ElevenLabs vs OpenAI Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| ElevenLabs | OpenAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $6/mo | $8/mo |
| Number of plans | 7 | 4 |
| Free plan | ||
| Free trial | — | — |
| Pricing model | hybrid | per-seat |
Free
- Text to Speech
- Speech to Text
- Sound Effects
- Voice Design
- Music
- Productions
- Image
- 3 Projects in Studio
Starter
- Commercial License
- Instant Voice Cloning
- 20 Projects in Studio
- Music commercial use
- Dubbing Studio
- Image & Video
Creator
Popular- Professional Voice Cloning
- Additional Credits
Pro
- 44.1kHz PCM audio output via API
- 192kbps quality audio
Scale
- 3 Workspace seats
- Team Collaboration
- 3 Professional Voice Clones
Business
- Low-latency TTS as low as 5c/minute
- 10 Professional Voice Clones
- 10 Workspace seats
Enterprise
- Custom terms & assurance around DPA/SLAs
- BAAs for HIPAA customers
- Custom SSO
- More seats and voices
- Elevated concurrency limits
- Fully managed dubbing with Productions
- Significant discounts at scale
- Priority support
Free
- Limited access to GPT-5.5 Instant
- Limited messages and uploads
- Limited and slower image generation
- Limited deep research
- Limited memory and context
- Limited Codex access
- Limited ChatGPT Work access on desktop
Go
- More access to GPT-5.5 Instant
- More messages
- More uploads
- More image creation
- Longer memory
Plus
Popular- Advanced reasoning models with GPT-5.6
- Expanded messages and uploads
- More complex and accurate image creation
- Expanded deep research
- Expanded memory and context
- Projects, scheduled tasks, and custom GPTs
- Expanded Codex usage
- Expanded access to ChatGPT Work on desktop, web, and mobile
- Early access to new features
Pro
- 5x or 20x more usage
- Pro reasoning with GPT-5.6 Sol Pro
- Maximum Codex tasks
- Unlimited and faster image creation
- Maximum deep research
- Maximum memory and context
- Expanded projects, tasks, and custom GPTs
- Research preview of new features
ElevenLabs vs OpenAI FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- ElevenLabs starts lower at $6/mo, compared to $8/mo for OpenAI.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. ElevenLabs uses hybrid pricing, while OpenAI goes with per-seat. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. ElevenLabs: ElevenLabs sits in the premium lane for voice AI specifically — its $6 entry price looks cheap but the jump to $99 and $299 tiers shows they're pricing against enterprise voice/TTS budgets, not consumer apps. They're chasing developers and media teams who'd otherwise build in-house or use pricier enterprise voice vendors, not casual users comparing it to a $10 app. OpenAI: The $20 Plus tier is the default anchor most people compare against Claude and Gemini's consumer plans, putting OpenAI squarely in the mainstream-priced camp rather than cheap. The new $8 Go tier looks like a defensive move to catch price-sensitive users before they churn to a free competitor or cancel entirely.
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