RiffElevenLabs alternatives
The closest ElevenLabs alternative for developers is Cartesia, which also sells instant voice cloning on a cheap entry plan. If you edit video or podcasts, Descript builds AI speech and voice clones into its editor. Murf AI suits companies that want a studio-grade custom voice on its Enterprise plan, Speechify's API suits apps that need cloning behind consent checks, and Riff, which we make, suits iPhone creators who only want their own voice reading short scripts.
Disclosure. We make Riff. We've tried to rank it fairly. Riff is one of the five alternatives below, and it does far less than ElevenLabs. Facts about other products come from their own websites and US App Store listings, read in October 2026.
How we chose
We looked for live products that turn text into speech and let you clone a voice, with a pricing or help page we could read. We left out two names that still show up in older lists. Resemble AI's site now says its voice generation product is no longer available and that the company has moved to deepfake detection. PlayHT and PlayAI no longer load, and archived copies of both homepages from early 2026 show a notice that the service has shut down.
To see why people look elsewhere, we read the 50 most recent US App Store reviews of the ElevenLabs iPhone app, dated September 17 to October 18, 2026, from Apple's public review feed. They describe the iPhone app only, not the ElevenLabs website or API, and 50 reviews is a small sample. The "What to weigh" section is our own assessment of each product's documented approach, not a summary of reviews.
Who ElevenLabs fits
ElevenLabs is a broad voice platform: text to speech, speech to text, sound effects, music, dubbing and voice design. Its pricing page lists a free plan with 10,000 credits a month. Instant Voice Cloning starts on the $6-a-month Starter plan, and Professional Voice Cloning starts on Creator, listed at $22 a month (October 2026). Its cloning page says an instant clone needs about 10 seconds to 2 minutes of audio and a professional clone needs 30 minutes or more.
Its iPhone app, ElevenLabs: AI Voice Generator, is rated 4.8 from 22,842 ratings on the US App Store (October 2026). The listing says the app can use voice clones made on the web. For consent, the docs ask you to confirm you have the right to clone a voice before saving an instant clone, and a professional clone goes through a voice verification step.
Why people look elsewhere (iPhone app reviews)
In the 50 App Store reviews we read, 28 gave five stars, often for voice quality and speed. The complaints clustered around three themes:
- Crashes and errors. 12 of 50 reviews said the iPhone app crashed, signed them out, or showed errors when generating, signing in or exporting. One explicitly linked the crashes to a recent update.
- Credits and cost. 8 of 50 were about credits running out quickly, credits used on failed or partial generations, or paying for a plan and still needing more credits.
- App versus website. One of 50 said longer text prompted them to use Studio, which was unavailable in the app.
These are App Store reviews of the mobile app, so they say little about the web platform or the API.
What to weigh (our assessment)
- How you pay. ElevenLabs bills in credits, one credit per character on its multilingual models. If you only make a few clips, a smaller plan elsewhere may fit better. If you make a lot, compare cost per minute, not the headline price.
- Where you work. ElevenLabs works on the web, in an API and on iPhone. Some alternatives live inside an editor (Descript) or only in an API dashboard (Cartesia).
- How cloning is checked. Each product asks for consent differently: a checkbox, a recorded consent statement, a spoken verification, or an own-voice-only rule.
- Library voices. ElevenLabs lists a library of more than 17,000 voices. If you never want a stock voice, a clone-only tool keeps things simple.
