Updated October 29, 2026 · Sonilo makes one of the two products compared here, so every claim about ElevenLabs links to ElevenLabs's own page.
The short answer
Pick ElevenLabs if voice is the core of the job (narration, text to speech, voice cloning, dubbing) or you need uploads longer than 6 minutes through the API. Pick Sonilo for music and sound effects led by the video, directions for each section, native audio ducking controls and the lower API price for plain music ($0.135 a minute against $0.15). Its music API and its finished video route treat the source audio differently; choose and test the endpoint for the required deliverable. Sonilo has a free plan; commercial use starts on Pro at $14.99 a month.
01
Sonilo vs ElevenLabs at a glance
| Question | ElevenLabs | Sonilo |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes, Free and pay as you go. Free has no commercial licence, publishing needs an ElevenLabs credit, and Eleven Music does not download on Free. | Yes. Free costs $0 and comes with 2,000 credits every 2 weeks, enough for about 111 seconds of video to music. Results play in preview quality, music does not download, and Free is for personal, non commercial use. |
| Price | Starter $6 a month, Creator $22, Pro $99, Scale $299, Business $990. Through the API, music costs $0.15 a minute and sound effects $0.12 a minute. | Pro is $14.99 a month, or $143.88 a year ($11.99 a month); eligible new subscribers pay $5.99 for the first month of Pro Monthly. Premium is $29.99 a month, or $287.88 a year ($23.99 a month). Enterprise is priced per contract. |
| What you get | One credit balance across voice, speech, dubbing, music and sound effects. Eleven Music downloads are capped per month: 30 minutes on Starter, 250 on Creator, 500 on Pro. | Credits to generate original music and sound effects from your own video or a written prompt: 40,000 a month on Pro (about 37 minutes of video to music) and 100,000 on Premium (about 92 minutes). Paid plans download music and sound effects as M4A, WAV or MP3 and export the finished video as MP4. Extra credits can be bought at any time. |
| Music from a video | Yes, in Studio and through the API. The API accepts up to 10 clips (600 seconds and 200MB combined) with optional description/style tags; it can add sound effect cues from the video and return mixed audio or a ZIP with separate music and sound effects. These are API limits, not every Studio surface. | Yes: a video file (or a link, through the API), two versions per generation and optional directions per section. The async music API supports speech preservation and ducking; a separate route returns a finished video under its own mixing contract. |
| Sound effects | Sound effects from a text prompt, plus sound effect cues from the video through the video to music API with add_sfx=true. Audition timing and mix the returned audio in the delivery workflow. | Generated from the video and timed to the footage (Foley, ambience, impacts, transitions), or from a text prompt up to 3 minutes long. |
| Licence and commercial scope | Every paid plan includes a commercial licence, except content made with beta services. Eleven Music on self serve plans covers online and offline commercial use except film, TV, radio and studio games, which need Enterprise Music; distributing music to streaming services is not allowed on Free or Starter. | Pro carries a general commercial licence: ads, branded and sponsored content, client work, monetized channels, apps, websites and indie games. Premium adds film, TV and broadcast. Enterprise use is reviewed per contract. Free is personal and non commercial, and a shared Free download must credit “Music by Sonilo”. |
| Rights after cancelling | Content generated during a paid subscription can be used commercially indefinitely; music stays under the plan it was made on. | Cancel at any time from the subscription page in your dashboard. The plan stays active until the end of the period you paid for, and audio generated on Pro or Premium keeps its commercial scope after you cancel. Export your files and license certificates before the plan ends. Payments are not refunded unless the law requires it. |
| Workflow | Generate voice, music or effects as separate audio, then mix them under the picture in your editor. | Upload the finished video. Sonilo reads its pacing, mood and cuts and composes an original track fitted to its length, two versions per generation, with an optional written direction. Sound effects can be generated from the same clip. |
| Limits | Monthly Eleven Music download minutes per plan; no music downloads on Free; film, TV, radio and studio games need Enterprise Music. | Each plan uploads videos up to a set length: 3 minutes on Free, 8 minutes on Pro and 30 minutes on Premium. Video to music and video to sound effects cost 18 credits per second of output, text to music 5 and text to sound effects 4, with a 15 second and 200 credit minimum per generation. Credits do not roll over. |
02
The API, endpoint by endpoint
Both APIs now take a video. ElevenLabs' POST /v1/music/video-to-music accepts up to 10 uploaded clips (600 seconds and 200MB combined) with an optional description and style tags. By default it returns one audio file; add_sfx=true adds sound effect cues from the video, and separate_tracks=true can return separate music and sound effects tracks in a ZIP. Sonilo's POST /v1/video-to-music accepts a video file or a video URL and timestamped directions. Its async mode documents lowering generated music under detected speech with ducking=true; a separate finished video endpoint has its own rules for mixing the source audio. These are documented API controls, not proof that either system always achieves the intended timing or dialogue balance.
