text to speech software windows

Best free text-to-speech software of 2024

Find the best free text-to-speech software for free text to voice conversion

Best overall
Best custom voice
Best for beginners
Best Microsoft extension
Best website reader
How we test

The best free text-to-speech software makes it simple and easy to improve accessibility and productivity in your workflows.

1. Best overall 2. Best custom voice 3. Best for beginners 4. Best Microsoft extension 5. Best website reader 6. FAQs 7. How we test

In the digital era, the need for effective communication tools has led to a surge in the popularity of text-to-speech (TTS) software, and finding the best free text-to-speech software is essential for a variety of users, regardless of budget constraints.

Text-to-speech software skillfully converts written text into spoken words using advanced technology, though often without grasping the context of the content. The best text-to-speech software not only accomplishes this task but also offers a selection of natural-sounding voices, catering to different preferences and project needs.

This technology is invaluable for creating accessible content, enhancing workplace productivity, adding voice-overs to videos, or simply assisting in proofreading by vocalizing written work. While many of today’s best free word processors , such as Google Docs, include basic TTS features that are accurate and continually improving, they may not meet all needs.

Stand-alone, app-based TTS tools, which should not be confused with the best speech-to-text apps , often have limitations compared to more comprehensive, free text-to-speech software. For instance, some might not allow the downloading of audio files, a feature crucial for creating content for platforms like YouTube and social media.

In our quest to identify the best free text-to-speech software, we have meticulously tested various options, assessing them based on user experience, performance, and output quality. Our guide aims to help you find the right text-to-speech tool, whatever your specific needs might be.

The best free text-to-speech software of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

The best free text-to-speech software overall

1. Natural Reader

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid.

Natural Reader offers one of the best free text-to-speech software experiences, thanks to an easy-going interface and stellar results. It even features online and desktop versions.

You'll find plenty of user options and customizations. The first is to load documents into its library and have them read aloud from there. This is a neat way to manage multiple files, and the number of supported file types is impressive, including eBook formats. There's also OCR, which enables you to load up a photo or scan of text, and have it spoken to you.

The second option takes the form of a floating toolbar. In this mode, you can highlight text in any application and use the toolbar controls to start and customize text-to-speech. This means you can very easily use the feature in your web browser, word processor and a range of other programs. There's also a browser extension to convert web content to speech more easily.

The TTS tool is available free, with three additional upgrades with more advanced features for power-users and professionals.

Read our full Natural Reader review .

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The best free custom-voice text-to-speech software

2. Balabolka

There are a couple of ways to use Balabolka's top free text-to-speech software. You can either copy and paste text into the program, or you can open a number of supported file formats (including DOC, PDF, and HTML) in the program directly.

In terms of output, you can use SAPI 4 complete with eight different voices to choose from, SAPI 5 with two, or the Microsoft Speech Platform. Whichever route you choose, you can adjust the speech, pitch and volume of playback to create a custom voice.

In addition to reading words aloud, this free text-to-speech software can also save narrations as audio files in a range of formats including MP3 and WAV. For lengthy documents, you can create bookmarks to make it easy to jump back to a specific location and there are excellent tools on hand to help you to customize the pronunciation of words to your liking.

With all these features to make life easier when reading text on a screen isn't an option, Balabolka is the best free text-to-speech software around.

For more help using Balabolka, see out guide on how to convert text to speech using this free software.

The best free text-to-speech software for beginners

3. Panopreter Basic

Panopreter Basic is the best free text-to-speech software if you’re looking for something simple, streamlined, no-frills, and hassle-free.

It accepts plain and rich text files, web pages and Microsoft Word documents as input, and exports the resulting sound in both WAV and MP3 format (the two files are saved in the same location, with the same name).

The default settings work well for quick tasks, but spend a little time exploring Panopreter Basic's Settings menu and you'll find options to change the language, destination of saved audio files, and set custom interface colors. The software can even play a piece of music once it's finished reading – a nice touch you won't find in other free text-to-speech software.

If you need something more advanced, a premium version of Panopreter is available. This edition offers several additional features including toolbars for Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer , the ability to highlight the section of text currently being read, and extra voices.

The best free text-to-speech extension of Microsoft Word

4. WordTalk

Developed by the University of Edinburgh, WordTalk is a toolbar add-on for Word that brings customizable text-to-speech to Microsoft Word. It works with all editions of Word and is accessible via the toolbar or ribbon, depending on which version you're using.

The toolbar itself is certainly not the most attractive you'll ever see, appearing to have been designed by a child. Nor are all of the buttons' functions very clear, but thankfully there's a help file on hand to help.

There's no getting away from the fact that WordTalk is fairly basic, but it does support SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 voices, and these can be tweaked to your liking. The ability to just read aloud individual words, sentences or paragraphs is a particularly nice touch. You also have the option of saving narrations, and there are a number of keyboard shortcuts that allow for quick and easy access to frequently used options.

The best free text-to-speech software for websites

5. Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader

Despite its basic looks, Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader has more to offer than you might first think. You can open numerous file formats directly in the program, or just copy and paste text.

Alternatively, as long as you have the program running and the relevant option enables, Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader can read aloud any text you copy to the clipboard – great if you want to convert words from websites to speech – as well as dialog boxes that pop up. One of the best free text-to-speech software right now, this can also convert text files to WAV format.

Unfortunately the selection of voices is limited, and the only settings you can customize are volume and speed unless you burrow deep into settings to fiddle with pronunciations. Additional voices are available for an additional fee which seems rather steep, holding it back from a higher place in our list.

The best free text-to-speech software: FAQs

What are the limitations of free tts software.

As you might expect, some free versions of TTS software do come with certain limitations. These include the amount of choices you get for the different amount of voices in some case. For instance, Zabaware gives you two for free, but you have to pay if you want more.

However, the best free software on this list come with all the bells and whistles that will be more than enough for the average user.

What is SAPI?

SAPI stands for Speech Application Programming Interface. It was developed by Microsoft to generate synthetic speech to allow computer programs to read aloud text. First used in its own applications such as Office, it is also employed by third party TTS software such as those featured in this list.

In the context of TTS software, there are more SAPI 4 voices to choose from, whereas SAPI 5 voices are generally of a higher quality.

Should I output files to MP3 or WAV?

Many free TTS programs give you the option to download an audio file of the speech to save and transfer to different devices.

MP3 is the most common audio format, and compatible with pretty much any modern device capable of playing back audio. The WAV format is also highly compatible too.

The main difference between the two is quality. WAV files are uncompressed, meaning fidelity is preserved as best as possible, at the cost of being considerably larger in size than MP3 files, which do compress.

Ultimately, however, MP3 files with a bit rate of 256 kbps and above should more than suffice, and you'll struggle to tell the difference when it comes to speech audio between them and WAV files.

How to choose the best free text-to-speech software

When selecting the best free text-to-speech software is best for you depends on a range of factors (not to mention personal preference).

Despite how simple the concept of text-to-speech is, there are many different features and aspects to such apps to take into consideration. These include how many voice options and customizations are present, how and where they operate in your setup, what formats they are able to read aloud from and what formats the audio can be saved as.

With free versions, naturally you'll want to take into account how many advanced features you get without paying, and whether any sacrifices are made to performance or usability.

Always try to keep in mind what is fair and reasonable for free services - and as we've shown with our number one choice, you can get plenty of features for free, so if other options seem bare in comparison, then you'll know you can do better.

How we test the best free text-to-speech software

Our testing process for the best free text-to-speech software is thorough, examining all of their respective features and trying to throw every conceivable syllable at them to see how they perform.

We also want to test the accessibility features of these tools to see how they work for every kind of user out there. We have highlighted, for instance, whether certain software offer dyslexic-friendly fonts, such as the number two on our list, Natural Reader.

We also bear in mind that these are free versions, so where possible we compare and contrast their feature sets with paid-for rivals.

Finally, we look at how well TTS tools meet the needs of their intended users - whether it's designed for personal use or professional deployment.

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Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he's written a book, ' The Making of Tomb Raider '. His second book, ' 50 Years of Boss Fights ', came out in June 2024, and has a newsletter called ' Springboard '. He's usually found playing games old and new on his Steam Deck and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that's about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.

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You may occasionally be in a situation where reading isn't the most convenient thing to do. Or, you might just not be able to read easily. There's plenty of content out there that's already in audio or video form, but if you want to consume an article or document you came across without actually reading it, you'll need to use something called text-to-speech conversion.

There are multiple tools that convert written text into spoken dialog, and they can be a very handy way of "reading" information when you don't have time to sit down and gaze attentively at your laptop screen. Many of these solutions are available for Windows 11 PCs (and earlier versions), so if you're in a situation where you want to listen to something instead of reading it, check out the following apps and services.

The best, for a price

The top pick here has to go to Natural Reader, an online platform that offers an incredibly robust solution for text-to-speech conversion. Natural Reader has many facets, starting with a web interface that lets you paste text into a box or upload a document, PDF file, or even an image. Indeed, it has optical character recognition, so it can even read images for you. It's quite impressive.

Additionally, you can install it as a browser extension, making it easy to read any content you come across online. The extension lets you quickly read a page as it highlights the content it's reading, and it lets you click anywhere to skip a section. There's also a mobile app, if you want to use it on your phone.

The good and the bad of Natural Reader come from its voices. The app offers excellent voices to choose from, but most of them are only available in the Plus plan, and you're limited to 5 minutes a day if you don't want to pay $110 per year. There are also some less advanced Premium voices, which cost $60 per year, and you can use 20 minutes of those for free every day, but these are not as impressive. Unfortunately, beyond that, the only voices available are Microsoft's Zira, David, and Mark, which are very basic and limited to U.S. English. All other languages require you to pay up. The other downside is that the app is fully internet-based, so you can't use it without a connection.

If those limitations aren't a problem, or if you're willing to pay, Natural Reader is a terrific choice.

Natural Reader is arguably the best solution for listening to written text as spoken dialog. It has lots of natural-sounding voices, a modern UI, and plenty of features, including a browser extension.

Best reader for online content

Screenshot of Microsoft Edge with the read aloud feature enabled

Yes, Microsoft Edge is a web browser , so calling it a text-to-speech tool may seem disingenuous. But frankly, Edge offers one of the very best experiences you can get in this field. Microsoft's browser lets you read any webpage or PDF file you open in it, and it offers a wide selection of natural-sounding voices in multiple languages, making it a phenomenal solution for listening to written content. You can even combine it with Immersive Reader to get a more focused reading experience.

The only notable downside to Edge is that it works only with web content or PDF files, so if you run into text somewhere else, you have to paste it into a file and save it as a PDF. And, of course, most people use a browser other than Edge, so you'll probably have to change your default browser for this to be a very convenient solution. Still, if you're fine with that, it works wonders.

Microsoft Edge may be a web browser, but its built-in read-aloud feature is one of the best experiences you can get for text-to-speech conversion. It features natural-sounding voices and, best of all, it's totally free.

Best free online TTS tool

Screenshot of TTSMaker displaying text to be converted to audio

Another great option for listening to written text is TTSMaker, which is another totally free solution that works on any browser. TTSMaker's strengths are in its voices, with a wide range of options to choose from. From what we could test, they all sound quite natural and less affected than the voices in a lot of other solutions out there. And, again, you can't beat the price.

TTSMaker also lets you export the audio conversion as an MP3 file, so if you want to listen to the audio later, you can, even if you don't have internet access at the moment.

