What is Eleven Music v2.5?
Eleven Music v2.5 is ElevenLabs' current music model, released on 11 September 2026 and the default in its ElevenMusic app. It generates tracks from 3 seconds to 5 minutes, with vocals in several languages or instrumental, from a prompt or a section-by-section composition plan. Output is MP3 at 44.1 kHz (128 to 192 kbps) or WAV.
In the API it is model_id music_v2_5, with endpoints for composing, streaming, composition plans, video-to-music and uploads. Inpainting regenerates one section and leaves the rest untouched, an Audio Reference of about 30 seconds steers the sound, and Finetunes train on music you own for $1.50 each.
The API costs $0.15 per minute of music on every plan. Commercial use starts on the $6 Starter plan, with film, TV, radio and studio games reserved for the Enterprise Music tier.
Is Eleven Music v2.5 worth it?
Eleven Music v2.5 is the hosted music model to pick when you need to edit a song and know what you may do with it. According to Music Ally, ElevenLabs trained its launch model in 2025 on licensed production music and signed licensing deals with the independent-label network Merlin and the publisher Kobalt. Its published music terms set out, plan by plan, where tracks may be used.
The v2.5 release improves sound and prompt adherence over v2, according to ElevenLabs; in its own blind test across 47,885 pairs of takes, listeners preferred v2.5 most of the time, with the widest gap in vocal-led and acoustic genres. Tracks run from 3 seconds to 5 minutes. A composition plan sets each section's style and lyrics separately, and inpainting regenerates a single section without touching the rest, which Lyria 3.5 cannot do.
Price is per minute, not per song. At $0.15 a minute a three-minute song costs $0.45, against a flat $0.08 for a Lyria 3.5 song. Plans include minutes, from 40 on the $6 Starter plan to 6,600 on the $990 Business plan.
The catch: the rights depend on the plan. Free tracks must credit ElevenLabs; streaming distribution needs Creator or above; film, TV, radio and studio games need Enterprise Music; and building a music library from outputs is banned on every self-serve plan. Prompts may not name any artist, song, album or label, or quote a substantial part of a song's lyrics. Zero Retention Mode, which stops ElevenLabs keeping your data, is for enterprise API customers only.
Our take: for a marketing team or app that needs vocal tracks it can publish and fix section by section, Eleven Music v2.5 is a safer buy than open models with undocumented data; for large volumes of three-minute songs on a fixed budget, Lyria 3.5 costs less than a fifth as much.
Where it earns its place
A social-media agency producing branded short videos
Create original tracks for clients' posts instead of licensing stock music
Generate 30- to 60-second tracks on the Creator plan, which allows streaming distribution; its 147 included minutes cover 147 one-minute tracks a month for $22.
A language-learning app
Make short songs that teach vocabulary in Spanish, German and Japanese
Write each lesson's lyrics into a composition plan and call music_v2_5 from the API; a one-minute song costs $0.15, so 2,000 lessons cost $300.
A corporate video team finishing an online product film
Fix one weak section of an otherwise approved track
Use inpainting to regenerate only the chorus and keep the verses, instead of rerolling the whole song as single-turn models such as Lyria 3.5 require.
Before you commit
- Setup
- Create an API key on a paid plan and call the compose endpoint with model_id music_v2_5 through an official SDK or REST; music_v1 is deprecated and will be removed on 31 January 2027.
- Integrations
- Music endpoints for compose, stream, detailed output, composition plans, video-to-music, uploads and Finetunes; also a node in ElevenLabs Flows and inside Studio.
- Data and privacy
- Zero Retention Mode is available to enterprise API customers only. Audio References and Finetune uploads are screened for copyright.
- Cost at scale
- $0.15 per minute on every plan, so 1,000 three-minute songs cost $450; the $990 Business plan includes 6,600 minutes.
- Limits
- 3 seconds to 5 minutes per generation; Audio Reference up to about 30 seconds; prompts may not name artists, songs, albums or labels or quote substantial lyrics; outputs may not feed a music library.
What’s good
- Inpainting regenerates one section and keeps the rest
- 3 seconds to 5 minutes, vocals or instrumental, several languages
- Commercial use from the $6 Starter plan
- Composition plans, Audio Reference and $1.50 Finetunes
- Launch model trained on licensed production music
What’s not
- $0.15 a minute: a three-minute song costs $0.45
- Film, TV, radio and studio games need Enterprise Music
- No music-library use; prompts cannot name artists
- Zero Retention Mode is enterprise-only
- Closed model, available only through the API and apps
Best for
Marketing teams and app developers who need publishable songs with vocals through an API and want to edit sections rather than regenerate whole tracks.
Eleven Music v2.5 alternatives
Eleven Music v2.5: common questions
- Is Eleven Music v2.5 worth it?
- Eleven Music v2.5 costs more per song than Lyria, but it lets you rewrite a single section and comes with the clearest commercial terms of any music API we cover. We rate it 4.3 out of 5.
- How much does Eleven Music v2.5 cost?
- API: $0.15 per minute of music on every plan; Finetunes $1.50 each. Included music minutes: Free 3, Starter ($6/month) 40, Creator ($22/month) 147, Pro ($99/month) 660, Scale ($299/month) 1,993, Business ($990/month) 6,600. Commercial use from Starter.
- What are the downsides of Eleven Music v2.5?
- $0.15 a minute: a three-minute song costs $0.45; film, TV, radio and studio games need Enterprise Music; no music-library use; prompts cannot name artists; zero Retention Mode is enterprise-only; closed model, available only through the API and apps.
- Who is Eleven Music v2.5 best for?
- Marketing teams and app developers who need publishable songs with vocals through an API and want to edit sections rather than regenerate whole tracks.
- How much does Eleven Music v2.5 cost for a team or in production?
- $0.15 per minute on every plan, so 1,000 three-minute songs cost $450; the $990 Business plan includes 6,600 minutes.
- Is Eleven Music v2.5 safe for company data?
- Zero Retention Mode is available to enterprise API customers only. Audio References and Finetune uploads are screened for copyright.
- What are the best Eleven Music v2.5 alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are Lyria 3.5, MiniMax Music 3 and Stable Audio 3.0 Medium.
Answers checked Nov 7, 2026.
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