To clone a voice with ElevenLabs, you need at least a Starter paid plan. Once you’re logged in, go to the Voices tab, click “Add new voice,” choose “Instant voice cloning,” upload clear audio samples, confirm you have permission to clone the voice, and click “Add voice.” The clone is ready to use within a few minutes.
Applies to: ElevenLabs web app | Last updated: May 27, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Voice cloning on ElevenLabs requires a paid plan — the Starter plan gives you Instant Voice Cloning, and the Creator plan unlocks Professional Voice Cloning.
- Instant Voice Cloning is quick and produces good results; Professional Voice Cloning takes longer but handles accents, tone, and emotional nuance much better.
- Your audio samples should be clean, natural speech with no background noise, music, or other voices — quality samples produce a noticeably better clone.
- ElevenLabs requires you to confirm you have the rights to clone the voice before processing — Professional Voice Cloning also requires a live mic verification.
- Once created, you can find your cloned voice in the Voices tab and use it in the Speech Synthesis tool or any ElevenLabs project.
Quick Steps
- Log in to ElevenLabs — make sure you have a Starter or Creator paid plan
- Go to the Voices tab in the left sidebar
- Click Add new voice
- Select Instant voice cloning (or Professional if you have Creator plan)
- Give the voice a name
- Upload clear audio samples of the voice (no background noise)
- Confirm you have the rights to clone the voice
- Click Add voice — the clone will be ready within minutes
What You Need Before You Start
ElevenLabs does not offer voice cloning on the free tier. You’ll need at least a Starter plan to access Instant Voice Cloning. If you want Professional Voice Cloning — which produces noticeably more natural results — you need a Creator plan or higher. Make sure you’re on a paid plan before following the steps below.
You’ll also need audio samples of the voice you want to clone. These should be clear, natural speech recordings with no background music, echo, or other voices mixed in. The better the source audio, the better the clone. A few minutes of varied speech is enough — you don’t need hours of material.
Important: You must have explicit permission or legal rights to clone any voice. Cloning a voice without consent violates ElevenLabs’ Terms of Service and may have legal consequences.
How to Clone a Voice with Instant Voice Cloning
Once you’re logged in to your ElevenLabs account, navigate to the Voices tab in the left sidebar. You’ll see all your existing voice profiles here. Click the Add new voice button to get started.
A menu will appear with a few options. Select Instant voice cloning — this is the quickest method and is available on the Starter plan. On the next screen, type a name for this voice clone. Pick something descriptive so you can identify it easily if you end up creating multiple profiles.
Click the upload area and add your audio samples. ElevenLabs accepts MP3, WAV, and M4A files. Aim for at least one minute of clear speech across your uploads — more diverse samples (different sentence types, varying pace) will produce a more versatile clone. Avoid recordings that have background noise, static, low volume, or overlapping voices, as these all degrade clone quality.
You can optionally add labels (age, accent, gender, use case) and a description to help you remember what this voice is for. Then check the box to confirm you have the legal rights to clone the voice. This is mandatory. Finally, click Add voice and ElevenLabs will start processing. Instant cloning typically takes just a few minutes.
How to Use Professional Voice Cloning
If you’re on the Creator plan, you have access to Professional Voice Cloning. The process starts the same way — go to Voices, click Add new voice, and this time select Professional voice cloning instead of Instant. Follow the same steps: name the voice, upload your samples, add optional labels and a description.
The key difference is an extra verification step. ElevenLabs will ask you to record a short script live through your microphone. This confirms that you’re personally present and consenting to the clone. Speak naturally and clearly into the mic — this recording is used for verification, not as a sample.
Professional Voice Cloning produces significantly better results, especially for accents, emotional range, and longer-form audio. If you tried Instant Voice Cloning and weren’t satisfied with how natural it sounded, switching to Professional is usually worth it.
Tips for Better Voice Clone Quality
The single biggest factor in clone quality is the audio you upload. Even the best AI model can’t work well with noisy or low-quality recordings. Here’s what makes a good sample:
- Use a quiet room — no fans, no background TV, no HVAC noise
- Avoid compression artifacts — if you’re recording from a phone call or a heavily compressed podcast, the quality will be lower than a direct recording
- Include variety — upload samples with different sentence lengths, pacing, and natural pauses; this trains the model on a broader range of speech patterns
- No music or sound effects — even subtle background music confuses the voice extraction
- One voice per file — don’t upload recordings with multiple speakers; ElevenLabs needs a clean, isolated voice signal
Tip: If you’re cloning your own voice for content creation, record a 2-3 minute natural monologue specifically for this purpose. Speaking naturally (rather than reading a script stiffly) usually produces better results.
More ElevenLabs Guides
If you’re just getting started with ElevenLabs or want to manage your account, these guides cover the essentials:
- How to delete a voice from ElevenLabs — remove cloned or custom voices you no longer need
- How to cancel your ElevenLabs subscription — step-by-step cancellation guide
- How to download your ElevenLabs invoice — find and save your billing receipts
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I clone someone else’s voice without their permission?
No. ElevenLabs requires you to confirm you have the legal rights to clone any voice before they’ll process your samples. Cloning a voice without explicit consent violates ElevenLabs’ Terms of Service and can have serious legal consequences depending on your jurisdiction. Only clone voices you own or have written permission to replicate.
What’s the difference between Instant and Professional Voice Cloning?
Instant Voice Cloning is faster and available on the Starter plan — it produces good results for most use cases. Professional Voice Cloning (Creator plan and above) requires a live mic verification step, takes slightly longer to process, but produces significantly more natural output, especially for accents, emotional inflection, and long-form narration.
How much audio do I need to clone a voice?
ElevenLabs recommends at least one minute of clear audio for Instant Voice Cloning. More is generally better — multiple varied samples (different sentences, pacing, tone) give the model more to work with. For Professional Voice Cloning, diversity in the samples matters more than sheer duration.
My cloned voice sounds robotic — what should I do?
The most common cause is low-quality or noisy source audio. Re-record or find cleaner samples and create a new voice clone. If you’re already on a Starter plan using Instant cloning, upgrading to Creator and using Professional Voice Cloning typically makes a noticeable difference. You can also try adjusting the Stability and Similarity sliders when generating speech to fine-tune the output.
Can I update a cloned voice with new samples?
ElevenLabs does not currently allow adding samples to an existing voice clone after creation. If you want to improve it, delete the existing clone and create a new one with your updated or expanded sample set. Your Voices tab will still show the new clone immediately after processing.
