Roundup
Speechify Alternatives, Compared Fairly.
Speechify Premium is $29 a month or $139 a year. If that is more than you want to pay, or you need something it does not do, these are the alternatives worth trying, with what each is genuinely best at.
The Short Answer
The best Speechify alternative depends on what you listen to. ElevenReader has the most free listening (10 hours a month). NaturalReader runs on the most platforms and has OCR. Speek is built for long PDFs, decks, board packs and AI research on iPhone and Mac, at $89.99 a year for about 4 hours a month. Voice Dream is strongest for accessibility. Listening.com suits academic papers. Free built in tools cover a page or two.
Prices and features checked on 28 October 2026 on each company's own pricing page or App Store listing. Prices change; follow the links to confirm before you buy. We make Speek, so read our view of Speek with that in mind. Speek is not affiliated with the other companies named here; their names are trademarks of their owners.
How We Judged Them.
| Price | The paid plan's monthly and annual US price, from the company's own page. |
| Free Use | How much you can hear before paying. |
| Documents | How well it handles long PDFs: headers, page numbers, tables and charts. |
| Platforms | Where it runs. |
Why People Look for an Alternative
The most common reasons are price, voices locked behind a plan, and wanting something built for a specific kind of reading, such as academic papers or work documents.
The Apps.
ElevenReader
Best for: Lots of free listening with very natural voices, and audiobooks.
Price: Ultra $11 a month or $99 a year. Free: 10 hours of text to audio a month, renewed monthly.
Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, web and Chrome.
Strengths: The most generous free plan we found. Ultra text to audio is unlimited under fair use. 1,000+ voices, including licensed Iconic Voices. Ultra adds premium audiobooks and offline downloads. 4.7 stars from 11,012 ratings on the US App Store.
Limits: No separate Mac app listed. Audio cannot be exported.
NaturalReader
Best for: Reading on almost any platform, OCR for scans, and voice cloning.
Price: Lite $13.90 a month or $79 a year; Plus $20.90 or $119; Pro $25.90 or $159. Free: unlimited standard voices, plus a daily character allowance with better voices.
Platforms: Web, iPhone, Mac, Android and Chrome, among others.
Strengths: OCR on paid plans. Many platforms. Voice cloning on Plus and above.
Limits: Personal use only on these plans. Daily character limits on the better voices.
Speek (Ours)
Best for: Long reports, research papers, board packs, slide decks and AI research you want to finish on a walk or a commute.
Price: $8.99 a month or $89.99 a year for about 4 hours of listening a month (a cap, unlike some plans here); top ups from $0.99. Free: about 20 minutes, one time, with every voice.
Platforms: iPhone, Mac and the web.
Strengths: Skips headers, footers, page numbers and inline citations. Reads tables as sentences and describes charts. Read All, Focused and TLDR modes. All 19 voices on every plan, Free included. Mac capture with Control Option S.
Limits: English only. No camera scanning of printed pages; scans without a text layer may not read well. Speed up to 2×. No Android app yet. New: in beta, submitted to the App Store in October 2026.
Voice Dream Reader
Best for: Accessibility: VoiceOver, braille displays and offline voices.
Price: Subscription; the App Store lists several plans, so check the current price there. Free: a free trial; a subscription is required.
Platforms: iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Strengths: Deep VoiceOver, Dynamic Type and braille display support. Voices that work offline. On device document scanning.
Limits: No free plan. Current subscription price not published on its website.
Listening.com
Best for: Academic papers, with a Zotero integration.
Price: $12.99 a month or $59 a year. Free: a 3 day trial.
Platforms: iPhone, Android, web, desktop and a browser extension.
Strengths: Built for academic papers. Zotero integration. Works on most platforms.
Limits: No free plan after the trial.
Readwise Reader
Best for: People who already save articles and highlights in a read it later app.
Price: Reader $8.99 a month, or $7.99 a month billed yearly. Free: a 30 day trial.
Platforms: Web, iPhone and Android.
Strengths: Text to speech inside a full reading and highlighting app. A 50% student discount.
Limits: Listening is one feature of a reading app, not the focus.
Audeus
Best for: A lower priced reader across phone, web and browser extensions.
Price: Pro $9.92 a month billed yearly. Free: standard voices with limited uploads.
Platforms: iPhone, Android, web, Chrome and Edge.
Strengths: Low annual price. Browser extensions for Chrome and Edge.
Limits: The monthly price is not shown on its pricing page.
Free Options Already on Your Devices.
Apple Speak Screen and Speak Selection
Best for: A page or two on iPhone or Mac, with nothing to install.
Price: Free, built in. Free: everything.
Platforms: iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Strengths: Already on your device. Safari also has Listen to Page on supported pages.
Limits: Reads what is on screen, including headers and page numbers. Not built for long documents or keeping your place.
Microsoft Edge Read Aloud
Best for: Free PDF reading on a Windows or Mac computer.
Price: Free, built in. Free: everything.
Platforms: The Edge browser.
Strengths: Reads PDFs in the browser. Several voices.
Limits: Needs the browser open on a screen.
Adobe Acrobat Reader Read Out Loud
Best for: Quick listening to a PDF on a desktop.
Price: Free. Free: everything.
Platforms: Acrobat Reader on desktop.
Strengths: Free, with voice and speed settings.
Limits: Robotic system voices. Needs real text, not a scan.
Gemini Notebook Audio Overviews (formerly NotebookLM)
Best for: A conversational summary of your sources.
Price: Free plan, with higher limits on Google AI plans. Free: usage limits that refresh every few hours.
Platforms: Web and mobile.
Strengths: Free. Good for a quick, chatty overview.
Limits: AI hosts discuss your sources; it is not a reading of the document, so details and order can change.
Common Questions.
What is the cheapest Speechify alternative?
Free built in tools (Apple Speak Screen, Edge Read Aloud, Acrobat Read Out Loud) cost nothing. Among apps, ElevenReader's free plan gives 10 hours a month; among paid plans checked on 28 October 2026, Readwise Reader ($7.99 a month yearly), Speek ($89.99 a year for about 4 hours a month) and Audeus ($9.92 a month yearly) cost less a year than Speechify Premium ($139 a year), though their listening allowances differ, so compare by how many hours you listen.
Is there a free alternative to Speechify?
Yes. ElevenReader's free plan has 10 hours a month, NaturalReader has unlimited standard voices, and your iPhone, Mac, Edge and Acrobat can read text aloud for free.
Which Speechify alternative is best for PDFs?
For long PDFs with tables and page clutter, choose an app that prepares the document for listening, such as Speek. For scans, NaturalReader's OCR or Speechify's scanner work better, because Speek needs a text layer.
Take That PDF for a Walk.
One app for iPhone and Mac, with every voice on every plan. Join the waitlist and we will email you when your account is ready, with about 20 minutes of listening free to start.