Picking the best AI music generator in 2026 comes down less to how the songs sound than to what you're allowed to do with them afterward. Some tools won't let you download a track, some free plans are personal use only, and one hands you the copyright only on its top plan. Below, five tools are compared on price, vocals, downloads and commercial rights. If you searched for the best AI music generator on Reddit to find the catches, they're in the table.
Best AI music generators compared
Prices as of September 2026. AIVA lists prices in euros, before VAT.
| Tool | Starting paid price | Free option | Makes | Download | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini app (Lyria 3.5) | Google AI Plus, $4.99 per month, for 2x the standard usage limits | Yes, at standard limits, 18+ | Vocal or instrumental tracks up to 3 minutes, from text or a photo | MP3, or MP4 with cover art | Read Google's terms before commercial use |
| ElevenLabs Music | Starter, $6 per month | Free plan, about 3 to 5 tracks a month | Songs with vocals in several languages, with section editing | Stems on paid plans: 2 and 4 on Starter and Creator, up to 6 on Pro | Free plan "Personal use only"; Starter "Commercial, no streaming"; Creator and Pro "Commercial, not enterprise" |
| Udio | Standard, $10 per month ($8 billed annually) | 10 daily credits plus a 100-credit monthly limit; 3 full-length songs a day at most | Songs with vocals, voices and styles | Switched off for audio, video and stems; songs stay on Udio | Governed by a transition terms of service during its label partnerships |
| AIVA | Standard, 11 euros per month billed annually | Free plan, 3 downloads a month, credit to AIVA required | Compositions in 250+ styles, editable, from an optional audio or MIDI influence | MP3 and MIDI; all formats and WAV on Pro | No monetization on Free; limited on Standard; full, with copyright owned by you, on Pro (33 euros per month billed annually) |
| Toybox AI Music Generator | Pro plan, currently $9.99 per month for 1,000 credits | No; the 20 free credits for new accounts don't cover a 95-credit run | Two versions per run, with vocals or instrumental, from your lyrics or written for you | MP3 with cover art | Terms say you own the rights to your outputs, subject to the Terms; the examples listed are images, text, video and code |
How to choose an AI music generator
Four things decide it, in this order:
- Getting the file out. A song you can only share by link can't go under a YouTube video or into an ad. Udio has turned downloads off, while Gemini, AIVA and Toybox let you download MP3 files and ElevenLabs' paid plans include stems.
- What you'll do with it. A birthday song in a group chat is personal use. Background music in a monetized video, an ad for your business, or a release on Spotify is commercial, and plan terms differ sharply. ElevenLabs lists its Starter plan as "Commercial, no streaming", for example, so read that line before a Spotify release.
- Vocals and your own lyrics. For the best AI music generator with vocals, look at Gemini, ElevenLabs, Udio and Toybox, which all sing. AIVA describes its output as compositions in 250+ styles with MIDI files, which suits scores more than sung songs. For your own words, look for a lyrics field that accepts section labels like [Verse 1] and [Chorus].
- Songs per month. ElevenLabs lists about 8 to 16 tracks a month on Starter and about 34 to 67 on Creator. Toybox's Pro plan currently covers 10 runs a month (1,000 credits at 95 per run), or 20 versions.
Options compared
Prices below are as of September 2026.
Gemini app with Lyria 3.5
Google's Gemini app makes music with Lyria 3.5, which Google calls its best-sounding music model. You choose vocals or instrumental, a genre, and one of two lengths (roughly one minute, or two to three), and you can upload a photo or video for Gemini to compose around. Lyrics you wrote can go in, labeled by section. Music generation is available without a paid plan at standard limits, which top up every five hours until a weekly ceiling is hit. Google AI Plus ($4.99 a month) doubles Gemini's overall usage limits and Google AI Pro ($19.99 a month) quadruples them.
Limits: it's for adults only, it needs a Google Account that Gemini supports, and the Keep Activity setting has to be on. Google's help says to switch the model to Pro for a full track. Every track carries SynthID, Google's inaudible watermark. It fits anyone who wants a free song for personal use and already uses Gemini.
ElevenLabs Music
ElevenLabs' music generator can start from a lyric, a mood, a loop or a voice recording, and you can use a vocal from your own tracks or from its Vocal Library. Its page highlights section editing (regenerate one section, such as a bridge, and keep the rest), genre changes partway through a song, and lyrics in many languages, with Japanese, German, French and Spanish named alongside English. The Free plan covers about 3 to 5 tracks a month for personal use only. Starter costs $6 a month ("Commercial, no streaming", with 2 and 4 stems); Creator costs $22 a month, with the first month at $11, and Pro costs $99 a month with up to 6 stems; both are listed as "Commercial, not enterprise".
Limits: commercial rights vary by tier, and ElevenLabs' self-serve plans exclude film, TV and studio games, which need its Enterprise plan. It fits creators and businesses who need licensed tracks and want to edit sections.
