ElevenLabs raised prices ~239% year-over-year. These 6 alternatives match or come close on voice quality — without the per-character meter anxiety or $22/month commercial license gating. (One of the six, PlayHT, shut down on December 31, 2025 and is kept as an archival entry.)
Updated July 7, 2026 · All pricing verified May 2026
Key differences across pricing, limits, languages, and commercial rights.
| Tool | FreeTTS PRO | ElevenLabs Creator | Murf Basic | PlayHT Creator (shut down) | TTSMaker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price/month | $19 | $22 | $29 | $39 | Free |
| Character limit | Unlimited (fair use) | 100K/mo | ~60K/mo | 100K/mo | 100K/week |
| Commercial license | Included | Included | Included | Included | Attribution req. |
| Languages | 75+ | 29 (Multi v2) | 20+ | 30+ | 40+ |
| Voice count | 400+ | Thousands (cloned) | 120+ | 750+ | 200+ |
| MP3 download | All plans | Paid only | Paid only | Paid only | Free |
| Voice cloning | Not offered | Creator ($22/mo) | Pro+ only | Ultra ($99/mo) | No |
| SSML support | PRO+ | Proprietary markup | Limited | Yes | Partial |
| Free tier | Generous, no signup | 10K chars, no commercial | Trial only | Very limited | 100K/week free |
For every use case and budget. Tested on the same benchmark script in May 2026. One entry — PlayHT — has since shut down (December 31, 2025) and is kept as an archival listing.
Best for: YouTube, podcasts, eLearning, high volume
400+ Azure Neural voices, 75+ languages, no character limits on paid plans. The AI Voiceover Generator lets you drop a video file and get back a muxed video — no editing software needed. PRO ($19/mo) includes commercial license for YouTube monetization and paid courses.
FreeTTS does not offer voice cloning — for that, ElevenLabs leads the field.
Best for: high-volume API automation at scale
Powers many TTS tools including FreeTTS. 500+ voices, 140+ languages, pay-per-character. Free tier: 500,000 standard or 500,000 Neural characters/month (one-time 12-month free trial). Standard ongoing: $4/1M chars for standard, Neural2 pricing varies. Requires Azure account and some API setup.
Not beginner-friendly — requires Azure account setup. Per-character billing adds up for very long scripts.
Best for: polished studio production, multi-speaker
120+ voices, multi-track studio editor, background music mixing, scene-by-scene script management. Best UI for professional-looking video narration with multiple speakers. No true free tier — trial only. Commercial license on all paid plans.
$29/mo entry price with character caps. Not ideal for budget creators or high-volume simple narration.
Formerly best for: developers building TTS pipelines
PlayHT (PlayAI) was acquired by Meta in July 2025 and the platform shut down on December 31, 2025 — it is no longer available as an ElevenLabs alternative. Its 750+ voices, strong REST API, and real-time streaming were its calling cards. Former PlayHT users: see our Play.ht alternative guide for live replacements.
Best for: budget projects, testing, non-commercial
Free tier: 100,000+ characters/week. 200+ voices, 40+ languages. Requires attribution ("Generated with TTSMaker.com") on free tier. Paid Pro plan removes attribution and raises limits. Voice quality is lower than Azure Neural — acceptable for internal content, not ideal for premium productions.
Voice quality noticeably lower than ElevenLabs or FreeTTS Neural voices. Attribution requirement limits professional use.
Best for: developers with GCP accounts
Wavenet and Neural2 voices in 40+ languages. Free tier: 1 million standard characters/month, 4,000 WaveNet characters/month, 1 million Neural2 characters/month (12-month trial). Commercial use is allowed on free tier under Google's Terms of Service. Requires Google Cloud account.
WaveNet free tier is tiny (4K chars/month). Requires GCP setup. Not beginner-friendly.
Match your situation to the right tool.
All ElevenLabs plan prices verified at elevenlabs.io/pricing in May 2026. Creator plan $22/month for 100K characters. 239% YoY increase figure based on archived pricing comparisons.
PRO $19/month, Creator $39/month. Prices verified at freetts.org/pricing May 2026. Includes commercial license for YouTube monetization, paid courses, and audiobook resale.
Pricing and language coverage from Azure Cognitive Services pricing page, May 2026. 500+ voices, 140+ languages confirmed.
Free tier and pricing from Google Cloud pricing, May 2026. Commercial use permitted under Google Terms of Service on free tier.
400+ neural voices, no character limits on PRO, commercial license included. Start free — no signup required.