ElevenLabs Review 2025: YouTube-Tested + Best Voices

I’m a content creator and freelance software developer, and ElevenLabs is my go-to for AI voiceovers on client work and side projects.

Before I could recommend it to clients, I wanted proof. So I created a completely new YouTube channel and used only ElevenLabs for the narration.

In about three months, that little test hit 6k+ subscribers and roughly 8 million views (mix of long videos and shorts). My total spend: $11 on the Creator plan.

It was a small, scrappy experiment—and it worked. Then client work took over, and I let the channel rest. Shorts don’t pay much, and I enjoy writing more, so if I try again I’ll lean into longer videos.

Takeaway: with a good script and ElevenLabs, you can make videos people actually watch. That’s why most faceless/AI channels run on ElevenLabs and grow by being consistent.

What follows is a practical, no-hype ElevenLabs review: what worked for me, what didn’t, which ElevenLabs voices and settings are best.

Let’s start with voice samples.

Best ElevenLabs Voices

I looked through Reddit threads, Facebook groups, and YouTube to find the most‑loved ElevenLabs voices. Here are my favorites—with samples.

Most are Professional Voice Clones (PVCs) in the ElevenLabs Voice Library, created and uploaded by real human voice artists. They sound much more natural and unique than generic AI voices, and the artists earn royalties!

Test these voices in ElevenLabs while you listen to my samples.

1. Natasha - Valley Girl

The Natasha - Valley girl is the most popular ElevenLabs voice for social media and YouTube reels - with over 6B chars generated.

This is because it sounds very energetic and immediately grabs your attention.

Note: If you are unable to find Natasha Valley Girl voice by name, you can find it by searching using its unique ID: uxKr2vlA4hYgXZR1oPRT

More social media voices:

2. Aaron - AI and Tech News

Aaron voice is the most popular ElevenLabs voice among AI and tech YouTubers.

Cassidy is another American AI voice which works great for Podcasts.

Countdown Casey is a good voice for Top 10 and countdown style videos, like those of WatchMojo.

3. Bill L. Oxley and David - British Storyteller

For audiobooks, Bill L.Oxley and David - British Storyteller voices are highly effective for long form content. They both offer a sophisticated and engaging narrative tone.

Amelia is also an amazing voice for audiobooks. She sounds a little like Hermoine from Harry Potter series!

David Castlemore is great for YouTube channels on mystery, thriller, and storytelling niches.

4. Josh, Adam, Bella for General Narration

Josh is a remarkably adaptable voice, frequently chosen by documentary and motivational channels on YouTube for his clear and authoritative delivery.

Bella, Jordan, Bill (legacy voice), and, Adam are suited for stable and calm narration.

5. Erin - Meditation Guide

Erin is the best ElevenLabs voice for meditation videos.

Some more community voices:

ElevenLabs also provides a wide selection of multilingual voices, including language collections of community voices.

Here’s a Hindi AI voice sample:

Key Features

1. AI Voiceover & Voice Changer

ElevenLabs’ best feature is their text to speech. Their AI can turn any text into natural speech that closely resembles human voices.

Best ElevenLabs Voice Model

ElevenLabs has multiple AI voice models to choose from:

• ElevenLabs V3: Latest model. It’s new so can have occasional bugs.
• Eleven Multilingual V2: Realistic AI voices with emotion and natural pauses in 29 languages. Best for stability.
• Eleven Flash V2.5: 50% cheaper, still decent quality.

I suggest Eleven V2 model for most people as it gives the best balance of quality and stability.

Best ElevenLabs Settings

You can control how the AI voice output by using the 3 levers on the right side bar:

• Stability governs consistency across generations; for long passages, keep it around 35–40% to avoid monotonous delivery, but avoid dropping below 30% to prevent instability.
• Similarity adjusts how closely the output matches the target speaker and enhances clarity; keep it at or below about 75–80%, since pushing higher can introduce artifacts.
• Style exaggeration increases expressiveness; lower settings generate faster, while higher settings add drama. For most narrations, 10–50% works well.

