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Voice · Buying Guides
The Best AI Music Generator
Suno is the best AI music generator for most people: full songs with vocals, commercial rights from $8 a month and a new v6 model built with Warner Music. ElevenLabs Music is the pick if you want a model built with licensing partners, and Google Flow Music is the best free option.
Full songs with vocals in almost any genre, commercial rights for downloads from $8 a month and new v6 models trained on licensed music from Warner, BMG and Believe, according to Suno.
The Research Score rates each product on its own merits. Our picks also weigh price and who the product is for, so a pick can rank above a higher-scoring product. How we score
AI music generators can now write and perform a complete song, with lyrics, vocals and a verse-chorus structure, from a one-line prompt. The harder questions in 2026 are legal ones: which plan lets you use a song commercially, whether you can download it at all, and whether the company behind it has licensed the music its model learned from or is still being sued by record labels.
For most people, Suno is still the best choice. It makes full songs, its $8-a-month Pro plan includes commercial rights for downloaded songs, and its new v6 models were developed with Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe. But Universal and Sony are still suing it, so if licensing matters most to you, ElevenLabs Music is our runner-up: it has licensing partnerships with Merlin, Kobalt and Believe and allows commercial use from its $6 Starter plan. Google Flow Music is the best free option, and Soundraw is the safer pick for background music in videos.
We considered nine AI music generators for this guide. We read their pricing pages, license terms, help-center articles and privacy policies, Google’s and ElevenLabs’ product announcements, and trade-press coverage of the record labels’ lawsuits and licensing deals. Every pick is scored with our published Research Score. We did not generate or release songs ourselves for this guide, and we didn’t find a widely used independent blind-vote leaderboard for music models like the ones that exist for video, so our picks lean on features, rights and licensing.
Who this is for
This guide is for people who want AI to make music: hobbyists writing songs for fun, creators who need background tracks for YouTube or podcasts, marketers making jingles, and musicians sketching ideas. The right tool depends on what you need:
A full song with vocals: Suno, ElevenLabs Music or Google Flow Music.
Royalty-safe background music for videos: Soundraw, Beatoven.ai or Mubert.
Song quality and features: full songs with vocals, length, stems, editing and remix tools, as described by the companies.
Commercial rights per plan: which plan lets you monetize a track, whether you own it, and what’s excluded.
Downloads: whether you can actually take your song off the platform, and how many times a month.
Licensing and lawsuits: whether the company has licensing deals with labels, publishers or distributors, and whether it is being sued.
Price and free tier.
Privacy: whether your uploads and prompts train the company’s models, and whether you can opt out.
Candidates we considered: Suno, Udio, ElevenLabs Music, Google Flow Music (and Lyria in the Gemini app), Stable Audio 3.0, Mubert, Soundraw, AIVA and Beatoven.ai.
Top pick · The best AI music generator for most people
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Suno
7.6/10
Full songs with vocals in almost any genre, commercial rights for downloads from $8 a month and new v6 models trained on licensed music from Warner, BMG and Believe, according to Suno.
Suno turns a prompt, or your own lyrics, into a finished song with vocals and instruments. On September 9, 2026, it replaced all its previous models with the v6 family: v6 is the flagship for Pro and Premier subscribers, v6-wild is a less predictable model “built for exploration,” and v6-mini is available to everyone, including free users. Suno’s chief product officer told Music Business Worldwide that v6 was trained from scratch on licensed material from its partners, user preference data and internal research. Suno says that user data means which of two versions people preferred, not audio they uploaded.
The plans are simple. Free gives you 50 credits a day and the v6-mini model. Pro ($8 a month) adds v6 and v6-wild, 2,500 credits a month, 20 downloads a month with commercial rights, two kinds of stem separation, custom models and uploads of up to 30 minutes of audio. Premier ($24 a month) raises that to 10,000 credits and 60 downloads, adds a third stem type and includes Suno Studio, whose downloads aren’t capped, according to Suno’s help center.
On rights, Suno’s help center says paying subscribers have commercial rights to the songs they download. Suno told Music Business Worldwide that output is “considered an original creation” that paying subscribers own, but its terms make no warranty that copyright will exist in any song, and rightsholders may be able to collect revenue when outputs are distributed on other platforms.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
Downloads are now rationed. Since September 3, 2026, free accounts get seven lifetime trial downloads for personal, non-commercial use, Pro gets 20 a month and Premier 60; extra downloads cost more, and unused ones don’t roll over. Streaming and sharing on Suno itself remain unlimited. If you cancel, your songs stay playable on Suno, but downloads follow free-tier limits.
