ElevenLabs sound effects price vs a Sume music stinger

ElevenLabs lists sound effects at $0.12 per minute on its API pricing page, and its docs describe 0.1 to 30 second clips as mp3 or 48 kHz wav at 40 credits per second (read 2026-10-03). Sume does not ship a sound-effects model; the closest tool is the Music Router at a flat $0.125 per generation.

Price for a three-second effect

At the per-minute rate, a three-second ElevenLabs effect works out to $0.006. Music Router bills the same $0.125 whether the prompt asks for a stinger or a full track, so it is a poor fit for one-off foley.

Using music as a stinger

Music Router accepts a prompt of 1 to 5,000 characters and rejects duration and duration_seconds. Length is steered in the text, for example [0:00-0:03] Hit: .... The result is a music generation, typically an mp3, so a hit or whoosh effect is not a reliable output. Section timestamps are model-reported in result.lyrics.

Recommendation

Use a sound-effects API for foley and impacts. Use Sume's Music Router when the cue is musical, such as a logo sting or a bed that needs to sit under a Sume render. If you want a cheaper musical sting, the model catalog at GET /v1/music-router/models lists the routable ids. See the Lyria 3.5 pricing post for how the $0.125 is built.