The downsides are mostly in the character limit. Whenever you want to convert text, you're limited to a maximum of 10,000 characters on the default voice, or 8,000 for most other voices. You can always start a new session to overcome that, though, and there aren't any daily time limits, so you still have some breathing room.

The other downside is that, of course, you need an internet connection to access the website, and you don't get a browser extension or anything, so it's much more of a manual process. Still, that's the case for many of these tools, and this is a great one, all things considered.

TTSMaker is a website for converting written text into spoken dialog. It offers a wide range of natural-sounding languages that are available free of cost. It can also export an audio file. However, it's limited to a maximum of 10,000 characters in a single piece of text.

Best TTS browser extension

If you're seeking a more convenient solution for reading webpages out loud, the TTS

Readme TTS is a browser extension compatible with Chrome-based browsers, and it offers text-to-speech capabilities on any website you visit, in addition to reading any text you copy into it. It also supports uploading documents. Finally, it uses Google Translate voices for free, although you can pay for higher-quality voices.

extension is a great, free solution that might just do the trick for you. As an extension, it lives on the menu bar in your browser, and you can click its button at any time to bring up the interface. Just press the Play button to start reading the current page. You can also paste text into the text box to read a specific bit of content, if you want.

One cool thing about this extension is that, in addition to the default Microsoft voices, it also has the option to use Google Translate voices for reading, so you get slightly more natural-sounding speech without having to pay up. And if you do want to pay for them, you can also use Google Cloud's API for text-to-speech conversion, which sounds even better.

TTS Text To Speech also has a nice, clean UI. And while it opens as an overlay on your current page, you can minimize to a small bar so that you're free to keep browsing while you listen to whatever is playing in the extension.

Best for Microsoft Office

Screenshot of the Microsoft Office immersive reader reading a document aloud

If you're not on the web and you want to read documents out loud that you're working on in Microsoft Office, the built-in Immersive Reader in the Office apps is a good option. Immersive reader is available in apps like Word and OneNote, and in addition to making text larger and easier to read, it gives you a "Read aloud" option, so you can listen to that text instead.

Unlike the feature in Microsoft Edge, things are more limited in Office. You don't get the same natural-sounding voices, but they still sound better than the robotic voices that are still built into Windows, and you can adjust the reading speed to your liking. You do need to be connected to the internet to get these nicer voices, though. Otherwise, Office falls back to the voices built into Windows.

Regardless, this is a great solution that doesn't require you to install or pay for anything extra. You can access Immersive Reader in the Office from the View tab.

Simple offline reader

Screenshot of Panopreter reading a written text out loud

Say you don't want to use the internet at all, and you want to be able to read aloud any text you run across offline. That's where an app like Panopreter comes in. This is a simple text-to-speech tool that lets you paste text or open a variety of files, such as Word and PDF documents, to read out loud. Panopreter uses the voices installed on your PC, so you'll be limited to the built-in Windows voices that don't sound all that natural. Still, it's an effective way to read any text you want, and you can change the speed and pitch of the voice to your liking.

Panopreter also lets you import batches of files to read, and you can also export readings of text as audio files to listen to at any time. It's a fairly straightforward and simple app, but it does the job it sets out to do.

Panopreter is a desktop text-to-speech app that can read text and documents out loud, using voices installed on your computer. It offers options like opening batches of files and exporting readings as audio files for listening at a later time.

More powerful offline options

If you want a more powerful reader for offline use, Balabolka is an even better option than Panopreter. The Balabolka UI can definitely be overwhelming at first, but that's largely because its customization and granular features aren't always the easiest to use. You have options for customizing the font and color of text, choosing a secondary voice for reading foreign terms in the text, and much more. Balabolka also uses the languages installed on your system, so it might not be the best unless you've found some speech packs elsewhere. However, it does the job.

Similar to Panopreter, Balabolka lets you export audio conversions as audio files for easy listening at any time. It even supports batch conversions, so you can select multiple text files at once and turn them all into audio. It's certainly a capable app, although its abundance of features may not be optimal for everyone.

Balabolka is an advanced speech-to-text conversion tool with loads of options available for formatting and reading text, including support for different voice APIs and the ability to read foreign words even in an English text.

Final thoughts

These are all great options in their own right, although it's hard to deny that the best ones are those that rely on the internet. These have the best voices, which really promote a natural listening experience, and the web is where you'll most likely be using this kind of tool anyway. My personal favorite would be the Microsoft Edge immersive reader, both for its terrific quality and the fact that it's free. But if you're willing to pay, Natural Reader is phenomenal too.

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The best text-to-speech software can help you if you have trouble reading or if you have learning difficulties.
One of the most used programs below will make your PC make natural speech breaks.
Another excellent tool has a great voice portfolio that contains 23 languages.
You can also choose a program that translates spoken text into seven languages.

There are many people interested in taking eLearning courses, to help them develop speech and literacy skills which will increase their chances to get a well-paid job. It’s very hard to overcome learning difficulties on your own, because you don’t know where to start, so you need guidance and direction to convert words into speech. Luckily, there are some text to speech software for eLearning you can use to improve and expand your vocabulary.

Why hiring an expensive narration professional to train you to communicate effectively with all levels of people, when you can use eLearning text and narration software to get the same results? The advantage of taking an eLearning course is that you will no longer feel inferior and defied, plus you’ll hear a warmer human voice over that will give you comfort.

It’s important to choose the right Text To Speech software , because if you’re dealing with learning disabilities and you have problems when reading, you’ll need to look for the best eLearning course guide. Today, we will talk about the most popular text to speech software that you can use at home, in your room, when no one’s around.

What are the best text-to-speech apps for Windows 10?

Dragon speech recognition software.

Dragon speech recognition software was created by Nuance, and it is capable of accurately translating your voice into text without having to use your keyboard at all.

The tool is perfect for those who want to do stuff quickly, on the go. With over two decades of continuous development and thanks to the advanced AI, Dragon delivers over-the-top speech recognition.

When we talk about advanced AI, we mean really advanced, like Machine Learning. The software will adapt to your words and learn how to better distinguish between them.

This results in a crisp and clear translation, which in turn means that you will speak fluently, casually, and effortlessly.

Let’s have a look at Dragon’s main features :

Up to 99% speech recognition out of the box
Create, edit, and format documents with your voice
Use voice commands to navigate the Web or create Emails
Deep learning engine continuously adjusts to your voice
Dictate text and listen back to it
Touchscreen device optimization

PistonSoft Text-to-Speech Converter

PistonSoft Text-to-Speech Converter is one of the simplest of the market. However, it is equipped with a bunch of useful features. You can covert your favorite books, your courses or other literature. It also ‘teaches’ your computer how to make natural speaking pauses so you won’t be disturbed by the never-ending word flow.

Download PistonSoft Text-to-Speech Converter trial version

This multi-lingual speech synthesis system was released 11 years ago and it offers a full text to speech system with various APIs. Its voice portfolio contains 23 languages, with 3 voices and when it comes to compatibility, Ivona supports Windows, Unix, Android, Tizen, iOS based systems. Users are also able to upload to cloud whatever they record.

NaturalReader

The free version for Windows includes the following features: text to speech; free conversion of PDF, Docx, Richtext & ePub documents into spoken words; Listen to Webpages; Change speaker and speed; Floating Bar; In-software Help and OCR Function (30 images). If you’ll opt for the Personal version ($69.5), Professional version ($129.5) or Ultimate ($199.5), you’ll get extra options such as Pronunciation Editor; Typing echo; Word Prediction; Spelling Check etc.

Zabaware Text To Speech Reader

Its free version provides generic voices, while the paid option offers high quality CereProc and AT&T Natural Voices. After converting text into wav audio files, you can transfer them to portable devices.

You can use its API to create high quality speech audio in the following formats: mp3, wav, wma, mp4 and flac, while the iSpeech Translator feature will translate the speaking text in seven languages, but it also translates text in 18 languages.

Acapela Group Virtual Speaker

It supports 30 languages, it offers voices in different sampling frequencies and qualities and the sound files are very easy to access, no matter what authoring tool you are using.

TextSpeechPro

It will read Microsoft Word, PDF, emails and other types of documents, using AT&T Natural Voices. Also, if you don’t understand what’s written on a web page, TextSpeechPro will read its text straight from the interface. You’ll have the option to adjust the speed, volume and voice quality.

TextAloud 3

Its creator is NextUp and this Text to Speech Tool will allow you to create messages for your answering machine, listen to information while you work on something else, listen to an eBook during your commute, create audio files for computer games etc. It supports 29 languages and offers AT&T Natural Voices.

Read The Words

The free version includes three languages, several voice characters and it allows you to create audio files with a length of up to 30 seconds, while the gold upgrade offers unlimited podcasting and the possibility to create unlimited audio files up to 8 hours in length.

Voice Reader

It was created by Linguatec and it can be used to convert text (PDF, Doc, Docx, HTML, RTF) to voice in different languages. The software offers even individual pronunciation adjustments.

If you’re an educator, there are 14 free text to speech tools that you can use to relax your students’ tired eyes: Announcify, Balabolka, DSpeech, NaturalReaders, PediaPhon, PowerTalk, QR voice, Select and Speak, SpeakIt!, SpokenText, Text2Speech, Voki, VozMe and WordTalk. We hope that you find these recommendations perfect for your needs.

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.

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The Best Text-to-Speech Apps and Tools for Every Type of User

Reading is great, but sometimes you want or need to listen. let your computer or phone read aloud to you with the top text-to-speech tools for accessibility, productivity, and enjoyment..

Some people struggle with reading text on a screen, or physically can't. Others might want their computer to read something to them aloud while they do something else. There are plenty of reasons to use a text-to-speech tool, also called a screen reader. For example, I like listening to my computer read my writing while I edit because I tend to miss fewer mistakes that way. If you want your computer or phone to read to you, we have the best tools for the job.

We recommend a few standalone text-to-speech apps here, sure, but you probably don't need them. That's because every operating system, and several well-known pieces of software, offer a text-to-speech feature, and they're all quite good. Similarly, most devices and some writing apps also include speech-to-text tools so that you can dictate rather than type. In this list of the best text-to-speech tools, we show you where to find these features while also pointing out a few of the best standalone apps.

Best Text-to-Speech App for Windows

Balabolka is a free downloadable app for Windows (I tested it on Windows 11; it works on Windows XP or later). You can paste text into the app or open almost any document file format directly, such as text files, Word documents, and even ebooks. You can then press play to start listening to the app read aloud, or you can export an audio file if you prefer. Balabolka doesn't have many voices by default, and the ones it does have are fairly robotic. You can add more voices, though, and customize the application in all kinds of ways. Even though the app is a bit clunky, it’s the best Windows-specific app I’ve found outside of the one built into Edge and Microsoft Office (which I prefer).

Microsoft/Edge Read Aloud in Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader

Microsoft Office applications have a built-in text-to-speech feature, and the quality of the voices is fantastic. In any document, click the View tab, select Immersive Reader, and then press the play button that appears at the bottom. You hear your document read back to you with the corresponding words highlighted as it goes. Immersive Reader is perfect for copy editing and reviewing long documents. Microsoft Edge has this feature, too (it's one of the best Microsoft Edge tricks ). Just go to Immersive Reader mode and then Read Aloud.

