ElevenLabs vs Fish Audio (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 2.2.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 12, 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.
ElevenLabs
AI voice platform for speech, voice cloning, dubbing and voice agents
Fish Audio
Voice cloning and text to speech with credit plans and an API
Which one is for you
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
Pick Fish Audio if
- Fits if you want cloned voices for videos or audiobooks on about $11 a month
- Works for developers who prefer paying per character with no subscription
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you need free output for commercial work, because the FAQ says free is personal use
- Tight if you stay free: 8,000 credits is about 7 minutes and 500 characters a generation
- Watch out: unused monthly credits and minutes do not roll over
- Watch out: the free S2.1 Pro API model is free only through November 30, 2026, with no SLA
- Pricey if you want to self-host the open-weight models, which is an Enterprise deal under a paid license
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAElevenLabsVery good | 2.2GPAFish AudioFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CPlus is $11 a month yearly ($15 monthly) for 250,000 credits, Pro $75. That is mid-category. The API is billed separately and needs no plan. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | C8,000 credits a month, about 7 minutes, 500 characters a generation, no card. The FAQ says free-plan output is non-commercial, even though the card lists commercial use. |
| Features | 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. | BSpeech, instant cloning from about 30 seconds, professional voice slots, direction tags, speech to text, voice changer and audio tools. The core job is covered. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo store rating on record. There is a text box for beginners and an API with SDKs for developers, but credits and voice slots need learning. |
| Platforms and 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. | CWeb and an API with Python and TypeScript SDKs and WebSocket streaming. No desktop or phone app and no integrations listed. |
| Best for | AI voiceovers, dubbing and voice cloning | cloned voices and a pay-as-you-go speech API |
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: ElevenLabs and Fish Audio. How we grade
Price against what you get
ElevenLabs starts at $5 a month and scores 3.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Fish Audio starts at $11 a month and scores 2.3.
ElevenLabs scores higher and starts $6 a month lower. Of the other AI voice generators on the chart, none scores higher than ElevenLabs for less, and 5 score higher than Fish Audio 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
- ElevenLabs also covers video generation.
At a glance
| ElevenLabs | Fish Audio | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $5 per month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly) | $11 per month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 10,000 credits a month (about 10 minutes of text to speech) and 3 Studio projects. No commercial license and no voice cloning. | 8,000 credits a month, about 7 minutes of generation, up to 500 characters per generation, 3 public voice slots. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Eleven Labs Inc. | Hanabi AI Inc. |
| Price read from | elevenlabs.io | fish.audio |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Fish Audio
- The free tier caps each generation at 500 characters, and the FAQ says free-plan output is for personal, non-commercial use even though the card lists commercial use.
- Unused monthly credits and minutes do not roll over.
- The free S2.1 Pro API model is free only through November 30, 2026, with no SLA, and requests may be used to improve the model.
- Self-hosting the open-weight models is an Enterprise engagement under a paid commercial license.
Key features
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.
Fish Audio
- Text to speech
- Generates speech from a text box or API call. A minute of audio costs roughly 600 to 625 credits on the subscription plans.
- Voice cloning
- Instant cloning from about 30 seconds of audio, plus professional voice slots on paid plans and a browsable public voice library.
- Direction tags
- Inline tags such as warm or near-whisper steer delivery inside the text itself; the developer page cites 15,000+ tags.
- Developer API
- A pay-as-you-go API at $15 per million UTF-8 bytes, with Python and TypeScript SDKs and WebSocket streaming. No subscription needed.
- Other audio tools
- The product list also covers speech to text, a voice changer, audiobooks, audio separation, audio translation and sound effects.
Plans
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.
Fish Audio
Free Tier$0
8,000 credits monthly, up to 7 minutes of generation, standard speed. No card needed.
Plus$11
per month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly)
250,000 credits monthly (up to 200 minutes), 10 private voice slots, Voice Design and 1 professional voice slot.
Pro$75
per month, billed annually ($100 billed monthly)
2,000,000 credits monthly (up to 1,620 minutes), 3 team seats, unlimited voice slots, 5 professional voices.
Ways to pay less
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.
Fish Audio
- Annual discount
Save with annual billing
The plan page shows Plus at $11 a month billed annually against $15 monthly, and Pro at $75 against $100, with a banner of 3 months off.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, ElevenLabs or Fish Audio?
As of Nov 12, 2026, ElevenLabs is cheaper to start with: $5 a month, against $11 a month for Fish Audio. ElevenLabs starts at $5 per month, billed annually ($6 billed monthly), and Fish Audio starts at $11 per month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, ElevenLabs or Fish Audio?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both ElevenLabs and Fish Audio have a free plan.
Which platforms do ElevenLabs and Fish Audio run on?
As of Nov 12, 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.
