# ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API vs Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone (slim)

> ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design scores 76.8 (BB) to Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone's 58 (C) for voice cloning. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-voice-cloning-vs-smallest-voice-clone.md (~5,750 tokens) · this version ~3,180 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-voice-cloning-vs-smallest-voice-clone.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-voice-cloning-vs-smallest-voice-clone
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API scores 76.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone's 58 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do voice cloning.

- ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API: BB 76.8, rank #40 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elevenlabs-voice-cloning.min.md
- Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone: C 58, rank #768 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smallest-voice-clone.min.md
- ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API, good for Teams that need instant clones, professional clones and prompt-designed voices in one account, with consent checks on the professional tier. Ahead on Reliability, 73 against 65; Schema & documentation, 91 against 70; Agent ergonomics, 88 against 62; Security & auth, 84 against 48; Payments & pricing, 30 against 20; Maintenance & community, 85 against 72; Transparency & trust, 83 against 72. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; Runs on your own machine.
- Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone, good for Teams already on Smallest's Lightning TTS or voice agents who want a clone from a short clip in one call.

| Category | ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API | Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 73 | 65 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 91 | 70 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 88 | 62 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 84 | 48 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 30 | 20 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 85 | 72 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 83 | 72 |

| Fact (where they differ) | ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API | Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | ElevenLabs | Smallest, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1` | `https://api.smallest.ai/waves/v1/voice-cloning` |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for voice cloning | not published | $17.50 per 1M characters |
| Licence | MIT (SDKs) | Proprietary service under Smallest's Terms of Service. The `smallestai` Python SDK is on PyPI |
| Last release | 2026-10-27 | 2026-10-29 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-03-31 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-20 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 3.1k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 2.2M PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