Extreme combinations (maximum Similarity, 0 Stability, 100% Style) can sound striking on short lines but tend to fail on longer scripts.

Voice Library

The voice library includes over 40 pre-made/default voices in different accents (American, British, Indian, Australian, African) plus access to 10,000+ community-created voices in the voice library.

These can be filtered by category, gender, age, accent, or specific use cases like conversational, social media, advertisements, or storytelling.

Each voice comes with descriptive tags like calm, pleasant, childish, gentle, deep, or intense.

Note: Before adding a voice from library, pay attention to credits it consumes. Some high quality voices have 2x or 3x multipliers. Similarly, some professional voice clones have expiry time after which they will get deleted.

Create or clone voices

You can also create your own voice from text prompts or clone a voice from uploaded audio.

All the voices you create, clone, or add from voice library can be found in My Voices tab.

Voice Changer (Speech to Speech)

Here, you pick a target voice (for example, a female voice), record yourself speaking naturally, and convert your recording into the target voice while preserving your cadence and phrasing.

This is useful for YouTube or when you want a different narration style with your delivery.

2. AI Voice Cloning

If you’ve ever been sick on recording day, stuck in a noisy house, or re‑doing takes to keep a brand voice consistent, an AI clone starts to make sense. It gives you a voice that doesn’t tire, sounds the same every time, and can record from anywhere—without disturbing anyone.

How to clone your voice in ElevenLabs

Follow this video guide to use the voice cloning feature:

1. Upload a few minutes of clean, varied speech (your files stay private by default)
2. Name the voice and confirm you have the rights to use it
3. Choose cloning type:

• Instant Voice Cloning: generate a voice clone immediately
• Professional Voice Cloning: higher fidelity with human review; takes longer (often days), better for client‑facing or long‑term use

If you are on Creator plan or above, you can also monetize your professional voice clone and earn passive-income when people use it.

3. AI Dubbing

Major content creators maintain channels in multiple languages because limiting content to one language significantly reduces potential reach and revenue.

With ElevenLabs, you can automatically dub any video into 29 languages including French, German, Hindi, Arabic, Korean, and Italian, maintaining the original voice tone, style, and pacing in the translated content.

ElevenLabs detects multiple speakers, mimics their original voices, and can import content directly from YouTube.

The process is straightforward:

• Upload your video/audio or provide a link from YouTube, TikTok, X, or Vimeo
• Select your source and target languages
• The system handles voice translation, speaker detection, and audio dubbing

For businesses, this means faster market entry, reduced localization costs, and consistent brand voice across all regions. Educational institutions can make content accessible to international students without recreating materials from scratch.

4. AI Sound Effects

The sound effects generator creates audio elements directly from text descriptions. You describe what you need—“rain on a tin roof,” “spaceship door opening,” or “children playing”—and the system generates four options to choose from.

This tool now includes:

• Short instrumental tracks (up to 22 seconds)
• Immersive soundscapes for setting scenes
• Character voices and custom dialogues

The partnership with Shutterstock has improved the variety and quality of sounds available. However, I did not find this feature very useful as the output quality of SFX generated by ElevenLabs is subpar compared to studio recorded SFX.

5. AI Voice Agents

ElevenLabs Agents Platform allows you to build customized, conversational voice agents. These agents can be powered by Gemini, OpenAI, or Claude and can use RAG.

Agents time is included in every plan (you also get 15 mins pf agents time on free plan). You just have to switch the mode from “Creative” to “Agents” in top left menu.

6. Studio: Long-Form Speech Editor

Long-form audio production traditionally requires significant studio time and post-production work. Studio helps out here.

With Studio, you can:

• Import scripts via URL, document, or text paste
• Assign different voices to different characters or sections
• Add up to 200 chapters per project
• Customize voice quality and pronunciation for specific words
• Use auto-assignment of voices to speed up production

Free users can create up to three projects before upgrading, sufficient for evaluating the system’s capabilities.

