Sonilo Raised $11M to Score Your Videos With AI Music. Can It Beat Suno and Epidemic Sound?

Sonilo, a San Francisco startup founded by former TikTok staff, raised $11 million in a round led by B Capital, with Redpoint taking part, according to a Variety report dated 8 October 2026. Its pitch is that a video tool should write music to fit the footage, and that the training music is licensed. That second claim is the one that separates it from Suno-style generators, but it covers less than the headline suggests.

What is Sonilo and who is it for?

Sonilo is an AI service that generates music and sound effects timed to an uploaded video. You can upload a clip, type a description, or combine both. The company calls its core technology the Sound World Model.

The company says it targets short-form video and short-drama creators, developer platforms building AI video tools, and enterprise production teams. It also offers AI dubbing with lip-sync for translating video. Its homepage lists integrations including Adobe, ComfyUI, fal, Unity and Roblox, among others.

Who built Sonilo and how much has it raised?

Sonilo raised $11 million in a round led by B Capital with Redpoint participating, as reported by Variety on 8 October 2026 and repeated by The Bay Area Brief. The money will fund the computing power to scale its models.

According to Dealroom, the team looks like this:

• Shawn Song, CEO and co-founder: led multimodal AI work at TikTok.
• Alex Yin, CTO: worked alongside Song at TikTok.
• Keli Li, COO: built and ran TikTok's global music operation.
• Trista Taylor, CMO: has helped develop consumer AI apps that reached a16z's Top 50 rankings.

B Capital general partner Daisy Cai said the firm believes generative audio will become an essential part of the AI-native video stack, per the same report. Sonilo's own site is sonilo.com.

What are Sonilo's key features?

Sonilo covers video-to-music, video-to-sound-effects, text-to-music, text-to-sound-effects and dubbing, all drawn from one credit pool, according to its pricing page (as of 15 October 2026). It also ships as a native node in ComfyUI and through an API, and the company says it is live on Free, Pro and Premium tiers.

The Bay Area Brief notes that the consumer app will be the first real test of whether creators will pay for this fix.

How much does Sonilo cost?

Sonilo's pricing page, as of 15 October 2026, lists a free plan, Pro at $14.99 a month (first month $5.99) and Premium at $29.99 a month billed monthly. Commercial use starts at Pro. Enterprise is custom. Last checked: 15 October 2026.

Source: Sonilo pricing, as of 15 October 2026. The page also offers a yearly option that it says saves 40%.

Check the pricing page before you buy, since plans and prices can change.

Does licensed training make Sonilo safer than Suno?

Partly. Sonilo licensed Shutterstock's music catalog to train its Sonilo v1.0 model, announced 11 May 2026. Dealroom also lists Shutterstock as an early licensing partner. The company says artists and rights owners receive licensing fees plus a share of revenue.

The catch is that Sonilo itself says training authorization and permission to use generated output are separate. Commercial rights depend on the plan. On the free tier, output is non-commercial, and the company's pricing page says a shared free download must credit "Music by Sonilo".

Suno now makes a similar licensing argument. Its v6 launch post of 9 September 2026 describes the models as developed with Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe. So licensed training is no longer unique to Sonilo. What differs is the product shape: Sonilo starts from your video, while Suno is built around making songs.

Sonilo vs Suno vs Epidemic Sound: which should you use?

Use Sonilo when the video already exists and you want music cut to it. Use Suno when you want standalone songs. Use Epidemic Sound when you want a human-made catalog with a direct licence.

According to The AI Musicpreneur, Universal Music and Sony Music have not signed with Suno and are still suing. Check Suno's own site for current plans and prices.

Epidemic Sound's own comparison blog lists Creator and Pro plans and an AI tool called Adapt that tailors instruments, mood and length. Its pricing page says ads require a Pro or Enterprise plan. The blog is undated, so check the live pricing page.

What are the problems with Sonilo?

The main gaps are unclosed rights deals, unverified quality claims and a crowded field.

• Rights deals are pending. Sonilo says it is wrapping up publishing and master recording agreements with "major rights organizations" and expects them to close within weeks. The AI Musicpreneur notes they have not been named. Until they close, the licensed claim rests on Shutterstock alone.
• Benchmarks are self-reported. The company has claimed benchmark leads for its Sound Effects 1.0 model. The AI Musicpreneur says the full evaluation setup was not published and the results have not been independently verified.
• Competition is close. The same outlet points to ElevenLabs Flows, which syncs speech, effects and music to video, and to Adobe opening Firefly's sound effects generator to everyone in August.
• No verdict on output quality yet. This post does not judge the music itself.

Is Sonilo worth trying?

Yes, as a free trial, if you edit short video and need soundtracks cut to picture. The free plan needs no credit card, per the homepage, but its exports are preview-only and non-commercial.

• Solo creators on monetized channels: Pro is the entry point for commercial use. Compare it with Suno's or Epidemic Sound's cheapest paid plan on your own volume.
• Developers and AI video builders: the API and ComfyUI node are the clearest differentiator, since Sonilo is built around video input.
• Studios and broadcasters: Premium adds film, TV, broadcast and studio games on Sonilo's pricing page. Wait for the publishing and master deals to close, then ask for the license terms in writing.
• Teams that want a human-made catalog: Epidemic Sound's catalog is the conservative option.

What's still unclear?

Several points are open as of 15 October 2026.

• Which rights organizations will sign, and when? Sonilo has not named them.
• How good is the output? Music quality and sync accuracy have not been independently verified.
• Will the consumer app ship in Q4 2026? That is the company's plan, not a delivered product.