Eleven v4 and Turbo Models Achieve Top Rankings for Emotive Speech Generation

Eleven v4 has been ranked #1 by Artificial Analysis for its emotive text-to-speech capabilities, with approximately 75% of listeners preferring it over competing models in blind tests conducted in September 2026. Developed by ElevenLabs, Eleven v4 supports over 90 languages and boasts a median inference latency of around 100ms. Its low-latency variant, Eleven v4 Turbo, has a median time to first speech of approximately 150ms, making it suitable for real-time applications.

Both models feature Instant Voice Clones, which can capture high-fidelity voice samples using just 10 seconds of audio, and Professional Voice Clones for more demanding cloning use cases. Eleven v4 significantly improves request stitching reliability, enhancing user experience in conversational applications. This follows a trend in the industry towards more expressive and context-aware speech generation technologies, as seen in previous releases like OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra.

ElevenLabs emphasizes that the emotional depth provided by Eleven v4 allows for more natural speech, adapting tone based on context, such as varying speech styles when addressing different audiences. This advancement in expressive speech generation positions Eleven v4 and Turbo as leading options for developers looking to integrate high-quality text-to-speech capabilities into their applications.