---
type: entity
subtype: tool
title: "ElevenLabs"
description: "The paid text-to-speech provider used for high-quality narration and voice cloning (though cloning takes work to make reliable)."
resource: "https://elevenlabs.io"
tags: [voice, text-to-speech, media]
videos: [build-render-entire-videos-with-claude-code-full-workflow, turn-any-ai-agent-into-a-live-person-voice-chat-setup-in-minutes, chatgpt-is-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving-introducing-auto-gpt]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs is the paid text-to-speech (TTS) provider Cole reaches for when he needs high-quality synthesized narration. In his automated video workflow he states it plainly: "I'm using ElevenLabs for my voice, Kokoro if you want something free" [0:01:03]. That single line frames its role across his videos, ElevenLabs is the premium choice when audio quality matters, with the free, local Kokoro model positioned as the budget alternative.

Cole uses ElevenLabs in three distinct contexts. In his Claude Code video-rendering pipeline it generates the voiceover track for fully machine-produced videos. In [voice agents](../../concepts/voice-agents.md) it supplies the speech-synthesis stage of a [voice pipeline](../../concepts/voice-pipeline.md); when comparing options for a live voice agent he notes that "you have OpenAI and then also ElevenLabs for this... but ElevenLabs does give you a lot more voices and customization" [0:08:03], so it trades simplicity for range. And going all the way back to his early Auto-GPT walkthrough, the "ElevenLabs key" was optional glue that let an autonomous agent "actually speak to you as it's thinking through the steps to solve the task" [0:03:07].

The recurring caveat is voice cloning. Cole tried narrating a video with a cloned copy of his own voice and found the quality gap real: "I also tried to use one of my clone voices in ElevenLabs, but it actually takes a lot of work to make that reliable" [0:11:12]. So while cloning is a headline feature, in practice he treats stock voices as the dependable path and cloning as a project in its own right, a useful expectation-setter for anyone wiring TTS into an [agent deployment](../../concepts/agent-deployment.md).

Because ElevenLabs is a hosted API driven entirely by the text you feed it, its output quality tracks the quality of that text. Well-structured prompts and scripts, the domain of [effective prompting](../../concepts/effective-prompting.md) and [prompt engineering](../../concepts/prompt-engineering.md), directly shape how natural the narration sounds.

## Works with

- [Voice Agents](../../concepts/voice-agents.md) - Real-time voice-to-voice agents built from speech-to-text and text-to-speech pipelines, where latency is the key constraint.
- [Voice Agent Pipeline](../../concepts/voice-pipeline.md) - The speech-to-text, LLM reasoning, and text-to-speech pipeline architecture that turns an agent into a real-time voice assistant (e.g. with LiveKit).
- [Remotion](./remotion.md) - The earlier tool that first gave Claude Code a skill to generate videos; Cole found it less reliable than HyperFrames.
- [Deepgram](./deepgram.md) - Speech-to-text provider (with a free tier) used as the transcription stage of the deployed LiveKit voice pipeline.
- [LiveKit](./livekit.md) - Open-source Python framework for building customizable, self-hostable voice AI agents with a swappable STT/LLM/TTS pipeline, tool calling, MCP server support, and a CLI deploy path to LiveKit Cloud.
- [Sora 2](./sora-2.md) - OpenAI's video-plus-audio generation model that took the world by storm in 2025 and drew a $1B Disney investment.
- [HyperFrames](./hyperframes.md) - An HTML-based video rendering tool with a built-in preview editor that lets AI agents generate and mold animated scenes, positioned as a more reliable step up from Remotion.

## Contrasts with

- [Vapi](./vapi.md) - No-code voice AI platform cited as easy but a black box, which Cole and clients have moved off of for custom solutions.
- [Aqua Voice](./aqua-voice.md) - Speech-to-text platform Cole uses to dictate into any text box, especially for communicating with LLMs (the mirror image: STT rather than TTS).
- [Kokoro](./kokoro.md) - A free, open-source text-to-speech model that lets you run the entire AI video-generation workflow at no cost.

## Related

- [Effective Prompting](../../concepts/effective-prompting.md) - Keeping prompts simple, specific, and high-quality, and knowing when prompt tricks matter versus when they're overrated.
- [Prompt Engineering](../../concepts/prompt-engineering.md) - The craft of wording, structuring, and constraining a prompt so an LLM reliably produces the answer you want.
- [Adversarial Agents](../../concepts/adversarial-agents.md) - Pitting a generator against an adversarial critic so an agent's output is stress-tested before it's accepted.
- [Generative UI](../../concepts/generative-ui.md) - Interfaces the agent generates or drives at runtime, streaming tool activity and reasoning into a live, stateful UI.
- [Agent Deployment](../../concepts/agent-deployment.md) - Getting agents to production, containerizing, networking, reverse-proxying, and choosing a provider-agnostic, cost-predictable host.

## Sources

- [Build + Render ENTIRE Videos with Claude Code (Full Workflow)](../../sources/build-render-entire-videos-with-claude-code-full-workflow.md) - "[0:01:03] I'm using ElevenLabs for my voice, Kokoro if you want something free"
- [Build + Render ENTIRE Videos with Claude Code (Full Workflow)](../../sources/build-render-entire-videos-with-claude-code-full-workflow.md) - "[0:11:12] I also tried to use one of my clone voices in ElevenLabs, but it actually takes a lot of work to make that reliable"
- [Turn ANY AI Agent into a Live Person - Voice Chat Setup in Minutes](../../sources/turn-any-ai-agent-into-a-live-person-voice-chat-setup-in-minutes.md) - "[0:08:03] you have OpenAI and then also ElevenLabs for this I'm going to keep it simple with OpenAI um but ElevenLabs does give you a lot more voices and customization"
- [ChatGPT is the GIFT that keeps on GIVING - Introducing Auto-GPT](../../sources/chatgpt-is-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving-introducing-auto-gpt.md) - "[0:03:07] like the ElevenLabs key if you want the AI to actually speak to you as it's thinking through the steps to solve the task that you gave it"
