The ElevenLabs “High Quality” badge is awarded to voices that pass an additional audio quality review. It appears on your voice card in the library and signals to users that this voice was recorded professionally.

The question most new creators ask: “Do I need the badge before I start earning?” I see this constantly in forums and Discord. The anxiety is understandable – ElevenLabs makes the badge visually prominent and the review process is separate from the basic voice upload approval.

My Experience Without the Badge

I don’t have the High Quality badge. My first voice got rejected for it because of plosives and mouth sounds (I was using a Blue Yeti without a pop filter). My second voice I haven’t applied for yet – I’ve been focused on getting it earning first.

That second voice – without the badge – has earned €263.42 in 3 months. January €76.50, February €109.16, March is on pace to be even higher.

Would I earn more with the badge? I think so, yes. When I browse the library myself, I try the badged voices first. They look more trustworthy. Users comparing options have every reason to pick a badged voice over a non-badged one. But the badge didn’t stop me from earning.

What Got Me Earning Without It

Three things made the difference for my unbadged voice:

• Professional equipment – the AT2020 XLR setup (€160) produces clean enough audio that users don’t notice the missing badge when they actually listen to the preview
• Good editing – the 6-step Audacity workflow (noise reduction, truncate silence, normalize, compress, amplify, loudness check) makes the recording sound polished
• Category choice – I didn’t throw my voice into Narration where 145 of the top 300 voices compete. Picking a category with less crowding at the top meant my voice got discovered faster

The badge would boost things further. But these three got me to €100+/month on their own.

When the Badge Matters Most

Two situations where the badge makes the biggest difference:

1. You’re in a crowded category. If you’re in Narration or Conversational where dozens of voices are visible on the same page, the badge is one of the few things that makes a user click your voice instead of the next one. In a less crowded category, you have fewer voices competing for attention – the badge still helps, but it’s less make-or-break.

2. You’re already earning and want to scale. Once you have some usage logged and steady income, the badge can meaningfully boost your visibility and trust. At that point, every percentage of extra clicks compounds into real money. This is where I am now – pursuing the badge as an upgrade, not waiting for it as a prerequisite.

How to Request the Badge

Once your voice is published and live, email [email protected]:

Response time is usually 1-3 days. If denied, improve your audio quality and try again later. My first voice got denied because of plosives – a problem that would have been fixed with an €8 pop filter.

What they’re checking for (based on what I’ve seen discussed in forums): low background noise, no room echo, consistent volume, clear natural speech, and enough audio to properly evaluate. Professional equipment + proper editing + a quiet room covers all of this.

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