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Most of my videos are evergreen explainers, and most of their views come from one language. Dubbing is the obvious way to get more out of a back catalog. It is also an easy way to burn a month of credits on a Tuesday afternoon. So I treat it like any other batch job: estimate first, run a cheap test, then scale.
Everything below comes from the ElevenLabs pricing page, checked October 21, 2026. Plans change, so check the current page before you commit.
What the dubbing feature actually does
You give it a video or audio file (or a link) and pick source and target languages. It transcribes the speech, translates it, and generates new speech in the target language. It tries to keep the original speaker's voice and timing. It also separates the voice from music and effects, so the output sounds like a dub instead of a new voice pasted over the old mix.
There are two modes:
- Automatic dubbing. Upload, pick languages, get a finished file. This is the fast, cheaper mode. It works well for single-speaker tutorials and faceless voiceover videos with clean audio.
- Dubbing Studio. An editor that shows transcript and translation segment by segment. You can fix translation mistakes, adjust timing and regenerate single lines. It costs more per minute, and it's what you want when names, numbers or technical terms have to be right. Per the pricing page, it's included from the Starter plan.
The numbers that matter
All ElevenLabs products share one monthly credit pool. Dubbing uses roughly:
| Mode | Credits per minute |
|---|---|
| Automatic, with watermark | 2,000 |
| Automatic, no watermark | 3,000 |
| Dubbing Studio, with watermark | 5,000 |
| Dubbing Studio, no watermark | 10,000 |
A monetized channel needs the no-watermark versions, so the planning numbers are 3,000 credits/min (automatic) and 10,000 credits/min (Studio). The watermarked modes are still useful for tests.
The plans, from the same page:
| Plan | Price / month | Credits / month |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $6 | 30,000 |
| Creator | $22 ($11 first month) | 121,000 |
| Pro | $99 | 600,000 |
| Scale | $299 | 1,800,000 |
Prices exclude tax. Annual billing costs 10× the monthly price. Unused credits on paid plans roll over for up to two months while you stay subscribed.
One thing that's easy to forget: if your original narration also comes from ElevenLabs text to speech (about 1 credit per character), it draws from the same pool. Your dubbing budget is whatever is left after the voiceovers.
A small estimator
I keep this next to my upload spreadsheet. It turns "these videos into these languages" into credits and tells me which plan fits:
// Credits per minute, from the ElevenLabs pricing page (checked Oct 21, 2026)
const RATE = {
auto_wm: 2000, auto: 3000,
studio_wm: 5000, studio: 10000,
};
const PLANS = [
["Starter", 30_000],
["Creator", 121_000],
["Pro", 600_000],
["Scale", 1_800_000],
];
function estimate(videos, { ttsChars = 0 } = {}) {
// videos: [{ minutes, languages, mode }]
const dub = videos.reduce(
(sum, v) => sum + Math.ceil(v.minutes * v.languages * RATE[v.mode]), 0);
const total = dub + ttsChars; // TTS ≈ 1 credit per character, same pool
const plan = PLANS.find(([, credits]) => credits >= total);
return { dub, total, plan: plan ? plan[0] : "Scale+ / multiple months" };
}
// One 10-min explainer into 3 languages, automatic, no watermark,
// plus ~10k characters of English narration for that month
console.log(estimate(
[{ minutes: 10, languages: 3, mode: "auto" }],
{ ttsChars: 10_000 }
));
// → { dub: 90000, total: 100000, plan: 'Creator' }
// Same video, but through Dubbing Studio with no watermark
console.log(estimate([{ minutes: 10, languages: 3, mode: "studio" }]));
// → { dub: 300000, total: 300000, plan: 'Pro' }
Running it a few times before a dubbing month changes decisions quickly. On the numbers above, one 10-minute video into one language is about 30,000 credits in automatic mode and about 100,000 in Studio. Studio without a watermark costs a bit over 3× automatic per minute, so I only use it for videos where a wrong product name or number would hurt.
A rough rule from those figures:
- Testing on a few short clips: Starter
- One or two videos a month into one language: Creator
- Every upload into several languages: Pro or higher
The workflow I'd run on a back catalog
- Pick languages from data. YouTube Analytics shows viewer geography and subtitle languages. Start with the one or two biggest non-English audiences, not the languages you'd guess.
- Pick the videos. Sort by views over the past year. Keep evergreen videos with clean audio. Trend content with a short shelf life isn't worth the credits.
- Export clean stems if you have them. A separate voice track from your editor usually gives a cleaner dub than a final mix with loud music.
- Test with the watermark. Dub a short clip in the cheaper watermarked mode to check voice match and translation before spending real credits.
- Use Studio only where accuracy matters. Fix names, numbers and terms in the transcript, then regenerate only the lines you changed.
- Get a native speaker to listen. Ten minutes from a fluent viewer or a freelancer catches the awkward phrasing that kills retention.
- Localize the metadata. Titles, descriptions and captions need translating too. A dubbed track nobody can find doesn't help.
- Publish and measure. Add the dub as an extra audio track on the existing video (if YouTube Studio offers the feature for your channel) or upload to a separate language channel, then track watch time per language for a month.
On step 8: extra audio tracks keep views, watch time and comments on one video. A separate channel gets its own titles and thumbnails but starts from zero. I'd start with audio tracks and only spin up a separate channel for a language that clearly performs.
Licensing checks before you publish
- Paid plan for anything monetized. The Free plan is non-commercial and requires attribution. According to ElevenLabs' help center, content generated during a paid subscription keeps its commercial licence after you cancel.
- Only dub content you own. Don't run other creators' videos through it without permission.
- Guests need to agree. If someone else speaks in the video, ask them before their voice is carried into another language.
- Follow YouTube's disclosure rules for altered or synthetic content. That's a platform rule, separate from the vendor's terms.
Mistakes I'd avoid
- Dubbing the whole catalog before measuring the first five videos.
- Skipping the human review. Machine translation still mangles idioms and technical terms.
- Leaving the title and thumbnail text in English.
- Forgetting that your English TTS narration eats the same credits.
- Feeding it a mix with loud background music and expecting a clean separation.
If you run an evergreen channel with clear narration, this is one of the cheaper ways to reach viewers in other languages without re-recording anything. Estimate the month, test a watermarked clip, then scale only what works.
The original guide, with an FAQ and the full workflow, is here: ElevenLabs dubbing for YouTube. For estimating credits for the voiceovers themselves, see ElevenLabs pricing explained.
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