Audio & Music

Pricing models vary more than in other categories. Music-from-prompt services (Suno, Udio, Riffusion) typically bill per-generation regardless of clip length up to their built-in cap. Sound-effect generators (AudioGen, ElevenLabs Sound Effects) bill per-second of output. Open-weights models running on shared GPUs are billed by compute time. Expect anywhere from one cent for a short effect to a euro for a fully arranged song.

The trade-off is musicality versus controllability. Flagships like Suno V4 and Udio produce surprisingly polished songs with verses, choruses, and instrumental breaks — but they decide most of the arrangement for you. Open-weights models (MusicGen, Stable Audio Open) give you finer control over genre, BPM, key, and instrumentation, but the output is shorter and less coherent. For background music in a video, the flagships usually win on time-to-final. For sound design that has to match a specific cue, open-weights with conditioning is the way.

Watch out for vocal cloning: some music models will happily generate vocals in a specific singer's style if you prompt them, which is a copyright and platform-policy minefield. Stick to original styles or use the safety-filtered tiers.

Licensing in this category is the most heterogeneous: some providers grant full commercial rights, some restrict to personal use, and a few are still in research-preview limbo. Always read the license before shipping output in a paid channel.

Top picks above cover the song-quality flagship, the cheapest sound-effect generator, the longest-clip option, and the fastest realtime model.