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Your ElevenLabs text to speech history lives in the History panel of the app and in the Studio Generation History view, where every past generation is listed with its text, voice, model and settings. You can replay, download or delete any entry, and developers can do the same through the History API. Plans start at $6/month for Starter with 30,000 credits (checked 5 Nov 2026).
Best for: anyone who generates voiceovers regularly and needs to find, reuse or clean up past audio – podcasters, video editors and teams managing large script libraries.
Not for: one-off users who generate a single clip and never look back – history matters most when you produce audio repeatedly.
Starting price: $6/month for Starter with 30,000 monthly credits (checked 5 Nov 2026). Free $0 with 10,000 credits per month includes full history access.
Where to find your text to speech history
Every generation you run on ElevenLabs is saved automatically. In the main text to speech interface, the History panel lists your recent generations in reverse chronological order, each with the input text, the voice used, the model, and the generation settings. Clicking an entry replays the audio instantly, and from the same row you can download the file or delete the entry. Nothing here costs extra credits – browsing, replaying and downloading history entries is free; only new generations bill credits.
Studio, ElevenLabs long-form editor, has its own Generation History view. The official guide titled What is Generation History in Studio explains that Studio keeps a per-project record of generations, which is useful when you iterate on narration: you can compare takes, revert to an earlier version, and keep the exact settings that produced a take you liked. If you need fine-grained timing data for a past generation, our word-level timestamps guide shows how to retrieve per-word timing through the Forced Alignment API.
How to manage history entries, step by step
Managing history is straightforward and every action below is free. Credit costs apply only when you generate new audio. Use history to avoid regenerating and re-paying for audio you already made.
- Open the History panel. In the text to speech tab, find the history list next to the player. Entries appear newest-first with the text snippet, voice name and model. Cost: free.
- Replay an entry. Click any entry to hear it again without spending credits. Useful for comparing voice takes before you commit to a full script. Cost: free.
- Download past audio. Use the download control on an entry to save the MP3 to your device. Re-downloading never re-bills. Cost: free.
- Copy the settings. Each entry records the exact voice, model and voice settings used. Reuse them for consistent sequels instead of guessing. Cost: free to view; a new generation with those settings bills per character.
- Delete what you do not need. Remove test clips and bad takes to keep the list searchable. Deletion is permanent, so download anything you might reuse first. Cost: free.
The History API for developers
Developers get the same history through the REST API, documented under History in the official API reference Core Resources section. Four endpoints cover the lifecycle: GET /v1/history with an item id returns an item metadata; GET /v1/history with an item id plus /audio streams the audio; POST /v1/history/download downloads items in bulk; DELETE /v1/history with an item id removes an item. Authentication uses your xi-api-key header, the same key used for generation endpoints.
Practical uses include building a client-facing audio library, auditing what your application generated, and cleaning up old items programmatically. Because history items reference the original voice and settings, the API also supports rebuilding generation pipelines: fetch an item metadata, extract its parameters, and regenerate with a tweaked script. API calls to history endpoints do not consume generation credits – they are metadata and retrieval operations.
Rate limits on history endpoints follow your plan API limits, not your credit balance, so even a free-tier key can list and download its own history. Keep your xi-api-key secret: anyone with the key can read and delete your history, not just generate audio. Rotate keys from the API section of your profile if a key may have been exposed.
How long history is kept
ElevenLabs does not publish a fixed retention window for history items in its public docs, so treat history as a working record rather than permanent archival storage. The safe practice is to download audio you must keep – client deliverables, published episodes, licensed narration – to your own storage, and use history for recent takes and works in progress. Deleting items is immediate and cannot be undone, which is both a privacy feature and a reason to back up first.