Best Text-to-Speech Browser Extension

Read Aloud is an extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox that can read whatever website you currently have open. Just click the button in the toolbar to start listening. You can control playback and follow along with the text in the pop-up window. A wide variety of voices are in the settings, including premium ones from Amazon and Google. It's the best tool I could find for listening to Google Docs, and there's also support for PDF files and Kindle books. I tried the PDF feature and it worked better for those documents than the other apps I tested.

Select to Speak

Select to Speak (Android)

Android's Select to Speak feature can be found in the settings under Accessibility. Turn it on and you can have it read text in any app when you either swipe up from the bottom of the screen with two fingers or press both of the volume keys at once, depending on how you configure it. Controls show up toward the bottom of the screen, allowing you to start and control playback. Select to Speak is simple to use and supports a variety of voices, which you can configure in the settings. There's even experimental support for reading the text inside images.

Spoken Content

Spoken Content (macOS)

Every Apple device comes with Spoken Content , a feature that uses Siri's high-quality voices to read text out loud. On a Mac, you can enable the feature by heading to System Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content and checking the Speak Selection option, which allows you to trigger the current document or selected text in any application using a keyboard shortcut (Option-Esc). As the tool reads the text, it highlights the corresponding words on the page in most applications, allowing you to read along. On-screen buttons give you control to speed up, slow down, pause, and so forth. It's the fastest way to listen to text I found on any platform.

Spoken Content Mobile

Spoken Content (iOS)

The iPhone's text-to-speech feature is very similar to the one on macOS and it even has the same name. You can turn it on in the Settings app under Accessibility. Once Spoken Content is enabled, any text you highlight in any application will have a Speak option, which you tap to activate. There are also options for reading all text on the current screen, with an optional always-on control button.

Best Text-to-Speech Web Reader

The free app TTSMaker is the best text-to-speech app I can find for running in a browser. Just copy your text and paste it into the box, fill out the captcha, click Convert to Speech and the application will start reading your text for you. Even better, you can download the reading as an MP3 file and even use it in commercial projects. Most similar services charge a subscription for downloading audio and commercial usage, so this is a good deal. Even better, there's a wide variety of voices and most of them sound quite good.

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The Best Transcription Services for 2024
The Best Speech-to-Text Apps and Tools for Every Type of User

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13 Best Text-to-Speech Software of 2024 (Free, Paid & Online)

Text-to-speech software can bring tremendous advantages to your workflow.

Imagine being able to listen to a document instead of reading it so that you can multitask. You can just load the document into your phone and listen to it while you run your errands.

Auditory learners who retain more information by listening rather than reading will also find text-to-speech software useful.

Moreover, text-to-speech software is also invaluable to the visually impaired or people with dyslexia . They can help people who improve communication for people who can read a language but don’t speak it, or are trying to learn.

So, we’ve rounded up the 13 best text-to-speech software of 2022 in this post. We’ll review each one, talk about the key features to look out for in text-to-speech software, and explore some frequently asked questions about them.

Best Text-to-Speech Software

1. amazon polly, best overall text-to-speech software..

Amazon Polly is the Best Overall Text to Speech Software

Amazon Polly is a service by—you guessed it—Amazon that turns text into lifelike speech , allowing you to build speech-enabled products and applications that talk.

With advanced deep learning technology, Polly synthesizes natural-sounding human speech, offering several realistic voices across dozens of languages so that you can build applications that work in many different countries.

Amazon Polly offers Neural Text-to-Speech (NTTS) in addition to their Standard TTS voices . These voices come with advanced improvements in speech quality through a newer, better machine learning approach.

NTTS also supports two speaking styles so that you can match the speaking style to the specific use case. There’s the Newscaster reading style which is suited to news narration applications; and there’s a Conversational speaking style, which is great for two-way communication like in telephony applications.

Finally, you can get a custom voice created for your organization with Amazon Polly Brand Voice . In this engagement, you’ll work with the Amazon Polly team to build an NTTS voice that will be used exclusively by your organization.

On the free trial, Amazon Polly offers 5 million free characters per month for speech or Speech Mark requests for the first 12 months , beginning from the first time you request for speech. For the Neural voices, you get 1 million free characters.

Beyond the free trial, pricing is on a pay-as-you-go model. For $4, you get 1 million characters for Amazon Polly’s Standard voices . For the Neural voices, you get 1 million characters for $16.

Incorporates lifelike voices
Cache and replay feature so you don’t have to pay multiple times for the same text
HIPAA compliant
PCI DSS compliant
Supports 60 voices and over 29 languages
Some features are limited to certain voices or generation type
Terminology sometimes is different from other similar tools

2. Linguatec Voice Reader

Best alternative to amazon polly text-to-speech..

Based out of Germany, Linguatech has been creating text-to-speech software for over 25 years now. Their flagship product is Voice Reader Home 15. It’s a deceptively simple yet powerful tool.

You can stop the playback at any time and have it resume from where you stopped. You can highlight a section of text and have it reread that section. And if you’d like to generate an audio file from your text, it’s as easy as tapping a button to convert the text to an MP3 file.

That said, you only get controls for speed, tone, pitch, and volume. With these controls, even a small change can be quite significant.

In addition to the reading functionality, there’s also a sophisticated editing function that can be likened to a highly simplified word processor. All fonts installed on your system are available, and you have the freedom to edit styles, highlight sections of text, align text, and do many other things.

The problem with this part of the platform, though, is that you may be introducing errors into the document you’re trying to edit since there’s no spelling or grammar check.

While the conversion of text to voice is often very well executed, this platform does have a few odd flaws.

For one, in English for example, honorifics that have a period after them—as in ‘Mr.’ or ‘Dr’—can be a bit problematic; Voice Reader takes the period as an actual period and flags a brief pause mid-sentence while reading such words. So Mr. Smith ends up being read as Mr…Smith .

The same occurs with soft returns—although this can be useful in detecting soft returns you didn’t intentionally insert into the document. Either way, these interruptions ruin the flow and bring to light the fact that the voice is synthetic.

Another flaw is that you can’t adjust pronunciations. So, heteronyms are often quite problematic. The platform can’t tell Polish apart from polish, for example; in this case, it always goes with the polish , the act of shining a surface, even when the intention is clearly to refer to something that has to do with Poland.

To get Voice Reader Home 15, you only have to pay a one-off purchase price of €49 and you can use it forever from that point onward. But here’s the catch: that will only give you one voice in a single language . Want a different voice or a different language? That’s another €49. And that’s for a private use license.

If you would like to use the software commercially (such as for voiceovers on your videos) or require multiple voices in a single language, you should get Voice Reader Studio 15 instead for €499 .

Support for 45 languages and 67 voices
Regional accents supported
Only one voice and language per private-use license, and one language per commercial license
No pronunciation adjustment

3. Capti Voice

Best text-to-speech software for people with print disabilities..

Capti Voice Narrator is an app designed to be used by people with print disabilities such as blindness, low vision, and dyslexia.

Users can import all kinds and formats of documents, ebooks, and web pages into the system, and Capti Voice will read them out loud or display them in large text.

However, Capti Voice can also serve as a great productivity tool for people without disabilities. It is available as a browser-based platform, as an app for iOS devices, and as a Chrome browser extension .

Navigating the app is easy. You can import your content into the app with as few as four taps. As the app reads text out loud, it also displays the text and you can follow along if you want to.

But the text on the app menus is quite small; so, those with vision impairment may need to have a VoiceOver screen reader or Zoom magnifier to be able to use it.

Capti Voice Narrator features abundant options for people with disabilities, and it has won numerous awards for this reason. You can choose from six free voices or buy any of the premium voices, most of which cost about $5.

You can also have the content text displayed in a wide variety of fonts —including the widely popular OpenDyslexic font—and you can enlarge the font size as well.

You have the option to set the text to be displayed on high-contrast backgrounds and increase the spacing between words as needed.

As the voice narrator reads, Capti Voice highlights the text, allowing users with visual processing issues or dyslexia to focus more easily on words.

Moreover, Capti Voice offers numerous integrations with different services . Under the Book Libraries menu, you’ll find services like Bookshare and Project Gutenberg , giving readers access to hundreds of thousands of books.

The platform also integrates with cloud storage platforms like OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and iCloud, allowing users to import files directly from these platforms. Adding web articles to Capti Voice Narrator can be done with the browser extension or by copy-pasting a link. And there is an OCR scanner built into the app .

You can download the app for free and create a free account — an account is required. But if you would like features such as image viewing, increased file size limits, language translation, and multiple playlists, you would need to pony up $18/year for the premium plan .

There are also premium voices available for purchase, and most of them cost about $5 each.

The free plan is good enough for most people
The premium plan is relatively inexpensive
Offers several useful integrations, including an OCR scanner and other assistive technology
The app menus on the interface are difficult to read

Best Text-to-Speech Software for Voice-overs.

Murf is a text-based voice-over maker that features hyper-realistic AI voices . Just type in your voice-over script or upload a voice recording and the app will convert it to a studio-quality AI voice-over.

Murf’s voices are trained on professional voice-over artists and checked for quality against several parameters. There’s a wide range of voices available; so, there’s always one that’s appropriate for every use case.

One difficult part of making videos with voice-overs is achieving perfect timing with visuals. Murf makes it easy to sync the timing of the voice-over with videos and presentations.

You can add pauses or alter the narration speed, thereby eliminating the need for post-processing. Murf also allows you to change pitch and even add emphasis to certain words. Bottom line, there’s a lot of flexibility for customization.

You can also convert voice into editable text. In this text, you can select and delete any part—just like a regular word processor—and the audio for the deleted part will be trimmed automatically.

Murf Studio has an AI assistant equipped to check for punctuation, grammatical, and spelling errors. The assistant makes recommendations to improve your script.

The Pause feature comes with three settings: weak, medium, and strong. But if you like, you can customize the duration of the pause or add pauses simply by stretching out the duration of an audio block in the timeline at the bottom of the screen.

Additionally, Murf comes with a wide selection of royalty-free background music for your videos. You can also upload your own music, recorded audio, video clips, and images. And you can trim parts of your video directly in the studio.

Murf allows you to combine multiple images and videos to create your final video . This means that you can add introduction slides and end screens to your video, and also insert images in between video clips.

Finally, the platform can also render videos in standard sizes according to the platform on which you’ll be uploading the video , including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and others.

On the free plan , Murf gives you 10 free minutes of voice-over render time to test voices and other features in the Studio. Priced plans start at $19 for the Basic plan and go as high as $99 and up for the Enterprise plan .

Alternatively, you can pay a one-time fee of $9 for 30 minutes of voice generation and all the features of the Basic plan if that’s all you need.

Both subscription and one-off plans are available
Gives users granular control over voiceovers
Does not support voice recording at the moment

5. Natural Reader

Best text-to-speech software for webmasters aiming to improve website accessibility..

Many internet users may recognize the familiar voices of Natural Reader from several YouTube videos. It’s a popular solution that has become a victim of its success; its popularity detracts from its naturalness because people are now used to the sound of its voices.

Still, it would be a travesty to not include Natural Reader in this list as it is still one of the top text-to-speech solutions on the market today.

Natural Reader’s interface is as simple as it gets ; it’s pretty much a point-and-shoot affair. You simply paste your text into the panel in the center of the screen or drag and drop the text file there. Or you can load the file from your storage.

