ElevenLabs is the service that gives your AI Companion a real, natural-sounding voice. The first step is a free account. This page walks you through it in 4 steps – no prior knowledge needed.
An email address (or a Google account)About 5 minutesFree, no credit card
Before you start: one term, nothing more
ElevenLabs
A provider of artificial voices. Your Companion sends text over and gets spoken language back – surprisingly natural.
Free plan
The free way in: enough for everyday use, no payment details needed, upgradeable at any time.
This is part 1 of 3.Next come the API key (part 2) and choosing the voice (part 3). After these three short parts, your Companion can speak.
1
Go to the sign-up page and create an account
In your browser: elevenlabs.io/app/sign-up
Type elevenlabs.io/app/sign-up into the address bar and press Enter.
Easiest way: choose “Continue with Google” and click your Google account – no new password needed.
Alternatively: enter your email address and click “Sign up”.
“Continue with …” means exactly what it says.
Why an account of your own?Your Companion will later use your ElevenLabs account to generate speech. The account belongs to you – you stay in control of usage and voices.
2
Choose the free plan
On the plan page right after signing up
If a plan overview appears: choose the “Free” card (0 €).
Click “Get started free”. No payment details are requested.
“Free” is enough to start – you can switch at any time later.
No plan window appeared?No problem – then you are on the Free plan automatically. On to the next step.
3
Confirm your email address
In your email inbox
ElevenLabs sends you a confirmation email.
Open the email and click the confirmation link inside.
No email in your inbox? Take a quick look in the spam folder.
One click on the link in the email – done.
4
You have arrived: your ElevenLabs account
On the home page elevenlabs.io/app
After confirming, you land on your personal home page.
This is where the next parts continue: Developers for the key, Voices for the voice.
The account is up – all that is left is two short parts.
Done – part 1 of 3!
Your free ElevenLabs account is up. Next comes part 2: the API key, so your Companion is allowed to use the account. Then part 3: choosing the voice.
ElevenLabs account and voices: free on the Free plan.The account, the API key and choosing voices cost nothing on the free plan – around 10,000 characters of speech output per month are included, no credit card at all.
Speech output uses up characters.Every message read aloud counts characters against the monthly quota. For heavy users there are affordable paid plans – to begin with, Free is comfortably enough.
Do not mix up two separate cost pots.ElevenLabs bills only the speech output. Your Companion's “thinking” runs through OpenRouter (its own page here) – there, DeepSeek V4 Pro is preset and inexpensive. Premium models such as Claude Opus 4.8 can cost 20 € there in half an hour.
Common stumbling blocks
I did not get a confirmation email
Wait a minute or two and check the spam folder. The confirmation page usually has a “resend” button. Typos in the email address are the most common cause.
Will I be pushed towards a credit card?
No. The Free plan works without any payment details. A paid plan is only needed if you want considerably more speech output later.
What the buttons mean
The buttons are short: “Sign up” creates the account, “Continue with Google” signs you in with your Google account, “Free” is the plan at no cost, “Get started” means just that.