Play.ht Pricing in 2026: What Happened and What It Costs Now
Quick answer
You can no longer pay for Play.ht. Meta acquired the company in July 2025, and the service shut down on December 31, 2025. Accounts, saved audio, and API access ended with it. Its last listed plans were Free, Creator at $39/month, and Pro at $99/month. Today you need an alternative.
Key takeaways
- Play.ht has been offline since December 31, 2025, about six months after Meta acquired it in July 2025.
- Its last public plans were Free (2,500 words/month), Creator ($39/month), and Pro ($99/month) — useful only as a historical benchmark now.
- Cloned voices could not be carried over. To rebuild a voice elsewhere, you need the original recordings you have rights to.
- Per-minute cost varies about 6–9× between today's common alternatives, so compare by minutes of audio, not by plan name.
What happened to Play.ht?
Play.ht is no longer an operating product. Meta acquired the company, by then branded PlayAI, in July 2025, and the standalone service was shut down on December 31, 2025 (infrabase.ai, as of 2026). Independent trackers that monitor software pricing now report that Play.ht has no price you can pay (ComparEdge, verified July 2, 2026).
For years Play.ht was one of the better-known text-to-speech platforms. Creators used it for narration, explainer videos, and voice cloning, and developers used its API in apps and voice agents. That history is why "play.ht pricing" is still searched hundreds of times a month: many people are either trying to renew, checking whether a free tier still exists, or budgeting a replacement.
Shutdown timeline
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | Meta acquires PlayAI (Play.ht) | infrabase.ai, TextToLab |
| July 12, 2025 | Acquisition confirmed; the team moves into Meta | TextToLab |
| December 31, 2025 | Play.ht service shuts down | infrabase.ai |
| 2026 | No purchasable plan; price trackers list it as discontinued | ComparEdge, July 2, 2026 |
The practical consequence: if you search for Play.ht pricing today, there is nothing to subscribe to. The real question is what an equivalent setup costs on a service that still runs.
What Play.ht used to cost
Play.ht's last public pricing had three tiers. Treat these numbers strictly as a historical reference point for budgeting a replacement.
| Plan (historical) | Monthly price | What it was for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Testing, with a cap of 2,500 words per month |
| Creator | $39/month | Individual creators producing regular voiceovers |
| Pro | $99/month | Heavier production and professional use |
Source: infrabase.ai, as of 2026. Annual billing discounts existed at various times, so some older guides quote lower effective monthly prices.
If you were on the Creator plan, your old budget line was $39 a month. That is a useful anchor: most current alternatives offer an entry paid plan well below that, and the main differences are how many minutes you get and what the license covers.
What it costs now: per-minute comparison of alternatives
The fairest way to compare voice platforms is the cost of one minute of finished audio. Plan names and credit systems differ, so the table below converts each plan's monthly allowance into approximate minutes.
How we estimated minutes:
- ElevenLabs sells credits. We used the common approximation of about 1,000 credits per minute of standard text-to-speech. Actual usage depends on the model you pick.
- VoiceMax sells characters. We used about 833 characters per minute of speech, the same conversion VoiceMax uses on its pricing page.
- Prices are monthly billing unless noted. Figures are estimates for planning, not quotes.
| Plan | Monthly price | Monthly allowance | Approx. minutes | Approx. cost per minute | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Play.ht Creator (historical) | $39 | — | — | — | Discontinued |
| ElevenLabs Free | $0 | 10k credits | ~10 | — | No commercial license |
| ElevenLabs Starter | $6 | 30k credits | ~30 | ~$0.20 | Yes |
| ElevenLabs Creator | $22 | 121k credits | ~121 | ~$0.18 | Yes |
| VoiceMax Free | $0 | 10,000 characters | ~12 | — | Personal use only |
| VoiceMax Starter | $4.9 ($3.9 billed annually) | 150,000 characters | ~180 | ~$0.027 ($0.022 annually) | Yes |
| VoiceMax Creator | $9.9 ($7.9 billed annually) | 300,000 characters | ~360 | ~$0.028 ($0.022 annually) | Yes |
Sources: ElevenLabs prices from Dupple, read from the official pricing page on October 14, 2026; VoiceMax prices from the VoiceMax pricing page as of November 2026; Play.ht from infrabase.ai.
How to read this table:
- Per-minute cost is only one factor. Voice quality in your language, cloning requirements, and the tools around generation (editing, subtitles, noise removal) matter just as much.
- Credit-based plans can cost more per minute when you use premium models. Always test your own script on the plan you intend to buy.
- Promotions change entry prices. ElevenLabs, for example, has run first-month discounts on Starter and Creator (Dupple, October 2026). Compare regular prices when you budget.
For a deeper side-by-side of one popular option, see our ElevenLabs alternative comparison.
How to migrate your Play.ht voices and projects
Your Play.ht voice clones did not survive the shutdown, so migration means rebuilding, not exporting. The good news: most of the work is reusable if you kept your source files.
