Best AI Music Generators: 6 Tools Compared for 2026
Summary
The best AI music generators in 2026 split by job. ElevenLabs leads for vocal-led tracks with cleared commercial rights, Suno has the deepest song editor, Stable Audio fits inside a DAW, Soundraw covers licensed beds, AIVA exports MIDI and Mubert serves developers. We compared live pricing, licensing and export terms for six tools and left Udio out because downloads are disabled on every plan.
Six AI music generators compared on vocals, commercial licensing, export and price, from an audio-first desk, plus why Udio is left out for now.
At-a-glance
| ElevenLabs | Suno | Stable Audio | Soundraw | AIVA | Mubert | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vocals and lyrics | Sung vocals from lyrics, reusable Vocals, multilingual lyrics | Full songs with sung vocals, record or upload your own voice | Mostly instrumental, vocal type is a prompt field | Instrumental tracks only, no sung lyrics | Composition focus, MIDI and audio export, no lyric workflow shown | Instrumental text-to-music and image-to-music |
| Cheapest plan with commercial rights | Starter plan, 30k credits (about 33 min of music) | Pro, $8/mo billed yearly ($10 monthly) | Solo, $12/mo | Creator, $11.04/mo billed yearly ($16.99 monthly) | Standard, €11/mo billed yearly, limited monetization | Pro, $32.49/mo billed yearly ($39 monthly) |
| Licensing posture | Cleared for broad commercial use, rights vary by tier | v6 built with Warner, BMG and Believe, commercial on paid plans | Commercial license on every paid plan, enterprise tier above $1M revenue | Trained only on in-house music, worldwide license | Copyright stays with AIVA until the Pro plan | No streaming-platform release or Content ID registration |
| Export and editing | Inpainting of single sections, text-based edits, Studio | Stem separation, section editing, Suno Studio on Premier | Web app plus DAW plugin for Logic, Ableton and Pro Tools | MP3 on Creator, WAV and stems from Artist Pro ($35.99/mo) | MP3 and MIDI on free, WAV on Pro, piano-roll editing | WAV on paid plans, full track editor on Pro and Business |
| Output length | Long-form composition, minutes billed at 900 credits each | Upload up to 8 min on Free, 30 min on paid plans | Up to 6 minutes per generation | Length chosen per track, edited in the browser | 3 min free, 5 min Standard, 5 min 30 s Pro | Up to 25 min on paid plans |
ElevenLabs
- Sung vocals, rap and mid-track genre transitions on the product page
- Section-level inpainting regenerates a bridge without touching the chorus
- Music commercial use is included from the Starter plan
- Same credit pool as text to speech, dubbing and voice design
- Music costs 900 credits per minute, so volume work drains the pool fast
- Commercial rights vary by subscription tier, so read the Terms first
- Trustpilot sits at 3.1 out of 5 on 1,180 reviews, mostly billing complaints
The most coherent option if vocals, licensing and voice work sit in one workflow.
Suno
- v6 and v6-wild models on paid plans, v6-mini free
- Record or upload your own voice and build custom models on Pro and Premier
- Suno Studio adds MIDI, effects and automation on Premier
- Three stem separation types on Premier
- Pro caps downloads at 20 a month and Premier at 60, extra ones cost money
- Free plan has no commercial rights and no stem separation
- Trustpilot sits at 1.7 out of 5 on 187 reviews, so check billing terms
The strongest song-making toolkit, with download caps you have to budget for.
Stable Audio
- DAW plugin works in Logic, Ableton and Pro Tools
- Generations run up to 6 minutes on every paid plan
- Commercial license from the $12 Solo plan
- Prompt fields for track type, genre, instruments and BPM
- Homepage prompts lean instrumental, with no lyric-to-song workflow shown
- Credit-based plans, so multi-track generations use up a month quickly
- No customer review profile to check on Trustpilot
Best fit for producers who treat generation as a sketch tool inside the DAW.
