Audiobook Cost Calculator - Cost to Make an Audiobook
Type a word count to see what an audiobook costs to make: hours, credits and price. AI full cast vs human narrators at $200–400 per finished hour.
Last updated: 2026-10-26
Turning an 80,000-word novel into a full-cast AI audiobook on VoiceSmiths costs $749.90 at list price, or $299.90 at the new-user price: one 35,000-credit pack. A human narrator at the usual $200–400 per finished hour puts the same book at $2,000–4,000. Type your own word count below to see the characters, audio length, credits and the cheapest product that covers them.
Audiobook & audio drama cost calculator
- Characters
- 448,000
- Audio length
- 8 h 47 min
- Credits
- 31,360
- One-time (never expires)35,000-credit pack$749.90 list$299.90 for new users
- Yearly (credits last the year)Pro yearly (120,000 credits)$2,101.90 list$840.90 for new users
Estimated at 7 credits per 100 characters (about 70 per 1,000 for a full-cast drama; the same for one narrator; the short AI notice at the end of a chapter adds 1–2). Failed generations are refunded. The new-user price applies in an account's first 24 hours, and to a subscription's first period only. See all prices
How the audiobook cost calculator works
Four steps, the same rule the studio bills by:
- Characters. English words × 5.6 (characters including spaces). 80,000 words ≈ 448,000 characters. Chinese and Japanese are counted character by character.
- Credits. Characters × 70 ÷ 1,000, rounded up. That is the full-cast rate, and the single-narrator rate too (7 credits per 100 characters); a single narrator on the fast Flash model is 4 per 100. A full-cast render also adds about 2 credits per chapter for the spoken "This audio was generated by AI" at the end, unless you switch it off.
- Audio length. Characters ÷ 850 per minute for English (about 150 words a minute), 250 for Chinese, 360 for Japanese. Our 172 English theater episodes average 845 characters a minute, and ACX plans on 9,300 words per finished hour, so the estimate holds.
- Price. The cheapest way to cover the total, shown at list price and at the new-user price: one pack, several packs, or a big pack topped up with a small one, plus the monthly and yearly plan that would cover it.
Worked examples
| Project | Characters | Credits | Audio | Cheapest purchase: list (new-user) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A 2,000-character scene (~360 words) | 2,000 | 140 | ~2.4 min | Trial pack: $9.90 ($3.90) |
| A 3,500-word chapter | 19,600 | 1,372 | ~23 min | Creator, one month: $49.90 ($19.90) |
| A 30,000-word novella | 168,000 | 11,760 | ~3.3 h | Two 10,000-credit packs: $499.80 ($199.80) |
| An 80,000-word novel | 448,000 | 31,360 | ~8.8 h | One 35,000-credit pack: $749.90 ($299.90) |
| A 100,000-word novel | 560,000 | 39,200 | ~11 h | Four 10,000-credit packs: $999.60 ($399.60) |
The 80,000-word novel leaves 3,640 credits in the pack, enough to re-render about a tenth of the book. A full cast takes up to 8,000 characters per job, so a 3,500-word chapter goes in three parts; the cost is the same.
What 208 credits buys: this six-voice werewolf romance scene is 2,965 characters of text and runs 3.7 minutes.
More genre samples, from billionaire revenge to LitRPG, are in web fiction and short drama samples, and classic chapters such as Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 1 and A Christmas Carol, Stave One are in the theater. All of them play free.
AI vs a human narrator: what an audiobook costs to produce
| Per finished hour | An 80,000-word novel | |
|---|---|---|
| Human narrator or indie producer | $200–400 | $2,000–4,000 |
| VoiceSmiths full cast, list price | about $69–89 | $749.90 |
| VoiceSmiths full cast, new-user price | about $27–36 | $299.90 |
| ElevenLabs direct, Pro plan | $99 a month for 600,000 credits, about 600 minutes | fits in one Pro month of credits |
- Human narration. Reedsy's guide to making an audiobook says most indie producers charge "usually around $200 to $400" per finished hour, and its 2026 self-publishing cost guide puts an 80,000-word manuscript at $2,000–4,000. ACX's own blog split a typical rate into roughly $200 per finished hour for narration and $200 for editing and mastering, with about four hours of work behind every finished hour. A good narrator brings things AI does not: direction, interpretation and a human performance.
- ElevenLabs. Per character, buying straight from ElevenLabs costs less. Its pricing page lists Text to Speech at 1 credit per character and Pro at $99 a month for 600,000 credits, so a 448,000-character novel fits in one Pro month of credits if you are happy to pick the voices and put the chapters together yourself. Unused ElevenLabs credits roll over for up to two months while you stay subscribed.
- VoiceSmiths. You pay more per character for casting done for you: the AI finds every character in your text, gives each a voice you can swap, tags emotion line by line and keeps returning characters on the same voice across a series. Pay by card or Alipay; one-time packs never expire and need no subscription.
Sources, checked October 26, 2026: Reedsy, How to Make a Great Audiobook (updated October 14, 2025); Reedsy, How Much Does It Cost to Publish a Book (updated August 13, 2026); ACX blog, Money Talks (2013); ElevenLabs pricing. VoiceSmiths is an independent studio built on the ElevenLabs API and is not affiliated with ElevenLabs.