- Find your original recordings. A cloned voice is built from a sample recording. Locate the clean audio you originally used, or record a new sample. Only use recordings you own or have explicit permission to use.
- Collect your scripts. Your text scripts, pronunciation notes, and any custom spellings you used for names or brand terms still work on any platform.
- Check what you downloaded. Audio you exported before December 31, 2025 is still yours to use under the license you had at the time. Audio left only in your Play.ht account is gone.
- Pick two or three alternatives and run the same test. Use a 30–60 second script that includes your hardest words: names, numbers, and technical terms.
- Re-clone with a clean sample. On VoiceMax, a clean single-speaker clip of about 15 seconds gives the most stable results. MP3, WAV, M4A, and MP4 files up to 30MB are accepted.
- Compare finished minutes, not just the first sentence. Generate a full paragraph and listen for pacing, pauses, and how the voice handles longer text.
- Update your pipeline. If you used the Play.ht API, plan engineering time to switch endpoints and authentication. API structures differ between providers.
Listen: a short migration test
This sample uses a ready-made library voice, not a clone. It is the kind of quick test we suggest running on each platform you shortlist, with your own script.
A checklist for choosing a Play.ht replacement
Former Play.ht users usually care about the same five things. Score each alternative against them before you subscribe.
| Question | Why it matters | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Does the paid plan include commercial use? | Monetized videos, ads, and client work need a commercial license | The plan page, not just the FAQ |
| How many minutes do I really get? | Credits and characters convert differently | Run your own script and note usage |
| Can I clone my own voice, and what sample is needed? | Your old clones are gone | File formats, size limits, consent requirements |
| Does it support my languages? | Quality varies by language | Test in each language you publish in |
| What happens to my audio and data? | The Play.ht shutdown deleted saved audio | Retention period, export options |
On data retention specifically: VoiceMax keeps generated audio in your History for 7 days, so download anything you want to keep. That is a deliberate privacy choice, but it means your local files, not the platform, are your archive. After the Play.ht shutdown, that habit is worth keeping on any service.
Who should consider which option
There is no single right replacement; it depends on what you used Play.ht for.
- You produce a few short voiceovers a month. A free plan may be enough for testing, but check the license before publishing. Most free tiers, including ElevenLabs Free and VoiceMax Free, do not cover commercial use.
- You publish monetized content weekly. Look at entry paid plans with a commercial license and compare minutes per dollar. This is where the per-minute gap in the table above matters most.
- You relied on the Play.ht API in a product. Prioritize API documentation, rate limits, and long-term stability over the lowest price. Plan a staged migration.
- You need many languages. VoiceMax supports 600+ languages; test your specific languages on every shortlisted platform, because naturalness depends on the language, the voice, and the script.
Lessons from the Play.ht shutdown
The Play.ht shutdown is a reminder that voice platforms can change hands quickly. Three habits reduce the risk next time:
- Keep your source recordings. They are the only part of a cloned voice you control.
- Download final audio as you go. Do not treat any platform's history as permanent storage.
- Avoid single-vendor lock-in for critical workflows. Keep scripts and pronunciation notes in your own documents so you can switch tools in a day, not a month.
Frequently asked questions
Is Play.ht still available in 2026?
No. Play.ht shut down on December 31, 2025, after Meta acquired the company in July 2025. You cannot sign up, renew, or buy a plan, and the original accounts, saved audio, and API access are no longer available.
How much did Play.ht cost before it shut down?
Its last listed plans were Free with 2,500 words per month, Creator at $39 per month, and Pro at $99 per month. Annual billing lowered the effective monthly price at times. These prices are historical and only useful as a budgeting benchmark.
Can I recover my Play.ht voice clones?
No. Voice clones and audio stored only in a Play.ht account were not carried over after the shutdown. To rebuild a voice, re-clone it on another platform using the original recordings you own or have explicit permission to use.
What is the cheapest Play.ht alternative per minute?
It depends on the plan and model you use. Based on listed prices in late 2026, ElevenLabs Starter works out to roughly $0.20 per minute and VoiceMax Starter to roughly $0.027 per minute. Test your own script, because usage varies by model and text.
Do free Play.ht alternatives allow commercial use?
Usually not. ElevenLabs Free has no commercial license, and VoiceMax Free is for personal use only. On VoiceMax, commercial rights start with the Starter plan, which covers monetized videos, ads, podcasts, courses, and client work.
How do I move a Play.ht API project to another provider?
Treat it as a rebuild. Choose a provider, re-create your voices from source recordings, then update endpoints, authentication, and audio format settings in your code. Run the new voices against your existing scripts before switching production traffic.
Should I wait for Play.ht to come back?
There is no public sign that it will return as a standalone product. Price trackers list it as discontinued as of mid-2026. If you depend on text-to-speech for ongoing work, migrating now avoids a gap in production.