For plain music, Sonilo is the cheaper API: text to music costs $0.00225 per second ($0.135 per minute), against the $0.15 per minute ElevenLabs lists for music. Sonilo video to music costs $0.009 per second ($0.54 per minute) and caps a video at 6 minutes; ElevenLabs does not list a separate video to music price and accepts longer uploads. Sonilo is the better fit when the soundtrack has to follow a real edit inside your product.
| Question | ElevenLabs | Sonilo |
|---|---|---|
| Endpoint | POST /v1/music/video-to-music | POST /v1/video-to-music, plus /v1/video-to-video-music to get the finished video back |
| Video input | Multipart upload of 1 to 10 clips joined in order, 200MB and 600 seconds combined; the docs list no video URL field | One video file or a video_url, up to 300MB and 6 minutes |
| Creative direction | Video to music API: description up to 4,100 characters and up to 10 style tags | Prompt, per timestamp segments, and prompt_influence to choose how much the video leads |
| Dialogue in the source | use_audio_as_reference can borrow musical traits from the source audio; it is not a documented control for preserving the source dialogue | On /v1/video-to-music, preserve_speech and ducking require mode=async; ducking lowers generated music under detected speech. Check the contract of the separate finished video endpoint. |
| Output | One audio file by default; separate_tracks=true returns a ZIP with separate music and sound effects audio tracks | Streamed audio or an async task; M4A, WAV or MP3; optional variants, four stems, a ducked track, or the finished video |
| Sound effects from the video | POST /v1/sound-generation takes a text prompt; POST /v1/music/video-to-music also adds sound effect cues from the video with add_sfx=true | POST /v1/video-to-sfx times effects to the footage; /v1/video-to-sound returns music and effects together |
| Price | Music listed at $0.15 per minute on the API pricing page; video to music is not priced separately there | Video to music $0.009 per second ($0.54 per minute); text to music $0.00225 per second ($0.135 per minute). Pay as you go from a prepaid balance, 17 free trial calls |
| Provenance | Optional C2PA signing of the generated track | Inaudible provenance watermark on generated audio; music model trained on licensed catalogs, including Shutterstock |
| Commercial use | ElevenLabs says generated music is cleared for commercial use; its Music Terms list prohibited industries and tie pricing to plan and use case | Audio generated through the Sonilo API can be used commercially, in your own product and by your end users, including ads, client work and monetized channels. Film, TV, broadcast and streaming releases go to sales first. |
| For coding agents | Official API reference and an agent skills repository | OpenAPI spec at platform.sonilo.com/openapi.json, markdown docs, an MCP server, a CLI, and agent skills |
Endpoint details checked September 30, 2026 against each vendor's API docs. The Sonilo video to music docs and the OpenAPI spec have every parameter.
03
Sound effects: reported evaluation and its limits
An outside evaluation team compared Sonilo Sound Effects 1.0 with ElevenLabs' v2 sound effects model on Clotho and AudioCaps with audio_eval, across 12 automatic metrics per dataset. The reported tables put Sonilo ahead in 16 of 24 metric directions. This is an automated text to audio evaluation, not a human listening or video synchronization test. The pinned public source contains aggregate results and toolkit instructions; the inspected tree does not supply an identifiable generated comparison set, per item results or uncertainty artifact for this comparison.
04
When ElevenLabs is the better pick
- Narration, text to speech, voice cloning or a voice agent is the main job.
- You need uploads longer than 6 minutes through the API.
- You already use ElevenLabs for voice and want one bill for every kind of audio.
05
When Sonilo is the better pick
- The video is cut and the music has to follow it, with the dialogue left clear.
- You need sound effects placed on the frames where things happen, not effects you drag into place.
- You want the finished video back, or directions for each section of the timeline.
- You publish for clients or on many channels and want a license certificate for each track.
Try it on the video to music or video to sound effects tool, or read the ElevenLabs alternatives page.
Sources
Sources
Every ElevenLabs fact on this page comes from ElevenLabs's own pages, read on October 29, 2026. Vendors change plans often, so check the linked page before you buy. Sonilo facts come from Sonilo pricing and the licensing overview.
FAQ
Sonilo vs ElevenLabs: questions people ask
ElevenLabs is a voice first platform (text to speech, voice cloning, dubbing) that also generates music and sound effects. Sonilo offers music and sound effects led by the video, directions per section and native audio ducking. Its music API and its finished video route treat the source audio differently; test the route that matches the required deliverable.
Yes. ElevenLabs makes music from video in Studio and through POST /v1/music/video-to-music. The API accepts up to 10 clips (600 seconds and 200MB combined) with optional description/style tags; it can add sound effect cues from the video and return mixed audio or separate tracks. Sonilo also takes a video link and directions for each section; its music API supports speech preservation and ducking in async mode, while its finished video route has a separate mixing contract.
Evaluate Sonilo for a dedicated video to sound effects workflow. ElevenLabs also adds sound effect cues from the video through its video to music API, so video input alone does not set Sonilo apart. Audition timing and intelligibility on your own cut. An outside evaluation team conducted a separate text to sound effects comparison in audio_eval, with Sonilo ahead in 16 of 24 automatic metric directions. This automated evaluation is not a human listening or video synchronization test.
Through the API, Sonilo is cheaper for plain music: $0.135 a minute for music from a text prompt, against the $0.15 a minute ElevenLabs lists for music. Music made from a video costs $0.54 a minute on Sonilo; ElevenLabs does not list a separate price for it. On subscriptions, ElevenLabs starts at $6 a month (Starter) and Sonilo Pro is $14.99 a month with commercial use. Both have a free tier that does not cover commercial use.
ElevenLabs paid plans include a commercial licence, and content made during a paid subscription can be used commercially indefinitely. Sonilo Pro and Premium include commercial use (Premium adds film, TV and broadcast), and audio generated on those plans keeps its commercial scope after you cancel. Free on both is non commercial.
Related
Keep reading
Try it on your video
Put music and sound effects on your own video
The Free plan is enough to hear Sonilo on a short clip. Commercial use starts on Pro at $14.99 a month.