How many characters do you get per ElevenLabs plan?
On the standard Multilingual v2 model, 1 credit equals 1 character, so monthly credits equal characters. As of 2026-07: Free 10,000, Starter 30,000, Creator 100,000, Pro 500,000, Scale 2,000,000, and Business 11,000,000 characters per month. Using Flash or Turbo models (0.5 credit/character) roughly doubles those totals.
Why — the first-principles explanation
ElevenLabs used to advertise 'characters,' and now advertises 'credits,' but on the standard model they're the same thing: 1 credit = 1 character. So each plan's credit number is also its character number. That's why you can read the price ladder as a character ladder, from 10,000 characters free up to 11,000,000 on Business.
The reason characters map cleanly to minutes is that human speech runs around 1,000 characters per minute. So 30,000 characters (Starter) is about 30 minutes, and 500,000 (Pro) is roughly 500 minutes. This lets you pick a plan by estimating your monthly script length rather than guessing.
The twist is model choice. On the efficient Flash and Turbo models, each character costs only 0.5 credit, so a fixed credit pool stretches to about twice as many characters. In other words, Starter's 30,000 credits could produce roughly 60,000 characters of Flash audio. If your project doesn't need the very highest fidelity, choosing the lighter model is the simplest way to get more words per dollar.
An example that makes it click
Imagine each plan is a monthly book of movie tickets, where one ticket admits one letter of your script. The free book has 10,000 tickets, Starter has 30,000, and Business has a whopping 11 million. Since a minute of narration is about 1,000 letters, the Starter book covers roughly a 30-minute film. Here's the deal: some showings (the Flash and Turbo voices) only cost half a ticket per letter, so the same book gets you into twice as many seats. Pick those cheaper showings and your ticket book lasts much longer.
How to do it
- Read your plan's credit number as characters, on Multilingual v2, 1 credit = 1 character.
- Estimate minutes: divide characters by ~1,000 (Starter's 30,000 ≈ 30 minutes).
- Count your monthly script length to pick the right tier.
- Switch to Flash or Turbo models to roughly double your character output at the same credit cost.
- Upgrade a tier if your scripts consistently exceed your plan's character pool.
Key facts
- On Multilingual v2, 1 credit = 1 character, so credits equal characters.
- Monthly characters: Free 10,000, Starter 30,000, Creator 100,000.
- Monthly characters: Pro 500,000, Scale 2,000,000, Business 11,000,000.
- About 1,000 characters equal one minute of audio.
- Flash and Turbo models cost 0.5 credit/character, roughly doubling character output.
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How many characters do you get per ElevenLabs plan? Here's the simple key: on the standard Multilingual v2 model, one credit equals one character, so a plan's credit number is also its character number. As of July 2026, the free plan gives 10,000 characters a month. Starter gives 30,000, Creator 100,000, Pro 500,000, Scale two million, and Business a huge eleven million. To picture that in time, a minute of speech is about a thousand characters, so Starter's 30,000 is around thirty minutes of audio. And there's a bonus: the faster Flash and Turbo models cost only half a credit per character, so the same plan stretches to roughly twice as many characters. If you don't need the absolute highest fidelity, that's the easiest way to get more words out of your plan.
What authoritative sources say
People also ask
Is a credit the same as a character?
On the Multilingual v2 model, yes, 1 credit equals 1 character. On Flash and Turbo, each character costs about 0.5 credit.
How many characters is the free plan?
10,000 characters per month, about 10 minutes of audio.
How do characters convert to minutes?
Roughly 1,000 characters make one minute of speech. So 100,000 characters (Creator) is about 100 minutes.
How can I get more characters without upgrading?
Use the Flash or Turbo models. At 0.5 credit per character, your plan stretches to roughly double the characters.