The Best AI Music Generators in 2026, Compared

There are more AI music generators in 2026 than anyone has time to test, and the market moved a lot this year. Suno capped downloads on its paid plans, Udio still has downloads switched off, Google turned ProducerAI into Flow Music, and open models finally caught up with the cloud: YuE2 outscored Suno's current model on a public benchmark in September.

This roundup covers the tools worth knowing about, what each is genuinely best at, and the details that matter after the fun part: whether you can download what you make, whether you can use it commercially, and what it costs.

A note on our method: prices below were checked against vendor pricing pages where they loaded for us, and against recent third-party reporting where they did not. Prices change often, so treat them as "at the time of writing" and confirm on the vendor's site. We are the makers of Song Creator Pro, which is on this list. We have tried to be fair, including where other tools win.

The Comparison Table

Tool	Vocals	Runs	Starting paid price	Downloads	Commercial rights
Suno	Yes	Cloud	$10/mo ($8/mo annual)	Capped: 20/mo on Pro, 60/mo on Premier	Paid plans
Udio	Yes	Cloud	Paid plans exist	Disabled since Oct 2025	N/A while downloads are off
ElevenLabs Music	Yes, many languages	Cloud	$6/mo (Starter)	Yes	Starter and up; film, TV and games need Enterprise
MiniMax Music	Yes	Cloud / API	API around $0.15 per song	Yes	Check plan terms
Mureka	Yes, plus voice cloning	Cloud	Around $8/mo (annual)	Yes	Paid plans
Google Flow Music (Lyria)	Yes	Cloud	Around $8/mo	High quality on paid tiers	Check plan terms
Stable Audio	Weak	Cloud (open variant local)	Around $12/mo	Yes	Check plan terms
Soundraw	No	Cloud	Under $10/mo (annual)	Unlimited MP3 on Creator	Paid plans
AIVA	No	Cloud	€11/mo (annual)	15/mo Standard, 300/mo Pro	Limited on Standard; you own copyright on Pro
Beatoven.ai	Mainly instrumental	Cloud	Low entry pricing	Yes	Paid plans
Song Creator Pro	Yes, 50+ languages (ACE-Step), EN/ZH/JA (YuE2)	Local (Windows)	$49.99 once	Unlimited	Included
YuE2 / ACE-Step (raw)	Yes	Local (self-hosted)	Free	Unlimited	ACE-Step: MIT. YuE2: CC BY-NC weights; individuals may monetize output, companies need a licence

Suno

Suno is still the name most people think of first, and for good reason: it makes complete, radio-style songs with vocals from a short prompt, and its v6 model is polished and fast. It is the easiest way to get a catchy, finished-sounding song in under a minute.

The downside arrived on 3 September 2026. Paid plans now cap downloads: Pro ($10 a month, or $8 a month billed annually) allows 20 song downloads a month, and Premier ($30 a month, or $24 annually) allows 60. The free plan no longer includes monthly downloads and has no commercial rights. Suno also retired its older models in September, which we covered in Suno v6 and the removal of old models.

Best for: quick, catchy songs with vocals, if 20 to 60 downloads a month covers your needs. Compare it with its old rival in Suno vs Udio.

Udio

Udio built a reputation for excellent mixing and section-by-section editing. Then, in October 2025, after settling with Universal Music Group, it disabled downloads of audio, video and stems for all users. A service update in February 2026 said downloads remained disabled, and at the time of writing we found no announcement that they have returned. Udio is moving toward a licensed, walled-garden platform where songs stay on Udio.

Best for: listening and sharing inside Udio. Not for anyone who needs files. If you have songs stuck there, see how to download Udio songs.

ElevenLabs Music

ElevenLabs' music model has the strongest legal footing of the big cloud tools: it was built with licensed material and agreements with rights holders before launch, rather than settling lawsuits afterwards. It sings in many languages and supports section-level editing.

Music shares a credit pool with ElevenLabs' voice products, and a minute of music uses roughly 900 credits. Commercial use of music starts on the Starter plan ($6 a month at standard pricing). ElevenLabs' music terms exclude film, TV, radio and games from standard plans; those need an Enterprise agreement.

Best for: businesses that care most about licensing provenance, and teams already using ElevenLabs for voice.

MiniMax Music

MiniMax is an AI lab whose Music 3.0 model arrived in July 2026. It produces full songs with vocals and is strongest in Mandarin and English. It is positioned more as an API than a consumer studio: at the time of writing, generation through the API is around $0.15 per song, which makes it attractive for developers building music features into their own apps. We compared it against the leading open model in YuE2 vs MiniMax Music 3.

Best for: developers who want pay-per-song pricing through an API.

Mureka

Mureka's standout feature is voice cloning: upload a sample of a voice you have the rights to, and it performs new songs in that voice. It also bundles stem separation and a lyrics generator. Paid plans start around $8 a month on annual billing, and paid users get commercial rights; free output is personal use only. Mureka's official pricing page did not load for us, so confirm current plan details on its site.

Best for: singers and producers who want songs performed in their own (or a licensed) voice.

