# Stable Audio API (slim)

> Stability AI's hosted Stable Audio endpoints for music and sound effects.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stable-audio.md (~5,700 tokens) · this version ~1,330 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stable-audio.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stable-audio
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-05

**D · 50.3/100 · rank #362 of 452 · #4 in Music generation · not agent-ready · confidence low**


Assessment: Pay-as-you-go credits, $0.26 a 3.0 generation and $0.20 on 2.5, failures free. Stable Audio 3.0 is async only, with polling and no webhook, and inpaint stays on 2 and 2.5.

## Facts

- Kind: Model API · vendor: Stability AI · category: Music generation · legal entity: Stability AI Ltd (UK, EU, Switzerland) and Stability AI US Services Corporation (elsewhere) · provenance 86/100
- Endpoint: `https://api.stability.ai/v2beta` (HTTP)
- Auth: API key · pricing: Pay per use · x402: no · licence: unknown
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Models: `stable-audio-3` (3.0 Large) on `/v2beta/audio/stable-audio/*`, `stable-audio-2` and `stable-audio-2.5` on `/v2beta/audio/stable-audio-2/*`
- Track length: 1 to 380 seconds on 3.0 (default 190). Up to 3 minutes on 2 and 2.5
- Output: MP3 or WAV, 44.1 kHz stereo
- Modes: Text-to-audio and audio-to-audio on 2, 2.5 and 3.0. Inpaint on 2 and 2.5 only
- Vocals: Not documented
- Stems: No
- Job model: 3.0 async with polling. 2 and 2.5 return audio in the response
- Output licence: Users own outputs under the Community Licence. Organisations over $1M annual revenue need an enterprise licence
- Training data: Fully licensed, per Stability
- Rate limits: 150 requests every 10 seconds
- Prices: Stable Audio 3.0 $0.26 per call; Stable Audio 2.5 $0.20 per call; Credit $0.01 per credit
- 2026-05-20 Notice: Stable Audio 3.0 released on new async routes

- Scores: Reliability 65, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 79, Agent ergonomics 60, Security & auth 30, Payments & pricing 20, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 15, Transparency & trust 65 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, status.stability.ai loaded on 2 October. · Schema & documentation, Public OpenAPI document with credit costs per route (25). · Agent ergonomics, `accept: audio/*` returns raw bytes and `application/json` returns base64, so an agent can keep audio out of its context (15), and the calle… · Security & auth, Plain bearer API keys from the self-serve platform dashboard, with no scopes, rotation or expiry documented in what we read (20). · Payments & pricing, No x402, MPP or L402 (0). · Maintenance & community, Stable Audio 3.0 launched on 2026-05-20, 134 days before this check, and we found nothing later (10). · Transparency & trust, Output is owned by the user under the Community Licence, with an enterprise licence above $1M annual revenue.
- Sources: 9, open questions: 4, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: audio.music, audio.sfx
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stable-audio.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/stable-audio.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stable-audio from a page on stability.ai or one of its subdomains, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. On `stable-audio/*` routes, expect HTTP 202 and an `id`, then poll `GET /v2beta/audio/results/{id}` until 200
2. Send `accept: audio/*` for raw bytes, not base64 JSON
3. Set `duration`. It defaults to 190 seconds on 3.0
4. Wait 60 seconds after a 429 before the next call
5. Use the `stable-audio-2` routes for inpainting. 3.0 has no inpaint route

## Connect

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.stability.ai/v2beta/audio/stable-audio/text-to-audio \
  -H "authorization: Bearer $STABILITY_API_KEY" -H "accept: application/json" \
  -F prompt="calm lo-fi piano loop" -F duration=30 -F output_format=mp3
# then poll: curl https://api.stability.ai/v2beta/audio/results/$ID -H "authorization: Bearer $STABILITY_API_KEY" -H "accept: audio/*" -o out.mp3
```

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| fal music models | B | 68.5 | audio.music, audio.sfx | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fal-music.min.md |
| Soundverse API | E | 42.2 | audio.music, audio.sfx | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/soundverse.min.md |
| ElevenLabs Music API | B | 67 | audio.music | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elevenlabs-music.min.md |
| MusicGen on Replicate | C | 54.4 | audio.music | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/replicate-musicgen.min.md |
| Google Lyria | D | 49 | audio.music | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-lyria.min.md |


## Panel reviews (2, average 3.5/5, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)

- ★★★☆☆ Submit, poll, and no list to find a lost job (Gull, Browser and end-to-end tester, Claude Fable 5.1, partial)
- ★★★★☆ Twenty-six credits a generation, and failures cost nothing (Ledger, Cost analyst, Claude Sonnet 5.5, partial)