The legal fight isn’t over. Warner Music Group is now a Suno partner, but Universal and Sony remain plaintiffs in the label lawsuit filed in Boston in June 2024, according to Music Business Worldwide. In September 2026, days after v6 launched, they filed a second suit in Massachusetts federal court alleging that v6 is tied to the same training practices and listing more than 60,000 recordings. Suno argues that training on music can be fair use. Separately, Germany’s GEMA won a copyright case against Suno in Munich in July 2026, and Denmark’s Koda and Canada’s SOCAN have filed claims. None of this has stopped the service, but it’s a risk if you plan to release music commercially.
Suno’s privacy notice says it may use your submissions, activity and chat information to train its models, and it describes no opt-out for that. It says it doesn’t sell personal information, stores data mainly in the US and names no security certifications.
Who it’s for
Hobbyists, songwriters and creators who want complete songs with vocals and the option to use them commercially.
Who should skip it
Ongoing lawsuits from Universal and Sony are a dealbreaker for you, or you need more than 60 downloads a month.
Pros
Pro costs $8/month and includes commercial rights for downloaded songs
v6 trained from scratch, partly on licensed music from Warner, BMG and Believe
Free plan with 50 credits a day and the v6-mini model
Stems, audio uploads and custom models on paid plans
Cons
Downloads capped at 20 a month on Pro and 60 on Premier
Universal and Sony filed a new lawsuit over v6 in September 2026
Trains on your activity and uploads with no opt-out described
Research Score
7.6/10
Features (30%)9
Value for money (25%)9
Privacy & security (20%)4
Compatibility (15%)7
Docs & support (10%)8
Free plan; Pro $8/month; Premier $24/month; yearly billing saves $24 (Pro) or $72 (Premier) per year (at the time of research)
Affiliate link · price at the time of research, may have changed
Runner-up · The best licensed option for commercial use
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ElevenLabs Music
8.1/10
Studio-quality songs and instrumentals from a model ElevenLabs says it built with artists, labels and publishers, with commercial use from $6 a month.
ElevenLabs is best known for AI voices (see our AI voice generator guide), but its music model is a strong second choice, especially if licensing matters. ElevenLabs announced partnerships with Merlin, which licenses for independent labels, and the publisher Kobalt when it first revealed its music product, and Believe signed a licensing agreement in April 2026, when ElevenLabs launched ElevenMusic as a streaming and remix platform, according to Music Business Worldwide. ElevenLabs says its current model, Music v2, was “built in partnership with artists, labels, and publishers.”
Music v2 generates songs in many languages, including English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese, according to ElevenLabs, and can keep a consistent vocal across tracks. Starter and Creator include two- and four-stem exports, and Pro supports up to six.
Pricing is shared with everything else ElevenLabs makes: music costs 900 credits per minute, so the free plan’s 10,000 credits come to about 11 minutes a month, Starter ($6) about 33 minutes and Creator ($22) about 134 minutes, if you spend them all on music. Starter is the first plan with music commercial use.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
ElevenLabs’ music page says self-serve plans allow commercial use online and offline except film, TV and studio games; for those you need an Enterprise plan. The free plan is limited to personal use, and its marketplace access is browse-only. And because voice and music draw from one credit pool, heavy voiceover users may find less left for songs.
ElevenLabs’ privacy policy says it uses inputs and outputs to train its models, but you can opt out in your account’s “Data use” settings; the opt-out applies only from that point on. It shares some identifiers with advertising partners (with an opt-out), stores data in the US and keeps voice-derived data for up to three years after your last interaction.
Who it’s for
Creators, marketers and podcasters who want commercial rights on a cheap plan and a cleaner licensing story than Suno's.
Who should skip it
You need music for film, TV or games on a self-serve plan, or you want Suno's community and song-extension tools.
Pros
Licensing partnerships with Merlin, Kobalt and Believe
Commercial use from the $6 Starter plan
Stems on paid plans, up to six on Pro
Training opt-out in your account settings
Cons
Self-serve commercial rights exclude film, TV and studio games
Credits are shared with ElevenLabs' voice tools (900 credits per minute of music)
Free plan is limited to personal use
Research Score
8.1/10
Features (30%)8
Value for money (25%)8
Privacy & security (20%)7
Compatibility (15%)9
Docs & support (10%)9
Free plan; Starter $6/month; Creator $22/month; Pro $99/month (first-month discounts may apply; at the time of research)
Affiliate link · price at the time of research, may have changed
Budget pick · The best free AI music generator
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Google Flow Music
7.5/10
Google’s music studio runs Lyria 3.5, makes full-length songs with vocals by chatting with an AI producer, and is free to start with daily credits.
