For generated voiceover, ElevenLabs and Murf land in the same range, $8.25 to $14.50 an hour of audio at list price, and WellSaid costs more, $11 to $57 an hour on its self-serve plans. ElevenLabs is cheaper on monthly billing; Murf ties it at $8.25 on annual Business billing and undercuts ElevenLabs Starter on annual Creator ($9.50 against $10.00). Each vendor states its allowance differently (credits that equal about so many minutes, hours a year, minutes a year), so the table converts all of them to hours of finished audio at list price, with billing period and read date on every row.
Cost per audio hour
Our division: plan price divided by stated audio, times 60 for an hour. USD list prices. “Annual” is the monthly equivalent when billed annually. ElevenLabs states its minutes as “approximately”; Murf and WellSaid state hours or minutes.
| Plan | Monthly billing, per hour | Annual billing, per hour | Allowance | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ElevenLabs Starter ($6 monthly, $5 annual) | $12.00 | $10.00 | 30,000 credits, about 30 minutes a month | 2 Oct 2026 |
| ElevenLabs Creator ($22 monthly, $18.33 annual) | $10.91 | $9.09 | 121,000 credits, about 121 minutes | 2 Oct 2026 |
| ElevenLabs Pro ($99, $82.50) | $9.90 | $8.25 | 600,000 credits, about 600 minutes | 2 Oct 2026 |
| ElevenLabs Scale ($299, $249.17) | $9.97 | $8.31 | 1,800,000 credits, about 1,800 minutes | 2 Oct 2026 |
| Murf Studio Creator ($29, $19) | $14.50 | $9.50 | 2 hours a month; annual plan 24 hours a year | 2 Oct 2026 |
| Murf Studio Business ($99, $66) | $12.38 | $8.25 | 8 hours a month; annual plan 96 hours a year | 2 Oct 2026 |
| WellSaid Starter ($19, $10) | $57.00 | $30.00 | 20 minutes a month (240 a year) | 2 Oct 2026 |
| WellSaid Pro ($49, $33) | $16.33 | $11.00 | 180 minutes a month (2,160 a year) | 2 Oct 2026 |
| WellSaid Business ($160 per user, annual only) | not sold monthly | $40.00 | 2,880 minutes a year per user, up to 5 seats | 2 Oct 2026 |
ElevenLabs lists first-month offers on 2 Oct 2026 (Starter $1 until 18 Oct, Creator $11 against its $22 list) and a banner offering extra credits on Creator and above for a limited time; the table uses regular list prices and regular allowances. Business at ElevenLabs ($990 monthly, 6,000,000 credits) comes to $9.90 an hour monthly and $8.25 annual, the same rate as Pro. Free tiers (ElevenLabs 10,000 credits, about 10 minutes; Murf 10 minutes once; WellSaid 3 minutes a month) are for trials and carry no commercial rights.
Three details change what you really pay:
- The unit you cannot use is not free. Murf’s annual plans give a yearly pool (24 or 96 hours) and WellSaid’s an annual minute pool; whether unused monthly allowance carries over was not stated on the pricing pages we read, so the per-hour figure assumes you use the lot.
- A credit is not a minute of finished audio. ElevenLabs says its credits equal “approximately” those minutes, and a regenerated line costs again, the same trap as retakes in AI video pricing.
- Murf’s API is priced differently. It lists $0.03 per 1,000 characters for its studio-quality model, $0.01 for its Falcon real-time model, $0.10 a minute for the voice changer and a $10 free credit each month on the API trial. To turn characters into hours you need your own characters per minute, which depends on the script, so no hour figure is given.
Commercial rights, by tier
What each pricing page states about using the audio in published work. Terms-of-service pages were not read, so this is the pricing page’s wording only and not legal advice.
| Plan | Commercial use stated on the pricing page |
|---|---|
| ElevenLabs Free | No commercial licence |
| ElevenLabs Starter, Creator, Pro, Scale, Business | Commercial licence |
| Murf Studio Free | No commercial rights |
| Murf Studio Creator | Commercial rights included; business licence not included |
| Murf Studio Business | Commercial rights and business licence included |
| WellSaid Trial | No commercial rights |
| WellSaid Starter, Pro, Business | Full commercial rights on all paid plans |
The Murf split is the one to read closely: Creator includes commercial rights but not the business licence that Business lists. What the business licence covers is defined in Murf’s terms, not on the pricing page.
Pick by the volume you actually make
| If you make | Cheapest priced route here |
|---|---|
| Under 30 minutes a month | ElevenLabs Starter, $5 to $6 a month; WellSaid Starter’s 20 minutes costs $10 to $19 |
| 2 hours a month, one editor | Murf Creator ($19 annual) against ElevenLabs Creator ($18.33 annual for about 121 minutes); similar money, different allowance units |
| 8 hours a month | Murf Business ($66 annual) is the only plan stating that many hours; ElevenLabs reaches about 10 hours on Pro ($82.50 annual) |
| Voice through your own code | Murf API or ElevenLabs’ API; this page prices only the Murf API |
| A branded voice with a licensed talent trail | Not answerable from a pricing page; ask the vendor |
Speechify was read but not compared: its consumer page shows only “$29/month” for Premium with no stated allowance, and its Studio and API tabs did not load. Voice quality, accent range and pronunciation control are not on any pricing page; judge them on your own script with each free tier. For what voice tools do beyond price see best AI transcription and voice tools, the ElevenLabs review, and AI credits explained.
Method
Researched from the three vendor pricing pages (all three read 2 Oct 2026, ElevenLabs annual prices from its FAQ), USD list prices. Murf’s monthly prices were read by switching the page’s billing toggle. Per-hour figures are our division of plan price by the stated allowance and assume it is fully used. Nothing here comes from using these tools.