Or, if you’re using the online version on a Chrome browser, you can highlight text on a webpage and use the Chrome extension to transfer the text for transcription .

At the top of the screen, there’s a bar to control the playback, choose voices, and control the speed of delivery . On the far left, you have a menu with extra options such as controls to edit pronunciations .

Available languages include English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, and Swedish.

One unexpected use of this tool—and most other text-to-speech tools, for that matter—is that it can serve as a great alternative to professional proofreading since it is remarkably easier to hear a botched sentence than to read the errors.

Additionally, Natural Reader provides a WebReader widget that website creators can attach to their website to help users read web pages out loud. This feature is particularly useful for those with sight impairments that need to browse the internet.

When in use, the widget highlights the text being read and marks each word as it is spoken. It will use any of the 61 standard voices in any of the 18 languages available. This feature also works with web pages viewed on mobile, too.

The widget is free for websites that expect to use the widget on less than 2,000 pages per day , and there are subscription plans for those that need more.

In all, the flaws of this software become apparent when it comes to names, technical words, and the pronunciation of historical texts. But this should hardly come as a surprise as even humans have problems with the same things.

And the software even makes it easy to fix these issues by giving you access to a pronunciation editor.

Natural Reader is available in two versions: the Commercial version and the Non-commercial version. With both versions, there’s a free plan.

Beyond the free plan, the Commercial version costs $49/month (annual billing) for a single user . The Team plan starts at $59/month (annual billing) for 2 team members, adding $10 for every additional member .

For the Non-commercial version, Natural Reader starts at a one-time fee of $99.50 for the Personal plan and goes all the way up to $199.5 for the Ultimate plan .

WebReader widget available
Available on Windows, Mac, and as a browser-based application
Free for 20 minutes every day
Overused on YouTube
Can sound stiff at times

6. Notevibes

Best text-to-speech software for translation..

Notevibes is a wonderful text-to-speech software with a free version and a feature-packed paid version. It offers 201 unique, natural-sounding voices and 18 languages. Users get 500 characters of translation and the ability to customize pronunciation.

While the free version is great for personal use, you’ll need a commercial license for commercial applications. The number of characters you can translate depends on the plan you purchase. After translation and voice synthesis, you can download the audio in MP3 or WAV format.

The platform supports anywhere from 200 – 1,000,000 characters. The voices generated are realistic and natural sounding. When you need to, you can add a pause with a single click. Changing the pitch and playback speed are also allowed, and you can manually emphasize certain words and control volume.

Notevibes’ free plan allows limited usage. There are two pricing plans; the Personal pack starts at $9/month while the Commercial pack starts at $90/month. Naturally, the Personal pack can only be used for personal projects and activities like e-learning and private listening.

If your plan runs out mid-project, you can refill with a pay-as-you-go option. These one-off packs range from $29.90 for 300,000 characters to $89.90 for 900,000 characters .

Refill packs are available for when you run out of balance
The commercial pack is pretty expensive
The free plan is quite limited
Refill packs are only available for personal use

7. Voice Dream Reader

Best text-to-speech software for mobile..

Text-to-speech software isn’t limited to computers alone; there are also plenty of great options for mobile and Voice Dream Reader is a standout example. It is a mobile text-to-speech app that offers users a premium Acapela Heather voice. It works on both Android and iOS , although it is primarily designed for iOS.

With this app, you can convert ebooks, web articles, and documents into natural-sounding speech. It comes with 200+ built-in voices and 30 languages that include English, Bulgarian, Arabic, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, and several others.

You can have the app read a list of articles while you drive, exercise, or work. There are also auto-scrolling, distraction-free, and full-screen modes to help you focus. And the platform integrates seamlessly with cloud storage solutions like Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Instapaper, Evernote, and Pocket.

Even the free version of the application offers a rich feature set, boasting features such as text-to-speech conversion, text highlighting, dictionary lookups, creating & pinning notes, and full-screen reading mode.

As if that isn’t enough, the platform works offline , requiring no internet connection to work its magic. It supports files in several formats including ePub, PDF, Daisy audio & text, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, plain text, and webpage, etc.

Users can control parameters like pitch, speed, pause duration, and voice . There are also controls for font, font size, and font color .

And finally, there’s an integrated OCR module, and library management functionality.

Voice Dream costs $14.99 for iOS users . For Android users, the app is available as Legere Reader on the Play Store for $9.99 .

Offers the best text-to-speech experience on mobile
Includes loads of useful features, even on the free plan
Comes with 36 built-in voices
Integrates with cloud platforms
iOS 12 users get 61 free voices
More suitable for iOS users than Android users

8. Balabolka

Best free text-to-speech software..

Its website may not look like much but Balabolka is one of the best in the business, especially if you’re a developer looking for a free solution . It's available as a download that you install on your computer and supports various file formats including HTML, PDF, and DOC.

To use Balabolka, you can either copy and paste text into the program or open a supported file format in the program directly. You can adjust the speed, pitch, and volume of the playback to create a custom voice.

Besides reading words aloud, this free text-to-speech software can also save your narrations in a wide range of formats that include MP3 and WAV.

It also features bookmarking functionality so that you can jump to specific locations within your longer audio files. And if ever needed, you can customize the pronunciation of words , too.

Balabolka is completely free to use.

Completely free
Excellent file format support
Several voices to choose from
Can create audio files
Comes with bookmarking tools

9. Natural Reader Online Reader

A pared-down, free version of natural reader..

Natural Reader Online Reader is the pared-down free version of Natural Reader . It can be used in a couple of ways. You may choose to load documents into its library and have Natural Reader read them aloud from there.

This is a great way to manage several files, especially since the platform supports an impressive number of file formats.

There's also OCR functionality, which allows you to upload an image or scan a piece of text into the app and have the platform read it to you.

Alternatively, Natural Reader Online Reader offers a floating toolbar option. With this feature, you can highlight any text in any application and use the toolbar controls to start and control the narration.

This is a great way to use the app in your web browser, word processor, or other programs. Plus, there's a built-in browser to more easily convert web content to speech.

This version of Natural Reader is completely free to use.

Built-in OCR
Choice of interfaces
Built-in browser
Dyslexic-friendly font
Not as full-featured as some other free options

A Powerful Text-to-Speech Software Bundled Together with an Exceptional Video Editing Platform.

Boasting over 2.5 million users across the world, Wideo is a video editing program that offers a free text-to-speech tool to its users. With Wideo, creators can produce professional videos with amazing voice-overs.

You can convert text into a high-quality voice-over that you can download as an MP3 file for use on videos that you create with the platform.

The text-to-speech feature comes bundled for free with Wideo’s editing platform . And while there’s a free version of the platform available, it’s pretty limited. Pricing starts at $19/month (billed annually) for the Basic plan and goes up to $79/month (billed annually) for the Pro+ plan.

Comes for free with Wideo’s editing platform
Standout editing features
Offers concerted text as downloadable MP3 files
Text-to-speech function not available as a standalone offering

11. Panopreter Basic

Best windows-only text-to-speech software..

Call it simple or basic, a lot can be said about this powerful text-to-speech solution. Panopreter is a Windows-only text-to-speech software . Panopreter offers both 32-bit and 64-bit applications, although it doesn't offer a 64-bit version for Windows 10, which is quite surprising.

While it isn't made for most browsers, Panopreter does come with a toolbar for Internet Explorer (another strange decision seeing as Internet Explorer is now obsolete) and Microsoft Word . The platform is incompatible with the .docx file format; it only works with the .doc file format.

To get started you have the option to purchase Panopreter directly or test drive the software for 30 days free of charge . It's a very easy-to-use piece of software, although its UI is rudimentary at best .

On the home screen, you get all the tools you need to get started. You can cut or copy, paste, delete, and replace sections of text just like with any old-fashioned text editor. Panopreter supports the following file types: TXT, RTF, PDF, DOC, HTM, HTML, and MHT.

Panopreter works with a wide variety of languages that you can choose from the left sidebar. You can also choose from several different voices, adjust volume, speed and pitch.

You can process XML tags and set the application to highlight words as it reads them.

Panopreter can also read the text you paste on your computer’s clipboard . This means that you do not necessarily have to open the application’s UI every time you need it to read something to you.

Finally, Panopreter offers support through the app, FAQs, and email.

There’s a 30-day free trial available after which the software costs a one-time fee of $32.95 . Your experience during the free trial won’t be encumbered by any limitations.

Very easy to use
Works with a wide range of document formats
Integrates neatly with Microsoft Word
Supports multiple languages
One-time purchase
Only available for Windows users
Unattractive, outdated UI
No support for modern web browsers
No support for .docx files

12. WordTalk

Best free text-to-speech plugin for microsoft word..

WordTalk is an add-on developed by the University of Edinburgh that brings text-to-speech functionality to Microsoft Word . It is compatible with all editions of Word and can be accessed via the toolbar or ribbon, depending on what edition you're using.

While it is a barebones offering, it does support SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 voices , all of which you can tweak to your liking. The software can read individual words, sentences, or paragraphs aloud. You can also save your narrations, and there are several keyboard shortcuts for quick and easy access to options that you use frequently.

WordTalk is completely free to use.

Integrates well with Microsoft Word
Offers customizable voices
Speaking dictionary
Unattractive design

13. Google Cloud Text-to-Speech

Best text-to-speech software for application developers..

Google Cloud Text-to-Speech is not an option for general users. Instead, it is geared towards developers .

With this platform, developers can integrate text-to-speech and other Google apps to create an intelligent and comprehensive app . Developers can also combine Google Cloud Text-to-Speech with Google Translate to create something a lot more advanced.

Google says it can be used for voice response systems in call centers, enable IoT device speech, and convert media like news articles and books into audio format. Google Cloud Text-to-Speech offers 100+ different voices in 12 languages and allows users to control pitch, speed, and volume .

Google Cloud Text to Speech Pricing Plan

There’s a limited 90-day free trial available. After that, you get 4 million free characters per month on the Standard Voices plan and 1 million free characters on the WaveNet Voices plan. Then you’d have to shell out $4 per million characters for the Standard Voices plan and $6 per million characters for the WaveNet Voices plan.

One of the best text-to-speech APIs on the market
Great documentation
Generous free plan
Text processing can be slow at times
Not for beginners or non-technical users

Key Features to Look for in Text-to-Speech Software

The features you’ll need in text-to-speech software depend on exactly what you need it for . A student with accessibility issues will need different features than an application developer who needs to add text-to-speech functionality to his latest creation.

As such, it would be impossible to create a one-size-fits-all list of features to look for in text-to-speech software. But there are still a few key factors that apply to text-to-speech software of all kinds; so, let’s explore some of them briefly.

Ideally, you’ll want text-to-speech software that comes with the most natural-sounding voices you can find.

While you might feel like you’re saving yourself a few bucks by going with something the comes with robotic-sounding voices, it won’t be long before you forget the low price you paid and find yourself stuck with a listening experience you don’t enjoy.

You’ll also want something that offers a wide range of customizations to the voices . You’ll want to be able to control the pitch, tone, volume, and speed of delivery , and you’ll also want to be able to customize pronunciations whenever necessary.

Finally, it’s nice to be able to select from a wide range of voices . Some providers offer several voices, some even as many as 200 voices. It’s great to know that you can change voices at any time to freshen the experience.

2. Languages

This is another big one, especially for those who may not speak English as a first language or who may want to use text-to-speech software to help them learn a new language.

