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Suno is the pick for anyone who needs the audio: paid plans download 20 or 60 songs a month with commercial rights, and v6 leads Artificial Analysis's blind tests. Udio suits only people who make songs for fun inside its app, because it has blocked downloads since October 29, 2025 and owns every song made there.
The same dimensions for both, one per row. Each fact about either product carries its source and the date we checked it.
| Dimension | Suno | Udio |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Suno is an AI song generator that capped downloads on September 3, 2026 and rebuilt its models as v6 on licensed music on September 9. TechCrunch reported in July 2026 that a November 2025 breach exposed about 55.3 million user records, and Universal and Sony sued again over v6 on September 18, 2026. | Udio is an AI song generator from Uncharted Labs that switched off downloads on October 29, 2025, when it settled with Universal Music Group. Songs now stay on Udio, which owns them, behind encrypted streams, while Udio prepares a licensed fan-remix app reported as Starstruck and still faces suits from Sony. |
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| Paid plans | Pro 10 USD a month or 96 USD a year, 2,500 credits; Premier 30 USD a month or 288 USD a year, 10,000 creditsCredits do not roll over to the next month. Source: suno.comchecked | Standard 10 USD a month or 96 USD a year, 2,400 credits; Pro 30 USD a month or 288 USD a year, 6,000 creditsNo rollovers. Extra credits cost 3 USD for 100 or 25 USD for 1,000. A generation of two tracks of about 30 seconds costs 2 credits; longer songs cost more. Source: udio.comchecked |
| Free plan | 50 credits a day, v6-mini only, no monthly downloads, no commercial rights Source: suno.comchecked | 10 credits a day and 100 a month; up to three 2:10 songs a dayLike every Udio plan, no downloads. Source: udio.comchecked |
| Downloads | Pro 20 a month, Premier 60 a month; no cap on Suno Studio exportsIn force since September 3, 2026: on Pro that is 10 USD for 20 downloadable songs, about 0.50 USD each. Free users who joined earlier get up to 7 lifetime trial downloads for personal use. Extra downloads can be bought; Suno's public pages list no price. Source: suno.comchecked | None: the terms forbid downloading any songDownloads have been off since October 29, 2025. A one-off 48-hour window opened on November 3, 2025 (AP). Source: udio.comchecked |
| Who owns the songs | Pro and Premier: Suno assigns its rights to you; Free: personal, non-commercial use onlyCommercial use needs a song downloaded within a paid plan's allowance, and Suno makes no promise that copyright exists in AI output. Terms effective September 3, 2026. Source: suno.comchecked | Udio and its licensors own all output on every plan; any rights that vest in you are assigned to UdioPersonal, non-commercial use only. Terms last revised November 12, 2025. Source: udio.comchecked |
| Releasing on Spotify, YouTube and other services | Possible: songs made with v6 are eligible for distribution through Believe and TuneCoreAnnounced September 8, 2026. Suno added audio watermarking and fingerprinting so its songs can be identified off-platform. Source: suno.comchecked | Forbidden: no posting to Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, SoundCloud or similar platformsOnly udio.com links may be shared, on third-party sites Udio approves. Source: udio.comchecked |
| Models | v6 and v6-wild on paid plans; v6-mini on the free planSuno retired every older model, including v5.5, on September 9, 2026. Source: suno.comchecked | v1, v1.5 and v1.5 AllegroListed in Udio's November 19, 2025 FAQ as the models available during its transition; no newer model has been announced. Source: udio.comchecked |
| Training on your uploads and songs | Yes: you give Suno a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to your uploads and songs, including to improve its AI modelsThe terms offer no opt-out. Suno says v6 was trained on licensed music plus user data. Source: suno.comchecked | Yes: section 1.1 lets Udio use your prompts, uploads and songs to train its modelsThe licence is perpetual and irrevocable, and the terms offer no opt-out. Source: udio.comchecked |
| Refunds | Payments are final and non-refundable unless Suno decides otherwiseStatutory refund rights still apply, and prepaid fees are refunded pro rata if Suno discontinues the service. Source: suno.comchecked | Subscriptions are non-refundable, with no credit for partly used periodsAccess lasts to the end of the paid period. Cancel at least 7 days before renewal to avoid the next charge. Source: udio.comchecked |
| Label licensing deals | Warner Music Group (settled November 2025), BMG and Believe; v6 is built with their licensed music Source: musicbusinessworldwide.comchecked | Universal (October 29, 2025) and Warner (November 19, 2025), then Merlin, Kobalt, Believe and the NMPA in the first half of 2026 Source: musicbusinessworldwide.comchecked |
| Open lawsuits | Universal and Sony: the June 2024 case plus a second suit over v6, filed September 18, 2026, covering 60,202 recordingsGermany's GEMA won its case against Suno in Munich on July 31, 2026. Source: thenextweb.comchecked | Sony: the first case narrowed to 333 works, plus a second suit over 30,117 recordings filed July 20, 2026A proposed class action by independent artists (Woulard) was moved from Illinois to New York in August 2026. Source: musicbusinessworldwide.comchecked |
| Blind listening rank (Artificial Analysis) | 1st: v6 leads the v1.1 vocal board with Elo 1146, v6-mini 2nd with 1130The two are statistically tied for 1st and 2nd. On the v1.1 instrumental board v6 also leads, with 1148. Source: artificialanalysis.aichecked | Not on the v1.1 boards; on the September 2, 2026 snapshot v1.5 Allegro was 14th of 15 for vocals (Elo 967)On the same date it was 16th of 18 for instrumentals (954), while Suno V5.5 led both boards. Source: benchmarklist.comchecked |
| Website visits, September 2026 | 83.3 million (+5.1% on August); 1st of 10 on AICPB's AI music generators list Source: mp.weixin.qq.comchecked | 1.12 million (−9.3% on August); 8th of 10 on the same list Source: mp.weixin.qq.comchecked |
The situations in which each one is the better choice.
