Tested and compiled by Vincent Wesley Couey and the Rinzara editorial team · 10 music tools tested against a video brief · methodology & sources · all pricing read from vendor pages 2026-08-12.
What a video creator actually needs
Music under video has a specific requirement set, and it is narrower than the one these platforms sell against. You need the right to use a track as background music in monetised video, enough tracks per month to cover your output, and clearance that survives a platform content-ID check. You almost never need the right to release the track as a single. Everything below was read from the vendors' own pages on 12 August 2026.
| Need | Soundraw | Suno | Udio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for background use | Yes, stated | Song generator | Song generator |
| Entry price, annual | $11.04/mo | $8/mo | $8/mo |
| Commercial use at entry | Yes | Yes, Pro | Check terms |
| Downloads at entry | Unlimited | 20/mo from 9/3/26 | Credit based |
| DSP distribution at entry | No | Yes | Check terms |
| Tier that adds distribution | $19.49/mo | Included | Included |
| Downloads on that tier | 10/mo | 20/mo | Credit based |
| Unlimited downloads from | $11.04 or $32.50 | Not offered | Not offered |
| Best fit | Video background | Featured songs | Featured songs |
The tier inversion, and why upgrading can cost you tracks
Soundraw splits its plans by who you are rather than by how much you use, and the result is genuinely counterintuitive.
- Creator, $11.04 a month. Commercial use, background music in video and podcasts, unlimited monthly downloads. No distribution and monetisation of songs to Spotify or Apple Music.
- Artist Starter, $19.49 a month. Adds DSP distribution and monetisation. Downloads drop to 10 a month.
- Artist Pro, $23.39 a month. Same distribution rights, 20 downloads a month.
- Artist Unlimited, $32.50 a month. Distribution plus unlimited downloads again.
Read as a ladder that is bizarre. Read as two products it is coherent: the Creator plan serves people putting music under content, and the Artist plans serve people releasing music as content, where ten finished tracks a month is a serious release schedule and unlimited downloads would invite abuse.
The consequence for video creators is direct. A YouTube channel publishing three videos a week needs perhaps twelve tracks a month. On Creator at $11.04 that is unlimited and covered. On Artist Starter at $19.49, which is the tier that sounds more capable, twelve tracks exceeds the ten download cap. You would pay 77% more to be rate-limited below your own output.
The question that settles it: is the music going under something, or is the music the thing? If it goes under, buy the cheaper tier and stop.
Song generators solve a different problem, and cost more per usable track
Suno and Udio generate complete songs with structure, vocals and an arc. That is the right tool when the music is a feature of the video, an intro theme, a parody, an artist-led piece. It is an awkward tool for background scoring, because a song with a vocal hook competes with your narration rather than supporting it.
Both are cheaper on paper at $8 a month billed annually, against Soundraw's $11.04. The gap closes once you account for usable output. A background bed needs to loop, sit under speech and not resolve dramatically halfway through a sentence. Generating that from a song generator usually means several attempts plus editing, whereas a platform built for scoring produces it in one pass with length and intensity controls.
And Suno's September change matters here. From 3 September 2026 its Pro tier caps downloads at 20 a month and Premier at 60. For a video creator generating multiple attempts per cue, a download cap is a harder constraint than a credit budget, because the failed attempts are what you actually spend.
Use both if the channel needs both. A scoring platform for beds and a song generator for the occasional featured piece is roughly $19 a month combined, which is less than a single mid-tier subscription on either and covers the whole requirement properly.
The other platforms worth pricing for video work
Several platforms are built specifically around music that sits underneath something else, which is exactly the video creator's job.
- Mubert structures its licensing by use case, which is useful if the same channel produces ads, podcasts and organic video needing different terms.
- Beatoven is aimed squarely at scoring video and podcasts rather than producing songs.
- Loudly and Stable Audio both target creators needing cleared music at volume.
- AIVA leans toward composition and orchestral scoring, which suits documentary and long-form.
- Boomy optimises for speed of production over control.
One change to note: riffusion.com now redirects to Flow Music, which presents as Google Flow Music on a Lyria 3.5 model. Older recommendations pointing at Riffusion land there now, and its terms should be read fresh rather than carried over.
When comparing any of these, set every pricing page to the same billing term first. Soundraw advertises up to 67% off with annual billing and displays annual by default, exactly as Suno, Udio and the avatar and dubbing platforms do. The category has converged on quoting the committed price as the headline.
Which to buy, by what your channel publishes
Regular video output with music underneath: Soundraw Creator at $11.04. Unlimited downloads, commercial use and background rights stated explicitly, and none of the distribution machinery you will not use. This is the default recommendation for most channels and it is the cheapest paid tier on the platform.
High volume, many cues per video: still Creator. The unlimited download allowance is the whole point, and it disappears on the two tiers directly above it. Only return to it at Artist Unlimited, $32.50, if you also need DSP release.
Featured or theme music, intros, parody, artist-led pieces: Suno Pro at $8 a month billed annually. Commercial rights for new songs made while subscribed, 2,500 credits a month, and stem separation so you can take the result into an edit. Note the 20 download per month cap arriving 3 September 2026.
Both jobs on one channel: Soundraw Creator plus Suno Pro, about $19 a month. Cheaper than a single mid-tier plan on either platform and it covers scoring and songs properly instead of forcing one tool to do both badly.
For what each tier permits in licensing terms see our AI music licensing guide, and for the ranked field see best AI music generators.
Get the video music licensing sheet
Which tier covers background music in monetised video, where download caps sit, and which platforms charge more for capabilities video creators never use.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI music generator for YouTube videos?
Soundraw's Creator plan at $11.04 per month billed annually is the strongest fit for most channels. It states commercial use and background music rights for videos and podcasts, and it carries unlimited monthly downloads. Crucially its more expensive Artist tiers cap downloads at 10 and 20 per month because they are aimed at musicians releasing to streaming services, so upgrading can leave you with fewer tracks than you had.
Do I need a distribution licence for background music in my videos?
Generally no. Distribution and monetisation rights cover releasing a track to Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services as a piece of music in its own right. Using a track as background music under video is a different permission, and on Soundraw it is included in the cheapest paid tier. Paying for distribution rights you do not use is the most common overspend in this category.
Can I use Suno tracks in monetised YouTube videos?
Suno's paid tiers state commercial use rights for new songs made while subscribed, so tracks generated on Pro or Premier carry that grant while free-tier tracks do not. Note that from 3 September 2026 Suno caps monthly downloads at 20 on Pro and 60 on Premier, which matters for video work because failed attempts consume downloads. Always read the vendor's own licence terms before monetising.
How many AI music tracks does a video channel actually need per month?
A channel publishing three videos a week typically needs around twelve tracks a month, more if individual videos use multiple cues. That figure sits above Soundraw's Artist Starter cap of 10 downloads per month and comfortably inside the Creator tier's unlimited allowance. Count your cues per video rather than your videos per month, because multi-cue editing is what exhausts a download cap.
Is it cheaper to use one platform or two?
Two is often cheaper and better. Soundraw Creator at $11.04 for background scoring plus Suno Pro at $8 for featured songs is roughly $19 per month combined, which is less than a single mid-tier plan on either platform and covers both jobs properly. Forcing a song generator to produce loopable background beds costs attempts, and on a capped-download plan those attempts are the expensive part.