How to make an AI voiceover for your business videos (with ElevenLabs)

A product demo, a 30-second social ad, a staff-training module, a “how to use your new boiler” video: they all need a clear voice, and booking a voice artist or recording yourself in a quiet room isn’t always realistic. AI text-to-speech can now produce natural-sounding narration, including British accents, from a script in minutes. The catch is in the licence and the details, so here’s how to do it properly.

The job

You have a script and need clean audio, or a finished video with narration and captions, that you can publish commercially. Ads, YouTube, your website or client work all count. The things that matter are how natural and on-accent the voice sounds, how easily you can fix one word without redoing the lot, export formats, and whether your plan gives you commercial rights.

Our pick and two alternatives — and why

ElevenLabs — best overall voice quality

ElevenLabs offers default voices, a community Voice Library you can filter by language and accent, voice design and voice cloning. Its docs are refreshingly practical about getting good results (Text to Speech guide). Studio adds a timeline for narration, music, sound effects, video and captions, and is available on every plan including Free (Studio docs). Choose it when the voice has to sound as human as possible.

Murf AI — best for structured business narration

Murf’s Studio splits your script into blocks and sentences, lets you filter voices by language, gender, age, style and use case (for example e-learning versus advertising), and renders block by block (Murf help). All paid plans include commercial rights for Studio voiceovers; exporting and downloading needs a paid plan, and broadcast TV or radio rights are Enterprise-only (Murf licensing). Choose it for training, presentations and explainer videos.

Speechify — fine if it’s already on your phone

Speechify is best known as a read-aloud app. Speechify Studio adds voiceover and dubbing studios, but its free Studio plan has no commercial usage rights; the paid Studio plans include them (Speechify Studio pricing). Choose it only if you already pay for Speechify and your needs are simple.

Step by step: a business voiceover with ElevenLabs

1. Write for the ear. Short sentences, one idea each. Spell numbers and symbols out as words, e.g. “twenty-nine pounds ninety-nine” rather than “£29.99”. ElevenLabs recommends this because digits and symbols are ambiguous for the model (ElevenLabs guide). Read it aloud once yourself.
2. Pick the right plan for the use. You can test on the free plan, but ElevenLabs says free-plan output can’t be used commercially and must be credited when shared. Content made outside a paid subscription stays non-commercial even if you upgrade later (ElevenLabs help). If the voiceover is for your business, generate the final version on a paid plan.
3. Choose a voice. Voice choice has the biggest effect on the result. For a British accent, search the Voice Library with the language and accent filters (Voice Library docs); a voice native to the accent sounds more convincing than forcing one.
4. Generate a short test. On the Text to Speech page, paste a paragraph, select the voice and click Generate. Paid plans allow up to 5,000 characters per generation on the website, free plans 2,500. For English-only scripts the docs recommend an English-only model; start around stability 50 and similarity 75 with style at 0, and adjust speed between 0.7 and 1.2 if needed.
5. Fix, don’t restart. Under certain conditions the website gives two free regenerations when the text, voice and model stay the same. Download as MP3 or WAV from your history.
6. Put it on your video in Studio. Create a new video project (+ New blank project → Video project), open Library → Create + → Upload to add your footage and Speech to generate narration, drag both onto the timeline and line them up (Studio docs). Use the Captions panel for subtitles, choose the aspect ratio (16:9, 9:16, 4:5 or 1:1), then Export. Free-plan video exports carry a watermark.
7. Fix tricky names. Use the Pronunciations editor to add alias rules for brand or place names (think Loughborough, Worcester or your product name), so they’re read correctly every time.

Rough time saved

Our rough estimate, not a measured result: a 60-second script might take 15–30 minutes to voice, including picking a voice and a few retakes, against arranging and editing a recording session. The bigger saving comes with updates. When a price or product name changes, you regenerate one sentence instead of re-recording.

Pitfalls to avoid

• Publishing free-plan audio commercially. On all three tools, free output isn’t licensed for commercial use. Murf needs a paid plan even to export.
• Cloning someone else’s voice. Only clone your own voice, or someone’s who has given explicit, written permission for that purpose, and check each provider’s terms and prohibited-use rules.
• Wrong accent for the audience. An American read on a UK ad can jar. Filter for British voices and test with a colleague.
• Credit burn. ElevenLabs charges about one credit per character for text to speech, and regenerations cost credits once the free ones are used. Finalise the script before generating the whole thing.
• Platform rules. Murf points out that YouTube and other platforms’ policies on AI voices keep changing; check before you publish.

The UK angle: voices, consent and pricing

British voices: ElevenLabs’ Voice Library can be filtered by accent, and Murf lists British English (and Scottish) among its supported languages (Murf). Test a few regional accents if your brand has a local feel.

Data and consent: a recording of a real person’s voice is personal data under UK GDPR. If you clone an employee’s voice, get clear written agreement, explain how it will be used, and agree what happens when they leave. The ICO’s lawful basis guide is the place to start. This isn’t legal advice.

As shown in US dollars on elevenlabs.io/pricing and speechify.com/pricing-studio, checked 17 Oct 2026; introductory discounts excluded. ElevenLabs states its prices exclude all taxes. VAT: expect UK VAT (standard rate 20%, see GOV.UK) to be added at checkout; if you’re VAT-registered, check the invoice and ask your accountant how to record it.

FAQ

Related

• Try the recommender: create a voiceover for a YouTube video · dub a video into another language · clean up a voice recording
• Browse the category: Audio & voice · Video
• More guides: How to take AI meeting notes · How to make a pitch deck with AI

Sources

Official pages read on 17 October 2026. Features and prices change — always check before you buy.

• ElevenLabs — Text to Speech guide
• ElevenLabs — Studio
• ElevenLabs — Voice Library
• ElevenLabs — Can I publish the content I generate?
• ElevenLabs — Pricing
• Murf — Creating your first voice over
• Murf — Commercial rights
• Murf — Pricing
• Speechify — Studio
• Speechify — Studio pricing
• ICO — Lawful basis
• GOV.UK — VAT rates