AI voice plans at $5, $20, and $100 a month: what each one buys (October 2026)

AI voice apps sell text-to-speech in different units. Some sell credits, some sell minutes, and a credit can mean a character or a second of audio depending on the app. So we did the conversion. For each plan, we took the monthly allowance and used the vendor's own published rate to work out roughly how many minutes of finished speech it buys. Where the vendor publishes its own minute estimate, we used that. We read every price on the vendor's own page on October 26, 2026, in US dollars before tax. These are list prices and allowances, not a quality test. A minute from one voice model is not the same as a minute from another, and some apps count generated audio while others count only what you download.

How each app charges

• ElevenLabs sells monthly credits that are shared across text to speech, dubbing, music, sound effects, and its other tools. Its FAQ says text to speech costs 1 credit per character on its standard multilingual models, and its plan table lists roughly how many minutes each plan includes. Unused credits roll over for up to two months on paid plans. Yearly billing costs 10 times the monthly price. A commercial license starts at the Starter plan.
• Cartesia sells monthly credits for its Sonic voice model and its speech-to-text model. Its FAQ says one minute of Sonic audio takes 750 to 800 credits, at 1 credit per character. Paid plans can turn on overages, priced at $65, $45, or $38 per million credits depending on the plan. Credits roll over up to twice the monthly amount. A commercial license starts at the $5 Pro plan. Cartesia's pricing page is aimed at developers building voice products, and each plan also includes a matching dollar amount for its voice agents.
• Fish Audio sells monthly credits and lists an "up to" minute figure for each plan. Its FAQ says a minute costs "roughly 600 to 625 credits," which does not match those minute figures (see below). Unused minutes don't roll over. On October 26, a banner was offering 50% off plans in the first year with annual billing, with a countdown that ends around November 12.
• WellSaid sells minutes of downloaded audio, with unlimited generation on paid plans. That means retakes don't use up your allowance; only the files you download do. Individual plans include English voices only. Its prices are for new customers.
• Speechify Studio sells Studio credits on yearly plans only. Its FAQ says a voiceover costs 1 credit per second, dubbing 3 credits per second, and an avatar 30 credits per second. Speechify Studio is a separate subscription from the Speechify reading app.

Around $5 a month

Who it suits. People adding narration to the odd video, tutorial, or slide deck. At this tier, the allowances are far apart, so the unit matters more than the price. Cartesia's Pro plan lists the most minutes per dollar here, but its page is built for developers. WellSaid's allowance is small, but it counts only downloads.

Around $20 a month

Who it suits. Creators narrating videos or short podcasts every week. ElevenLabs Creator adds professional voice cloning at this tier. WellSaid's yearly Pro plan gives nine times the minutes of its $19 monthly plan, but it is a year-long commitment.

Around $100 a month

Who it suits. Channels, course makers, or small teams producing narration most days, or developers testing a voice feature. At this tier, the differences come down to rollover, seats, voice cloning slots, and whether you want an editing studio or an API.

How to price your own month

1. Time a typical script. Read one of your scripts aloud, or check how long the narration in a past video runs. Multiply by the number of videos or episodes you make in a month.
2. Find the vendor's unit. ElevenLabs and Cartesia charge by character. Speechify Studio charges by second. WellSaid counts downloaded minutes, and Fish Audio lists minutes per plan.
3. Add room for retakes. You will regenerate lines to fix pronunciation or tone. On credit-based plans, every new generation costs credits. On WellSaid's paid plans, only downloads count.
4. Check the plan above and below yours. Compare the minutes you need with each plan's allowance, then look at the overage price. ElevenLabs lists a price per extra minute, and Cartesia lists an overage rate per million credits.
5. Check rollover, billing, and commercial rights. ElevenLabs rolls credits over for up to two months, and Cartesia up to twice the monthly amount. Fish Audio's unused minutes don't carry over. Free plans at WellSaid and Speechify Studio don't include commercial rights.

What we could not verify

• Speechify Studio's allowance period. The plans are priced per year, but the page doesn't say whether 86,400 or 345,600 credits arrive once a year or each month. The minutes above assume the stated number for the whole year.
• Fish Audio's minute math. The FAQ says a minute costs about 600 to 625 credits. At that rate, 250,000 credits would be about 400 minutes, twice the "up to 200 minutes" shown on the Plus card. We used the plan cards' lower figures.
• Fish Audio's free plan rights. The free plan card lists "Commercial use," but the FAQ says free users "can only use generated content for personal, non-commercial projects."
• Murf and LOVO. Murf's pricing page showed only its API rates for us, such as $0.01 per 1,000 characters for Falcon 2.1, and not its Studio plans. LOVO's pricing page loaded without its plans. We left both out of the tables.
• Exact minutes. Every minute figure here is the vendor's own estimate or our division using its published rate. Real minutes vary with the voice model, language, and how much punctuation and markup a script has.

What to weigh

The cheapest-looking plan depends on what you count. Per-character and per-second plans charge for every retake, while WellSaid charges only for downloads. Two of the prices above are promotions with end dates: ElevenLabs' $1 first month (until November 1) and Fish Audio's 50% off the first year (around November 12). Check those dates and the renewal price before you subscribe. Commercial rights, language support, and voice cloning also differ by plan, and they may matter more than minutes for a channel that earns money.

Sources

All pages read October 26, 2026.

• ElevenLabs pricing and FAQ
• Cartesia pricing and FAQ
• Fish Audio plans and FAQ
• WellSaid pricing
• Speechify Studio pricing and FAQ
• Murf pricing