ElevenLabs allows developers to build conversational agents via the ElevenAgents platform using system prompts, primary languages, and specific response lengths. Users select large language models like Gemini, GPT, or Claude to power these bots. The startup built a complete pipeline to handle customer interruptions and knowledge base integration. While OpenAI Realtime API offers a unified speech-to-speech model with image input and SIP phone calling, ElevenLabs focuses on voice emotion, customization, and cloning. You can add a knowledge base using a file, URL, or text block to power the bot. Developers also define criteria for collecting customer data like names or emails and set evaluation criteria in natural language to determine call success. The platform includes tools to manage multi-turn conversations and multi-voice scenarios. The Multilingual v2 model supports 29 languages, whereas the Eleven v3 model supports 70 languages. ElevenLabs Speech Engine agents cost $0.08 per minute, which is significantly cheaper than the original OpenAI Realtime API cost of roughly $1 per minute.
Managing subscription tiers and credit usage
ElevenLabs uses a subscription model where a single monthly pool of credits covers all products, including text to speech, dubbing, and music. A single credit equals one character for the Multilingual v2 model. Heavy use of music or sound effects reduces the credits available for narration because all tools pull from the same balance. For example, music uses about 900 credits per minute. Speech to text uses 330 credits per minute. Paid plans allow up to two months of unused credits to roll over if the subscription remains active. If you cancel or downgrade, you lose all remaining unused credits. Annual billing saves money by providing two months free.
| Plan | Monthly Price | Monthly Credits | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10,000 | Personal use only |
| Starter | $6 | 30,000 | Commercial license |
| Creator | $22 | 121,000 | Professional Voice Cloning |
| Pro | $99 | 600,000 | 44.1 kHz PCM output |
| Scale | $299 | 1,800,000 | Team collaboration |
| Business | $990 | 6,000,000 | 10 workspace seats |
The Creator plan provides 121,000 credits and professional voice cloning, making it the primary choice for professionals who require a consistent brand voice for recurring content across many different video formats and diverse social media platforms throughout their production cycle. The Starter plan includes a commercial license and instant voice cloning for $6 per month. The Pro plan provides 600,000 credits for $99. The Business plan supports 10 workspace seats for $990 per month. The free tier requires attribution by including "elevenlabs.io" or "11.ai" in the title.
Technical implementation and model selection
Developers use the ElevenLabs SDK with Python, JavaScript, React, or Swift. The platform provides a WebSocket API for custom implementations. For real-time applications where latency is critical, the Flash v2.5 model provides sub-200ms latency. Users can integrate the agent with tools like Slack, Perplexity, or Twilio. The agent can also manage calendars using Cal.com or process payments through Stripe. ElevenLabs provides tools to remove background noise with the voice isolator and generate time-aligned subtitles with the alignment tool. Users can also integrate with HubSpot to turn a CRM into an active teammate or use Zendesk to enhance customer support.
Implementation requires setting an API key as an environment variable. Users can test agents with automated evaluation criteria to check if an agent meets specific requirements like greeting or understanding. Testing often involves using short samples to check a voice on one paragraph before rendering a full chapter. For natural conversation, the similarity boost is 0.75, but users use 0.85 for consistent narration. For transcription, users utilize the Scribe v2 model. Users can also create a new voice from a description or save ready-made voices from the library, though saved library voices do not use custom voice slots. Does the integration with custom MCP servers provide enough stability for high-volume enterprise calls?
