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AI Voice Cloning Commercial Rights Explained

Understand AI voice cloning commercial rights: evaluate Right of Publicity, FTC rules, EU AI Act disclosures, ElevenLabs and Cartesia licensing terms, and mandatory biometric voice consent releases.

Updated

In short

Commercial use of a cloned voice needs two separate permissions, and a paid plan supplies only one. The vendor's plan license lets you use the audio you generate commercially: at ElevenLabs that starts on Starter at $6 a month, and most free plans are non-commercial (the free API tiers of Speechify, and of Unreal Speech with a credit link, are exceptions). The right to use the voice itself comes from the person it belongs to: for your own voice that is you; for anyone else it takes their consent, best kept signed and specific, and for a deceased performer in California, the estate's. Then check what license the vendor keeps over the voice you upload.

On this page4

Commercial use starts at $5 to $29 a month, or free on Speechify's API

Vendor

First plan with commercial use

Cloning on that plan

Free plan

ElevenLabs

Starter, $6 a month

Instant cloning; Professional cloning from Creator ($22)

non-commercial; published audio must name "elevenlabs.io" or "11.ai" in the title

Cartesia

Pro, $5 a month

Instant cloning; Professional cloning from Startup ($49)

non-commercial under its terms

HeyGen

Creator, $29 a month

voice cloning; a professional voice clone is a $29-a-month add-on per voice

personal, non-commercial and internal evaluation only

Speechify

Studio Starter, $19 a month; the API's Free tier

API cloning from Starter ($10); Studio cards list none

Studio Free has no commercial rights; API Free allows commercial use; the Reader app is not for commercial use

Murf

Studio Creator, $19 a month billed yearly

no self-serve cloning; professional cloning is Enterprise

no commercial rights

Listnr

Individual, $19 a month

voice cloning included

no commercial rights

Check prices on fish.audio

Outside Speechify's free API tier, commercial rights start on each vendor's cheapest paid plan, but two details change the answer. ElevenLabs says content made during a paid subscription stays usable commercially indefinitely, while content made outside one never can be, and output from its beta features is excluded. Murf's Studio plans carry commercial rights, but its Business License starts on the Business plan and full broadcasting rights are an Enterprise add-on, so check which license an ad or broadcast needs.

You own the output; the vendor keeps a license to the voice

AI music follows the same paid-plan line: Suno grants commercial use only for songs downloaded on Pro or Premier, and its Free plan's trial downloads are for personal use (Suno pricing and credits by plan).

Vendors generally give you the output and keep broad rights over what you upload. ElevenLabs' terms say you retain all rights in your output, but grant ElevenLabs a perpetual, irrevocable license to your content and voice models to provide and improve its services; it promises not to commercialize your voice on a standalone basis without permission, and you can opt out of training only for future uses. Its clones cannot be exported as files. HeyGen gives paid users the rights in their output and takes a license that covers training its models. Cartesia does not claim ownership of outputs, may train on inputs and outputs unless agreed otherwise, and does not warrant that you legally own the output. Murf allows commercial use of its voices but not resale or using them to train AI models.

Earning from a voice: ElevenLabs' Voice Library

Owners of a Professional Voice Clone can share it in ElevenLabs' Voice Library and earn cash when paid users generate with it; use by free users earns nothing. Sharers choose a notice period of 30 days to two years before a removal takes effect, and ElevenLabs pays more for longer commitments. A voice shared with no notice period disappears at once for everyone who saved it, which matters to anyone building a product on a library voice.

ElevenLabs, OpenAI and the EU each require disclosure

A commercial license does not remove disclosure rules. ElevenLabs' policy requires telling people they are hearing AI where the law requires it or where silence would materially mislead them, and OpenAI's speech guide requires telling users the voice is AI-generated. In the EU, Article 50 of the AI Act has required businesses publishing deepfakes, cloned voices of real people included, to disclose them since August 2, 2026.

Plans and prices

Tools in this guide

  • ElevenLabs
    Free tier
    Free10k credits/mo; about 10 TTS UI minutes; 3 Studio projects
    Cheapest paid plan
    $6/moStarter30k credits/mo; about 30 TTS UI minutes; 20 Studio projects
    Top plan
    $99/moPro
    Last checked
    Prices checked
  • Cartesia
    Free tier
    Free20K credits/mo; ~27 TTS min; ~1h51m STT; 1 phone number; $1 prepaid agents
    Cheapest paid plan
    $5/mo + usageProSee plans on the tool page
    Top plan
    Same as cheapest
    Last checked
    Prices checked
  • Speechify
    Free tier
    FreeBasic TTS; 10 robotic voices; up to 1.5x speed
    Cheapest paid plan
    $19/moStudio Starter7,200 Studio credits/mo (1 credit per second of voiceover, about 2 hours); stock assets; commercial usage rights
    Top plan
    $49/moStudio Creator
    Last checked
    Prices checked
  • Murf AI
    Free tier
    Free10 mins voice generation; 10 projects; 1 editor; no downloads or commercial rights
    Cheapest paid plan
    $29/mo + usageCreator24 hrs voice generation/year billed annually; 100 projects; 1 editor
    Top plan
    Same as cheapest
    Last checked
    Prices checked
  • HeyGen
    Free tier
    Free3 videos/mo; videos up to 1 min; Avatar IV access; 1 custom video avatar
    Cheapest paid plan
    $29/mo + usageCreator600 credits/mo; 30-min videos; 1080p exports
    Top plan
    $49/mo + usagePro
    Last checked
    Prices checked
  • Listnr AI
    Free tier
    Free1,000 credits to start; preview voice library; limited downloads; no credit card
    Cheapest paid plan
    $19/moIndividual20,000 credits/mo; ~2 hrs voice generation; 50 videos/mo; 50GB storage
    Top plan
    Same as cheapest
    Last checked
    Prices checked

Checked in the last 7 days

Edited byRick Finch

Official sources

Editorial guidance grounded in official product sources.

Show all 20 sources

FAQ

Common questions

Does a paid AI voice plan automatically allow commercial voice cloning?

No. A paid plan may allow commercial use of generated output under the vendor's terms, but it does not automatically clear the source recording, the speaker's voice rights, publicity rights, client approvals, platform rules, or regulated-use restrictions.

What consent should I collect before cloning another person's voice?

Collect written consent that names synthetic voice cloning, new-script generation, commercial distribution, allowed channels, duration, territory, revocation, model storage, API or team access, and whether the voice can be modified, shared, or reused.

Can I clone my own voice and use it in client work?

Usually this is lower risk, but you still need to verify the vendor's commercial-use terms, the source recording rights, the client contract, disclosure expectations, and whether the output can be reused beyond the specific project.

Why do app subscriptions and API routes need separate approval?

The app route often governs human-edited projects, while the API route adds keys, logs, model identifiers, automated generation, rate limits, and production distribution. Rights, records, and budget ownership should match the route actually used.

When should synthetic voice disclosure be added?

Add disclosure when the audience could reasonably believe the real person personally said or endorsed the message, or when a platform, ad policy, customer-call rule, client contract, or law requires synthetic-media labeling.

What proof should a team keep after publishing cloned voice audio?

Keep the source recording permission, speaker consent, vendor terms or plan evidence, approved script, generation route, output files, disclosure decision, publication URL, and API logs or project history needed to verify the use later.

Next steps

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