Soundraw
- Trained only on music produced in-house, which simplifies licensing
- Unlimited downloads on the Creator plan
- WAV and separate stems for drums, bass, melody and FX from Artist Pro
- Browser editor changes energy and instruments per section
- No sung vocals, so it covers beds and beats rather than songs
- Creator exports MP3 only, stems start at $35.99 per month
- Trustpilot sits at 2.0 out of 5, though on only 33 reviews
A safe pick for video and podcast beds, not a song generator.
AIVA
- 250+ styles and custom style models from audio or MIDI influences
- MIDI export on every plan, WAV on Pro
- Pro plan gives you full copyright of your compositions
- Piano-roll editing of generated tracks
- Free and Standard plans leave copyright with AIVA
- Standard limits monetization to YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram
- Only three Trustpilot reviews, so there is no meaningful rating
Pick it for scoring and arrangement work, and budget for Pro if you monetize.
Mubert
- Text-to-music and image-to-music on one platform
- Tracks up to 25 minutes on paid plans
- WAV export and a copyright checker on paid tiers
- Music API for apps and agencies
- Tracks cannot be released on Spotify or registered in Content ID
- Creator plan is non-commercial, so commercial work starts at Pro
- Trustpilot sits at 1.7 out of 5 on 24 reviews
Built for background audio inside products, not for releasing songs.
Verdict
ElevenLabs takes first place on our criteria because vocals, licensing and voice tooling sit in one account. Suno is the better pick if you want the deepest song editor and can live with download caps. Stable Audio, Soundraw, AIVA and Mubert each win a narrower job: DAW sketching, safe background beds, MIDI scoring and API soundtracks.
How we tested
This is a desk comparison, not a listening test. On 14 October 2026 we read each vendor's live homepage and pricing page, captured a screenshot of every product, and recorded plan limits, licensing statements and export formats exactly as published. We checked Trustpilot for each product and report the score and review count as a signal, not a verdict, because the complaints are mostly about billing rather than audio. Scores from 0 to 5 are editorial and weigh four things: vocal capability, licensing clarity, export and editing depth, and price at the first commercial tier. We did not run a blind listening panel for this edition, so we make no claim about which model sounds best. Pricing changes often, so confirm on the vendor page before you subscribe.
Verdict. ElevenLabs is our pick among the best AI music generators for vocal-led work: sung vocals, section-level inpainting and a commercial-use tier from Starter, all next to the voice tools many of you already use. Suno beats it on song-editing depth. Stable Audio, Soundraw, AIVA and Mubert each fit a narrower job, and Udio is out of this list until downloads return.
How we compared these tools
We are an audio-first publication, so we read this category the way a producer would. The question is not which tool makes the loudest demo. It is whether you can export the file, own it, and put it in a session without a licensing surprise six months later.
That is why the comparison table leads with vocals, the cheapest commercial plan, licensing posture, export and length. Every number in this article comes from a vendor page we captured on 14 October 2026. Nothing here is a listening-panel result.
Session note: price pages in this category change monthly. Suno changed its download rules and retired older models inside a single September, so treat any figure as a snapshot.
Why Udio is not in the ranking
Udio disabled downloads of audio, video and stems on every plan after its October 2025 settlement with Universal Music Group. The product page still sells plans at $10 and $30 a month, with 2,400 and 6,000 credits. Without export, you cannot move a track into a DAW, a video timeline or a distributor.
That is a workflow blocker, not a quality verdict. If Udio's licensed service restores downloads, it belongs back in a vocal-focused comparison. Until then, we would not recommend paying for a tool whose output stays inside its own player.
What changed in AI music licensing this year
Licensing now separates these tools more than sound quality does. Suno launched its v6 family on 9 September 2026, built with Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe. Paid plans get v6 and v6-wild, and the free plan gets v6-mini with no commercial rights.