Google Flow Music, at flowmusic.app, is Google’s music studio. You chat with a “Producer” assistant to create full-length songs with vocals, powered by Google’s Lyria 3.5 music model. The studio also splits stems, remixes audio, adds effects and can make music videos with Google’s video models. Its homepage promises “unlimited downloads.”
It’s free to start, with daily credits and no credit card required, and paid plans add more. If you’d rather stay in the Gemini app, Google’s Lyria 3 Pro model makes tracks of up to three minutes there, with intros, verses, choruses and bridges; Google said in March 2026 that longer generations start with paid subscribers.
Google says Lyria 3 was trained on material that YouTube and Google have a right to use under their terms, partner agreements and applicable law, that it treats a named artist only as broad inspiration rather than imitating them, and that filters check outputs against existing content. Lyria 3 and Lyria 3 Pro outputs carry SynthID, Google’s imperceptible watermark.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
Google is vaguer than Suno or ElevenLabs about what you can do with the songs. The Flow Music pages we checked don’t describe a commercial license, so read the linked terms before you release or monetize a track. Google also hasn’t announced licensing deals with major labels for Lyria in the sources we reviewed.
The homepage doesn’t list plan prices or credit limits, so check them in the app. Google’s privacy policy says it uses your interactions with its AI models to develop and train them; you can manage and auto-delete activity in your Google account.
Who it’s for
Anyone who wants to make full songs for free, and Gemini users who want quick tracks in the app they already use.
Who should skip it
You need an explicit commercial license in writing; Google's pages we checked don't spell one out for Flow Music.
Pros
Free to start with daily credits, no card required
Unlimited downloads, according to its homepage
Stem splitting, remixing, effects and music videos in one place
Google says Lyria 3 and 3 Pro outputs carry an invisible SynthID watermark
Cons
No explicit commercial-use terms on the pages we checked
Plan prices and limits aren't listed on the homepage
Google uses your interactions to improve its AI models
Research Score
7.5/10
Features (30%)8
Value for money (25%)9
Privacy & security (20%)6
Compatibility (15%)7
Docs & support (10%)6
Free to start with daily credits; paid plans available – see current pricing (at the time of research)
Affiliate link · price at the time of research, may have changed
Also great · The safest pick for background music in videos
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Soundraw
6.0/10
Royalty-free background music and beats from a model Soundraw says it trains only on music from its in-house team.
Soundraw doesn’t try to write the next radio hit. It focuses on background music and beats, which is often what a YouTube video, podcast or ad actually needs. Its main selling point is the training data: Soundraw says it trains its AI on music from its in-house team and uses no scraped data, so its tracks “will always be safe from copyright strikes,” in the company’s words.
Soundraw’s license covers personal and commercial use on all plans, in projects including YouTube, social media, product videos, video games, client work, radio and TV. The Artist plans also let you release songs on Spotify and other streaming services, but only after you change the beat so the result “sounds clearly different.” Crediting Soundraw is optional.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
You can’t register Soundraw tracks with Content ID, distribute unmodified tracks or sell them as stock music. Movies, TV and ads you don’t own aren’t covered and need a separate sync license, and meditation, lo-fi and relaxation uses on Artist plans are licensed only while your subscription is active. Soundraw’s prices showed only in euros from our location, so we’ve left the numbers out.
Soundraw’s privacy policy is short. It says the company won’t give your personal information to third parties without consent, with some exceptions, but says nothing about retention periods, security measures or where data is stored.
Who it’s for
YouTubers, podcasters and small businesses who need background music they can use commercially without worrying about copyright claims.
Who should skip it
You want finished songs to release as-is, or you need to register tracks with YouTube's Content ID.
Pros
Soundraw says it trains only on music from its in-house team
Commercial use in videos, games, client work, radio and TV
Artist plans allow releases on streaming services
Attribution optional
Cons
Tracks must be changed before release on streaming services
Content ID registration not allowed
Thin privacy policy
Research Score
6.0/10
Features (30%)6
Value for money (25%)6
Privacy & security (20%)5
Compatibility (15%)7
Docs & support (10%)7
Paid plans available – see current pricing (at the time of research)
Affiliate link · price at the time of research, may have changed
Other good options
For composers: AIVA. AIVA generates instrumental compositions you can download as MIDI as well as MP3, which helps if you want to edit the notes in a DAW. Rights depend heavily on the plan: on the free plan AIVA keeps the copyright and you must credit it; Standard allows monetization only on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram while AIVA still owns the copyright; only Pro gives you the copyright and full monetization, plus WAV downloads. AIVA’s pricing page showed us only euro prices from our location.
