AIVA has been composing instrumental music since well before the current wave of song generators, and it does a different job. It writes scores: film cues, game loops, ambient and orchestral pieces. It hands them to you as audio and MIDI, so you can re-voice, re-arrange and mix them in your own DAW.
The plan table matters more than usual
AIVA's plans differ in who owns the result, not just how much you get:
- Free: 3 downloads a month, up to 3 minutes, MP3 and MIDI. AIVA owns the copyright, no monetisation, and you must credit AIVA.
- Standard, €11 a month billed yearly: 15 downloads, up to 5 minutes, limited monetisation. AIVA still owns the copyright.
- Pro, €33 a month billed yearly: 300 downloads, up to 5:30, every format including high-quality WAV. The copyright is yours, with full monetisation.
If you're scoring a project you'll sell or license, budget for Pro.
How Suno differs
Suno makes full songs with a lead vocal singing your lyrics, up to eight minutes a generation. Commercial use on paid plans covers songs downloaded within your monthly allowance (20 on Pro, 60 on Premier). Stems are on paid plans, but there's no MIDI export of the composition. You get audio, and Studio on Premier for working with it.
Suno can do instrumentals: cinematic, ambient and orchestral are all in our genre prompts, with tempo, arrangement and Exclude lists. But you get a finished recording rather than a score you can edit note by note.
Who should pick which
- AIVA: film, game and media composers who want a draft they can open in a DAW and rewrite.
- Suno: songwriters and producers who want a finished vocal song, or a finished instrumental recording, from a prompt.
If you're making a trailer cue with a vocal hook, you might use both: the score from AIVA, the vocal moment from Suno, cut together in your DAW.