List price vs new-user price
Every product has two prices. The new-user price is 60% off and applies to every order an account places in its first 24 hours after sign-up; subscriptions get it on the first month only and renew at list. After those 24 hours, the list price applies. The calculator shows both.
| Product | Credits | New-user price | List price | Credits expire |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial pack | 150 | $3.90 | $9.90 | Never |
| Starter | 600 / month | $7.90 first month | $19.90 / month | End of each month |
| Creator | 2,400 / month | $19.90 first month | $49.90 / month | End of each month |
| Pro | 10,000 / month | $89.90 first month | $224.90 / month | End of each month |
| 10,000-credit pack | 10,000 | $99.90 | $249.90 | Never |
| 35,000-credit pack | 35,000 | $299.90 | $749.90 | Never |
| 130,000-credit pack | 130,000 | $999.90 | $2,499.90 | Never |
Your first order can be refunded in full within 7 days if no more than 150 credits of it were used; see the refund policy. Credits for a render that fails come back automatically. All plans are on pricing.
What's included, and what isn't
Included
- A full cast or one narrator. The narrator plus a voice for every character, from curated voices you can hear in the voice library and swap before rendering; or a single narrator in long-form mode, up to 50,000 characters a job. Your text is never rewritten.
- Per chapter: an MP3 (44.1 kHz, 128 kbps) and line-timed SRT subtitles; a full-cast chapter also exports its script and a vertical video.
- Series memory. Returning characters keep the same voice in every chapter.
- Commercial use. The audio is yours to use commercially (section 6 of the terms).
Not included
- Music and sound effects. Nothing is added automatically. Make effects in AI sound effects (billed separately) and mix them in yourself.
- Mastering for stores. Files come out as 128 kbps MP3. ACX's specification, a common benchmark, asks for 192 kbps or higher constant-bit-rate MP3 at 44.1 kHz, loudness between −23 and −18 dB RMS, peaks no higher than −3 dB, a noise floor no higher than −60 dB, and one chapter per file of at most 120 minutes (ACX audio submission requirements). Master in your audio editor; re-encoding to 192 kbps meets the format but adds no detail beyond the source.
- Store approval. ACX requires human narration unless otherwise authorized. Check each store's AI rules before you plan on it.
- Proofreading and file import. There is no EPUB or PDF upload; paste chapter text (up to 8,000 characters per full-cast job), and listen for misread names yourself.
How to keep the cost down
- Buy a pack for a book. One-time pack credits never expire, so whatever is left carries over to the next book.
- Subscribe only for a steady serial. Subscription credits expire at the end of each period with no rollover. Creator's 2,400 credits a month cover about 34,000 characters, roughly 6,100 words.
- Budget about 10% for re-renders. A misread name means rendering that chapter again at full price. Shorter chapters make fixes cheaper; 80,000 words plus 10% is about 34,500 credits, still inside one 35,000 pack.
- Test one chapter first. Start with the trial pack and your most typical chapter. Finding the cast and previewing the opening are not billed, though they need credits in your account.
- Top up rather than size up. A 90,000-word novel comes to about 35,300 credits, just past one 35,000 pack. The calculator tops it up for you: one 35,000 pack plus two trial packs ($769.70 at list) instead of four 10,000 packs ($999.60).
- Finishing within a year? The Creator yearly plan grants 28,800 credits at once, valid for 12 months, for $451.90 ($180.90 for the first year at the new-user price): our lowest price per credit. The calculator compares packs and monthly plans.
- One voice is enough? A single narrator on the fast model is 4 credits per 100 characters: about 17,920 credits for an 80,000-word novel.
FAQ
How much does it cost to make an audiobook? With a human narrator, most indie producers charge $200–400 per finished hour, so Reedsy puts an 80,000-word book at $2,000–4,000. With an AI full cast on VoiceSmiths the same book is about 448,000 characters and 31,360 credits: one 35,000-credit pack, $749.90 at list price or $299.90 at the new-user price (an account's first 24 hours).
What does AI audiobook narration cost per finished hour? One finished hour of English is about 51,000 characters (roughly 9,100 words), or 3,570 credits. On the 10,000-credit pack or larger, or the Creator plan, that comes to about $69–89 at list prices and $27–36 at the new-user price. Smaller purchases cost more per credit: on Starter an hour is about $118.
Is VoiceSmiths cheaper than ElevenLabs? No, not per character. ElevenLabs' pricing page lists Text to Speech at 1 credit per character and its Pro plan at $99 a month for 600,000 credits, about 600 minutes of speech by its own count. VoiceSmiths is built on the ElevenLabs API and charges more because it does the casting: it finds every character in your text, gives each a voice, tags emotion line by line and keeps voices the same across a series.
Can I make an audiobook for free? Not on VoiceSmiths: nothing is free to generate. Listening is free: every voice in the voice library and 170+ English episodes in the theater play without an account. The smallest purchase is the trial pack, 150 credits (about 2,100 characters), $3.90 at the new-user price, list $9.90. A first order is refunded in full within 7 days if no more than 150 credits were used.
Can I sell an AI-narrated audiobook on Audible? Not through the standard ACX route. ACX's audio submission requirements say an audiobook must be narrated by a human unless otherwise authorized, and prohibit unauthorized text-to-speech or AI. Other stores set their own rules for AI narration, so check them before you plan a release. Audio you make on VoiceSmiths is yours and may be used commercially.
Do credits expire? Credits from one-time packs (the trial pack and the 10,000, 35,000 and 130,000 packs) never expire. Subscription credits last for the billing period and do not roll over, so a book you will render over several months is usually cheaper as a pack.
How to make one, step by step: audiobook maker and novel to audiobook.