ElevenLabs Not Working
Voice not generating, API returning errors, or quota exceeded? Here’s how to diagnose and fix the most common ElevenLabs problems.
ElevenLabs — live status
If Operational, the issue is likely your account quota or API key. View incidents →
What’s happening?
Voice not generating at all
Check your character quota first — the most common cause. Log in to elevenlabs.io and look at your remaining characters. If at 0, generation is blocked until your quota resets or you upgrade. If quota is fine, check the status badge above for a platform outage.
API returning 401 or 403 errors
A 401 means your API key is invalid or missing. Pass it in the xi-api-key header. A 403 usually means your plan does not include the feature you’re calling (e.g., voice cloning requires Creator tier or above).
API returning 429 — rate limited
ElevenLabs applies concurrent request limits per plan. If you’re calling the API in parallel (e.g., batch jobs), you may hit the rate limit. Add a short delay between calls, or upgrade to a plan with higher concurrency. The Retry-After header tells you when to retry.
Slow audio generation or latency spikes
ElevenLabs servers experience higher load during peak hours (US evenings). For latency-sensitive applications, use the streaming endpoint to receive audio chunks as they are generated rather than waiting for the full clip. The eleven_turbo_v2 model is significantly faster than eleven_multilingual_v2.
4 fixes to try in order
Check your character quota on the dashboard
Log in to elevenlabs.io and open the main dashboard. Your remaining characters are displayed prominently. If the counter is at 0, generation will be silently blocked. Note the reset date — quotas reset on your billing anniversary, not the 1st of each month.
Verify or regenerate your API key
Go to elevenlabs.io/app/settings/api-keys and confirm your key is active. If you recently rotated it, update all integrations. Always send the key as the xi-api-key request header.
Test with a minimal request
If quota and key look fine, test with a very short text (e.g., "Hello") using the web interface at elevenlabs.io. If the web UI works but your API call does not, compare the voice ID, model ID, and output format you are passing — invalid IDs return a silent failure or 400 error.
Upgrade your plan or wait for quota reset
If quota exhaustion is the blocker, you can upgrade immediately on elevenlabs.io/pricing — the new quota is available within seconds of payment. Alternatively, use a shorter text input or pre-generate and cache audio to reduce per-call character usage.
Character quota by plan
| Plan | Characters/month | When quota runs out |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 10,000 | Generation blocked until monthly reset |
| Starter ($5/mo) | 30,000 | Generation blocked — upgrade or wait for reset |
| Creator ($22/mo) | 100,000 | Generation blocked — upgrade or wait for reset |
| Pro ($99/mo) | 500,000 | Generation blocked — buy add-on or wait for reset |
Check your current usage and reset date directly on the ElevenLabs dashboard at elevenlabs.io.
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