts $328.33 a month lower. Of the other AI voice generators on the chart, 50 score higher than Deepgram Aura for less, and none scores higher than ElevenLabs for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Deepgram Aura also covers AI agents.
- ElevenLabs also covers video generation and voice cloning.
At a glance
| Deepgram Aura | ElevenLabs | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $4,000 per year, prepaid credits (Growth); pay as you go has no minimum | $5 per month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | 10,000 credits a month (about 10 minutes of text to speech) and 3 Studio projects. No commercial license and no voice cloning. |
| Free trial | $200 in free credit on sign-up that does not expire; no credit card required. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Deepgram, Inc. | Eleven Labs Inc. |
| Price read from | deepgram.com | elevenlabs.io |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Deepgram Aura
- It is an API product: there is no studio, voice library browser or cloning tool for non-developers.
- Pay-as-you-go bills per use after the $200 credit; Growth overage is charged at your rate plus 10%.
- Concurrency limits apply per project and differ by plan and region.
- Flux TTS currently covers English, German, French, Portuguese and Spanish, per the product page.
ElevenLabs
- The Free plan has no commercial license or voice cloning; both start on Starter, and Professional Voice Cloning starts on Creator.
- One credit pool covers every product: text to speech costs about 1 credit per character, and dubbing 2,000 to 10,000 credits per minute.
- Professional Voice Clones are limited to your own voice and need a voice check; for instant clones you must confirm you have the right and consent.
- Unused credits roll over for up to two months on paid plans, but downgrading or cancelling forfeits them at the end of the cycle.
Key features
Deepgram Aura
- Aura-1 and Aura-2 voices
- Aura-2 is described as the efficient model for high-volume deployment; Aura-1 is the lower-cost tier.
- Flux TTS for live conversations
- A newer model that carries tone across turns, reports what was heard when a caller interrupts, and starts audio in as little as 80 ms.
- Per-character billing
- Pay as you go is $0.015 per 1,000 characters on Aura-1, $0.030 on Aura-2 and $0.045 on Flux TTS.
- Pairs with speech-to-text and voice agents
- The same account covers speech-to-text, a managed Voice Agent API and audio intelligence, billed from one balance.
- Flexible deployment
- Runs in the cloud, in a private cloud or on-premises; self-hosted containers need NVIDIA GPUs and an Enterprise plan.
- Compliance statements
- Deepgram says it is SOC 2 Type 1 and 2 certified, signs a BAA for Enterprise customers, and offers an EU endpoint.
ElevenLabs
- Text to speech
- Generate speech from text in more than 70 languages with Eleven v3 and other models, using stock voices, the shared voice library or voices you design from a prompt.
- Instant and Professional Voice Cloning
- Instant clones are made from a short sample and start on Starter. Professional clones are trained on longer recordings, start on Creator and must be of your own voice.
- Dubbing
- Translate a video's speech into another language automatically, or edit the result line by line in Dubbing Studio, which starts on the Starter plan.
- Studio editor
- A long-form editor for audiobooks, podcasts and voiceovers. The Free plan allows 3 Studio projects and Starter allows 20.
- Speech to text, music and sound effects
- Transcribe audio, generate music and sound effects, isolate voices from noise and change one voice into another, all paid from the same credit pool.
- ElevenAgents and API
- Build voice and chat agents for phone, chat and WhatsApp, or call the speech, transcription and dubbing models from your own app through the API and SDKs.
Plans
Deepgram Aura
Growth$4,000
per year and up, prepaid credits used against usage
Pre-paid annual credits for up to 20% off usage rates and higher streaming concurrency.
EnterpriseCustom
For large volumes, data or deployment needs; adds self-hosted containers and a named account team.
ElevenLabs
Free$0
10,000 credits a month, about 10 minutes of text to speech, and 3 Studio projects. Not licensed for commercial use.
Starter$5
per month for 30,000 credits, billed annually ($6 billed monthly)
About 30 minutes of speech a month, a commercial license, Instant Voice Cloning, Dubbing Studio and 20 Studio projects.
Creator$18.33
per month for 121,000 credits, billed annually ($22 monthly)
About 121 minutes of speech a month, 1 Professional Voice Clone and the option to buy more credits. The first month is $11 on monthly billing.
Pro$82.50
per month for 600,000 credits, billed annually ($99 monthly)
About 600 minutes of speech a month, 192 kbps audio and 44.1 kHz PCM output through the API.
Scale$249.17
per month for 1.8M credits, billed annually ($299 monthly)
About 1,800 minutes of speech a month, 3 workspace seats, team collaboration and 3 Professional Voice Clones.
Business$825
per month for 6M credits, billed annually ($990 monthly)
About 6,000 minutes of speech a month, 10 seats and 10 Professional Voice Clones. Enterprise above it is custom-priced, with SSO and BAAs.
Ways to pay less
Deepgram Aura
- Other savings
Flux TTS matching credits
Through Dec. 31, 2026, Flux TTS spend earns $1 in credits for every $1 spent, up to $500.
ElevenLabs
- Annual discount
Two months free with annual billing
ElevenLabs prices a year at ten times the monthly price: Starter works out to $5 a month instead of $6, and Creator to $18.33 instead of $22.
- Other savings
First month of Creator for $11
The pricing page shows Creator at 50% off for the first month on monthly billing.
- Startups
Startup Grants: 12 months free
Startups building conversational AI agents can apply for a grant of 33 million characters, valid for 12 months.
- Nonprofit
Impact Program for nonprofits
The Impact Program gives free access to nonprofits in healthcare, education and culture, and to people with accessibility needs or permanent voice loss.
- Education
Impact Program for professors and students
Professors and their students can apply to the Impact Program for free access to ElevenLabs.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Deepgram Aura or ElevenLabs?
As of Nov 13, 2026, ElevenLabs is cheaper to start with: $5 a month, against $333.33 a month when paid by the year for Deepgram Aura. Deepgram Aura starts at $4,000 per year, prepaid credits (Growth); pay as you go has no minimum, and ElevenLabs starts at $5 per month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Deepgram Aura or ElevenLabs?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only ElevenLabs has a free plan. Deepgram Aura does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Deepgram Aura and ElevenLabs run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only ElevenLabs lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.