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ElevenLabs vs Hume AI

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors. ElevenLabs starts at $6, Hume AI at $3. Both have a free tier. Both ship a public API.

ElevenLabsSynthetic voices, cloning and dubbing sold by the creditHume AIAPIs and evaluation tools for emotionally intelligent voice AI: TTS, speech-to-speech and emotion measurement

Side by side

FactElevenLabsHume AI
CategoryText-to-SpeechVoice Agents & Phone AI
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at$6 month$3 month
Public APIYesYes
PlatformsWeb, API, iOS, AndroidWeb, API
CompanyElevenLabsHume AI, Inc.
Launched20222021
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 6, 2026

What our research says

ElevenLabs

The quality bar for synthetic speech and the easiest voice API to start on, but the credit meter is the actual product and it empties faster than the plan names imply.

Pros

  • Output quality and language coverage remain ahead of most rivals
  • One account spans speech, dubbing, recognition, effects and agents
  • The first paid tier is $6, so testing commercially costs almost nothing

Cons

  • Credits rather than minutes, so cost per finished second shifts with model and settings
  • Commercial licence and instant cloning are both withheld from the free tier
  • Professional voice cloning starts only at Creator ($22)
  • Team seats do not appear until the $299 Scale plan

Hume AI

The most research-driven option for voice AI that needs to detect or convey emotion, with expressive TTS, a speech-to-speech interface and unusual assets like emotion scoring and voice leaderboards. The catch is a visible strategic pivot toward evaluation and data products, which puts long-term emphasis on its developer voice APIs in question.

Pros

  • Emotion measurement across 48+ categories is a rare capability
  • Entry pricing at $3/month with a usable free tier
  • Unlimited voice cloning on all plans
  • SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and HIPAA options at enterprise level

Cons

  • Homepage now leads with evaluation/data products, not the developer APIs
  • EVI concurrency is capped at lower tiers
  • Per-minute speech-to-speech costs add up for long calls

Which one fits

Choose ElevenLabs if you need

  • Product teams adding narration or voice agents without training a model
  • Creators dubbing video into other languages with the speaker's timbre kept
  • Audiobook and podcast producers who need a licensable cloned voice

Choose Hume AI if you need

  • Teams building voice agents that must react to a caller's emotional state
  • Developers wanting expressive TTS with cloning on a cheap entry tier
  • Voice AI labs needing simulation, human feedback and benchmarks

More comparisons

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