Ranked: AI Music Generators

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AI technologies and tools continue to improve and become increasingly smarter every day. Recently, we have witnessed how AI dipped its toes into the creative field with tools that can create or generate images, videos, art, and most importantly for me, music. An article I read from a16z, a venture capital firm, discussed how generative AI is transforming the music industry, which piqued my interest.

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AI voice changers and AI-generated music were already creating waves on social media. Still, after learning more about how AI is shaping the music world, I became even more curious about AI-generated music. I decided to search for the best tools in this category. 

Now, like many others, I was concerned about the possibility of AI taking over the music industry. Still, after testing these tools out and giving them a chance, I quickly realized that AI-generated music has its place to fill in this industry. Writing and creating songs demands a lot of time and expertise, especially since there are many things to learn and consider to come up with something usable.

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Songwriting is no easy feat, which is why the availability of these tools gives musicians like me a new avenue to bring my ideas to life. Now, whenever I find myself lacking in creative energy or suffering from writer's block when writing songs, I give these tools a try to bring the songs I envision in my mind to life.

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In my search for the best tool for AI music generation, I ended up with six of the top tools and compared them to determine which one resonated with me the most.

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How we picked these tools

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We cast a wide net to identify the tools that people are already using. Firstly, we prioritised tools that have a substantial and active user base. A high number of monthly users indicates that the product is highly reputable and has resonated with many writers. We also scoured online communities where authors gather, such as Reddit and Facebook groups. 

The ongoing discussions and reviews about these music generators provided us with a clearer picture of their opinions. Finally, we also reviewed other sources, particularly those from reputable companies. Those who consistently receive positive feedback have easily made it to our shortlist.

With numerous excellent AI music generators available, selecting just a few for this review proved challenging, as each tool offered unique strengths and functionalities. Ultimately, we narrowed down the selection from eight to six by examining what sets them apart from the others. Although Mureka and Producer AI are fantastic tools with a decent amount of following, they unfortunately didn't make the cut.

Mureka did a great job generating lyrics for the prompt, but unfortunately, the output isn't in the genre I specified. It generated something closer to a modern pop mix, unlike the 80s hip hop style that I was aiming for. Still, the vocals and the instruments sounded decent, although not as good as our top picks for this roundup. 

Another tool that didn't make it to the list is Producer.ai. While I was generally pleased with its output, it had a similar problem to Mureka. What was generated wasn't accurate to what I specified in the prompt I used. While the song it generated sounds much closer to the prompt I've given it compared to Mureka, it sounded more like a modern take of an 80s hip-hop song rather than sounding straight out of that era.

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How I tested these tools

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For this test, I ran the same prompt across all platforms to see which tool could deliver the most accurate result. The prompt I used was, “Create a hip-hop song from the 80s.” This provides each tool with the same challenge, allowing for a fair comparison in terms of creativity, authenticity, and output quality.

Although some of the tools on this list offer mobile app versions, with Suno being one of the most popular, I will be using only the website versions for every platform. This creates a consistent testing environment, removes hardware and app-related variables, and ensures that all results are tested under the same conditions.

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Key considerations

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1. Suno

Best for generating prompt-accurate songs

Listen to the music it generated

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Suno is one of the most impressive AI tools I've used and the best tool for AI music generation I've tested. What started as a Discord plugin (just like Midjourney) eventually led to a standalone website for AI-generated music. Suno is also the most popular tool among AI music generators, with a whopping 22 million monthly site users. 

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My experience with Suno was a real treat; as the first tool I've tested in the AI music generator category, its capabilities blew me away. The site's design was captivating, as it immediately made you want to try out every possible feature the tool had to offer. It was like a child given the newest and coolest toy, and I certainly played around like one with Suno.

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Once I got over my child-like excitement, I shifted my focus to running the prompt I had prepared, and it was scary how close Suno's AI got to the song it generated. I've generated two tracks, one featuring vocals and the other instrumental, for the test. The output captured what I envisioned in my mind. 

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Suno's basic plan is very generous in terms of the monthly number of songs you can generate. For my use case, Suno's basic plan was sufficient, as I was looking to use this tool exclusively to convey my song ideas. Still, if you're considering using the generated content for commercial use, it would be ideal to subscribe to Suno's pricing plans.

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Additionally, if you're seeking a collection of helpful prompts for Suno, consider checking out this article by Travis Nicholson on Medium.com. 

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I recommend checking Suno and trying it out to see where your creativity, combined with this tool, gets you.

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2. ElevenLabs

Best for generating the most natural-sounding AI music

Listen to the music it generated

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A while ago, ElevenLabs introduced Eleven Music. It's an AI music generator designed to compete with the leading tools in this space. I tested it and it did not fail to amaze me. I was particularly struck by how intuitive it was to work with and the quality of the audio it generates.

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Suno has been my go-to AI tool for music generation for a long time; it's ease of use and I appreciate that it has an active community where users share helpful tips and tutorials. However, after trying ElevenLabs' own AI music generator, it's hard to deny just how well Eleven Music performed for my specific needs.

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I've been searching for a tool with better audio quality, and while Suno remains my top pick, Eleven Music also stands out to me for its quality of the instruments and vocals. When I ran similar prompts through both tools, the audio fidelity on both tools stands out as a cut above the rest. Eleven Music offers similar features to Suno, such as lyrics and song section editing, all in an interface that works smoothly without becoming overly complicated.

