TL;DR
Soundraw does one job well: instrumental background music, shaped to the length of your edit, with a licence built for monetized video. People look elsewhere for four reasons: nothing downloads without a paid plan, there are no vocals, the Creator plan is licensed for background use only, and putting a track on Spotify means moving to an Artist plan and reworking the beat first. The right alternative depends on which of those limits you ran into. Need a podcast bed with a perpetual licence? Beatoven.ai. Want to own the copyright? AIVA Pro. Need an ad with airtight paperwork? ElevenLabs Music. Want instrumentals and songs with vocals that you can extend to any length and release? That is where Suno AI Music fits: 16 free credits when you sign up, two tracks per 10-credit run, and a commercial licence with a certificate from the Standard plan.
In this guide
- What Soundraw offers, and where it stops
- How the alternatives compare
- The seven alternatives
- Which one for which job
- FAQ
What Soundraw offers, and where it stops
Soundraw generates instrumentals from a model trained on music its own team produced. You pick genre, mood and length, then edit the result section by section: raise the energy here, drop the drums there, end on the cut. For a video editor the workflow is well designed, and the "trained in-house" story means there are no style-alike worries hanging over the output.
Its plans, as of September 2026 (published figures at the time of writing):
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | Downloads | Formats | What the licence covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | $16.99 | $11.04/mo | Unlimited | MP3 | Background music in commercial projects |
| Artist Starter | $29.99 | $19.49/mo | 10 a month | MP3 | Adds streaming distribution |
| Artist Pro | $35.99 | $23.39/mo | 20 a month | MP3, WAV, stems | Same as Starter |
| Artist Unlimited | $50 | $32.50/mo | Unlimited | MP3, WAV, stems | Same as Starter |
And the rules that come with it, from Soundraw's licence page:
- No free downloads. You can generate and preview without paying; exporting needs a plan.
- Creator is background music only. YouTube, social, games and client videos are fine. Releasing the track on Spotify or Apple Music is not.
- Artist plans can distribute, but only modified beats. The track must "sound clearly different to the original, downloaded track". And if you publish meditation, lo-fi or relaxation content using tracks as downloaded, it can only stay up while your subscription is active.
- Never allowed: registering the music with Content ID, distributing it unmodified, or reselling it on stock audio sites.
- No vocals. It is instrumental by design.
The pricing FAQ adds the reassuring part: anything you make while subscribed stays licensed after you cancel. So Soundraw is not a bad deal. It is a narrow one. If your needs sit outside that shape, here is where to go.
How the alternatives compare
| Tool | Vocals | Free to try | Download without paying | Licence highlights | Paid from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suno AI Music | Yes, or instrumental | 16 credits on sign-up | No, MP3 downloads come with any plan or credit pack | Commercial licence and certificate from Standard; WAV from Standard | $9.99/mo or a $9.99 credit pack |
| Beatoven.ai | No | Yes, limited generations | No | Perpetual, non-exclusive per download; no direct Spotify/Apple Music release | Paid plans |
| Mubert | No | Free tier (non-commercial, attribution) | 5 a month, non-commercial | Commercial from Pro; no streaming release | $14/mo (Creator, non-commercial); Pro $39/mo |
| ElevenLabs Music | Yes | Free plan (no commercial use) | Non-commercial only | Commercial on every paid plan; film, TV, radio, studio games need Enterprise | $6/mo |
| AIVA | No | Free (3 downloads a month) | Yes, non-commercial, AIVA owns copyright | Pro: "Copyright owned by YOU" | €11/mo yearly; Pro €33/mo yearly |
| Stable Audio 3 | No | Open weights, free to run | Yes, locally | You own outputs under the Community License (Enterprise over $1M revenue) | Free locally; API paid |
| Artlist AI Music | Yes | — | Subscribers only | Commercially licensed under the subscription | AI Suite / Max plans |
| Epidemic Sound (Adapt) | Catalogue tracks | — | Subscribers only | Human-made catalogue, adapted by AI | Subscription |
Prices are the published figures at the time of writing; annual billing is usually cheaper.