Google Flow Music (Lyria)

Google acquired ProducerAI in February 2026 and relaunched it as Flow Music, running on its Lyria models. Lyria 3.5, launched in late July 2026, added BPM control and improved vocals. There is a free tier with daily credits, and paid plans start around $8 a month; high-quality downloads are reserved for paid tiers. Developers can also access Lyria models through Google's APIs. See the Google Lyria alternatives page for the model side.

Best for: people already in Google's ecosystem who want a capable, well-funded cloud tool with a generous free tier for experimenting.

Stable Audio

Stability AI's Stable Audio is built for instrumentals, loops and sound design rather than complete vocal songs. Producers use it for beds, textures and samples to drop into a DAW. At the time of writing it has a free plan with a small monthly credit allowance and paid plans starting around $12 a month. An open variant, Stable Audio Open, can be run locally and is covered in our open-source models guide.

Best for: loops, textures, and sound design for producers and game developers.

Soundraw

Soundraw does not use text prompts. You pick a genre, mood, length and energy with sliders, and it generates instrumental tracks designed to fit a video timeline. The Creator plan includes unlimited MP3 downloads with commercial use, and the Artist tiers add WAV and stems. At the time of writing, the Creator plan costs under $10 a month on annual billing.

Best for: video editors who want predictable, controllable instrumental beds without writing prompts.

AIVA

AIVA is the specialist for orchestral, cinematic and classical composition, and it exports MIDI, so you can take a piece into a DAW and keep composing. Its plans are priced in euros: Standard is €11 a month and Pro €33 a month, both billed annually, plus VAT. The free plan allows 3 downloads a month for non-commercial use with credit. Standard allows monetisation only on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram. Pro is unusual: you own the copyright to the compositions outright, rather than receiving a licence.

Best for: composers, film scorers and game developers who want editable orchestral music.

Beatoven.ai

Beatoven focuses on background music that follows the mood of your content, with tools to change the feel across scenes. It is aimed at podcasters, YouTubers and marketers rather than songwriters, and its output is functional background music, not standalone songs. Entry pricing has historically been among the lowest in the category, but Beatoven's pricing page did not load for us and third-party reports disagree, so check current plans on its site.

Best for: non-musicians who need mood-matched background music for content.

Song Creator Pro

Song Creator Pro is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. It is a Windows desktop app that runs two open models entirely on your own GPU: ACE-Step 1.5 for fast generation with vocals in 50+ languages (on NVIDIA, AMD and Intel GPUs, or CPU-only), and YuE2 for the highest-quality full songs in English and Mandarin. It is among the first apps to run YuE2 on 8 GB NVIDIA or AMD GPUs; the official release needs Linux and 24 GB.

It costs $49.99 once on the Microsoft Store (with a free trial) or $44.99 on itch.io, with unlimited generations, unlimited downloads in MP3, WAV and FLAC, and a commercial licence included. It also includes stem separation, remixing from your own audio, and partial regeneration of a section of a song.

Where it falls short: it is Windows only, generation speed depends on your hardware, there is no browser or mobile version, no sound effects generation, and no API. If you do not have a capable PC, a cloud tool is the practical choice.

Best for: creators who want unlimited downloads and no subscription, privacy (nothing leaves your PC), and access to YuE2 without a Linux workstation.

The Open Models: YuE2 and ACE-Step

If you are comfortable with Python and command lines, you can run the models yourself for free.

• YuE2 (from m-a-p, September 2026) is a 3B-parameter open-weight model that generates full songs with vocals from lyrics and plans each song as an editable musical score. On WildSongBench it scored 6.96 (best of eight) and 6.73 on a single run, ahead of Suno v6 at 6.56. The official release targets Linux and 24 GB GPUs, and the weights are non-commercial by default. See our YuE2 review.
• ACE-Step 1.5 is MIT licensed, runs on modest hardware, supports vocals in 50+ languages, and handles remix and editing workflows.

Both are covered in more depth in the best open source AI music models, and the local vs cloud trade-off is explained in cloud vs local AI music generators.

The Catch Nobody Puts on the Pricing Page

The biggest change in 2026 is not quality. It is control. Suno caps downloads, Udio switched them off entirely, and most cloud tools grant commercial rights only while you are on a paid plan. If a service changes its terms, your workflow changes with it, as Udio users found out overnight.

Best For: Quick Picks

If you want...	Pick
The quickest catchy song with vocals	Suno
The cleanest licensing for a business	ElevenLabs Music
Songs in your own voice	Mureka
Pay-per-song API for an app	MiniMax Music
A generous free tier to experiment	Google Flow Music
Loops and sound design	Stable Audio
Instrumental beds without prompts	Soundraw
Orchestral scores with MIDI	AIVA
Mood-matched background music	Beatoven.ai
Unlimited local generation, no subscription	Song Creator Pro
Free, fully self-hosted	ACE-Step 1.5 or YuE2

If you are deciding between paying monthly and paying once, our guide to free vs paid AI music generators and the comparison of AI music vs stock music libraries cover the long-term costs. And before you publish anything, read who owns AI-generated music.

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Ready to try local generation? Get Song Creator Pro on the Microsoft Store for $49.99 (free trial available) or on itch.io for $44.99. One-time purchase, two AI models including YuE2, unlimited generations and downloads, all running on your own Windows PC.