You’ll want software that supports a wide range of languages, or at least offers your preferred language . Choosing a text-to-speech tool without checking if it supports your language would be a grave mistake.

3. Download Options

You’ll also want to be able to download narrations in a wide variety of formats such as MP3 or WAV. This will allow you to save your narrations and come back to them later.

Since a lot of providers price their services according to how many characters you have them narrate each month , being able to download your narrations means that you can listen to older narrations over and over again without eating into your character quota.

4. Licensing Options

Licensing is another important factor to consider when choosing text-to-speech software.

If you’d like to use the narrations generated by your text-to-speech software commercially (such as on YouTube videos, marketing material, premium courses, etc), you should opt for a tool that gives you a commercial-use license , not one that only gives you a personal-use license.

And if you only need text-to-speech software for personal use, why pay a premium for a commercial license ?

5. Extensibility

It’s always nice to be able to sync your software tools to one another. This eliminates the need to move data manually from one place to the other.

And it’s no different with text-to-speech software. For example, if you use cloud storage services to store your files, it makes sense to go for a provider that syncs with your cloud storage provider so that you can fetch files that you want to read without leaving the text-to-speech software’s interface .

This also applies to other services like Bookshare and Project Gutenberg, and even word processors .

Plus, it makes sense for the software to be compatible with your web browser, too, especially for visually challenged individuals or people with print disabilities who may have a hard time reading web content on their own.

6. User Experience

This goes without saying; the text-to-speech software you choose has to be easy to use and give you full control over the playback . You want to be able to pause, play, stop, and resume the playback in the most intuitive way possible.

Some providers offer extra features that boost usability, such as text highlighting (the reader highlights words on the screen as it reads them), the ability to control pause duration, and so on.

These extra features are nice to have for some people but may be necessary for others. Students learning a new language or those with reading disabilities looking to improve their reading might find the text highlighting feature particularly helpful , for example.

For visually challenged users, accessibility is a big issue , and providers who offer accessibility-driven features would be preferred.

Finally, OCR functionality is a nice-to-have feature. It allows users to scan printed documents into the software and have it read out the contents to them. This is very useful for accessibility.

Frequently Asked Questions

Text-to-speech software is a type of assistive technology that reads text inputted into it aloud. It converts text into audio at the tap of a button. It works with devices and text files of all kinds, and even works with web pages.

No. Some use AI-generated voices, while others use actual human voices, with some premium offerings using voices of famous narrators like Morgan Freeman and David Attenborough.

With text-to-speech software, even establishing a pricing range is near impossible , especially since there are many pricing models. Some providers offer their products 100% free , some charge a monthly fee (some charging as high as $90/month), some charge a one-time fee (some as high as $199), and others charge per character (such as Google Cloud Text-to-Speech and Amazon Polly). At the end of the day, what you have to pay will be decided by what platform you choose to go for, and that will be determined by the features you need from your text-to-speech software.

Text-to-speech software has a wide range of applications in various fields. Most commonly, it is used by people with learning disabilities, print disabilities, visual impairments, and literacy challenges . Text-to-speech software is also used to provide queue-free self-service customer care in several industries like banking and finance. It can be used by text editors to detect mistakes and errors that they may have otherwise glossed over while reading. Content creators— podcasters, YouTubers, online course creators , and others —may use text-to-speech software to create voice-overs for their content . Even people who need to stay productive use text-to-speech software to read documents aloud while they multitask or run errands. The applications of text-to-speech software are truly wide-ranging.

Which Text to Speech Software Should I Pick?

We already established that choosing the right text-to-speech software depends on your specific needs. One software cannot fulfill everyone’s peculiar needs. Factors ranging from pricing and voices to licensing and download options will all play a role in your final decision.

But we can make a few suggestions based on what category of user you fall

For bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, online course creators, and other content creators , Murf is an excellent choice.
For businesses and eLearning projects, NaturalReader is a great option.
Developers looking to create speech-enabled applications will find Google Cloud Text-to-Speech and Amazon Polly to be particularly useful options.
Developers looking for a free way to add text-to-speech to their applications would be hard-pressed to find a better option than Balabolka .
Anyone with print disabilities will find Capti Voice to be indispensable.

And for mobile users, check out Voice Dream Reader .

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

5 Best Free Text to Speech Software for Windows 10 and 11

Are you still looking for a free Text to Speech software for your Windows 10 or 11 computer to read aloud your documents or convert them to audio files to listen to them anywhere anytime? Now you're in the right place. Here we've tested and collected the 5 best Text to Speech software. All these text to speech software are completely free and can be downloaded to Windows PC. Let's go through this list and see which ones you like the most.

1. Natural Reader

NaturalReader is a downloadable text-to-speech desktop software for personal use. This easy-to-use software with natural-sounding voices can read to you any text such as Microsoft Word files, webpages, PDF files, ePub ebooks. It offers a free version, and 3 paid versions which can export the texts into MP3 audios. Personally speaking, if you just need to use the basic function of text to speech, there is no need for payment of the paid version. And a piece of better news is that it even offers an online text to speech reader .

Price: free (the Personal edition costs $99.50).

Operation system: Windows 7/8/10, and Mac OS X 10.11 or later.

Unlimited use with Free Voices.
Miniboard to read text in other applications.
Pronunciation Editor.
Works with PDF, Docx, TXT and ePub.
Beautiful design.

2. Microsoft Word

Several programs in Microsoft Office 2013 have built-in text-to-speech functionality designed to read the contents of your documents aloud. This feature is called Speak. Microsoft Word makes listening so easy by using the text-to-speech (TTS) ability of your device to play back written text as spoken words. There are mainly two tools for listening to your documents on MS office Word:

Read Aloud reads all or part of your document. It's under the Review tab. It's only available for Office 2019, Office 2021, and Microsoft 365.

Speak reads only the text you've selected. It's a built-in feature of Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNoteSpeak, but available for Windows only. You can add the Speak command to your Quick Access Toolbar.

Price: free

Operating system: Windows, Mac.

The Speak and Read Aloud are both built-in features.
No need to install any third-party text to speech software.
So easy and convenient to use the TTS feature.
Choose among all the voices on your computer to read the text to you.

3. Balabolka

Balabolka is a totally free Text-To-Speech (TTS) program. It can save narrations as audio files in a range of formats including MP3 and WAV. For lengthy documents, you can create bookmarks to make it easy to jump back to a specific location. And you can customize the narrator by choosing among all computer voices installed on your computer. Besides, you can also split the text and convert it to multiple audio files.

Price: free.

Operating system: Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10/11.

Totally free.
Split and convert text into audios.
All computer voices installed on your system are available to create an audio file.
Convert files in batch.
Save audio as wav, mp3, ogg, wma, mp4, m4a, m4b, opus, awb file.
No internet connection is needed.

4. Panopreter Basic

Panopreter Basic is a text to speech and text to mp3 freeware program with the following features. It can not only read the text in the software, but also allow you to convert the text to mp3 audio files.

Ratings: Features:

Read text aloud with natural sounding voices, convert the text to wav and mp3 audio files.
Highlight the word or sentence being read.
Support a wide variety of languages and voices.
Support batch file conversion.
Allow users to adjust voice speed and volume.

5. Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader

The Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader is an application that uses a speech synthesizer to read documents out loud. It is available for free with generic voices or sold with high-quality CereProc or AT&T Natural Voices at the lowest prices in the industry..

Price: free (offers in-app purchases).

Operating system: Windows 10.

Read documents, emails, web pages, clipboard contents and Windows dialog boxes out loud in one of many high-quality voices.
Quickly devour large amounts of reading material through speed reading. Simply set the speech speed high and read along as the program flashes on the screen the word it speaking.
Text can be saved as an audio file for transfer to an audio CD or iPod/MP3 player.
With the clipboard reading functionality you can highlight any text in any program with your mouse and then hit CTRL-C to read it out loud.

If you've tried using the above text to speech software to read aloud your DRM-protected ebooks such as Kindle, Kobo, Google Play, or Nook ebooks, you will probably fail to do that. What's the reason? Actually, all the above text to speech software doesn't support DRM-protected books. To read aloud those ebooks with TTS software, you must remove the DRM from your ebooks. Epubor Ultimate is the software that can help you.

Detailed Guide How to Remove DRM from Kindle/Kobo/Google Play/Nook Books.

How to Use Text to Speech in Windows 11: A Step-by-Step Guide

how to use text to speech windows 11

If you’re looking to make your Windows 11 experience even more accessible, using the Text-to-Speech (TTS) feature is a fantastic way to do so. This tool reads text aloud, which is great if you have difficulty reading small text or just prefer listening. Whether you’re working on a document, browsing a website, or reading an eBook, TTS can make your life easier. This guide will walk you through how to set up and use Text-to-Speech on Windows 11, step by step.

How to Use Text-to-Speech in Windows 11

Setting up Text-to-Speech in Windows 11 is straightforward. By following these steps, you’ll have your computer reading text aloud in no time.

Step 1: Open Settings

Click on the Start menu, then the "Settings" gear icon.

The Start menu is usually located at the bottom-left corner of your screen. Clicking on it brings up a list of applications and options, including the "Settings" icon, which looks like a gear.

Step 2: Navigate to Accessibility

In the Settings menu, click on "Accessibility."

Once you’re in the Settings menu, look for "Accessibility" on the left-hand side. Clicking on this will take you to various options designed to make Windows easier to use.

Step 3: Click on Narrator

Under the Accessibility menu, find and click on "Narrator."

The "Narrator" option is located under the Vision section. Clicking on it will bring up all the settings related to Text-to-Speech.

Step 4: Turn on Narrator

Toggle the switch to turn on Narrator.

You’ll see a toggle switch at the top of the Narrator settings page. Flipping this switch will activate the Narrator feature.

Step 5: Customize Narrator Settings

Adjust the settings to match your preferences.

The Narrator settings allow you to customize the voice, speed, pitch, and volume. Experiment with these settings to find what works best for you.

What Happens Next

Once you have enabled and customized Narrator, your computer will start reading text aloud. You can use keyboard shortcuts to control the Narrator. For instance, pressing ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Win’ + ‘Enter’ will turn Narrator on or off. Explore different settings and shortcuts to fully utilize this feature. Your experience using Windows 11 will become more accessible and user-friendly.

Tips for Using Text-to-Speech in Windows 11

Here are some tips to get the most out of the Text-to-Speech feature in Windows 11:

Familiarize yourself with Narrator keyboard shortcuts for quicker access and control.
Use the "Scan mode" to easily navigate and read web pages.
Customize the voice settings to find a tone and speed that you find comfortable.
Use Narrator with other accessibility features like Magnifier for a better experience.
Regularly check for Windows updates to ensure you have the latest features and improvements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is text-to-speech available on all versions of windows 11.

Yes, the Text-to-Speech feature is available on all versions of Windows 11.

Can I use third-party Text-to-Speech software with Windows 11?

Yes, you can use third-party Text-to-Speech software if you prefer additional features.

How do I stop Narrator from reading text?

To stop Narrator, you can press ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Win’ + ‘Enter’.

Can I change the Narrator’s voice?

Yes, you can change the voice in the Narrator settings under Accessibility.

Is there a way to make Narrator read faster or slower?

Yes, you can adjust the reading speed in the Narrator settings.

Step-by-Step Summary

Open Settings.
Navigate to Accessibility.
Click on Narrator.
Turn on Narrator.
Customize Narrator settings.