Stated plainly, with where each one comes from and when we last looked.
| Claim | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Udio's blog has carried no announcement since November 19, 2025, the day of its Warner deal; Suno has posted a new model (September 9) and a speech beta (October 1) in the past six weeks. | Source: udio.comchecked | |
| Udio acknowledged in its April 2026 answer to Sony that it obtained audio from YouTube for training with the yt-dlp tool, and argues that this is fair use. | Source: musicbusinessworldwide.comchecked | |
| Suno likewise admitted in the first label case that it obtained YouTube audio with yt-dlp, while arguing that training is fair use. | Source: musicbusinessworldwide.comchecked | |
| Udio encrypted its streams with BuyDRM (announced July 14, 2026) and plans inaudible watermarks and fingerprinting so distributors can block uploads that match Udio songs. | Source: musicbusinessworldwide.comchecked | |
| Artificial Analysis rebuilt its music boards as v1.1 in October 2026: 1,000 new prompts across 17 genres and more than 37,000 blind votes, counting only a recruited panel. Udio is not on the new boards. | Source: alphasignal.aichecked |
What each does badly, with the evidence, and what no public test has settled yet.
Weak
Udio: nothing you make can leave the app, and you do not own it.
Evidence: Section 1.2 of Udio's terms forbids downloading any song or posting it to streaming and social platforms, and section 6.1 gives Udio and its licensors ownership of all output.
Udio: its models have not changed since 2025 and sat near the bottom of the last blind board that listed them.
Evidence: Udio still offers v1, v1.5 and v1.5 Allegro. On the September 2, 2026 snapshot Allegro was 14th of 15 for vocals and 16th of 18 for instrumentals, and Udio is absent from the v1.1 boards.
Suno: downloads are rationed, and the free plan gets none each month.
Evidence: Since September 3, 2026 Pro allows 20 downloads a month and Premier 60; free users get at most 7 lifetime trial downloads, for personal use only.
Suno: v6 divides longtime users, and the older models are gone.
Evidence: Users quoted by MusicRadar on September 18, 2026 called v6 muffled and generic, and The Verge heard harsher vocal artifacts than in v5. Suno retired v5.5 and every other model on September 9, 2026.
Suno: a breach exposed about 55.3 million accounts.
Evidence: Have I Been Pwned lists names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, purchases and partial card data from a November 2025 breach; TechCrunch reported on July 21, 2026 that Suno had not notified users.
Uncertain
How Udio would sound against Suno v6.
Why unsure: Udio is not on the Artificial Analysis v1.1 boards, and no public blind test pits it against v6; the latest head-to-head data is the September 2, 2026 snapshot against Suno V5.5.
Whether Suno v6 is clear of the training data the labels object to.
Why unsure: Suno says v6 was trained from scratch on licensed music plus user data; Universal and Sony allege it descends from models trained on their recordings. No court has ruled.
When Udio's licensed app launches and whether today's songs carry over.
Why unsure: MBW still called the app forthcoming on July 20, 2026, and Udio has posted no announcement since November 19, 2025.
What an extra Suno download costs.
Why unsure: Suno's announcement and help page say extra downloads can be bought, but its public pages list no price.
Artificial Analysis runs the only large blind listening test that has covered both products: listeners hear two tracks made from the same prompt and pick one without knowing which model made it. On the snapshot BenchmarkList captured on September 2, 2026, Suno V5.5 ranked first on both boards, with Elo 1170 for vocals and 1186 for instrumentals. Udio v1.5 Allegro ranked 14th of 15 for vocals (967) and 16th of 18 for instrumentals (954) (vocals, instrumentals).
In October 2026 Artificial Analysis rebuilt the boards as v1.1, with 1,000 new prompts across 17 genres and votes from a recruited panel only (AlphaSignal). Suno v6 now leads both, at 1146 for vocals and 1148 for instrumentals, with v6-mini second (vocals, instrumentals). Udio is on neither v1.1 board, so no current blind test compares Udio with v6.
Early reviews leaned the other way. In Tom's Guide's seven-prompt face-off, last updated April 30, 2024, Nigel Powell scored Udio higher on six prompts and level on the seventh, and wrote that Suno had gone backwards since launch (Tom's Guide). He judged openly, by ear, on the models of the time.
