AI Music Generator Comparison: Suno vs Udio, Pricing & Licensing
Compare the 8 mainstream AI music generators on the facts that decide a choice — cheapest plan, free tier, vocals vs instrumental, max track length, output formats, commercial use, copyright ownership and API. Filter by what you need, pick a use case, and get a source-cited recommendation. No signup.
How it works
This is a transparent lookup and rule-based recommender, not a which-sounds-better poll. Each of the 8generators is stored as a typed record — its cheapest paid plan (USD/mo), free tier, whether it makes vocals and lyrics, max track length, output formats (MP3 / WAV / stems), commercial-use status, copyright ownership and whether there is a public API. Every figure is cited inline to the vendor's own pricing or licensing page and was verified on June 20, 2026. No money math runs on your input; there is no subjective audio-quality score — only verifiable facts.
The two licensing fields are precise, because they decide most choices:
- Commercial use — Yes (granted as part of the product), Paid plans (free tier is non-commercial), or No.
- Ownership — Full (copyright transferred to you, you own the track) or Royalty-free licence (you may use and monetize it, but the vendor keeps the underlying rights).
When you set the controls, three deterministic steps run in order:
- Toggle filter.The five toggles — Free tier, Commercial use, Vocals + lyrics, Own the copyright, Public API — are boolean predicates that AND together. One interaction matters: “Free tier” plus “Commercial use” asks for commercial rights without paying, and no generator here licenses commercial output on its free tier — so the combination is an honest dead-end, and the tool names the cheapest paid path instead of showing an empty table.
- Use-case gate.The recommender adds the use case's own filter: “Own the copyright” keeps only full-ownership tools; “Vocals + lyrics” keeps only the vocal tools; “API integration” keeps only tools with a public API; “Royalty-free for video” keeps tools whose commercial use you can monetize.
- Rank the survivors. Each use case uses a total-order comparator — Own the copyright ranks by the price of the plan that grants ownership; Best free tier by free-tier generosity; the rest by cheapest paid plan. Ties always break on name, so identical settings always return the same picks. A second, independent scoring pass re-derives the same order as a built-in cross-check.
The table sorts independently by cheapest paid plan, max track length or name. Prices are in US dollars because every vendor bills in USD; from a Sri Lankan card expect roughly 18% on top in foreign-transaction and conversion add-ons — use the currency converter for the day's rate. To forecast a monthly bill by song volume, use the music-generation cost calculator rather than this page, which compares the products themselves.
Worked examples
Frequently asked questions
Sources & references
- Suno — plans, credits and commercial-use terms
- Udio — Standard/Pro pricing, stems and commercial use
- ElevenLabs Music — product, commercial licence and API
- Stability AI — Stable Audio licensing and commercial terms
- AIVA — Standard/Pro plans and full-copyright ownership
- Soundraw — flat unlimited royalty-free subscription
- Beatoven.ai — royalty-free background music pricing and API
- Mubert — Creator/Business licensing and Render API
Prices, formats and licensing flags were last verified against the official pages on June 20, 2026. The cheapest paid plan across the table is $5/mo. Vendors change AI-music pricing and licensing frequently — if you spot a figure that has moved, email me and I'll update it.
Related tools
Comments & feedback
Spotted a bug or want an improvement? Tell us — our team reviews every comment, and good ideas get built. Comments are public and anonymous.
Found a price that has changed, or want another generator added?
Email me at [email protected] — most fixes ship within 24 hours.