Why the edge:
- Security & auth, ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API +36: ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API 84 (Graded for voice cloning, with consent and misuse controls in place of the read-only line and training and retention of voice data in place of the prompt-injection line, since the API returns audio and IDs rather than third-party text. API keys can be limited to chosen endpoints, given a credit quota, user keys can expire after 15 minutes to 30 days, service-account keys exist and accept an expiry of up to 90 days since 26 October, keys can be limited to IP ranges, and leaked keys are disabled through GitHub secret scanning (30). PVC is own-voice only and needs a spoken verification matched to the samples, IVC relies on an attestation, high-risk and celebrity voices are blocked, and an AI speech classifier and C2PA support are public (14 of 20). Training on content is on by default with a self-serve opt-out, and the privacy policy caps voice data retention at 3 years after the last interaction (10 of 15). The History API lists each generation with voice, model, characters and date (15). security.txt valid to 2027-10-06 (re-read on 1 November, contact elevenlabs.io/security/report) with a disclosure programme, SOC 2 Type II, and a trust centre at compliance.elevenlabs.io, no paid bug bounty found (15 of 20).); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 48 (Graded for voice cloning as the other listings in this category, with consent and misuse controls in place of the read-only line and training and retention of voice data in place of the prompt-injection line. Plain bearer keys, shown once, revocable, with rotation guidance and no scopes. Short-lived access tokens are refused on the cloning endpoint (20 of 30). No consent or verification field. The Terms let Smallest demand proof that the speaker authorised a clone and remove voices without it, and the prohibited use policy bars unauthorised impersonation. No watermark found (6 of 20). The Terms say Smallest won't use User Content or Input to train its services. Zero retention and retention windows are Enterprise options, and no retention period for samples is published (9 of 15). A usage dashboard, with no audit log found (5 of 15). A valid security.txt naming security@smallest.ai and a HIPAA business associate agreement page. The trust centre didn't answer through our proxy, so no certification was confirmed first-hand, and no bug bounty was found (8 of 20). 20+6+9+5+8 = 48.)
- Agent ergonomics, ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API +26: ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API 88 (Creating a clone returns only `voice_id` and `requires_verification`, and `GET /v2/voices` can be narrowed to personal or cloned voices (25). Cursor pagination with `page_size` up to 100 and filters by type, category, fine-tuning state and labels (20). Errors carry a `type`, a named code and a `param` for validation failures, with recovery hints on many codes such as `voice_not_found`, `invalid_cursor` and `concurrent_modification`, though the two concurrency codes in different pages disagree (18 of 20, up from 15). No idempotency key, PVC exposes `fine_tuning_state` to poll (10 of 20). Two required fields for an instant clone, and official Python and TypeScript SDKs among others (15).); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 62 (The clone response is a compact object with the voice ID, status and signed URLs to sample clips rather than inline audio (20 of 25). The list call returns every clone on the organisation with no pagination or filter found (10 of 20). Errors carry a message and, on 500, an `error_code` enum with a stated fix, such as retrying `voice_clone_timeout` (16 of 20). No idempotency key, and retrying a timeout can leave a duplicate clone, with deletion through an oddly named route (4 of 20). Two required fields. The Python SDK `smallestai` 5.14.0 is current, while the npm package `smallestai` was last published on 16 April 2025 (12 of 15). 20+10+16+4+12 = 62.)
- Schema & documentation, ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API +21: ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API 91 (Public OpenAPI at api.elevenlabs.io/openapi.json, 313 paths per the 6 October check, not re-read on 17 October or 1 November because api.elevenlabs.io's robots.txt now disallows every path (25). llms.txt and Markdown docs, with a `.md` twin of every page (10). The cloning guides say when to use IVC or PVC and warn that more than 3 minutes of IVC audio can make a clone worse (16 of 20). Inputs are typed, but `labels` is a free-form map (11 of 15). Plenty of examples, and an errors reference in the API docs lists 10 error types with their HTTP statuses and about 70 named codes, though endpoint pages in the OpenAPI still list only 200 and 422 (14 of 15, up from 10, which read the codes as living only in help-centre articles). Versioned paths (`/v1`, `/v2`) and a changelog published several times a month, the latest entries dated 12, 19 and 26 October (15).); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 70 (The API reference pages are generated with typed fields, enums and error schemas, but no OpenAPI file was found linked from the docs or llms.txt (5 of 25). llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every page (10). The guide says when to use the Pro pool, how to check `modelIds` before synthesis and why a mismatched clone returns empty audio, while the reference still names the retiring default (14 of 20). `model` and `language` are enums validated by the server, with required `displayName` and `file`, a 5 MB limit and MIME types listed, and `tags` as a comma-separated string (12 of 15). Examples in curl, Python and Node.js and a table of seven error cases with causes (14 of 15). Paths under `/v1`, a deprecation page with dated statuses and a models changelog with entries on 21, 24, 26, 28 and 29 October 2026 (15). 5+10+14+12+14+15 = 70.)
- Maintenance & community, ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API +13: ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API 85 (Python and JavaScript SDK 2.75.0, tagged on 27 October 2026 (23:02 UTC), after 2.74.0 and 2.74.1 on 20 October and 2.73.1 on 17 October (30). Changelog entries weekly, on 5, 12, 19 and 26 October, and seven Python SDK releases in October (20). Public changelog and a help centre, and SDK issues get labels, but the ten newest open issues showed no maintainer replies on 1 October, per the 1 October check, not re-read since (10 of 15). Current official SDKs (15). The Python SDK supports 3.8 and later and shipped five days before this check (10).); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 72 (Read as a model, on the lines the other hosted cloning listings use (recency 30, dated releases 10, deprecation notice 10, support 15, SDKs 15, health 10). The models changelog has entries dated 29 October 2026 (30). Entries on 21, 24, 26, 28 and 29 October and in September (10). The deprecation page dates each retirement, such as `lightning-v3.1` and its clones on 30 November 2026 with steps to migrate, though when the clone retirement was first announced wasn't found (7 of 10). Public changelog, support@smallest.ai and a Discord server, with no evidence read of how they answer (10 of 15). `smallestai` on PyPI released 5.12.3 to 5.14.0 between 1 and 7 October 2026, from a repository under fern-demo. The npm package is stale (10 of 15). Package repositories weren't cloned (5 of 10). 30+10+7+10+10+5 = 72.)
- Transparency & trust, ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API +11: ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API 83 (Closed service with clear terms, SDKs under MIT (15 of 30). Privacy policy updated 9 October 2026 (unchanged on 1 November), still with a 3 year retention cap for voice data and a training opt-out under Data use, a DPA, subprocessors through the compliance portal and a training opt-out that matches the Terms, but the Terms (last updated 9 October 2026, unchanged on 1 November) also take a perpetual, irrevocable licence to User Voice Models while promising deletion on request, which sit uneasily together (25 of 30). Dated deprecations in the changelog, no written notice policy found (15 of 20). Data locations named (United States, the Netherlands, Singapore) and Enterprise residency in the EU, India and Singapore (20).); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 72 (Closed service with clear terms naming Smallest, Inc. under California law, effective 21 October 2026 (15 of 30). The Terms rule out training on customer content, the Privacy Policy (18 September 2026) gives retention criteria but no periods, and the Zero Data Retention page is specific about Enterprise options, with nothing on how long cloning samples are kept (16 of 30). A deprecation page with dated statuses (deprecated, rejects, removed, scheduled, retiring) and migration targets (16 of 20). Two regions named with locations. No sub-processor list was found and a DPA page exists unread (10 of 20). 15+16+16+10 = 57.)
- Payments & pricing, ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API +10: ElevenLabs Voice Cloning and Voice Design API 30 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-unit prices for speech from a clone are public, such as $0.08 per 1,000 characters for TTS v4 on the API pricing page (20). The Free plan needs no card, per the 6 October check (the pricing page read on 1 November doesn't say either way), and includes Voice Design, but no cloning (10 of 20). Signup is a human browser flow (0).); Smallest.ai Instant Voice Clone 20 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-character TTS prices are public, about $0.175 per 10,000 characters on Lightning v3.1, but no price per clone is published and the models pricing table marks voice cloning No on pay as you go, against the docs (10). The agents pricing page states $10 in free credits, and whether a card is needed wasn't established (10 of 20). A person signs up in a browser and creates the key in the dashboard (0). 0+10+10+0 = 20.)