Stable Audio and Soundraw sell a simpler story: a commercial license on paid plans, and in Soundraw's case a model trained only on in-house recordings. ElevenLabs describes its tracks as cleared for broad commercial use and built with artists, labels and publishers, while noting that rights vary by tier.
AIVA and Mubert are stricter than they look. AIVA keeps copyright on Free and Standard. Mubert's disclaimer rules out streaming releases, Content ID registration and library distribution. Read the licence page before the price page.
Where ElevenLabs wins and where it does not
ElevenLabs Music is the only entry here that lives inside a voice platform. If you already clone voices or produce narration, one credit pool covers text to speech, dubbing and music. Free gives you 10,000 credits, Starter 30,000 and Creator 121,000.
At 900 credits per minute, Starter buys roughly 33 minutes of music and Creator roughly 134. That is generous for a few jingles and thin for a catalogue. The product page lists mid-track genre transitions, multilingual lyrics and inpainting of single sections.
Here is what that looks like in practice for a podcast producer. You generate a theme with a sung hook, regenerate only the bridge, and keep a consistent voice through the Vocals feature. For an audiobook producer, the same account holds the narration clone.
It is not the pick for everything. If you need a full DAW-style editor with MIDI and effects, Suno Studio goes further. If you need a plugin inside your session, Stable Audio does.
Where Suno wins
Suno is the tool most people mean when they say AI song generator. A short prompt returns a full track with vocals, and the paid plans add record-your-own-voice, custom models and stem separation. Pro costs $8 a month billed yearly for 2,500 credits and 20 downloads. Premier costs $24 for 10,000 credits, 60 downloads and Suno Studio.
The catch is the download cap. Twenty songs a month sounds like plenty until you iterate. A producer who keeps ten takes per keeper burns through Pro in two sessions. Budget downloads, not just credits.
The instrumental specialists
Stable Audio generates up to six minutes per track and ships a plugin for Logic, Ableton and Pro Tools. Plans run from a free 50-credit tier to Studio at $199 a month with 14,000 credits. Solo at $12 gives roughly 165 full-mix generations a month. Its homepage prompts lean instrumental.
Soundraw is the cleanest licensing story for beds under video and podcasts. Creator is $11.04 a month billed yearly with unlimited MP3 downloads. Stems and WAV start at Artist Pro. There is no sung vocal, and it does not pretend otherwise.
Mubert targets developers: a music API, image-to-music, tracks up to 25 minutes and a copyright checker. The Creator plan is non-commercial, so commercial work starts at Pro.
AIVA is the odd one out. It is a composition assistant with 250+ styles, MIDI export on every plan and a piano-roll editor. Pro at 33 euros a month billed yearly is where you own the copyright.
What the customer reviews say
Trustpilot is rough across this category. Suno sits at 1.7 out of 5 on 187 reviews, Mubert at 1.7 on 24, Soundraw at 2.0 on 33, and ElevenLabs at 3.1 on 1,180. AIVA has only three reviews, so its 2.8 means little.
Read those numbers carefully. The complaints we saw concern billing, credits and support, not audio quality. That pattern argues for starting on a monthly plan, not an annual one, until you trust the credit math.
Which one should you choose
Choose by output type first and price second.
Sung tracks with clear rights and a voice workflow: ElevenLabs.
Maximum song-editing control and stems: Suno, with a download budget.
Sketching inside Logic, Ableton or Pro Tools: Stable Audio.
Beds for video and podcasts with a simple licence: Soundraw.
MIDI and editable scores: AIVA.
Soundtracks generated through an API: Mubert.
Before your next session
Run one real brief through two tools before you commit. Use the same prompt, export the file, drop it into your DAW and check the stems, the loudness and the licence screen. Then read the download and credit rules on the exact plan you would buy.
If your project has vocals, start with ElevenLabs and Suno, because those two cover sung material. If it does not, start with Soundraw or Stable Audio and skip the vocal tax entirely.