The finished product can be downloaded as an MP3 file, ready for distribution.

For publishers, this means faster audiobook production at lower costs. For educational institutions, it enables the creation of accessible learning materials. For businesses, it facilitates the production of training materials and internal communications.

Pricing

ElevenLabs offers tiered pricing starting with a free plan. Paid plans start from just USD 5 and scale up to enterprise solutions costing $1k+ and supporting huge volumes.

Always refer to the official ElevenLabs website for latest pricing as their pricing and offers can change.

User Reviews/Reputation

I asked my readers as well as spent some time reading through ElevenLabs reviews on Reddit, Trustpilot and G2 to compare with my own experience.

Likes

• Voice Quality: Users consistently praise how natural the voices sound. I agree - the voices have a human quality that works well for narratives and video content.
• Simple Interface: Many people mentioned learning the platform quickly without technical knowledge. The controls and options are straightforward.
• Voice Cloning: Both myself and other reviewers were impressed by how the system can reproduce a voice from minimal audio samples.
• Multilingual: With over 32 languages and diverse accents, it handles international projects well and can be used in business settings reliably.
• AI Dubbing in 29 languages: Users working with multilingual content found this feature especially useful for reaching international audiences.
• Time Savings: YouTubers, content creators, and media professionals save a lot of time with ElevenLabs.
• Support Team: Customer service experiences were mostly positive. When I had questions, I received responses within 24 hours.

Dislikes

• Cost Concerns: Credits get used quickly with longer projects, and unused credits don’t roll over.
• Technical Issues: Some users reported occasional glitches - failed exports, audio volume inconsistencies, or unwanted background noise. I did not encounter these issues.
• Pronunciation: Getting certain words pronounced correctly can be difficult.

On the whole, ElevenLabs delivers what it promises - realistic voices that save creators enormous amounts of time despite some occasional glitches. Professional content creators can trust ElevenLabs over alternatives for its superior AI voice models and diverse collection of voices.

Making Money with ElevenLabs

You can make money with ElevenLabs by using its text-to-speech and voice cloning tools in a few simple ways:

• Monetize your Cloned Voice: Record 30 minutes of your voice, upload it to the Voice Library, and share it. You earn cash or credits whenever someone uses it—passive income while you sleep.
• Create Content: Use the AI voice generator to produce voiceovers for audiobooks, podcasts, or YouTube videos, then sell or monetize them.
• Faceless YouTube Channels: Many YouTubers are using ElevenLabs to create YouTube videos in niches like history, documentaries, true crime, fantasy lore, etc and making a significant monthly income.
• Translate Videos: Dub your existing videos into multiple languages with AI dubbing and reach a global audience to boost views and ad revenue.
• Offer Freelance Services: Make custom AI voices or transcriptions (with Scribe) for clients, like businesses needing narration or subtitles.

Start with the free plan, experiment, and scale up as you go!

Can I Monetize ElevenLabs on YouTube?

Yes, YouTube channels using ElevenLabs for voiceovers can be monetized if the content is original, valuable, and follows YouTube’s guidelines, including being transparent about AI use.

I was able to monetize a faceless fantasy/lore YouTube channel using ElevenLabs and have reached 6k subscribers so far.

Make sure to follow these guidelines:

• Content Value and Originality: The content needs to be valuable and engaging for viewers, not just basic AI-generated reading. It should offer something unique or interesting.
• Adherence to YouTube’s Guidelines: The content must strictly follow YouTube’s guidelines on originality, creativity, and transparency. This means it can’t be clickbait, spam, or plagiarized.
• Transparency: You need to be transparent about using AI-generated voices in your content. Read YouTube blog on AI
• Copyright: The content should not be based on recognizably copyrighted material generated by AI.

Here is complete list of YouTube monetization rules.

Summary