A year later Skyler Burnett of the Arts Management and Technology Lab ran one musical-theatre prompt on both basic plans (April 7, 2025). Udio's vocals sounded more human; Suno returned full 3:33 songs with a clear beginning, middle and end, while Udio's clips stopped at 32 seconds (AMT Lab).
Comparisons from 2026 are thin. CodaOne (March 19, 2026) gave Udio 7.8 and Suno 7.3 on average across ten genres, but the ratings were its own and not blind, it names the older Suno v4, and it does not mention that Udio downloads were off (CodaOne). RoboRhythms (April 21, 2026) had two producers judge three prompts blind and ended with one win each and a draw, again Suno v4 against Udio v1.5 (RoboRhythms). Neither covers v6.
Each product's own users have turned on it at different moments. After Udio switched off downloads on October 29, 2025, the Associated Press reported Reddit users saying they felt betrayed, with many planning to cancel (AP). After Suno replaced v5.5 with v6 on September 9, 2026, users quoted by MusicRadar called v6 muffled and generic, the opposite of the blind panel's verdict (MusicRadar). The Verge found v6 better at hitting a genre but with harsher vocal artifacts than v5 (The Verge).
For most people the gap that matters comes after the song is made. Suno sells a limited number of downloads with commercial rights, and its v6 songs can be distributed through Believe and TuneCore (Suno). Udio keeps every song inside its app and owns it (Udio terms). Both may train on what you upload and generate.
Traffic shows where people went: in September 2026 suno.com had 83.3 million visits and udio.com 1.12 million, 1st and 8th on AICPB's list of AI music generators. Our Suno page and Udio page cover each product in full. If you need files without Suno's caps, Mureka lists unlimited MP3 downloads on its Pro plan.
Suno is the only one of the two that lets a song leave the platform: 10 or 30 USD a month buys 20 or 60 downloads with commercial rights, at the price of a model the labels are suing over, a v6 sound some longtime users dislike and a 2025 data breach. Udio costs the same but sells only the making: no files, no commercial use, and the songs belong to Udio. If you need audio files, releases or income, choose Suno; if you only play with songs and share links, Udio still works, but its models date from before its 2025 label deals and ranked near the bottom of the last blind board that listed them.
Answer first, then why, an example, the limits and what to do next.
Suno is better for most people in 2026, because it is the only one of the two that lets you download songs and use them commercially. Its v6 model also leads both Artificial Analysis blind boards, where Udio is not listed. Udio is enough only if you make songs for fun and share udio.com links.
No, Udio has blocked downloads since October 29, 2025, and its terms forbid downloading or posting any song. The only exception was a 48-hour window from November 3, 2025. Suno still allows 20 downloads a month on Pro and 60 on Premier.
Suno and Udio charge the same: 10 USD a month or 96 USD a year for the entry plan, and 30 USD a month or 288 USD a year for the top plan. Suno's 10 USD Pro includes 2,500 credits and 20 downloads, about 0.50 USD per downloadable song; Udio's 10 USD Standard includes 2,400 credits and no downloads.
Only Suno allows commercial use, and only for songs downloaded within a paid Pro or Premier allowance. Songs from Suno's free plan are for personal, non-commercial use, and so is everything made on Udio, where Udio and its licensors own the output.
Both have free plans, but neither free plan gives you files or commercial rights. Suno Free gives 50 credits a day on v6-mini with no monthly downloads. Udio Free gives 10 credits a day and 100 a month, with up to three 2:10 songs a day.
Yes, the terms of both let them use what you upload and generate to improve their AI models, and neither offers an opt-out in its terms. Both licences are perpetual and irrevocable. Suno says v6 was trained on licensed music plus user data.
Sources
Changelog
Mureka is the closest Suno alternative for most people: its V9.5 model ranks third in blind listening tests, just behind Suno's own, and its $10 Pro plan has no download cap. Google Flow Music has the most Suno-like editing for $8, Eleven Music the plainest rights from a licensed model, and MiniMax Music is cheapest at $5.
Mureka and Suno both charge 10 USD a month, but Suno v6 ranks first in Artificial Analysis's blind listening test while Mureka V9.5 is third. Choose Mureka for uncapped downloads, stems and MIDI, a self-serve API or a Chinese service; choose Suno for the best-rated sound and licences from Warner, BMG and Believe.
VideoEnhancer is a web tool that upscales short MP4 clips to 1080p, 2K or 4K with the FlashVSR model and also compresses, face-swaps and generates video. After a 5-second free trial, 1080p costs 3 credits a second, $0.03 to $0.09 depending on how credits are bought. VideoEnhancer is our own product: it is made by the team behind GenGrades.
LayerGrab splits a flat image into up to 16 named, transparent layers over a filled-in background, on the web, in Figma or in Chrome, or pulls out only what you name. Each layer costs $0.10 on its $12 plan, $0.08 on Premium. No independent review exists yet. LayerGrab is our own product: it is made by the team behind GenGrades.