Using Text-to-Speech in Windows 11 is a game-changer for accessibility and convenience. Activating the Narrator feature is simple and requires just a few clicks. Whether you have vision impairments or just like the idea of having text read aloud, this feature can make your Windows experience much more enjoyable. Don’t forget to customize the settings to suit your needs and explore other accessibility options that Windows 11 offers.

For more information, you can visit Microsoft’s official support page or check out technology forums. Now that you know how to use Text-to-Speech in Windows 11, why not give it a try and see how it can benefit you?

Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.

His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop, and more.

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The best dictation software in 2024

These speech-to-text apps will save you time without sacrificing accuracy..

The early days of dictation software were like your friend that mishears lyrics: lots of enthusiasm but little accuracy. Now, AI is out of Pandora's box, both in the news and in the apps we use, and dictation apps are getting better and better because of it. It's still not 100% perfect, but you'll definitely feel more in control when using your voice to type.

I took to the internet to find the best speech-to-text software out there right now, and after monologuing at length in front of dozens of dictation apps, these are my picks for the best.

The best dictation software

What is dictation software.

If this isn't what you're looking for, here's what else is out there:

AI assistants, such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Microsoft's Cortana, can help you interact with each of these ecosystems to send texts, buy products, or schedule events on your calendar.

Transcription services that use a combination of dictation software, AI, and human proofreaders can achieve above 99% accuracy.

What makes a great dictation app?

How we evaluate and test apps.

Dictation software comes in different shapes and sizes. Some are integrated in products you already use. Others are separate apps that offer a range of extra features. While each can vary in look and feel, here's what I looked for to find the best:

High accuracy. Staying true to what you're saying is the most important feature here. The lowest score on this list is at 92% accuracy.

Ease of use. This isn't a high hurdle, as most options are basic enough that anyone can figure them out in seconds.

Availability of voice commands. These let you add "instructions" while you're dictating, such as adding punctuation, starting a new paragraph, or more complex commands like capitalizing all the words in a sentence.

Availability of the languages supported. Most of the picks here support a decent (or impressive) number of languages.

Versatility. I paid attention to how well the software could adapt to different circumstances, apps, and systems.

I tested these apps by reading a 200-word script containing numbers, compound words, and a few tricky terms. I read the script three times for each app: the accuracy scores are an average of all attempts. Finally, I used the voice commands to delete and format text and to control the app's features where available.

What about AI?

Also, since this isn't a hot AI software category, these apps may prefer to focus on their core offering and product quality instead, not ride the trendy wave by slapping "AI-powered" on every web page.

Tips for using voice recognition software

Though dictation software is pretty good at recognizing different voices, it's not perfect. Here are some tips to make it work as best as possible.

Speak naturally (with caveats). Dictation apps learn your voice and speech patterns over time. And if you're going to spend any time with them, you want to be comfortable. Speak naturally. If you're not getting 90% accuracy initially, try enunciating more.

Punctuate. When you dictate, you have to say each period, comma, question mark, and so forth. The software isn't always smart enough to figure it out on its own.

Learn a few commands . Take the time to learn a few simple commands, such as "new line" to enter a line break. There are different commands for composing, editing, and operating your device. Commands may differ from app to app, so learn the ones that apply to the tool you choose.

Know your limits. Especially on mobile devices, some tools have a time limit for how long they can listen—sometimes for as little as 10 seconds. Glance at the screen from time to time to make sure you haven't blown past the mark.

Practice. It takes time to adjust to voice recognition software, but it gets easier the more you practice. Some of the more sophisticated apps invite you to train by reading passages or doing other short drills. Don't shy away from tutorials, help menus, and on-screen cheat sheets.

The best dictation software at a glance


Free dictation software on Apple devices	96%	Included with macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Apple Watch
Free dictation software on Windows	95%	Included with Windows 11 or as part of Microsoft 365 subscription
Customizable dictation app	97%	$15/month for Dragon Anywhere (iOS and Android); from $200 to $500 for desktop packages
Free mobile dictation software	92% (up to 98% with training)	Free
Typing in Google Docs	92%	Free
Collaboration	93%	Free plan available for 300 minutes per month; Pro plan starts at $16.99

Best free dictation software for Apple devices

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The interface for Apple Dictation, our pick for the best free dictation app for Apple users

Look no further than your Mac, iPhone, or iPad for one of the best dictation tools. Apple's built-in dictation feature, powered by Siri (I wouldn't be surprised if the two merged one day), ships as part of Apple's desktop and mobile operating systems. On iOS devices, you use it by pressing the microphone icon on the stock keyboard. On your desktop, you turn it on by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation , and then use a keyboard shortcut to activate it in your app.

Apple Dictation price: Included with macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Apple Watch.

Apple Dictation accuracy: 96%. I tested this on an iPhone SE 3rd Gen using the dictation feature on the keyboard.

Best free dictation software for Windows

Windows 11 speech recognition (windows).

The interface for Windows Speech Recognition, our pick for the best free dictation app for Windows

Windows 11 Speech Recognition (also known as Voice Typing) is a strong dictation tool, both for writing documents and controlling your Windows PC. Since it's part of your system, you can use it in any app you have installed.

To start, first, check that online speech recognition is on by going to Settings > Time and Language > Speech . To begin dictating, open an app, and on your keyboard, press the Windows logo key + H. A microphone icon and gray box will appear at the top of your screen. Make sure your cursor is in the space where you want to dictate.

When it's ready for your dictation, it will say Listening . You have about 10 seconds to start talking before the microphone turns off. If that happens, just click it again and wait for Listening to pop up. To stop the dictation, click the microphone icon again or say "stop talking."

As I dictated into a Word document, the gray box reminded me to hang on, we need a moment to catch up . If you're speaking too fast, you'll also notice your transcribed words aren't keeping up. This never posed an issue with accuracy, but it's a nice reminder to keep it slow and steady.

While you can use this tool anywhere inside your computer, if you're a Microsoft 365 subscriber, you'll be able to use the dictation features there too. The best app to use it on is, of course, Microsoft Word: it even offers file transcription, so you can upload a WAV or MP3 file and turn it into text. The engine is the same, provided by Microsoft Speech Services.

Windows 11 Speech Recognition price: Included with Windows 11. Also available as part of the Microsoft 365 subscription.

Windows 11 Speech Recognition accuracy: 95%. I tested it in Windows 11 while using Microsoft Word.

Best customizable dictation software

In 1990, Dragon Dictate emerged as the first dictation software. Over three decades later, we have Dragon by Nuance, a leader in the industry and a distant cousin of that first iteration. With a variety of software packages and mobile apps for different use cases (e.g., legal, medical, law enforcement), Dragon can handle specialized industry vocabulary, and it comes with excellent features, such as the ability to transcribe text from an audio file you upload.

For this test, I used Dragon Anywhere, Nuance's mobile app, as it's the only version—among otherwise expensive packages—available with a free trial. It includes lots of features not found in the others, like Words, which lets you add words that would be difficult to recognize and spell out. For example, in the script, the word "Litmus'" (with the possessive) gave every app trouble. To avoid this, I added it to Words, trained it a few times with my voice, and was then able to transcribe it accurately.

It also provides shortcuts. If you want to shorten your entire address to one word, go to Auto-Text , give it a name ("address"), and type in your address: 1000 Eichhorn St., Davenport, IA 52722, and hit Save . The next time you dictate and say "address," you'll get the entire thing. Press the comment bubble icon to see text commands while you're dictating, or say "What can I say?" and the command menu pops up.

Once you complete a dictation, you can email, share (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox), open in Word, or save to Evernote. You can perform these actions manually or by voice command (e.g., "save to Evernote.") Once you name it, it automatically saves in Documents for later review or sharing.

Accuracy is good and improves with use, showing that you can definitely train your dragon. It's a great choice if you're serious about dictation and plan to use it every day, but may be a bit too much if you're just using it occasionally.

Dragon by Nuance price: $15/month for Dragon Anywhere (iOS and Android); from $200 to $500 for desktop packages

Dragon by Nuance accuracy: 97%. Tested it in the Dragon Anywhere iOS app.

Best free mobile dictation software

The interface for Gboard, our pick for the best mobile dictation software

Back to the topic: it has an excellent dictation feature. To start, press the microphone icon on the top-right of the keyboard. An overlay appears on the screen, filling itself with the words you're saying. It's very quick and accurate, which will feel great for fast-talkers but probably intimidating for the more thoughtful among us. If you stop talking for a few seconds, the overlay disappears, and Gboard pastes what it heard into the app you're using. When this happens, tap the microphone icon again to continue talking.

Wherever you can open a keyboard while using your phone, you can have Gboard supporting you there. You can write emails or notes or use any other app with an input field.

The writer who handled the previous update of this list had been using Gboard for seven years, so it had plenty of training data to adapt to his particular enunciation, landing the accuracy at an amazing 98%. I haven't used it much before, so the best I had was 92% overall. It's still a great score. More than that, it's proof of how dictation apps improve the more you use them.

Gboard price : Free

Gboard accuracy: 92%. With training, it can go up to 98%. I tested it using the iOS app while writing a new email.

Best dictation software for typing in Google Docs

The interface for Google Docs voice typing, our pick for the best dictation software for Google Docs

Just like Microsoft offers dictation in their Office products, Google does the same for their Workspace suite. The best place to use the voice typing feature is in Google Docs, but you can also dictate speaker notes in Google Slides as a way to prepare for your presentation.

To get started, make sure you're using Chrome and have a Google Docs file open. Go to Tools > Voice typing , and press the microphone icon to start. As you talk, the text will jitter into existence in the document.

You can change the language in the dropdown on top of the microphone icon. If you need help, hover over that icon, and click the ? on the bottom-right. That will show everything from turning on the mic, the voice commands for dictation, and moving around the document.

It's unclear whether Google's voice typing here is connected to the same engine in Gboard. I wasn't able to confirm whether the training data for the mobile keyboard and this tool are connected in any way. Still, the engines feel very similar and turned out the same accuracy at 92%. If you start using it more often, it may adapt to your particular enunciation and be more accurate in the long run.

Google Docs voice typing price : Free

Google Docs voice typing accuracy: 92%. Tested in a new Google Docs file in Chrome.

Best dictation software for collaboration

It's not as robust in terms of dictation as others on the list, but it compensates with its versatility. It's a meeting assistant, first and foremost, ready to hop on your meetings and transcribe everything it hears. This is great to keep track of what's happening there, making the text available for sharing by generating a link or in the corresponding team workspace.

The reason why it's the best for collaboration is that others can highlight parts of the transcript and leave their comments. It also separates multiple speakers, in case you're recording a conversation, so that's an extra headache-saver if you use dictation software for interviewing people.

When you open the app and click the Record button on the top-right, you can use it as a traditional dictation app. It doesn't support voice commands, but it has decent intuition as to where the commas and periods should go based on the intonation and rhythm of your voice. Once you're done talking, Otter will start processing what you said, extract keywords, and generate action items and notes from the content of the transcription.

If you're going for long recording stretches where you talk about multiple topics, there's an AI chat option, where you can ask Otter questions about the transcript. This is great to summarize the entire talk, extract insights, and get a different angle on everything you said.

Otter price: Free plan available for 300 minutes / month. Pro plan starts at $16.99, adding more collaboration features and monthly minutes.