History and your credit balance
History exists to save you credits. Regenerating a 3,000-character script on a standard model costs about 3,000 credits; finding the original in history and downloading it costs zero. Teams that generate iteratively – tweak a sentence, regenerate, compare – should lean on history instead of regenerating from scratch each time. The plans below show how far credits go when you stop paying twice for the same audio.
| Plan | Price (checked 5 Nov 2026) | Monthly credits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10,000 |
| Starter | $6/month | 30,000 |
| Creator | $22/month | 121,000 |
| Pro | $99/month | 600,000 |
History on free versus paid plans
History works the same on every plan, including the free tier. The free plan 10,000 monthly credits generate roughly 10 minutes of audio, and every one of those generations appears in history with the same replay, download and delete controls as paid plans. The difference is volume: a Creator plan generating 121,000 credits of audio per month builds a much longer history list, which makes the delete and bulk-download tools more important. Teams on Pro with 600,000 credits often generate hundreds of takes per week; for them, the History API bulk download and programmatic deletion are not conveniences but necessities. One practical tip for heavy users: name your projects clearly in Studio so Generation History stays navigable, and schedule a monthly cleanup where you download keepers and delete the rest. Because history costs nothing to browse, there is no penalty for generating on the free plan while you learn – your early experiments stay available in history until you delete them.
Pros
- Every generation is saved automatically with text, voice, model and settings.
- Replay and download past audio free – no re-billing for audio you already made.
- Studio Generation History keeps per-project takes for long-form narration.
- Full History API with get, audio, bulk download and delete endpoints.
- Deleting test clips keeps the workspace tidy and protects privacy.
Cons
- No published retention window, so history should not be your only archive.
- Deletion is permanent, so a misclick can lose audio you had not downloaded.
- Large teams can accumulate long lists that need regular cleanup.
- History metadata alone cannot restore audio if the item is deleted.
Who should NOT rely on text to speech history
Do not use history as your archive of record. If an audio file has legal, contractual or revenue value – a delivered client voiceover, a published audiobook chapter, an ad that is running – download it to storage you control and back it up. History is a convenience layer for recent work, not a backup service, and the absence of a published retention guarantee means you should assume entries can age out. Likewise, if you handle sensitive scripts, delete entries once downloaded rather than leaving them in the panel indefinitely.
Frequently asked questions
Where is my ElevenLabs text to speech history?
In the History panel of the text to speech interface, and in the Studio Generation History view for long-form projects. Both list past generations newest-first with the text, voice, model and settings used, and both let you replay, download or delete entries.
Does replaying history cost credits?
No. Replaying, downloading and deleting history entries are free. Credits are consumed only when you generate new audio. Reusing a past generation from history instead of regenerating the same script is one of the simplest ways to stretch a credit balance.
Can I download my history in bulk?
Yes, through the API. The POST /v1/history/download endpoint downloads history items in bulk, while the web interface supports downloading individual entries. For large archives, the API route is faster than clicking through the panel one entry at a time.
How do I delete history entries?
Delete individual entries from the History panel in the app, or call the DELETE history endpoint with the item id through the API. Deletion is permanent and immediate, so download any audio you might need before deleting.
Does the History API need a paid plan?
The History API uses the same xi-api-key authentication as other endpoints and is available wherever API access is available for your account. History retrieval itself does not consume generation credits on any plan, including the free tier with 10,000 monthly credits.
Can I see the settings used for a past generation?
Yes. Each history entry records the voice, model and voice settings of its generation, both in the app and through the get-item API endpoint. This makes it easy to reproduce a take exactly or to audit which settings produced which result.
Can I share a history entry with a teammate?
Not directly through a share link. History entries are private to your account. To share audio, download the MP3 from the entry and send the file, or regenerate the same text in a shared Studio project. For teams that need shared access to past audio, the bulk download endpoint lets you export everything into shared storage your whole team can browse.
Does history include voice changer and sound effects?
History covers text to speech generations, including those made in Studio. Generations from other products have their own records inside those products. If you generate audio across several ElevenLabs tools, check each product history or project view rather than expecting one combined list.
Sources checked
- elevenlabs.io/docs – What is Generation History in Studio guide and History API reference with get, audio, download and delete endpoints, checked 5 Nov 2026.
- elevenlabs.io/pricing – plan prices and monthly credit allowances, checked 5 Nov 2026.
Last updated 5 Nov 2026. Prices checked on the official pricing page on that date; confirm at checkout.