Head-to-head · profiles checked Oct 1, 2026
Pick ElevenLabs when you need speech generated from text: a free plan with 10,000 credits, a commercial license from $6/mo, and a developer API. Pick Descript when you already have recordings to edit by transcript, from $16/mo billed annually. They overlap on voice cloning and transcription, but they start from opposite ends of the job.
We wrote this from our own profiles of both tools, ElevenLabs verified on September 30, 2026 and Descript verified on October 1, 2026; we ran no audio quality test, used no third-party benchmarks and took no vendor payments.
These two tools overlap less than the query suggests. Pick ElevenLabs if the thing you need is generated speech: narration, cloned voices, dubbing or a voice agent, with a free plan of 10,000 credits and a commercial license from $6/mo. Pick Descript if you already have recordings and want to cut them by editing a transcript, clean the audio and export video, from $16/mo billed annually. Both clone voices and both transcribe, but ElevenLabs is built around the voice and Descript around the edit. We ran no side-by-side audio test, so we make no claim about which voice sounds better.
Based on our profiles of both tools: ElevenLabs verified on September 30, 2026 and Descript verified on October 1, 2026. Prices are those listed on each vendor's pricing page on those dates.
If you only want the answer, this is the table. Everything below is the evidence from the two documented profiles.
| You want to | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Narrate an audiobook or video script | ElevenLabs | ElevenLabs documents long-form narration with Eleven v4 and audio tags; Descript voices are aimed at repairing cuts and short voiceovers. |
| Edit a podcast by cutting the transcript | Descript | Descript edits media through the transcript on every plan; no such editor is documented for ElevenLabs. |
| Remove filler words and clean noisy audio | Descript | Descript lists Studio Sound and filler-word removal, limited on Hobbyist and full on Creator and above. |
| Clone your own voice | Either | ElevenLabs offers instant cloning from Starter and professional cloning from Creator; Descript offers custom voice clones, limited on Hobbyist. |
| Dub a video into other languages | ElevenLabs | ElevenLabs dubbing starts at Starter and v2 covers 92 languages; Descript translation and dubbing is Business only. |
| Transcribe a recording | Either | ElevenLabs Scribe covers 90+ languages; Descript transcribes in 25 languages and uses the transcript for editing. |
| Cut social clips from a long video | Descript | Descript lists clip creation with Underlord on Creator and above; ElevenLabs lists no clipping tool. |
| Add text to speech to your own app | ElevenLabs | ElevenLabs has an API on every plan, SDKs and pay-as-you-go billing; Descript API details are not confirmed. |
| Build a phone or web voice agent | ElevenLabs | ElevenAgents has a workflow builder, a knowledge base and Twilio telephony; Descript lists nothing comparable. |
| Export 4K video | Descript | Descript exports 4K on Creator and above; ElevenLabs is an audio product and lists no video editor. |
| Plan | Tool | Price | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | ElevenLabs | $0/mo | 10,000 credits per month, about 10 minutes of TTS, non-commercial only |
| Starter | ElevenLabs | $6/mo | 30,000 credits, commercial license, instant voice cloning |
| Creator | ElevenLabs | $22/mo (first month shown at $11) | 121,000 credits while a promo runs; professional voice cloning |
| Pro | ElevenLabs | $99/mo | 600,000 credits, 10 concurrent requests |
| Scale | ElevenLabs | $299/mo per team | 1.8M credits, 3 workspace seats |
| Business | ElevenLabs | $990/mo per team | 6M credits, 10 workspace seats |
| Enterprise | ElevenLabs | Custom | Custom credits and seats, Zero Retention Mode, BAAs, SSO |
| Free | Descript | $0/mo | 60 minutes of media per month, 100 AI credits (one-time), 1080p export |
| Hobbyist | Descript | $16/mo billed annually; $24/mo billed monthly | 10 hours of media, 400 AI credits per month, 1080p export |
| Creator | Descript | $24/mo billed annually; $35/mo billed monthly | 30 hours of media, 800 AI credits per month, 4K export |
| Business | Descript | $50/mo billed annually; $65/mo billed monthly | 40 hours of media, 1500 AI credits per month, translate and dub in 30+ languages |
