Make your first faceless video.
Know what it will really cost.
Independent guides to the tools, licences and platform rules behind faceless video — with sources, stated assumptions, and free options where they win.
Calculate your narration costs → Browse the guides
22 guides · Sources linked · Research basis stated on every page
Start with the decision you're making
What will it cost? A starter budget with its assumptions stated, what a minute of narration really costs, and when a paid tool earns its price. See the starter budget → Which tools do I need? Where the time actually goes, then scripting, voice, capture and editing — and which of those are free without compromise. Explore the production workflow → What can I publish? Commercial licences, disclosure rules and YouTube policy — what genuinely gets a faceless channel demonetized, and what does not. Understand the publishing rules →
Descript pricing explained: which number you actually pay
Descript's two-number pricing decoded, plus what media hours and AI credits actually meter and which tier a faceless channel needs.
Read it →All guides, by topic
Costs & earning 7
- Narration cost calculator The vendor comparison recomputed for your own videos, minutes and retakes.
- Descript pricing explained: which number you actually pay Descript's two-number pricing decoded, plus what media hours and AI credits actually meter and which tier a faceless channel needs.
- ElevenLabs pricing explained: what each tier really buys Every ElevenLabs tier converted into minutes of narration, videos per month and the licence that comes with it.
- ElevenLabs vs Murf AI: which is cheaper per finished minute ElevenLabs and Murf AI priced in the same unit, a minute of finished narration, with the two billing rules that move the answer.
- Speechify AI pricing and free plan limits The API's free plan, the $10 Starter tier and the two conditions in its terms, priced per minute against Google, OpenAI and ElevenLabs.
- AI narration cost per minute: every vendor in one unit Every voice vendor priced in one unit — a minute of finished narration. The spread is 50x or more.
- What a faceless YouTube channel costs per month A no-code starter setup is about $6/month, all of it voice. Through an API, cents. What is free and what is not.
- YouTube monetization thresholds for a faceless channel The threshold that matters is 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. Affiliate revenue has none.
AI voice 4
- Murf AI free plan: what you can and cannot publish Murf's free plan cannot publish anything, paid or not; where its commercial rights start, what a minute costs there, and which free tiers do allow it.
- Can an AI voice be detected? The major vendors watermark the waveform. What that means for a channel, and the question it actually raises.
- Whose voice are you allowed to clone? The tools clone any voice. The permission question sits entirely with you, in a clause most people skip.
- Can you use a free AI voice plan commercially? Why the free ElevenLabs, Murf and Fliki plans cannot publish on a monetized channel, which free tier can, and the cheapest legal plan.
Production 6
- Descript free plan: what you can and cannot publish Why Descript's free plan cannot publish, and the credit detail that makes it a trial rather than a free tier with limits.
- Fliki vs ElevenLabs for faceless video One is a voice, the other is a voice plus a video assembler. What the extra $22 a month buys, and which kind of channel should pay it.
- How long does a faceless video take to make? The tool steps take minutes. The human steps take hours. Budget for the right one.
- Is paid screen recording software worth it? For capture alone, no. The paid tools are editors wearing a recorder’s name.
- How long should a faceless video script be? Speaking rate turns a target runtime into an exact word count. The table, and the one runtime threshold that pays.
- Is Descript worth it for faceless video? Descript buys editing speed, not capability. When that is worth several times the rest of the budget.
Platform rules 5
- FTC affiliate disclosure in videos: where it has to go The FTC wants the disclosure in the video itself. For a faceless channel, the script has to say it.
- Stock footage licences for faceless video Pexels and Pixabay allow commercial use. The traps are standalone reuse, brands and identifiable people.
- Will YouTube demonetize a faceless channel? Not for being faceless. The Inauthentic Content policy tests whether your videos are interchangeable.
- Do you have to disclose an AI voice on YouTube? For ordinary narration, usually not. The rule is about realistic depictions of real people and events.
- Can you use YouTube Audio Library music outside YouTube? The restriction everyone repeats is not on YouTube’s help page. Which tracks to pick if you repurpose.