Speechify
Speechify is a text to speech app that reads PDFs, books, documents and web pages aloud in natural-sounding AI voices. It also turns speech into text across apps and devices, and can summarize or quiz on the material it reads.
#24 in Video & Audio ToolsText to Speech & AI VoiceFree plan
Who it's for
Best for
Students working through long textbook and PDF reading lists by ear
Writers and academics who hear manuscripts and theses read back to proof them
Not for
Budget-minded readers who would rather not pay yearly for basic reading
Scanned-PDF readers who need clean OCR, which only works through the camera
Free plan$0
Premium$29/mo
Features
Reads PDFs, docs and books aloud
PDFs, documents and ebooks are read out in natural-sounding AI voices. Text highlighting and speed control up to 4.5x follow the narration.
Voice typing and dictation
Speech becomes polished text inside other apps such as Google Docs, Gmail, Slack and Outlook. Dictation is pitched as three to five times faster than keyboard typing.
Browser extension reading
The Chrome and Edge extensions read anything on a web page aloud and answer questions about the page. Both install directly from the browser stores.
Voice AI assistant
A voice assistant summarizes pages, answers questions about the current document and can quiz on the material. It responds based on what is being read.
One-click podcast creation
A document or short description becomes a podcast, with style and depth adjusted before generation. Meetings can also be captured as AI notes.
What users say
Pros
- A yearly subscription works out cheaper than buying the same books as individual audiobooks.
- A thesis read back in a famous actor's voice makes viva preparation faster and less of a grind.
Cons
- Everyday words and character names come out wrong, from 'id' spelled letter by letter to 'Siobhan' voiced as 'Slobhan'.
- Kindle books stopped opening in the app, and a library service plugin stopped working.
A selection of the review sources we used:
Summarized from public user reviews and community discussions. View details
Global Traffic Rank
Top 50k
Alternatives
Rank#24 in category#6 in category#17 in category#29 in category
Free planYesYesYesYes
ProNatural voices, cheaper than audiobooks, textbook listeningMost natural voices, top-rated transcription, cheap for hobby useEasy-listening long reads, lifelike clones, runs on home GPUsStreaming-first design, working agent pipelines
Better forCloning custom voices from short audio clips and designing dialogue with emotion tagsRunning open-weight voice models locally on personal GPUs and directing delivery with emotion tagsBuilding real-time voice agents and streaming speech into custom applications via API
Weaker atDictating text into desktop apps and reading web pages in place with synchronized highlightingReading documents and web pages aloud with follow-along text highlighting and speed controlsListening to PDFs, books, and web pages aloud through ready-made reader apps