Four things changed in the last two weeks
Suno spent most of 2025 in court and most of 2026 signing deals. August brought the second major label agreement and a set of platform changes that will affect anyone distributing tracks. If you last used Suno in the spring, start here.
Suno signs a global deal with BMG, covering both publishing and recordings
It's Suno's second major licensing agreement after Warner Music Group in November 2025, and it's broader than most: it covers BMG's publishing and recorded-music catalogue, and it includes approval for prior use of those works in training - which is the part that quietly settles a lot of legal exposure.
The structural detail worth noting is that participation is opt-in for artists and songwriters rather than applied catalogue-wide.
A fully licensed model is expected to launch later in 2026. Universal and Sony remain in litigation with Suno, so this is a partial thaw, not a resolution.
Labelling, watermarking and a tighter rulebook
Announced alongside the download changes, aimed squarely at the flood of AI tracks hitting streaming services:
- Transparency and labelling tools so an AI-generated song can be identified when it's shared elsewhere - "in the coming weeks"
- Audio watermarking and fingerprinting handed to distribution platforms to help them spot fraud
- Community guidelines updated to prohibit uploading copyrighted material, reproducing existing songs, or using a real person's voice or likeness without permission - plus scams, threats and hate speech
Download limits become the thing that decides what you can sell
Suno is replacing generous download allowances with hard caps, described as a measure to "limit the ability to mass distribute songs on streaming platforms":
- Free: 7 downloads, lifetime - and non-commercial only
- Pro: 20 downloads per month
- Premier: 60 downloads per month
The knock-on effect is the important bit: under the September terms, commercial exploitation is conditioned on having obtained a permitted download. Generating a track is no longer the step that grants you rights - downloading it under a paid plan is.
Studio 2.0
The DAW-style side of Suno got its second major version, pushing it further from "prompt box" toward an actual editing environment - stem-level work, arrangement, and a timeline rather than a single generated blob.
Paired with v5.5 (26 March 2026), which is still the current generation model, the gap between "AI demo" and "usable production stem" narrowed considerably this year.
What the generator actually does
Suno is a text-to-music model. You give it a description, or lyrics, or both; it returns a complete recording - instrumentation, arrangement, mix and a synthesised lead vocal - usually in under a minute. Two versions come back per generation, so you're always choosing between takes rather than accepting one.
That's the part people find surprising. Most AI music tools produce backing tracks. Suno produces songs, vocals included, and the vocal is the reason it broke out of the hobbyist niche.
The June 2026 Series D raised $400M led by Menlo Ventures, against roughly $300M in annualised revenue. We cite these because they explain the scale of the streaming-platform problem below - not because scale is an argument for quality.
What it's genuinely good at
- Speed to a complete idea. A full arrangement with vocals in a minute is not something any other workflow offers.
- Genre range. It has a working grasp of a very wide span of styles, including ones it has no business handling well.
- Vocals. Still the standout. Phrasing and delivery are convincing far more often than not.
- Iteration. Because generation is cheap, you explore twenty directions instead of committing to one.
Where it still falls down
- Precise control. You steer, you don't specify. "Make the second chorus half a tone higher" is not a request it reliably honours.
- Consistency across a project. Personas help, but keeping one artist identity across ten tracks takes real effort.
- Lyrics. Auto-generated lyrics are competent and forgettable. Write your own if the words matter.
- Mix quality under scrutiny. Fine on laptop speakers, less so on monitors. Studio and stem export exist for this reason.
From nothing to a finished track in four steps
You don't need an account to listen, but you do need one to generate. Sign-up is free and gives you 50 credits a day, which is five songs. Nothing below costs money.
Sign in and land on Create
Go to suno.com, sign in with Google, Discord, Microsoft or email, and you'll arrive at the Create screen with a prompt box and a Simple / Custom toggle.
Describe the song, not the sound
In Simple mode you write one description. Say the genre, the mood, the tempo and the kind of voice - "slow soul ballad, female vocal, warm Rhodes, late-night" beats a paragraph of adjectives.
Generate, then compare the two takes
Each generation returns two versions for 10 credits. Listen to both before you touch anything else - they can differ far more than you'd expect from the same prompt.
Extend, cover or accept
If the take is right but short, Extend it. If the song is right but the sound is wrong, Cover it. If neither, change one thing in the prompt and go again.
Once that clicks, the next step is Custom mode - separate fields for lyrics, style and title, plus structure tags like [Verse] and [Chorus]. It's where the tool stops feeling like a slot machine. Our Custom mode guide covers it properly.
The rest of the site, organised
This page is the overview. Everything below goes deeper on one thing - the practical guides first, then money and account, then the parts that decide what you're allowed to do with the output.
Making better songs
Credits, plans and your account
Getting songs out, and what you may do with them
On the apps
Free, Pro and Premier
Prices below are the web/direct rates as of August 2026. Buying through the iOS or Android app can cost more, because the app stores take their cut. The annual figures are the ones worth looking at - both paid tiers work out around 20% cheaper paid yearly.