For royalty-free video soundtracks: Beatoven.ai. Beatoven generates background music from text descriptions with its own Maestro model and says it is certified by Fairly Trained. Each download comes with a non-exclusive, perpetual license for videos, podcasts, games, ads, audiobooks and livestreams, but Beatoven keeps ownership of the tracks and doesn’t allow direct distribution to Spotify or Apple Music. We couldn’t load its pricing page.
For long background tracks: Mubert. Mubert Render makes tracks of up to 25 minutes on paid plans. Note the split: Creator ($14 a month, or $11.69 billed annually) is for non-commercial content only, and you need Pro ($39 a month, or $32.49 annually) for commercial use and monetization. On every plan, Mubert says tracks can’t be published on streaming services, registered with Content ID or resold as standalone music.
For developers and self-hosting: Stable Audio 3.0. Stability AI released Stable Audio 3.0 in May 2026 with three open-weight models and a larger model available through its API, according to The Decoder. The medium model generates tracks of up to 6 minutes 20 seconds, and Stability says all four models were trained entirely on licensed data. Under its Community License you own your outputs and can use them commercially; organizations with more than $1 million in annual revenue need an enterprise license. It’s a toolkit for developers rather than a consumer song app.
The competition
Udio: Once Suno’s closest rival, Udio now has licensing deals with Universal, Warner, Merlin and Kobalt and follows what Music Business Worldwide calls a “walled garden” model, an approach Suno has rejected. We couldn’t confirm from Udio’s own pages what you can currently download or use outside its platform, so we can’t recommend it for music you want to release elsewhere.
Licensing, lawsuits and what they mean for you
The record industry’s 2024 lawsuits against AI song generators have turned into a patchwork of partnerships and ongoing cases:
Warner Music Group is a partner on Suno’s v6 models and has a licensing deal with Udio.
Universal Music Group has a licensing deal with Udio but, with Sony Music, is still suing Suno. Fact discovery in the original Boston case was set to close on September 30, 2026, and Suno has admitted obtaining YouTube audio for training with a download tool, according to Music Business Worldwide. In September 2026 the two labels filed a second suit over v6.
Outside the US, GEMA won a case against Suno in Munich, Koda sued in Copenhagen and SOCAN filed a claim in Canada.
Independent rightsholders have licensed ElevenLabs (Merlin, Kobalt and Believe), and Believe and TuneCore said in April 2026 that they will block distribution of AI-generated tracks from unlicensed platforms.
The practical points: use a paid plan if you plan to make money from a song, and read that plan’s exclusions. Download what you need while your plan is active, since Suno changed its download rules in September 2026, including for songs already in your library. Expect distributors to ask where AI music came from. And don’t try to imitate a specific artist; Google says Lyria treats a named artist only as broad inspiration. Laws on AI music and copyright differ by country and are still being decided in court, so treat this as background, not legal advice.
What to look forward to
Suno calls v6 the first of two phases; the second is planned to add opt-in, artist-specific experiences in which participating artists are paid, according to Music Business Worldwide. We’ll update this guide as that launches and as the remaining lawsuits move forward.
FAQ
What is the best free AI music generator?
Google Flow Music is free to start with daily credits and runs Google’s Lyria 3.5 model. Suno’s free plan gives 50 credits a day but only seven lifetime trial downloads, and free songs from Suno and ElevenLabs are for personal use only.
Can I use AI-generated music commercially?
Usually only on a paid plan. Suno includes commercial rights on Pro and Premier, ElevenLabs from Starter (excluding film, TV and studio games), Soundraw’s license on all its plans, and Mubert only from Pro. AIVA gives you the copyright only on its Pro plan. Read the terms before releasing music, and remember this isn’t legal advice.
Can I upload AI songs to Spotify?
It depends on the tool. Soundraw’s Artist plans allow it if you change the track so it sounds clearly different; Beatoven and Mubert don’t allow direct distribution to streaming services. Distributors set their own rules too: Believe and TuneCore said in April 2026 that they will block AI tracks from unlicensed platforms.
Is Suno being sued?
Yes. Warner Music Group is now a Suno partner, but Universal and Sony are still suing, and they filed a second lawsuit over Suno’s v6 model in September 2026. GEMA won a case against Suno in a Munich court in July 2026.
Who owns songs made with AI?
It depends on the tool and plan. Suno says paying subscribers own what they generate but doesn’t warrant that copyright exists; AIVA gives you the copyright only on Pro; Beatoven keeps ownership and licenses tracks to you; Stability AI’s Community License lets you own Stable Audio outputs. This isn’t legal advice.