| Enterprise | Descript | Custom | Custom media hours and AI credits, SSO, SCIM, audit logs |
USD as published on each vendor's pricing page, checked Oct 1, 2026. ElevenLabs pricing in full · Descript pricing in full
| ElevenLabs | Descript | |
|---|---|---|
| Messages / rate limits | Concurrent requests per plan: 2 on Free, 3 on Starter, 5 on Creator, 10 on Pro | Not stated |
| Context / file size | Eleven v4 takes up to 10,000 characters per request | Media hours per month: 1 on Free, 10 on Hobbyist, 30 on Creator, 40 on Business |
| Seats / team | Workspace seats from Scale: 3 on Scale, 10 on Business | Priced per editor; Creator suits teams of up to 3, Business scales to 5+ editors |
| Feature | ElevenLabs | Descript |
|---|---|---|
| Image generation | Listed on plans (Image & Video from Starter), no detail | Not stated |
| Voice | Yes: Eleven v4 text to speech, voice design and cloning | Yes: AI voice cloning and text to speech, 25+ voices on Hobbyist, 60+ on Creator and above |
| File upload | Yes: MP3, MP4, WAV or MOV files for dubbing | Yes: video and audio files, Zoom calls and screen recordings |
| Web search | Not stated | Not stated |
| Agents / tools | Yes: ElevenAgents voice agents, MCP server, Twilio, Slack, HubSpot | Yes: Underlord AI co-editor and 20+ AI tools on Creator |
| API | Yes, all plans; pay-as-you-go from a $5 top-up | Mentioned with MCP access; docs not confirmed |
| Mobile apps | Mobile confirmed | Not stated |
| IDE integration | Not stated | Not stated |
| ElevenLabs | Descript | |
|---|---|---|
| Training on your data | Policy says audio and text may be used to train AI models; Terms grant a perpetual license to content and voice models | Not stated in the privacy policy; a training opt-out is listed on Business |
| Retention | Kept as long as needed; Zero Retention Mode (API only) is Enterprise | Policy mentions a retention section; details not confirmed. Custom retention on Enterprise |
| Business controls | Data residency (US, EU, India, Singapore), SSO and SCIM, audit logs, SOC2, BAAs | SOC 2 Type II, SAML SSO and SCIM, GDPR compliant |
Taken from each vendor's published policy pages at the time of our check. Policies change; the source links are at the bottom.
AI audio platform for text-to-speech, voice cloning, dubbing, transcription, music and voice agents.
Free stops at: 10k credits per month, 3 Projects in Studio
Verified elevenlabs.io (opens ElevenLabs website in a new tab)
Free · paid from $6/mo US · checked Sep 30
Text-based video and podcast editor with AI tools like Studio Sound, filler-word removal and voice cloning.
Free stops at: 60 minutes (1 hr) media per month, 100 AI credits (one-time)
Free · paid from $16/mo US · checked Sep 29
ElevenLabs is cheaper to start: Starter is $6/mo with a commercial license, while Descript's cheapest paid plan, Hobbyist, is $16/mo billed annually or $24/mo billed monthly. The plans buy different things, though: ElevenLabs sells credits for generated audio, Descript sells media hours and AI credits for editing.
Yes, both. ElevenLabs Free gives 10,000 credits per month, about 10 minutes of text to speech, for non-commercial use only. Descript Free gives 60 minutes of media per month and 100 AI credits (one-time), with 1080p export.
Partly. Descript includes AI voice cloning and text to speech, with 25+ voices on Hobbyist and 60+ on Creator and above, mainly to repair cuts and regenerate lines. ElevenLabs treats voice as the product, with Eleven v4 in 90+ languages, instant and professional cloning, and an API.
Not as documented. ElevenLabs transcribes audio with Scribe and dubs video, but its profile lists no transcript-based editor for cutting recordings. For that job Descript is the documented tool.
Descript, if you record your own episodes: Hobbyist at $16/mo billed annually covers 10 hours of media a month with Studio Sound and filler-word removal. ElevenLabs fits podcasters who want to generate narration or clone their own voice.
Neither is clear-cut. ElevenLabs says audio and text may be used to train models and keeps Zero Retention Mode for Enterprise. Descript's privacy policy does not state training use; a training opt-out is listed on Business, and Enterprise adds SOC 2 Type II and custom retention.
Only official vendor pages. No third-party benchmarks, forum threads or press were used. How we review.
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