ElevenLabs vs Murf
ElevenLabs sells one monthly credit pool that covers speech, music, dubbing and an API. Murf sells studio voiceover by generation time and adds a pay-as-you-go API and an on-premise model. Both are United States companies, so the choice is about metering and what you can test before paying.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderVendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Choose ElevenLabs ifyou want cloning, many products and an API behind one account, and can watch a shared credit balance.
Choose Murf ifyou make voiceover in a studio with commercial rights, want a pay-as-you-go API, or need a model deployed in your own cloud.
ElevenLabs and Murf side by side
| ElevenLabs | Murf | |
|---|---|---|
| Our AI voice generators rank | #7 of 12 | #6 of 12 |
| Established in | United States | United States |
| List price, 4 November 2026 | Free 10k credits a month; credit plans from Starter 30k to Business 6M; API v4 $0.08 per 1K characters | Free trial of 10 minutes; API pay as you go $0.03 per 1000 characters, $2 minimum |
| Free tier | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | Yes |
| Built for | Producers wanting many languages and cloning from one account, from creator to business | Learning and marketing teams producing voiceover in a studio with commercial rights |
| Not for | Teams needing predictable cost when mixing dubbing, music and narration | Anyone who must test exported files before committing to a paid plan |
Both are reviewed in full in our AI voice generators ranking: ElevenLabs and Murf.
Where they differ
ElevenLabs 2 · Murf 2 · open 0- 01
How usage is metered
ElevenLabs draws speech, music, dubbing and the API from one credit pool, with text to speech at 1 credit per character on V2 multilingual models and dubbing at 2,000 to 10,000 credits per minute. Murf sells studio plans by voice generation time. Murf is easier to predict for pure narration.
Edge: Murf
- 02
Trying before paying
ElevenLabs has a Free plan with 10k credits a month. Murf's free trial gives 10 minutes of generation and transcription with all voices, but no downloads. If you must hear exported files first, ElevenLabs is the safer start.
Edge: ElevenLabs
- 03
Cloning and licence
ElevenLabs includes a commercial licence and instant voice cloning from Starter, professional cloning from Creator, and 3 professional clones on Scale. Murf says all paid plans carry commercial rights that stay valid after cancelling, with broadcasting rights on Enterprise only. ElevenLabs lists more on cloning.
Edge: ElevenLabs
- 04
API cost and deployment
ElevenLabs lists v4 text to speech at $0.08 per 1K characters and v4 Turbo at $0.04. Murf's pay-as-you-go API is $0.03 per 1000 characters with a $2 minimum, and Falcon 2 can run in a private data centre or VPC. Murf is cheaper and more flexible to host.
Edge: Murf
When neither fits
If you want a hyperscaler API billed by usage, or text-to-speech inside an editor, neither is the obvious choice. See Amazon Polly or Descript.
ElevenLabs or Murf: questions
3 answersDo unused credits carry over at ElevenLabs?
They roll over up to two months while you stay subscribed. Cancelling or downgrading forfeits unused paid credits.
Can I download audio from Murf's free trial?
No. The trial allows 10 minutes and no downloads, no credit card needed.
Where are ElevenLabs and Murf based?
Our data lists both in the United States: Eleven Labs Inc. in New York and Murf Inc. in San Francisco.
Sources
Checked 4 November 2026- ElevenLabs pricing page: free credits, plan tiers, credit metering, licence and cloning tiers, rollover.
- ElevenLabs API pricing: v4 and v4 Turbo per-character rates.
- ElevenLabs terms of use: Eleven Labs Inc., New York.
- Murf free trial help page: 10 minutes, no downloads, all voices.
- Murf voice generation time help page: generation time metering and forfeiture on cancel.
- Murf commercial rights help page: commercial and broadcasting rights.
- Murf API plans help page: pay-as-you-go API rate.
- Murf Falcon 2 help page: on-premise or VPC deployment.
- Murf contact page: Murf Inc. in San Francisco.