Decision table
| Need | Pick | Price or limit (as listed 17 October 2026) | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Release songs with vocals | Suno | Pro $8/month yearly billing, 20 downloads | Start here |
| Music for paid online ads | ElevenLabs Music | Scale $299/month, 1,500 minutes | Lowest tier that permits online advertising |
| Unlimited video background tracks | Soundraw | Creator $16.99/month, unlimited downloads | Cheapest unlimited option |
| Own the copyright of instrumentals | AIVA | Pro €33/month billed yearly, 300 downloads | Pay the Pro tier, not Standard |
| Free experimenting | Suno | Free plan, 50 credits a day, no downloads | Fine for drafts, not for publishing |
| Create and share in-app | Udio | Standard 2,400 credits a month | Usable, but no downloads |
The 5 tools on the same fields
Suno
- Best for: songwriters and creators who want complete songs with lyrics, vocals and stems.
- Main limitation: paid plans cap downloads at 20 (Pro) or 60 (Premier) songs a month, and free songs cannot be downloaded at all.
- Price or plan limits: Free gives 50 credits a day with no commercial rights; Pro $8 a month and Premier $24 a month on yearly billing.
- Commercial rights: Pro and Premier include commercial use; the Free plan is non-commercial and Suno retains ownership of those songs.
Suno Pro lists 2,500 monthly credits and 20 song downloads at $8 a month on yearly billing, per Suno's pricing page checked 17 October 2026.
ElevenLabs Music
- Best for: creators and small teams who need to know exactly which media uses each plan allows.
- Main limitation: every plan requires attribution to Eleven Music when distributing, and film, TV and physical media are excluded below Enterprise.
- Price or plan limits: the ElevenLabs pricing page lists Starter at $6, Creator at $22, Pro at $99 and Scale at $299 a month; the Eleven Music v1 terms set monthly generation at 30, 250, 500 and 1,500 minutes on those plans.
- Commercial rights: Free output is non-commercial and cannot be downloaded; streaming release starts on Creator; online advertising starts on Scale.
ElevenLabs Music's Creator plan allows 250 minutes of music a month and streaming release, per the Eleven Music v1 terms checked 17 October 2026.
Soundraw
- Best for: YouTubers, podcasters and small businesses that need many background tracks.
- Main limitation: the Creator plan downloads mp3 only; WAV and stems start at Artist Pro.
- Price or plan limits: the Soundraw pricing page lists Creator at $16.99 a month ($11.04 on annual), Artist Starter at $29.99 with 10 downloads, Artist Pro at $35.99 with 20, and Artist Unlimited at $50.
- Commercial rights: all paid plans list commercial use; the Artist plans are built for releasing songs to streaming services, and companies with 10 or more staff need Enterprise.
Soundraw's Creator plan lists unlimited monthly track downloads at $16.99 a month, per Soundraw's pricing page checked 17 October 2026.
AIVA
- Best for: composers who want instrumental pieces in 250 styles with MIDI they can edit.
- Main limitation: prices are shown in euros plus VAT, and only Pro transfers copyright to you.
- Price or plan limits: the AIVA pricing page lists Free with 3 downloads a month, Standard at €11 a month billed yearly with 15 downloads, and Pro at €33 a month billed yearly with 300 downloads.
- Commercial rights: Free requires credit to AIVA and allows no monetization; Standard allows limited monetization on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram; Pro gives you the copyright.
AIVA Pro costs €33 a month billed yearly and gives the subscriber copyright with 300 downloads a month, per AIVA's pricing page checked 17 October 2026.
Udio
- Best for: people who want to create, remix and share songs inside Udio's own player.
- Main limitation: Udio's UMG partnership notice says downloading of audio, video and stems has been disabled.
- Price or plan limits: Udio's credits help page lists 10 daily and 100 monthly credits on free accounts, 2,400 a month on Standard and 6,000 a month on Pro.
- Commercial rights: with downloads off, Udio output cannot be released elsewhere until the licensed platform arrives.
Udio Pro allows 6,000 credits a month while audio, video and stem downloads stay disabled, per Udio's help center checked 17 October 2026.