The seven alternatives
1. Suno AI Music — instrumentals and songs, extendable and releasable
Soundraw's whole world is the instrumental bed. Suno AI Music makes those too: the AI instrumental generator and the background music generator are both one prompt away, or flip the Instrumental switch on the create page. It also does what Soundraw cannot: full songs with vocals, for the intro sting, the jingle or the montage that wants a hook.
Soundraw lets you edit sections. Here the equivalent tools work on any track in your library. Extend a two-minute bed to ten minutes without a loop seam. Replace one section. Cover the same theme into a different style for a second video series. Split the vocal off a song to get its backing. Each generation costs 10 credits and returns two takes. The 16 credits you get on sign-up let you try it. Plans are Starter at $9.99 a month (800 credits), Standard at $29.99 (3,000) and Premium at $99.99 (12,000), with paid plans running Suno v6, v6 Wild and v6 Mini. One-time credit packs start at $9.99 for 600 credits, and those credits never expire.
The licence is the part to read. WAV export and a commercial licence, with a downloadable certificate, come with Standard and above (and the larger credit packs). That covers monetized video, ads, client work and a streaming release; the Spotify guide walks through the release checklist. Starter and the free credits are for personal use. Where Soundraw is better: its section-by-section energy editor is quicker for cutting a bed exactly to a picture edit, and unlimited downloads on Creator suit someone who churns through dozens of beds a week.
2. Beatoven.ai — background music with a perpetual licence
Beatoven.ai is the closest like-for-like: instrumentals for videos, podcasts, games, audiobooks, ads and livestreams, with sound-effect generation alongside. Every downloaded track comes with a non-exclusive, perpetual licence, so the right to use it does not lapse when you cancel. Downloads come in MP3 or WAV, with stems. Its Maestro model is Fairly Trained certified, and the company says the musicians who contributed are paid. The restriction mirrors Soundraw's Creator plan: Beatoven does not allow direct distribution of its music on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services. Choose it for podcast and course music you want to set up once and never worry about again.
3. Mubert — long ambient streams
Mubert generates tracks up to 25 minutes long, which suits study streams, waiting rooms and long-form ambient beds. Read the tiers closely, though. The free Ambassador tier is non-commercial with attribution and 5 downloads a month. Creator ($14 a month, or $11.69 billed yearly) raises limits but is still non-commercial, so it cannot go on a monetized channel. Commercial use starts at Pro ($39, or $32.49 billed yearly), which covers monetized channels, ads and client work. On every tier, tracks cannot be published on Spotify or Apple Music.
4. ElevenLabs Music — the cleanest paperwork for ads
ElevenLabs Music is trained on licensed data through deals with Merlin and Kobalt. It generates instrumental or vocal tracks in many languages, and "music commercial use" is included from the $6-a-month Starter plan up. The free plan does not include it. The carve-out matters for video people: film, TV, radio and studio games need the Enterprise music plan. For a paid social campaign or a brand explainer, it is the easiest answer to legal. What it does not have is a library of editing tools: you get a track, not a workbench.
5. AIVA — scores whose copyright you own
AIVA composes orchestral, cinematic and ambient instrumentals, and lets you edit the composition itself, down to MIDI. Its plan ladder is about ownership. On Free (3 downloads a month), AIVA owns the copyright and monetization is not allowed. On Standard (€11 a month billed yearly, 15 downloads), AIVA still owns it and you can monetize only on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram. On Pro (€33 a month billed yearly, 300 downloads, WAV), the pricing page says "Copyright owned by YOU", with full monetization. For a film score or a game soundtrack where the rights must sit with you, that is the plan to buy.