Compare at a glance
| Tool | Voice cloning | Free option | Paid from | Official iPhone app |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ElevenLabs | Instant and professional | 10,000 credits a month | $6 a month (Starter) | Yes |
| Cartesia | Instant (Pro); pro clones from Startup | 20,000 credits a month | $5 a month (Pro) | None found |
| Descript | Custom voice clones from Hobbyist | 60 media minutes a month | $16 a person a month, billed annually | None found |
| Murf AI | Enterprise only; contact sales | 10 minutes of voice generation, no downloads | $19 a month, billed annually (Studio Creator, no custom cloning) | None found |
| Speechify voice API | From Starter, with spoken consent | 500,000 characters a month, catalog voices | $10 a month (Starter) | Reader app only |
| Riff | Your own voice only, recorded in the app | Three generated clips | $6.99 a week or $59.99 a year | Yes (iPhone only) |
Cartesia
Cartesia is a developer-first speech platform built around its Sonic voice models, which it says cover 44 languages. Its pricing page lists a free plan with 20,000 credits a month, which it puts at about 27 minutes of speech, and a $5-a-month Pro plan that adds a commercial license and instant voice cloning. Professional clones, which need 30 minutes or more of audio, start on the $49 Startup plan. Its docs say an instant clone needs 10 to 60 seconds of audio and that each clone is built from one language. We did not find a consent step in the cloning docs we read. We found no official iPhone app. It fits you if you are building an app or agent and want a cheap way in. cartesia.ai
Descript
Descript is a video and podcast editor, and AI speech is one feature inside it. Its pricing page lists a free plan with 60 media minutes a month and paid plans from Hobbyist, which includes custom voice clones; Hobbyist is listed at $16 a person a month, billed annually (October 2026). Descript's help pages say its AI speech uses ElevenLabs models. To make a clone, you record a consent statement in the app, and Descript says it requires recorded authorization from the voice's owner. It fits you if you want to fix a line in a recording or narrate inside the editor you already use. descript.com
Murf AI
Murf AI is a voiceover studio for training videos, ads and presentations, with more than 200 stock voices. Its pricing page lists a free plan with 10 minutes of voice generation and no downloads, and the Studio Creator plan at $19 a month billed annually (October 2026). Neither includes custom voice cloning: the pricing page lists custom voice clones as an add-on on the Enterprise plan, which is priced by sales.
Murf offers cloning two ways, both on Enterprise. Its API docs describe instant voice cloning from one short sample, through the API only, enabled per workspace by Murf. Professional cloning is a managed project: its help center says Murf supplies a script, you record one to two hours in a studio, and the voice takes one to four weeks to build. Its cloning page warns that cloning someone's voice without consent can be illegal. It fits you if your company wants a polished custom brand voice and can buy an Enterprise plan. murf.ai
Speechify voice API
Speechify is best known for its reading app, but it also sells a separate developer API at speechify.ai. The API's free plan gives 500,000 characters a month with catalog voices only. Voice cloning starts on the $10-a-month Starter plan and needs a 10- to 30-second sample plus verified spoken consent (October 2026). We could not confirm voice cloning in Speechify's consumer reading app, so we do not claim it. It fits you if you are a developer who wants consent checks built into the cloning flow. speechify.ai
Riff
Riff is our iPhone app, and it is much narrower than ElevenLabs. There are no library or preset voices. You tick "This is my own voice", read a short passage aloud for about 25 seconds, and Riff sends that recording to its AI voice-cloning engine to build your clone. Then you paste or write a script of up to 1,000 characters, edit it, choose English or Spanish narration, listen to each clip and share the audio file. Generated clips are stored on your phone.
Riff is free to download with three generated clips. After that, Riff Creator gives unlimited voiceovers, still within the 1,000-character limit per script. The US App Store lists Riff Creator Weekly at $6.99 and Riff Creator Annual at $59.99 (October 2026). Riff is new and has no App Store ratings yet. It fits you if you post short videos and want them narrated in your own voice without leaving your phone. Pick ElevenLabs or Cartesia if you need many languages, an API or stock voices. See the Riff page.
Riff: your own cloned voice reads your script, in English or Spanish. Three clips free.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a free alternative to ElevenLabs?
- Several have free plans, as of October 2026. Cartesia gives 20,000 credits a month, Descript gives 60 media minutes a month, Murf AI gives 10 minutes of voice generation, and Speechify's API gives 500,000 characters a month with catalog voices. Voice cloning sits on paid plans at Cartesia, Descript and Speechify's API. ElevenLabs itself also has a free plan.
- What is the cheapest ElevenLabs alternative with voice cloning?
- Among the tools we checked, Cartesia's Pro plan at $5 a month lists instant voice cloning, as of October 2026. ElevenLabs' own Starter plan, at $6 a month, also includes instant cloning.
- Does Speechify clone voices?
- Speechify's developer API at speechify.ai offers voice cloning on paid plans, with a spoken consent check. We could not confirm voice cloning in Speechify's consumer reading app.
- Is there an ElevenLabs alternative for iPhone?
- Of the alternatives here, only Riff is an iPhone app that clones your voice inside the app. It reads your scripts in your own voice in English or Spanish. ElevenLabs also has its own iPhone app, which can use voice clones made on its website.