Updated October 29, 2026 · Sonilo makes one of the two products compared here, so every claim about Artlist links to Artlist's own page.
The short answer
Pick Artlist if you want a large catalog of human made songs and sound effects to browse, and stock footage or video templates from the same subscription. Pick Sonilo if your video is already cut and you want original music, and sound effects, composed to its length, pacing and cuts instead of trimming a library track to fit. Sonilo has a free plan to try it on your own video; commercial use starts on Pro at $14.99 a month.
01
Sonilo vs Artlist at a glance
| Question | Artlist | Sonilo |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Every plan in Artlist's pricing guide is paid; the stock catalog is licensed through a subscription. | 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 | Music and sound effects, Social: $14.99 a month, or $9.99 a month billed yearly. Music and sound effects, Pro: $24.92 a month billed yearly (music only $16.58). Footage and templates: $31.99 a month billed yearly. AI plans and the all in one Max plan are priced by credits. Prices exclude VAT. | 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 | Unlimited downloads from a catalog of human made music and sound effects, plus stock footage, video templates and AI tools on the plans that include them. | 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. |
| Licence and commercial scope | Social covers your own channels, one per platform, with no paid media and no client work. Pro covers client work, paid and promoted videos, commercials, websites and up to 3 channels per platform. Broadcasters need Max Business or an Enterprise agreement. | 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 | Projects published while you subscribed stay covered and can keep earning; new projects made after the subscription ends are not covered, and the library downloads need an active subscription. | 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. |
| YouTube Content ID | Artlist Ltd can claim videos on YouTube. Pro subscribers add their channels or video links to a Clearlist to clear claims, and a video uploaded after the licence period can be claimed. | Sonilo does not register its generated tracks with YouTube Content ID, so there is no channel to add to a list. In Sonilo's own test, 2,000 Sonilo tracks uploaded to YouTube received no Content ID claims. |
| Workflow | Search and audition catalog tracks, download one, then trim, loop or cut it to fit your edit. | 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 | Channel limits per plan (one per platform on Social, 3 on Pro) and a Clearlist to keep up to date. Broadcast needs Max Business or an Enterprise agreement. | 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. Sonilo makes new audio. It has no stock footage, templates or catalog of existing songs, and it does not edit your picture. |
02
When Artlist is the better pick
- You want a human made song, or a specific artist or genre you can browse and audition.
- You also need stock footage or video templates, and want one subscription for all of it.
- Your team already runs its channels through an Artlist Clearlist and your client expects catalog music.
03
When Sonilo is the better pick
- The edit is locked and the music has to follow its cuts, build and ending without retiming.
- You want music no other channel is using, plus sound effects generated from the same clip.
- You publish on many channels or for clients and do not want to keep a channel list up to date: Sonilo tracks are not registered with Content ID.
- You need an API: the same video to music and video to sound effects run on platform.sonilo.com.
Try it on a published video on the video to music tool, or read the Artlist alternatives page for the wider picture.
Sources
Sources
Every Artlist fact on this page comes from Artlist'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 Artlist: questions people ask
Artlist is a subscription to a stock library: human made music and sound effects, plus footage, templates and AI tools on some plans. Sonilo is a generator: you upload your video and it composes an original track fitted to its pacing, mood and length, and can generate sound effects from the same clip.
It depends on how much you make. Artlist Music and sound effects costs $9.99 a month billed yearly on Social and $24.92 a month billed yearly on Pro, with unlimited downloads. Sonilo Pro is $14.99 a month ($11.99 a month billed yearly) for a set number of credits, about 37 minutes of video to music a month. Sonilo also has a free plan to try it, which Artlist's pricing guide does not list.
Yes, on Pro or Premium. Pro covers ads, branded and sponsored content, client work, monetized channels, apps, websites and indie games; Premium adds film, TV and broadcast. Free is for personal, non commercial use only.
On Artlist, projects you published while subscribed stay covered, but new projects made after the subscription ends are not. On Sonilo, the plan runs to 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 first.
With Artlist, a video can be claimed by Artlist Ltd until you add the channel or video to your Clearlist, and a video uploaded after the licence period can be claimed. Sonilo does not register its tracks with Content ID; in Sonilo's own test, 2,000 Sonilo tracks uploaded to YouTube received no claims.
No. Sonilo makes audio only: music and sound effects generated for your video, plus dubbing and audio tools. Keep Artlist, or another library, if you need footage or templates.
Related
Keep reading
Try it on your video
Hear music written for your own edit
Upload a video on the Free plan to hear what Sonilo composes for it. Commercial use starts on Pro at $14.99 a month.