Otter accuracy: 93% accuracy. I tested it in the web app on my computer.

Otter supported languages: Only American and British English for now.

Is voice dictation for you?

Dictation software isn't for everyone. It will likely take practice learning to "write" out loud because it will feel unnatural. But once you get comfortable with it, you'll be able to write from anywhere on any device without the need for a keyboard.

And by using any of the apps I listed here, you can feel confident that most of what you dictate will be accurately captured on the screen.

Improve your productivity automatically. Use Zapier to get your apps working together.

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The Best (Free) Speech-to-Text Software for Windows

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Looking for the best free speech to text software on Windows?

The best speech-to-text software is Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS) but it comes at a price. But how does it compare to the best of the free programs, like Google Docs Voice Typing (GDVT) and Windows Speech Recognition (WSR)?

This article compares Dragon against Google Docs Voice Typing and Windows Speech Recognition for three typical uses:

Writing novels.
Academic transcription.
Writing business documents like memos.

Comparing Speech Recognition Software: Dragon Vs. Google Vs Microsoft

We will look at the nuances between the three below, but here's an overview on their pros and cons which will help you quickly make a decision.

1. Dragon Speech Recognition

Dragon Naturally Speaking beats Microsoft's and Google's software in voice recognition.

DNS scores 10% better on average compared to both programs. But is Dragon Naturally Speaking worth the money?

It depends on what you're using it for. For seamless, high-accuracy writing that will require little proof-reading, DNS is the best speech-to-text software around.

2. Windows Speech Recognition

If you don't mind proofreading your documents, WSR is a great free speech-recognition software.

On the downside, it requires that you use a Windows computer. It's also only about 90% accurate, making it the least accurate out of all the voice recognition software tested in this article.

However, it's integrated into the Windows operating system, which means it can also control the computer itself, such as shutdown and sleep.

3. Google Docs Voice Typing

Google Docs Voice Typing is highly limited in how and where you use it. It only works in Google Docs, in the Chrome Browser, and with an internet connection.

But it offers several options on mobile devices. Android smartphones have the ability to transcribe your voice to text using the same speech-to-text engine that also works with Google Keep or Live Transcribe.

And while Dragon Naturally Speaking offers a mobile app, it's treated as a separate purchase from the desktop client.

Dragon and Microsoft work in any place you can enter text. However, WSR can execute control functions whereas Dragon is mostly limited to text input.

Download : Live Transcribe for Android (Free)

Speech-to-Text Testing Methods

In order to test the accuracy of the dictation with the tools, I read aloud three texts:

Charles Darwin's "On the Tendency of Species to Form Varieties"
H.P. Lovecraft's "Call of Cthulhu"
California Governor Jerry Brown's 2017 State of the State speech

When a speech-to-text software miscapitalized a word, I marked the text as blue in the right-column (see graphic below). When one of the software got a word wrong, the misspelled word was marked in red. I did not consider wrong capitalizations to be errors.

I used a Blue Yeti microphone which is the best microphone for podcasting and a relatively fast computer. However, you don't need any special hardware. Any laptop or smartphone transcribes speech as well as a more expensive machine.

Test 1: Dragon Naturally Speaking Speech-to-Text Accuracy

dragon naturally speaking got 100 percent accuracy on my test

Dragon scored 100% on accuracy on all three sample texts. While it failed to capitalize the first letter on every text, it otherwise performed beyond my expectations.

While all three transcription suites do a great job of accurately turning spoken words into written text, DNS comes out way ahead of its competitors. It even successfully understood complicated words such as "hitherto" and "therein".

Test 2: Google Docs Voice Typing Speech-to-Text Accuracy

google docs voice typing text to speech accuracy

Google Docs Voice Typing had many errors compared to Dragon. GDVT got 93.5% right on Lovecraft, 96.5% correc t for Brown, and 96.5% for Darwin. Its average accuracy came out to around 95.2% for all three texts.

On the downside, it automatically capitalized a lot of words that didn't need capitalization. It seems the engine also hasn't improved in accuracy since I last tested GDVT three years ago.

Test 3: Microsoft Windows Speech Recognition Text-to-Speech Accuracy

Microsoft's Windows Speech Recognition came in last. Its accuracy on Lovecraft was 84.3% , although it did not miscapitalize any words like GDVT. For Brown's speech, it got its highest accuracy rating of around 94.8% , making it equivalent to GDVT.

For Darwin's book, it managed to get a similarly high score of 93.1% . Its average accuracy across all texts came out to 89% .

Related: The Best Free Text-to-Speech Tools for Educators

Are Free Transcription Services Worth Using?

Dragon Naturally Speaking got a perfect 100% accuracy for voice transcription.
Microsoft's free voice-to-text service, Windows Speech Recognition scored an 89% accuracy.
Google Docs Voice Typing got a total score of 95.2% accuracy.

However, there are some major limitations to free text-to-speech options you should always keep in mind.

GDVT only works in the Chrome browser. On top of that, it only works for Google Docs. If you need to enter something in a spreadsheet or in a word processor other than Google Docs, you are out of luck.

Our test results indicate it is more accurate than WSR, but you have to keep in mind that it only works in Chrome for Google Docs. And you will always need an internet connection.

WSR can make you more productive with its hands-off computer automation features. Plus, it can enter text. Its accuracy is the weakest out of the services that I tested.

That said, you can live with its misses if you are not a heavy transcriber. It's on par with Google Docs Voice Typing but limited to Windows.

For most users, the free options should be good enough. However, for all those who need high levels of transcription accuracy, Dragon Naturally Speaking is the best option around. As an occasional user, if you need a free service, Google Docs Voice Typing is a viable alternative.

These tools prove that your voice can make you more productive. Now, try out Google Voice Assistant which is the best voice-control assistant you can use right now to manage everyday tasks.

Plus, be sure to check out these free online services to download text to speech as MP3 .

Productivity
Speech Recognition

The Slant team built an AI & it’s awesome

Find the best product instantly, what is the best text to speech software for windows, 9 options considered.

Price	Publisher	Personal Sub (Annual)
$1.99/mo	Charmtech Labs	$29.99
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$69.50	-	-
$9.99	-	-
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Capti Voice

My rec ommendation for capti voice, my recommendation for capti voice.

Desktop and Web versions

Does not automatically sync

Supports many formats

Desktop version for the mac depends on web browser.

Seamless Bookshare and Project Gutenberg access

Inconvenient to use.

Works with Pocket service

Syncing is a manual process, very useful in schools.

Subscription service to get extra features

Offers a one week premium plan trial

Offers very high quality voices on all platforms, including online, intelligent dictionary lookup, limited free account available.

Semi-desktop and web app versions make it pretty much cross-platform

Has shortcuts to get around easier, intelligent speaker, my rec ommendation for intelligent speaker, my recommendation for intelligent speaker.

High quality voice - like human

Extension / add-on limited to browser.

Multiple languages of reading

Can listen offline, sync with personal podcast feed.

It detects text automatically

You can adjust the playback rate, natural reader, my rec ommendation for natural reader, my recommendation for natural reader.

Reads many formats

Unstable on macos high sierra, can't skip or jump around document easily, few hotkeys, free version available, but upgrades are costly, my rec ommendation for naturaltts, my recommendation for naturaltts, want more features, free plan available.

Affordable Price

Files history

High convert speed, pretty fast support, ssml tags support, very realistic voices, speech central, my rec ommendation for speech central, my recommendation for speech central.

My Rec ommendation for Text Aloud

My recommendation for text aloud, excellent product support, program can only display plaintext.

Many options for narration navigation

Can't use mouse to navigate/seek track by clicking on text during narration, tools for fine tuning output of narrated text or audio file, hotkey options disappointing, my rec ommendation for neospeech, my recommendation for neospeech, high quality voices.

Easy to use

Not intended for personal use, limited pricing options, lovo studio / api, my rec ommendation for lovo studio / api, my recommendation for lovo studio / api, might take some getting used to.

custo voice cloning

Voice quality, my rec ommendation for robovoice, my recommendation for robovoice, package- and subscription-based prices, direct use of the synthesized audio files in other programs, don't see your favorite option add it., my rec ommendation for murf ai, my recommendation for murf ai, my rec ommendation for notevibes, my recommendation for notevibes, my rec ommendation for finevoice, my recommendation for finevoice.

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15 Best Text-to-Speech Software in 2024

Text-to-speech technology converts written text into spoken words, which makes it easy to consume content without reading. It has become an essential tool in various industries, ranging from education to entertainment and customer service.

Text-to-speech (TTS) technology offers a way to access content on the go, such as reading emails, listening to articles, navigating apps, or reading documents hands-free. It also benefits visually impaired individuals to access written information, thereby supporting language learning.

A good TTS software must mainly include voice realism, language support, and ease of use.

The Geekflare team has complied the best text-to-speech software based on voice quality and versatility, use cases and ease of use and integration.

1. Murf.ai – Best for Professional Quality Voiceovers
2. LOVO – Best for Lifelike and Customizable Voices
3. Fliki – Best for Video Creation
4. Listnr – Best for Multilingual Content Creators
5. Speechify – Best for Audiobook and Article Narration
6. ElevenLabs – Best for Advanced Voice Cloning
7. Notevibes – Best for Voice Customization
8. TTSReader – Best for Web-Based Text-to-Speech
9. NaturalReader – Best for Personal Use
10. ReadSpeaker – Best for Web Integration and Accessibility
11. FreeTTS – Best for Basic Needs
12. Google Text-to-Speech AI – Best for Developers
13. IBM Watson – Best for AI-Powered Speech Synthesis
14. Amazon Polly – Best for Realistic Speech Generation
15. Balabolka – Best for Extensive File Format Support
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Murf.ai

Best for professional quality voiceovers.

Murf.ai is a sophisticated AI voice generator designed to create professional-grade voiceovers with ease. Murf.ai offers text-to-speech conversion across 20+ languages including French, German and Spanish, in over 120 human-like voices. Murf.ai can fine-tune pitch speed, pronunciation, and provide precise control over the voice-over stone and style. Murf.ai is best for professional quality voice-over as it combines quality, versatility, and ease of use for high-quality output.

Murf.ai Features

AI voice changer: Convert your voice recordings into professional AI voices by transcribing the audio and applying one of the voices
Voice style palette: Dynamic voice styles to set the right emotion for the narration
Text-to-speech API: Convert text into natural sound in speech, supporting various languages and customizable parameters like pitch and speed
Voice-over video: S ync AI-generated voiceovers with video clips, adjust timing, and add media elements

Murf.ai Use Cases

Advertisements and promotional videos
E-learning videos
Explainer videos
Podcasts and audiobooks
Spotify ads

Murf.ai Pros

Option to add different voices to different parts of the same text for variation

Canva and Google Slides add-ons

Preview option for quality check before exporting

Murf.ai Cons

No option to download in the free plan

No real-time voice recording

Restricted emotional range in voices

Murf.ai Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Free	$0	10 minutes of video generation, sharing and collaboration, no downloads, no commercial rights
Creator	$23	Personal license, unlimited download, Canva integration, commercial rights
Business	$79	Business license, AI voice changer, Google Slides integration, Murf voices for Windows apps
Enterprise	Custom	AI translation, multi-level access control, security assessment, Single Sign-on (SSO)

Best for Lifelike and Customizable Voices

LOVO is known for its wide range of AI voices and text-to-speech capabilities, catering to a global audience. Genny – one of its flagship products is an advanced generative AI tool that produces realistic voices in more than 100 languages, complete with emotional depth. LOVO understands and produces voiceovers as per the exact requirement, which makes it the best text-to-speech software for life-like and customizable voices.

