Licensing FAQ
How do AI music generator licenses compare for commercial use?
Short answer
Most AI music generators allow commercial use only on a paid plan, and their terms differ on three points that matter for video: who holds the rights, whether they survive cancelling, and how YouTube claims are handled. As of October 1, 2026, Suno (Pro, $10 per month), ElevenLabs (Starter, $6 per month), Soundraw, AIVA, Mubert, Beatoven.ai, and Sonilo (Pro, $14.99 per month) offer commercial use, and Udio currently offers none. Sonilo ties rights to the plan active when a track was generated, keeps them after you cancel, issues a license certificate you can attach to a YouTube dispute, and trains its model on licensed catalogs including Shutterstock's.
Side by side
Each cell is taken from the vendor's own pricing page, terms, or help center, checked October 1, 2026. "Not stated" means the vendor's pages do not say. Sources are listed below the table.
| Service | Commercial use | Cheapest plan with commercial use | What you get | After you cancel | YouTube Content ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonilo | Pro, Premium, and Enterprise. Free and Creator output is personal and non-commercial. | Pro, $14.99 per month | Sonilo assigns you any rights it has in the output. Non-exclusive; copyright protection is not guaranteed. The model is trained on licensed catalogs, including Shutterstock's music catalog. | The plan active at generation decides. Export the audio and download the license certificate before the plan ends. | Sonilo does not register tracks with Content ID. Dispute a claim with the track's license certificate. |
| Suno | Pro and Premier. Free plan output is for personal, non-commercial use. | Pro, $10 per month billed monthly | Suno assigns you its rights in output you obtained through a permitted download. Commercial rights do not guarantee copyright protection. | Rights in downloads obtained while subscribed are perpetual and are not affected by cancelling or downgrading. | Not stated. |
| Udio | No current plan allows commercial use. | None | Udio states that it owns the output; you may use it for personal, non-commercial purposes. | Not stated. | Posting output on YouTube or streaming platforms is prohibited, and downloads are disabled. |
| ElevenLabs (Eleven Music) | Starter and above, except film, TV, radio, and studio games. The help center says the free plan has no commercial license. | Starter, $6 per month | You retain the rights in your output; exclusivity is not guaranteed. | You keep a commercial license to what you generated while subscribed. | Not stated. |
| Soundraw | Creator plan, as background music in your own content, including ads. | Creator, $16.99 per month | A non-exclusive license; Soundraw keeps ownership. The Artist plan shares ownership of the composition 50/50. | Downloaded tracks can still be monetized, except in music channels, lofi or meditation content, and commercial hold music, which must be taken down. | Registering tracks with Content ID is prohibited. |
| AIVA | Standard: monetization on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram. Pro: full monetization, with eligibility limits. Free is non-commercial with attribution. | Standard, €11 per month billed annually | On Free and Standard, AIVA keeps the copyright and licenses the track to you. On Pro, the copyright is assigned to you. | Copyright you held under Pro stays yours after cancelling. | Not stated. |
| Mubert | Pro: monetized content and digital ads. Client work needs the Business plan ($199 per month). Free and Creator are non-commercial. | Pro, $39 per month | Mubert owns the tracks and grants a time-limited, non-exclusive license. | Projects published while subscribed can stay up, but earlier tracks cannot be used in new projects. | The license certificate supplied with a track can be used to confirm your right to use it. |
| Beatoven.ai | Each downloaded track comes with a non-exclusive license for personal or commercial use. | Not stated; the pricing page did not load when checked. | Beatoven keeps ownership and may license the same or similar music to other users. | Not clearly stated. | No whitelisting; report a claim using the track ID shared in the license. |
Training data
The table compares license terms. Where the music came from is a separate question that brands and legal teams often ask. Sonilo's music model is trained on professionally licensed catalogs, including Shutterstock's music catalog, which Sonilo licensed for AI model training under a partnership announced on May 12, 2026 (press release, Music Ally, Sonilo announcement). Every Sonilo license certificate records that provenance; see what Sonilo was trained on. For the other services, check each vendor's own disclosures.
What to check before you publish
- The plan at the moment you generate or download. Every service above ties commercial rights to the plan you were on at that time, not to the plan you are on when you publish.
- The files and the proof. Keep the exported audio and a record of the plan: a license certificate where the service issues one, otherwise the download date and the version of the terms.
- Exclusions. Film, TV, broadcast, and client work are often excluded from the entry plan even where monetized YouTube is allowed.
- Exclusivity and copyright. Most licenses are non-exclusive, and no service promises that AI output can be registered for copyright in every country.
Where a vendor's own pages disagree
- Udio: a March 2025 help article says Udio claims no ownership of generated content, while the Terms of Service revised November 12, 2025 say Udio owns the output. The table follows the Terms.
- ElevenLabs: the Eleven Music plan table lists commercial media rights in the free column, while the help center says the free plan does not include a commercial license. The table follows the help center.
- Beatoven.ai: the Terms call the license perpetual and limit it to the term of the agreement in the same sentence, so what happens after cancelling is unclear.
Sources, checked October 1, 2026
- Sonilo: which plans include commercial use, rights after cancelling, Content ID
- Suno: Terms of Service, rights with a paid subscription, does Suno own the music I make, subscribing after making songs
- Udio: Terms of Service, downloads, common usage questions
- ElevenLabs: Eleven Music model terms, Music Terms, Terms of Use, pricing, publishing content, after a subscription ends
- Soundraw: Terms, licensing explained, cancelling, pricing
- AIVA: license terms, EULA, copyright after cancelling, pricing
- Mubert: pricing and FAQ, license, subscription agreement
- Beatoven.ai: Terms of Service, YouTube use
Vendors change their terms often. For client work, save the version of the terms that applied on the day you generated or downloaded the track.
Last reviewed 2026-10-01. This page summarises Sonilo's Terms of Service; the Terms govern if anything here differs.
Make something you can publish
Commercial rights start on Pro at $14.99 per month. Every generation on Pro and above comes with a certificate your client or platform can verify.