The label deals changed these products
The two best-known generators settled with major labels in late 2025. DJ Mag reported on 30 October 2025 that Universal Music Group settled with Udio and that the two will launch a subscription platform in a "licensed and protected environment." Udio then disabled downloads and raised credit limits, as its help center confirms.
Warner Music Group settled with Suno on 25 November 2025. Music Business Worldwide reported that Suno would launch licensed models in 2026, retire the older ones, require a paid account for downloads and set monthly download caps. Suno's current pricing page matches that: the Free plan shows "No monthly song downloads," and paid plans carry 20 or 60. The practical lesson is that terms in this category move fast, so screenshot the plan page on the day you subscribe.
Copyright: what a song from these tools can and cannot get
A commercial license from a vendor is not the same as copyright. The US Copyright Office's January 2025 Part 2 report on copyrightability concludes that purely AI-generated material, or material without enough human control over its expressive elements, cannot be protected. Prompts alone do not count as enough control. Human-written lyrics, your own melody or performance, and creative selection and arrangement of AI output can be protected, and you must disclose the AI-generated parts when you register. The Office tracks its work on its copyright and AI hub.
That matters in three places. First, a fully generated track may be hard to register or defend if someone copies it. Second, distributors and streaming services set their own rules on AI music, so read your distributor's policy before uploading. Third, vendor terms still bind you: ElevenLabs requires attribution, AIVA's Standard plan leaves copyright with AIVA, and Suno's free tier leaves ownership with Suno.
How to choose
- Write down where the music will go: social video, a podcast, an ad, a streaming release or a game.
- Match that use to the vendor's rights terms, not its marketing page. For ads, check the ElevenLabs media-rights row; for releases, check the Suno or Soundraw Artist plan.
- Run the same three prompts on the free tier of your top two picks and compare vocals, structure and mix.
- Count how many finished tracks you need a month and compare that with the download cap.
- Subscribe before you generate the tracks you plan to monetize, since Suno ties rights to the plan you were on when each song was created.
- Add your own lyrics, melody or edits if you want a registrable copyright claim.
If you also need narration or voiceover, see our AI voice tool rankings and the full ElevenLabs review. For scoring finished footage, pair a generator with one of the best AI video editors.
How we rank
We compared each tool's documented features, plan prices, credit and download limits, commercial-use and ownership terms, attribution rules and data terms, using vendor pricing pages, help centers and terms pages checked on 17 October 2026. Rights terms weigh heavily in this category because a track you cannot legally publish has no value to a creator. Picks for working creators are collected on our creator use-case page, and the full method sits on how HumanRank ranks tools. For when a free tier is enough, read free versus paid AI tools.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Suno songs commercially on the free plan? No, Suno's Free plan lists no commercial rights, and Suno retains ownership of songs made on it. Commercial use requires a Pro or Premier subscription at the time the song is created.
Can I download songs from Udio in 2026? No, Udio's help center says downloading of audio, video and stems has been disabled since its Universal Music Group partnership. You can still create, play and share songs inside Udio.
Can AI-generated music be copyrighted in the US? Only the human-authored parts can. The Copyright Office's January 2025 report says purely AI-generated material is not protected, while human lyrics, melodies and creative arrangement of AI output can be.
Which AI music generator is best for YouTube background music? Soundraw is the best fit, with unlimited monthly downloads and commercial use on its $16.99 Creator plan as listed on 17 October 2026. AIVA Standard also allows monetization on YouTube for €11 a month billed yearly.
Does ElevenLabs Music require attribution? Yes, the Eleven Music v1 terms require you to denote Eleven Music when distributing output on every self-serve plan from Free to Business.
Can I put AI music on Spotify? It depends on the plan and your distributor. ElevenLabs permits streaming release from the Creator plan up, Soundraw's Artist plans are built for distribution, and each distributor applies its own AI content policy.
Who owns music made with AIVA? On Free and Standard, AIVA owns the copyright; on Pro, the subscriber owns it. Pro costs €33 a month billed yearly, plus VAT, as listed on 17 October 2026.
How many songs does Suno Premier allow? Suno Premier lists 10,000 credits and 60 song downloads a month at $24 a month on yearly billing. Extra credits and downloads can be bought on paid plans.