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There are certain features that Suno has that may be best suited to other users' workflows, such as being able to hum or upload a recording of your tune and letting Suno work around it. Still, I found Eleven Music to be much more responsive to my prompts, which brings me closer to the results I am looking for and saves me time piecing together sections for the song I am creating. The most noticeable difference, though, is how organic the voices it generates sound compared to Suno—they just sound more realistic to my ears.

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While Suno remains my top choice overall for its extensive feature set and the results matching my prompts the closest, Eleven Music excels where it matters most: audio quality. I expect Eleven Music will become even better as they continue to roll out updates and add new features, as they're just getting started. If you're looking to achieve excellent-sounding results just from prompts alone, Eleven Labs' Eleven Music might be exactly what you need.

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Check out ElevenLabs' Eleven Music and test it out for yourself, and see where your creativity leads you.

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3. TemPolor

Creating and discovering AI music for content creators

Listen to the music it generated

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TemPolor combines AI music generation with a stock library of over 200,000 royalty-free tracks under one monthly subscription. Its search feature supports natural-language prompts and even video references, which is helpful if you need quick background music for your content, e.g. YouTube videos, social media posts, podcasts, and more. 

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Though TemPolor is a newer platform than our all-time favourite Suno, it performed really well in my test. Both platforms let you generate high-quality tracks with or without vocals that adhere well to your prompts; Suno is probably a bit better in following your prompt closely, though. With TemPolor you can also generate songs inspired by videos or images you upload, a feature that Suno doesn't have.

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TemPolor’s track library of thousands of songs is also a big value-add. You can even use videos and images to search for songs, making it really easy to discover tracks that fit your content. 

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One thing to note is that with Tempolor, you’ll need a paid subscription in order to download songs without a watermark — something Suno doesn't limit you with.

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For its free trial, TemPolor allows you to test its core functions and limited selection of tracks and features. While this may seem scarce compared to what Suno offers, TemPolor's paid pricing plans give a lot of value for money—even the cheapest plan lets you generate 1,000 songs per month.

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If you’re looking for an alternative to Suno, or primarily need background music for content, TemPolor may well be your best bet.

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4. Udio

Best for generating songs with good melodies

Listen to the music it generated

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Next on our list is Udio. Udio officially released its free beta version in April 2024. It has already garnered a solid following of 15 million monthly users in just a short period.

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In terms of quality, Udio is the closest tool to Suno – both of these are a step above the rest. Udio and Suno both allow you to generate songs with or without vocals and customize the lyrics and genre of the song you want to generate. Again, they both produce good quality outputs. However, I prefer Suno over Udio because it is easy to generate a good song that adheres closely to your prompt. However, with some tweaking of my settings, I found that the output turned out good and close to what I had in mind.

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Udio's free version is very generous, considering you have access to most of its standard features. Udio gives you 10 credits per day, but if you want to generate more, fear not because you can consume an extra 100 monthly credits to get more than 10 songs.

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I recommend checking out Udio if you're looking for a great alternative to Suno. Check them out through their website.

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5. Loudly

Best for creating background music

Listen to the music it generated

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Loudly is another AI tool that deals with music generation. I came across this tool while looking for an alternative to Suno. While not as popular as Suno, with only around 1.3 million monthly visitors, this tool can generate great music that can compete with Suno. 

Loudly has qualities and features that cannot be found with Suno. Compared to Suno, Loudly allows you to customize your generated track. It has tools that help you change the key, tempo, the amount and types of instruments included, and the energy of the song you've generated. You can also blend two genres to add more flavor to your song.

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But with it comes the drawbacks, and the most important deal breaker to learn about Loudly is that the text-to-music function of Loudly is not entirely as accurate as Suno's AI, leaving you with generated content that is somewhat close to what the prompt commands but not close enough.

The free version of Loudly is quite generous, as the tools I've mentioned can all be accessed even with its basic plan. But do note that the free version of Loudly limits the length of the songs you generate to a maximum of 30 seconds, so if you're looking to generate tracks longer than that, you should consider subscribing to one of the pricing plans that Loudly offers.

Upon considering this tool's different advantages and disadvantages, Loudly works best in generating background music, making it very usable. 

You can go and check out Loudly through their website.

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6. Musicfy.lol

Best for creating sound bites

Listen to the music it generated

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The last tool on the list is Musicfy. Much like Loudly, Musicfy is a lesser-known AI tool that features AI music generation. 

Musicfy is mainly known as an AI voice changer tool to help you convert your voice into the likeness of other artists or characters. While having a decent background as a reliable tool for AI voice changing, its AI music generation is quite the opposite. 

My time with Musicfy wasn't as pleasant as the other two tools on this list. I had difficulty generating something that competes with the other tools' generated content on this list. The song I got was far from the instruction I provided. Plus, its free version's restrictions, such as limiting the generated music to up to only 15 seconds, did not help with its case.

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Musicfy offers longer song lengths if you sign up for a subscription to one of its pricing plans. I'll probably not spend my money with Musicfy for my case since it performed differently than what I expected, which is to create a song that has a similar structure to what I am used to hearing.

Even though my expectations weren't met, I still hope that Musicfy will give more attention to its AI music generator tool and give it its much-needed improvement in later updates. But for now, I recommend just going for other tools on this list.

You can still check out Musicfy and test it through their website.

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