Udio
Udio makes songs with vocals and offers Voices, Styles you can reference, editing tools, and, on Standard, generating from uploaded audio. Free accounts get 10 credits a day, then can draw on an extra 100-credit monthly limit, and are capped at 3 full-length songs (2 minutes 10 seconds) a day. Standard raises the monthly limit to 2,400 credits and Pro to 6,000. Standard costs $10 a month ($8 billed annually), and Pro costs $30 a month ($24 billed annually). Udio has an official iPhone app, and no Android app.
Limits: after Udio's licensing deal with Universal Music Group, downloads of audio, video and stems were switched off, and Udio now runs under a transition terms of service that took effect on October 29, 2025. A later licensing deal with Warner Music Group also resolved the two companies' copyright litigation, and Udio says a coming version will let users remix and cover songs, or make new ones, in the voices and styles of participating artists. For now, songs live on Udio: you can play and share them there, but not take the file elsewhere. It fits people who make music to enjoy inside Udio.
AIVA
AIVA generates compositions in more than 250 styles. You can build custom style models, start from an uploaded audio or MIDI file, and edit what it generates. The Free plan allows 3 downloads a month of tracks up to 3 minutes in MP3 and MIDI, for non-commercial use, with AIVA owning the copyright and credit to AIVA required. Standard, at 11 euros a month billed annually, allows limited monetization on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram with 15 downloads a month. Pro, at 33 euros a month billed annually, gives you the copyright, full monetization and 300 downloads a month, including WAV.
Limits: AIVA owns the copyright on Free and Standard, so only Pro gives you ownership, and every plan caps downloads per month. It fits video creators and game makers who want background scores they can edit as MIDI.
Toybox AI Music Generator
Toybox AI's Music Generator makes an original song from a "Song title", a "Describe your song" style line and optional lyrics of up to 5,000 characters, with "With vocals" or "Instrumental". Leave the lyrics empty and they're written for you. Each run returns two MP3 versions, each with cover art, in a few minutes, and currently costs 95 credits. It needs a Pro plan, currently $9.99 a month for 1,000 credits, and the same credits also work in Toybox's image, flyer and video tools.
Limits: there's no length setting, no audio or voice upload, and no section editing, so a fix means a new run. It fits people making songs about specific people and events, such as the ones in the guide to songs from your own lyrics, especially if they're also making the invitation or video for the same event.
Best free AI music generator options
For no money at all, the Gemini app makes music without a paid plan, with MP3 downloads and your own lyrics, within Google's standard limits and for adults only. For a full track of about 2 to 3 minutes, Google says to switch the model to Pro. ElevenLabs' Free plan covers a handful of personal-use tracks a month. Udio's Free plan makes songs every day, but you can't download them. AIVA's Free plan allows 3 downloads a month with credit to AIVA and no monetization. Toybox isn't a free option for music: new accounts get 20 free credits, and a song currently costs 95 on a Pro plan.
A free plan is fine for a personal song. For anything you'll post with ads, sell or use for a business, compare the paid tiers' commercial terms first. For step-by-step routes, including what ChatGPT can and can't do, read how to get AI to make a song for you.
Best AI music generator app for your phone
The Gemini app on Android and iPhone has music generation built in: tap "Upload & tools", then "Create music". Udio has an official iPhone app, and its help center warns that any "Udio" app on Google Play isn't authorized. Toybox is a web app, so you use Music Generator in your phone's browser with no download, and you can speak your description with the mic in Chrome, Edge and Safari.
Which one should you pick
- A free song for someone's birthday, sent in a group chat: the Gemini app, if you're 18 or older. It's free at standard limits and downloads an MP3.
- Music for client work, ads or a Spotify release: ElevenLabs on a paid plan. Its pricing lists commercial use by tier, and Starter is marked "Commercial, no streaming", so check the tier before a track goes to Spotify.
- An editable background score for a game or video: AIVA, with MIDI downloads, and its Pro plan if you need to own the copyright.
- Songs you only plan to share inside a community: Udio, as long as you don't need the file.
- A lyric-first song about a specific person, alongside the flyer or video for the same event: Toybox's Music Generator on a Pro plan, which returns two versions of your lyrics per run.
If you want the best AI song generator with vocals for lyrics in Spanish or Japanese, start with ElevenLabs, whose music FAQ lists both. Before posting any of these on YouTube, read how to post AI songs on YouTube, which covers the AI use disclosure and Content ID.
Try your song in Music Generator
If your song is about someone specific, write the lyrics first, with names spelled the way they sound and a chorus that repeats. Then open Music Generator, paste them into "Lyrics", describe the genre, tempo and voice in "Describe your song", and tap "Create song". It currently costs 95 credits per run on a Pro plan (see current prices), and a failed run refunds its credits automatically. Listen to both versions for every name and line before you download the MP3.