6. Stable Audio 3 — run it yourself
Stability AI's Stable Audio 3 family (May 2026) is trained on licensed data. The Small SFX, Small and Medium models have open weights and run locally; Medium goes up to about 6:20. Large is available through the API. Under the Community License you own your outputs, and organisations with more than $1M in annual revenue need an Enterprise licence. It is instrumentals and sound design, not songs. Pick it if you are building music into an app, want generation offline, or need effects and music from one model.
7. Artlist AI Music — for teams already on Artlist
Artlist added AI Music on March 26, 2026, built on Google's Lyria 3 and Lyria 3 Pro. It makes 30-second clips or full three-minute songs, vocal or instrumental, from text or up to ten reference images, with control over intro, verse, chorus and ending. Artlist describes every generated track as commercially licensed under the subscription, cleared for campaigns, social and commercial film. It comes with the AI Suite, Artlist Max, Max Business and Enterprise plans, so it makes most sense if your team already licenses footage and music there.
A note on Epidemic Sound. It is not a generator, but it answers the same need from the other side. Its catalogue is made by human artists, and AI tools work on top of it. Adapt (built into the platform since March 2026) changes a track's length, instruments or style from a prompt, and Studio analyses your video and assembles a soundtrack with ambience and foley, including inside its Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve plugins. If what you actually want is "stock music that fits my edit", it belongs on the shortlist.
Which one for which job
- YouTube beds of any length, plus the occasional vocal sting or jingle: Suno AI Music (Standard plan for monetized channels).
- Cutting an instrumental exactly to a picture edit: Soundraw is still hard to beat. Stay if that is all you need.
- Podcast and course music under a perpetual licence: Beatoven.ai.
- Hours-long ambient or study streams: Mubert Pro.
- A paid ad with a legal team watching: ElevenLabs Music (Enterprise for film and TV).
- A score whose copyright you must hold: AIVA Pro.
- Music generated inside your own app or offline: Stable Audio 3.
- Your team already pays for Artlist or Epidemic Sound: use their AI tools before adding another subscription.
For background music, prompt craft carries over from one tool to the next. Describe genre, mood, instruments and tempo, and say what to leave out (no lead melody, no drums). The YouTube music guide has recipes for eight video formats, and the prompts guide has more.
FAQ
Is there a free Soundraw alternative?
Not one with commercial downloads. Mubert's free tier and AIVA's free plan allow a few non-commercial downloads with the platform keeping the rights, and Stable Audio 3's open-weight models run free on your own hardware. On Suno AI Music, the 16 signup credits cover one generation, which gives you two tracks to judge the sound.
Can I use Soundraw music on YouTube?
Yes. Every plan covers background music in monetized videos. What you cannot do is register the track with Content ID, or release it on streaming services from the Creator plan.
Which alternative lets me release tracks on Spotify?
Suno AI Music on the Standard plan and above, ElevenLabs from its Creator plan, and AIVA Pro. Beatoven.ai and Mubert do not allow streaming release. Soundraw allows it on Artist plans, but only for beats you have clearly modified.
Which alternatives have vocals?
Suno AI Music, ElevenLabs Music and Artlist AI Music. Beatoven.ai, Mubert, AIVA and Stable Audio 3 are instrumental.
Do I keep the licence if I cancel?
Soundraw: yes for tracks made while subscribed, with the exception of as-downloaded meditation or lo-fi content published under an Artist plan. Beatoven.ai: yes, the licence is perpetual. Check the terms of any other tool before you rely on it for a long-running series.
What is the best alternative for podcast music?
Beatoven.ai if you want a perpetual licence and nothing else to think about. Suno AI Music if you also want an intro theme with vocals and beds you can extend to episode length.
Final take
Soundraw is a good tool with a narrow licence: instrumentals, background use, paid downloads. If that fits, stay. If you hit a wall, the wall tells you where to go: Beatoven for a perpetual podcast licence, AIVA for copyright, ElevenLabs for ad paperwork, Stable Audio for your own app. If you want instrumentals and songs in one place, beds you can extend to any length, and a licence that covers a release, start on the create page. The first run is on the house.