Can You Use AI Voices Commercially? License Checker for 14 Tools (2026)
Verified on
Usually only on a paid plan. 8 of the 12 free plans we checked explicitly forbid commercial use. Most paid plans allow it, but commercial use comes with conditions at Typecast, and the terms of Descript and MiniMax Audio are unclear. Check the license before you publish monetized or client work.
Key facts
- 8 of 12 free plans explicitly forbid commercial use. Only Async allows it on its free plan.
- The cheapest paid plans that clearly allow commercial use are Voicemaker Starter ($5/mo), ElevenLabs Starter ($6/mo) and Uberduck Creator ($9.99/mo).
- 2 tools require you to credit them on free-plan content: ElevenLabs and Typecast. Checked on September 30, 2026.
"Commercial use" means anything you publish to earn money: a monetized YouTube video, a paid course, an ad, a podcast with sponsors, or work you deliver to a client. Most AI voice tools allow it, but only on paid plans, and a few attach conditions or leave the question open.
The table below shows, for each of the 14 subscription tools we track, what the official site says about commercial use.
License checker
| Tool | Free plan: commercial use | Free plan: attribution | Cheapest plan with commercial use | Commercial terms (paid plans) | Restrictions | Official terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Async | Yes | Not verified | Essentials, $19.99/mo (per seat) | Clear | Based only on the general Terms of Service wording ('You may utilize the Output for any lawful purpose'); the pricing page has no commercial-use row. | |
Descript | Unclear — see note | Not verified | None with clear terms | Unclear | The official site does not explicitly grant commercial use; the Terms only state that you own your Input and Output. | |
ElevenLabs | No | Required | Starter, $6/mo | Clear | — | |
Fish Audio | No | Not required | Plus, $15/mo | Clear | — | |
Listnr | No | Not verified | Individual, $19/mo (billed annually; monthly price not shown on official site) | Clear | — | |
MiniMax Audio | Unclear — see note | Not verified | None with clear terms | Unclear | Commercial-use wording on the plan cards mentions songs only, and the general Terms of Service contain a clause prohibiting commercial use of the Services. | |
Murf | No | Not verified | Creator, $29/mo | Clear | — | |
NaturalReader | Not verified | Not verified | Starter, $29/mo | Clear | — | |
Speechify | No | Not verified | Not verified | Clear | — | |
Synthesys | Not verified | Not verified | Starter, $29/mo | Clear | — | |
Typecast | No | Required | Basic, $5/mo (conditional) | Conditional: Basic, Plus; Clear: Pro, Business | Help center: YouTube creators earning AdSense revenue must use the Pro plan. | |
Uberduck | Not verified | Not verified | Creator, $9.99/mo | No: Starter; Clear: Creator, Pro | — | |
Voicemaker | No | Not verified | Starter, $5/mo | Clear | — | |
WellSaid Labs | No | Not verified | Starter, $19/mo | Clear | — |
Clear means the official site grants commercial use in plain words. Conditional means it grants it with stated limits. Unclear means the wording is missing or contradicts itself.
Why free plans almost never allow commercial use
8 of the 12 free plans we checked say explicitly that you can't use them commercially. For 3 more, the site doesn't say clearly either way. The one exception is Async, whose general terms let you use the output for any lawful purpose.
Treat a free plan as a way to test voices, not as a way to publish. If your video is monetized, budget for the cheapest paid plan. The pricing calculator shows what that costs for the minutes you need.
Commercial use with conditions
Some plans grant commercial use but limit it. At Typecast, the help center says YouTube creators earning AdSense revenue must be on the Pro plan ($29/mo), even though Basic ($5/mo) and Plus ($19/mo) include a commercial license. If you publish on YouTube with ads, plan on Pro.
Unclear terms: Descript and MiniMax Audio
When a vendor's wording is missing or contradicts itself, we mark the terms as unclear and don't count the plan as commercial.
- MiniMax Audio: the plan cards describe commercial rights for songs, while the general terms of service contain a clause against commercial use of the services. It's not clear whether voice output is covered.
- Descript: the terms say you own your input and output, but neither the terms nor the pricing page explicitly grant commercial use.
If you want to use either one commercially, ask the vendor in writing first.
Attribution requirements
On free plans, ElevenLabs and Typecast require you to credit them on anything you publish. Our records cover attribution on free plans only. For paid plans, read the terms linked in the table.
Shut down or pivoted
These tools no longer sell voice plans to new customers (LOVO and Play.ht shut down; Resemble AI pivoted). Here's the evidence we found.
- Play.ht: when we checked on September 30, 2026, play.ht and www.play.ht no longer resolved, and the certificate for app.play.ht had expired. We found no official announcement. See our Play.ht alternatives.
- LOVO (Genny): when we checked on September 30, 2026, every page on lovo.ai and genny.lovo.ai returned HTTP 402 (Payment Required). We found no official announcement.
- Resemble AI: on August 13, 2026, Resemble AI wrote that it is "supporting our existing customers but not taking new ones" and that it "won't be producing new ones for commercial sale," referring to its voice models.
APIs: check the terms yourself
We haven't verified the commercial terms of the 5 developer APIs we price (Amazon Polly, Azure AI Speech, Cartesia, Google Cloud Text-to-Speech and OpenAI TTS). Read each provider's service terms before you ship a product with them. Here are their official pricing pages:
- Amazon Polly: official pricing page
- Azure AI Speech: official pricing page
- Cartesia: official pricing page
- Google Cloud Text-to-Speech: official pricing page
- OpenAI TTS: official pricing page
We re-check every tool's license terms each month, and the date at the top of this page tells you when we last did.
FAQ
- Can I use ElevenLabs free for YouTube?
- Not for monetized videos. The ElevenLabs free plan is for non-commercial use only, and you have to credit ElevenLabs when you publish. The cheapest plan with a commercial license is Starter at $6/mo.
- Can I monetize AI voiceover on YouTube?
- Yes, on most paid plans. Check whether your plan grants commercial use and whether it adds conditions. Typecast includes a commercial license on Basic and Plus, but its help center says YouTube creators earning AdSense revenue must use the Pro plan ($29/mo).
- Do I have to credit the AI voice tool in my video?
- On free plans, ElevenLabs and Typecast require it. Our records cover attribution on free plans only, so for a paid plan, read the terms linked in the table above.
- Is MiniMax Audio free for commercial use?
- It's unclear. The plan cards mention commercial rights for songs, while the general terms of service contain a clause against commercial use of the services. We don't treat any MiniMax Audio plan as commercial until the vendor says so clearly.
- Can I use Descript AI voices commercially?
- It's unclear. Descript's terms say you own your input and output, but neither the terms nor the pricing page explicitly grant commercial use. Ask Descript before you rely on it for client work.
- Can I still use Play.ht voices?
- We don't think so. When we checked on September 30, 2026, play.ht no longer resolved and the certificate for app.play.ht had expired. We found no official announcement.
- Can I use text-to-speech APIs like Amazon Polly or OpenAI commercially?
- We haven't verified the commercial terms of any developer API. Read the provider's service terms before you ship. The section on APIs below links each provider's official pricing page.
How we checked
We read each tool's pricing page, help center and terms of service in a browser on September 30, 2026. Clear means the official site grants commercial use in plain words. Conditional means it grants it with stated limits. Unclear means the wording is missing or contradicts itself, so we don't count it as commercial. We re-verify every tool monthly. Read our full methodology.