- 5 songs a day, current model
- Custom mode, personas, covers
- Non-commercial only
- 7 downloads, lifetime, from 3 Sept
- Generations are public
- 2,500 credits a month (~250 songs)
- Commercial use rights
- Private generations
- Stem separation, WAV export
- 20 downloads a month, from 3 Sept
- 10,000 credits a month (~1,000 songs)
- Everything in Pro
- Suno Studio, the DAW-style editor
- 60 downloads a month, from 3 Sept
Ran out mid-month? Credit top-ups start at $4 for 500 and scale to $30 for 4,000. They don't expire the way monthly credits do, and on Pro they're usually the cheaper answer to a busy month than upgrading. The credits page has a calculator for this.
Generating isn't the same as owning
This is the single most misunderstood thing about Suno, and the September 2026 terms sharpen it further. Three separate conditions have to line up before a track is yours to sell.
| The condition | What satisfies it | What doesn't |
|---|---|---|
| A paid plan at the timeRights attach when you were subscribed | Pro or Premier, active on the day you generated and downloaded | Generating on Free and upgrading later |
| A permitted downloadNew in the September terms | An official download taken within your plan's allowance | A track that only ever existed in your library |
| Original workNot built on someone else's | Your own prompt, your own audio input, your own earlier song | A remix or cover of another user's track |
The practical consequence: on Pro, 20 downloads a month is your real release ceiling, not 2,500 credits. Generate as much as you like; the download is the moment that counts. Plan which takes you spend a download on.
Some pages on this site still quote the older download figures. Suno's own Upcoming Changes FAQ gives 7 lifetime / 20 per month / 60 per month for Free, Pro and Premier from 3 September 2026. Where you see per-day figures elsewhere, the numbers on this page are the current ones.
Where Suno stands legally, in one paragraph
Suno was sued in June 2024 by the RIAA on behalf of the major labels over training on copyrighted recordings. Since then it has settled into two camps: Warner Music Group signed in November 2025, BMG signed in August 2026, and Universal and Sony are still litigating. The deals include approval for prior use in training and, in BMG's case, artist-level opt-in - which is the mechanism the industry has been arguing for.
Meanwhile the distribution side has its own problem. Deezer reported that AI-generated tracks passed 50% of daily uploads while accounting for only 1-3% of streams - an enormous volume of music almost nobody listens to. August's watermarking and labelling announcement is Suno responding to that, and to the streaming fraud it enables.
Whether any of this makes AI-generated music legitimate is a real disagreement, not a settled question. Musicians who see their work in the training data have a case. So do people who've made music for the first time in their lives because of this tool. We've laid both out on the future of music page rather than pretending there's a consensus.
Suno AI music generator FAQ
Is Suno free to use?
Yes, with limits. The free plan gives 50 credits a day, which is five songs. Those songs are non-commercial only, your generations are public, and from 3 September 2026 free accounts get 7 downloads for the lifetime of the account.
Which model is current?
v5.5, released 26 March 2026. Studio 2.0 followed on 13 August 2026 on the editing side. Older models stay selectable, and some people still prefer earlier ones for particular genres.
Can I put Suno songs on Spotify?
Technically yes if you hold commercial rights - paid plan, original work, and a permitted download. Practically, distributors are tightening up: expect AI-generated tracks to be labelled and fingerprinted as Suno's August 2026 transparency tools roll out.
How long can a song be?
A single generation runs several minutes, and Extend chains sections together beyond that. Length isn't usually the constraint - coherence across a long extend is.
Does it work in my language?
Broadly, yes - it handles a wide range of languages, though quality varies. English is strongest; major European and East Asian languages are solid; smaller languages are inconsistent. Write your lyrics in Custom mode rather than trusting auto-generation.
Who owns the songs I make?
On a paid plan, Suno assigns ownership of the output to you, and under the September 2026 terms commercial exploitation is conditioned on having taken a permitted download. On the free plan you get a licence for personal, non-commercial use only.
Can I use a real artist's name in a prompt?
No. Artist names are filtered, and the August 2026 community guidelines explicitly prohibit reproducing existing songs or using a real person's voice or likeness without permission. Describe the sound instead - it works better anyway.
Is there an official API?
Not a general public one. Most "Suno API" services you'll find are unofficial wrappers around the consumer product, which carries account-ban and continuity risk. See our API page.
Is there a cracked or modded version?
No, and there can't be. Generation happens on Suno's servers against your account - there is nothing on your device to patch. Anything advertised as a crack or MOD APK is a credential-harvesting or malware play. The long version.
Pro or Premier?
Pro unless you want Suno Studio or you're regularly hitting the 20-download ceiling. If it's only credits you're short of, top-ups at $4 per 500 are cheaper than the $20/month difference.
Sources
We're an independent guide with no affiliation to Suno, Inc., and nothing here is legal advice. Pricing, credit allowances and download limits change - check Suno's own pages before making a decision that depends on them, particularly around the 3 September 2026 terms. Company figures are as reported by Suno and the press at the time of writing. Last reviewed August 2026.
Start with five free songs
Fifty credits a day, no card, no commitment. Learn what the tool does before you decide whether it's worth paying for - and read the commercial terms before you decide to release anything.