ElevenLabs v4 goes from $0.022 to $0.08 on Oct 13: 18,000 characters

ElevenLabs' API pricing page lists v4 at $0.022 per 1,000 characters with a 72 percent discount until October 12, and a regular price of $0.08. The step on the next day is $0.08 / $0.022, or about 3.6 times. For an 18,000-character script that is $0.396 before the end of the promotion and $1.44 after. Sume TTS is $0.0475 per 1,000 characters, which is $0.855 for the same script.

The page was read on 2026-10-09. October 12, 2026 is a Monday, so the promotion covers this weekend.

v4 and v4 Turbo, before and after

The same discount applies to the Turbo variant. Its promotional price is $0.011 per 1,000 characters against a regular $0.04, which is also a step of about 3.6 times ($0.04 / $0.011). Both have the same 72 percent discount on the page.

Should you rush work in before Monday

Only if the work is ready and the voice is already chosen. Generating audio you will not use, just because it is cheap this weekend, is not a saving. A bulk job you were going to run anyway, such as a back catalog of narrated posts, does save money if it finishes before the promotion ends: on 18,000 characters it is $1.04 for v4 ($1.44 - $0.396).

If you are choosing a TTS provider for the long term, ignore the promotional line and compare regular prices. On regular prices, Sume's $0.0475 sits between ElevenLabs v4 Turbo at $0.04 and v4 at $0.08.

What Sume offers instead

Sume TTS has a fixed per-character price with no promotion cycle, so your estimate in November is the same as today's. A request takes up to 20,000 characters and costs at most $0.95. The catalog also lists a TTS Router with sonic-3.6, sonic-3.5, sonic-3, sonic-latest and sonic-preview as explicit model ids at the same per-character price. Sume does not list ElevenLabs voices, and a voice name from another vendor is rejected with invalid_voice_id before any charge.

• Ready script and chosen voice: generate before the promotion ends.
• Undecided: compare regular prices only.
• Need a stable estimate: a fixed rate is easier to budget.

How to read a promotional price

A discount with an end date is a signal about the regular price, not a forecast of the next one. ElevenLabs' page shows both numbers, so you can plan with either. If your project can only be justified at $0.022, it is not justified; if it still pencils out at $0.08, the promotion is a bonus.

A useful habit is to put both prices in your budget sheet: the promotional figure for the work you run this week, and the regular figure for everything after. For a team generating 18,000 characters a day, the daily difference is $1.04 on v4, which is about $31 over a 30-day month.