ElevenLabs Creator vs Starter Plan: How I Save $72/Year
You need Creator to create your Professional Voice Clone. You don’t need it after that. Here’s the sequence I use and what you keep when you downgrade.
Quick Answer
Sign up for Creator ($11 first month with discount), create and publish your Professional Voice Clone, then downgrade to Starter ($5/month). Your voice stays live, keeps earning, and payouts continue unchanged. You save $72/year. The only things you lose are the ability to create new voice clones and your character allowance drops from 100,000 to 30,000/month.
New to ElevenLabs? Get 50% off your first month* – $11 instead of $22. Same creator tools, half the price.
Here’s the part most guides skip: you need the Creator plan to create your Professional Voice Clone. But once it’s published and earning, you can downgrade to Starter and your voice stays live. I’ve been doing this since my voice published. It works – it’s how the platform is designed.
The Sequence
Sign up for Creator Plan ($11/month with discount)
This is the only plan that lets you create a Professional Voice Clone. You need it for this step. Use the 50% discount link* to get it at $11 instead of $22.
Create your Professional Voice Clone and publish it
Upload your audio, fill out voice details, verify ownership, enable sharing, publish to the Voice Library. Wait for ElevenLabs approval (1-2 days).
Once live and earning, downgrade to Starter ($5/month)
Account > Subscription > Change Plan > Starter. Your published voice stays in the library, keeps earning, keeps processing payouts. Nothing changes except your bill.
What I’ve been doing
I signed up for Creator, created my voice, published it, and downgraded to Starter. My voice has earned €263.42 in 3 months on the Starter plan. Full monetization, full payouts, voice stays discoverable. The only thing I lost is the ability to create new Professional Voice Clones – which I already made.
What You Keep vs What You Lose
The character limit drop only matters if you use ElevenLabs to generate audio for your own projects. For passive income from the Voice Library, 30,000 characters is more than enough for testing your voice occasionally.
The Math
Staying on Creator
$132/year
$11/month x 12
Downgrade to Starter
$60/year
$11 first month + $5/month x 11
You save $72/year. Same earnings. Same voice. Just a smaller bill.
When to Stay on Creator
Two reasons to keep paying $11/month:
- You want to create another Professional Voice Clone. Each new PVC requires Creator. If you’re building a second or third voice, you’ll need Creator again for that account (or that month). Once the new voice is published, downgrade again.
- You regularly hit 30,000 characters/month for your own content. If you use ElevenLabs to generate audio for your own videos, podcasts, or projects and you consistently need more than 30,000 characters, Creator’s 100,000 limit is worth the extra $6/month.
For most people who just want their voice earning passively in the library, Starter is all you need after the initial setup.
For multiple voices: Each ElevenLabs account gets one Professional Voice Clone slot. For additional voices, create separate accounts with different emails – each gets its own slot. Same equipment, $11 first month per account, then downgrade each to $5/month.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I downgrade from ElevenLabs Creator to Starter after publishing my voice?
Yes. Once your Professional Voice Clone is published and live in the Voice Library, you can downgrade to Starter. Your voice stays live, keeps earning, and payouts continue. Go to Account > Subscription > Change Plan > Starter.
What happens to my ElevenLabs voice when I downgrade to Starter?
Your published voice stays in the Voice Library, remains discoverable in search, keeps earning from usage, and payouts continue as normal. The only things you lose are the ability to create new Professional Voice Clones and your monthly character limit drops from 100,000 to 30,000.
How much does ElevenLabs Starter cost compared to Creator?
Starter is $5/month. Creator is $22/month (or $11/month with the 50% first-month discount). If you use Creator for one month to create your voice then downgrade, your annual cost is around $66 versus $132/year if you stay on Creator at the discounted rate — a saving of roughly $72/year.
Do I need the ElevenLabs Creator plan to earn money from the Voice Library?
You need Creator to create a Professional Voice Clone, but not to earn from it afterwards. Once your voice is published, Starter is enough. Full monetization, full payouts, voice stays discoverable — just a smaller monthly bill.
How do I create multiple voices on ElevenLabs?
Each ElevenLabs account gets one Professional Voice Clone slot. For additional voices, create separate accounts with different email addresses. Each account gets its own slot — sign up for Creator, create the voice, publish it, then downgrade each account to Starter at $5/month.
Want the full setup process?
The complete guide covers account setup, the downgrade sequence, equipment, recording, editing, category positioning, and monetization – from signup to first payout.
See the guides →Related Articles
*This article contains affiliate links. If you sign up through one of these links, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. The price you pay stays the same. I only recommend tools I actually use.
Andy from KindredView
I test creator monetization strategies and write about what actually works. No hype – just the numbers.