LOVO Features

Pronunciation editor: Create and manage the pronunciation of words while generating speech
Collectible voice: Access custom-built voices through Genny or supported by NFTs
Batch processing: Generate multiple voiceovers at once for bulb content creation
Multi-voice projects: Combine multiple voices within a single project for multi-character narrations

LOVO Use Cases

YouTube videos
Customer service – IVR
Product demos
Corporate training materials
Advertisements

No deduction in credits for regeneration if the text or speaker remains the same

AI-driven customization for voice improvement

Extensive library for on-demand voices

The tool is expensive compared to other options

Limited pause customization capability

The priority queue may cause delays

LOVO Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Free	$0	5 minutes of voice generation per month, pronunciation rules setup, audio fade in/out
Starter	$4	500 AI voices in 100 + languages, 5 voice clones, 30 minute of voice generation per month, unlimited download and commercial rights
Basic	$24	2 hours of voice generation per month, auto-subtitle generator, full HD 1080p export, unlimited downloads
Pro	$24 (customizable number of users)	5 hours of voice generation per month, multilingual voices, voice enhancer, unlimited voice cloning
Enterprise	Custom	API support, private onboarding and training, dedicated account executive, custom voice generation

Best for Video Creation

Fliki’s text-to-speech tool offers more than 2000 ultra-realistic voices across 75+ languages, making it one of the best text-to-speech converters for high-quality audio content. It integrates text-to-speech and text-to-video features, which lets you produce engaging videos with professional voiceovers within a single user-friendly interface. This enhances the efficiency of content productions while ensuring a high level of customization and quality, which is why it is best for video creation.

Fliki Features

Subtitles and translations: Add subtitles in multiple languages to reach a broader audience
Text to video creation: Turn script into captivating videos with synchronized voiceovers
AI voice cloning: Create realistic loans of your voice by recording a short sample
Making Presentations: Convert a PPT into a video with voiceovers and music

Fliki Use Cases

Content repurposing
Marketing videos
Educational content
Podcast production
Corporate communications

Supports 100+ dialects in addition to the languages

Script-based video editor for video creation

Option to increase the free plan usage limit by performing the recommended tasks without any credit card

Little to no transparency on credit usage

Expensive compared to other options

The download feature needs a subscription

Fliki Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Free	$0	5 minutes of credits per month, 300 (limited) voices, AI image generation, HD – 720p low-resolution videos
Standard	$21	1000+ standard voices, 150 Ultra realistic voices, 1 brand kit, 15 minute export length
Premium	$66	2000+ standard voices, AI Avatar, voice cloning, faster exports

Best for Multilingual Content Creators

Listnr is a State-of-the-Art (SOTA) text-to-speech tool that leverages advanced AI technology to convert written text into life-like speech. It offers more than 1000 voices in more than 142 languages, which lets you cater to a diverse global audience, making it an excellent choice for multilingual content creators. The integration of SOTA generative AI ensures that voices produced are exceptionally realistic, which enhances the overall quality of your audio content.

Listnr Features

Audio player widgets: Embed your audio into a website and expand your audience
Pauses: Add pauses to your message and make it sound more effective
Speed: Adjust the speed of your message with the TTS editor
Pronunciations: Change or add custom pronunciations to grab the attention of your audience

Listnr Use Cases

E-Learning material
Audio articles
IVR systems

Listnr Pros

Regular updates and new features added to the platform

It has one of the best varieties of voice options

Comes with an in-built audio embedded option

Listnr Cons

The higher plans are costly compared to other tools

Realism in voice quality is moderate

The tool might mispronounce uncommon words

Listnr Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Free	$0	300+ standard voices, 1,000 words per month, 20 downloads/exports, 1GB Storage
Student	$5	1000+ voices, 4,000 words/month, unlimited audio embeds
Individual	$19	20,000 words/month, 50 GB storage
Solo	$39	50,000 words/month, 100 GB storage
Agency	$99	500,000 words/month, 250 GB storage

Best for Audiobook and Article Narration

Speechify is a leading AI voice generation software that offers a text-to-speech tool supported by over 30 languages. It can read at speeds up to 9 times faster than average, sync across devices, and offer premium celebrity voices like Snoop Dog and Gweneth Paltrow. Since it uses advanced AI technology to ensure fluid human-like speech, it is an ideal tool for consuming lengthy documents, articles, and books hands-free.

Speechify Features

Image to speech: Scan or upload a picture of any image and the tool will read it out
Multilingual high-quality voices: High-fidelity speech in more than 30 languages with multiple voices
Document upload: Upload a file or even large documents and convert their text to speech

Speechify Use Cases

Audiobooks and podcasts
Customer service bots
Educational tools
Product demo
Advertisements

Speechify Pros

Option to create custom voiceovers

Availability of a Chrome extension

Enhanced multitasking due to optical character recognition

Speechify Cons

Reading speed might feel unnecessarily fast

Limited word usage for premium voices

The non-HD voices sound robotic and unnatural

Speechify Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Limited	$0	10 standard voices, listen at 1x
Premium	$11.58	30+ reading voices, scan and listen to any text, listen at 5x speed, skipping and importing

Best for Advanced Voice Cloning

ElevenLabs is known as one of the best AI voice cloning software . It offers a text-to-speech tool known for its advanced voice cloning capabilities and multilingual speech synthesis. It converts text into 29 languages, backed by an AI to produce high-quality human-like speech with natural intonations and emotional depth.

ElevenLabs can replicate the unique vocal characteristics of your voice, which is why it is the best text-to-speech converter app for advanced voice cloning. This makes it stand out for its ability to generate consistent and personalized AI voice models.

ElevenLabs Features

Multilingual speech synthesis: Supports voice generation in multiple languages for global content creation and communication
Comprehensive AI audio suite: Offering a unified platform for text-to-speech, speech-to-speech, and automatic dubbing
Advanced voice cloning: Replicating specific voices with exceptional precision for personalized audio content
Voice isolator: Extract speech from the uploaded audio

ElevenLabs Use Cases

Presentations
TikTok videos

ElevenLabs Pros

One of the most realistic tools in the category

Voice lab feature to create voice samples or create new synthetic voices from scratch

Cloud-based processing for easy accessibility across multiple devices

ElevenLabs Cons

There is no mobile app version despite being a popular tool

Complex pronunciation dictionary

Counts the AI credits in characters

ElevenLabs Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Free	$0	API access, create custom voices, sound effects generation
Starter	$5	Voice cloning, dubbing studio, license for commercial use
Creator	$11	Audio native, multi-speaker projects, audio narration
Pro	$99	Analytics dashboard, 44.1 kHz PCM audio output
Scale	$330	2,000,000 characters per month (~40 hours audio), priority support

Best for Voice Customization

Notevibes stands out for its extensive voice customization and offers 225 premium male and female voices across 25 languages. It offers a broad selection designed for both personal and commercial use to help you create realistic voiceovers for your projects. The in-built voice editor provides control over voice speed, pitch, and pauses, which makes it an ideal text-to-voice software for precise voice customization. The tool also supports SSML tags to fine-tune the speech synthesis further to produce high-quality, natural-sounding audio.

Notevibes Features

Add pauses in one click: Insert pauses at any point in your audio with a single click
Change speed and pitch: Adjust the speed and pitch of your audio to match the desired tone and pace
Emphasis and volume control: Customize the volume levels and emphasis to highlight key points and ensure clarity

Notevibes Use Cases

Voicemail greeting
YouTube videos
Educational material
Broadcasting

Notevibes Pros

Impressive customization options

Option to make dialogue videos to use multiple voices for a particular voice-over

Advanced audio editor to control specific portions of the audio

Notevibes Cons

Steep learning curve

Limited control over-emphasis and other features

No option to preview or merge multiple audio files, considering the pricing

Notevibes Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Personal pack	$8	1,200,000 characters pack per year, MP3 download, 225+ voices
Commercial pack	$90	Advanced voice editor, SSML tags support, audio files history, audio redistribution
Corporate pack	Contact team for pricing	Unlimited characters pack, priority email support, master account for management

Best for Web-Based Text-to-Speech

TTSReader is a web-based text-to-speech tool that doesn’t need any download, installation, or even signing up for the free version. It offers high-quality, natural-sounding voices across multiple languages and accents while remembering your text and positioning between sessions. This makes it perfect for continuous listening and proofreading. It can also read aloud web pages, PDF files, and ebooks and supports exporting speech to audio files for easy access. This makes it an ideal choice for web-based text-to-speech applications.

TTSReader Features

Resume functionality: Remembers your text and position between sessions, making it easy to continue listening right where you left off
Easy playback: Simply drug drop and play or directly copy the text without downloads, passwords required
PDF text extraction: Extracts and reads text from PDF files
Text highlighting: Highlights the text currently being read, making it easy to follow along visually

TTSReader Use Cases

Audiobooks
Proofreading content

TTSReader Pros

Works offline for easy access

Offers a plugin

Access to Google’s voices if using Chrome

TTSReader Cons

Sub-par voice quality

The option to export speech to MP3 is only available in the premium plan for Windows users

Limited customization options compared to other tools

TTSReader Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Free	$0	Online text to speech player, Chrome extension
Premium	$10.99	No ads, premium Chrome extension

NaturalReader

Best for personal use.

NaturalReader is a sophisticated AI text-to-speech tool that supports 50+ languages and 200+ AI voices. It uses Large Language Models (LLM) to deliver highly realistic and context-aware voice outputs, which makes it the best text-to-speech converter app for personal use. It supports a wide range of formats including PDF and integrates with mobile and web applications.

NaturalReader Features

AI text filter: Remove unwanted text such as headers, footers, images, and graphs
OCR: Scan physical text with OCR camera scanner
Annotation: Make notes and highlight important text
Pronunciation editor: Edit the pronunciation of any word

NaturalReader Use Cases

Corporate training material
E-learning
Storytelling

NaturalReader Pros

Integrates with Microsoft Word and browser extensions

Comes with a WebReader widget

Cross-platform compatibility

NaturalReader Cons

No option to create a custom voice, which might limit the scope of customization

Occasional discrepancies in voice quality

No option to skip text in the document

NaturalReader Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Free	$0	MP3 download, pronunciation and font settings, timer
Premium	$4.99	OCR scan, AI text filtering, Chrome extension, pronunciation editor
Plus	$9.17	Non-AI premium voices, iOS, and android mobile app, human like AI+ voices

ReadSpeaker

Best for web integration and accessibility.

ReadSpeaker is a powerful text-to-voice software with over 200 life-like voices in more than 50 languages, making it ideal for businesses and organizations. It can instantly convert text into naturally sounding speech without the need for downloads or plugins for easy accessibility and usage. This makes it particularly ideal for web integration and accessibility, which ensure an equal digital experience for all users.

ReadSpeaker Features

Word prediction: Predicts and completes words for easy editing
Screen mask and reading ruler: Focus on specific text sections or lines for better readability
Text selection and word look-up: Listen to selected text questions and look them up in the dictionary, Wikipedia or Google
Personal text library: Save and access documents from any device or browser

ReadSpeaker Use Cases

Conversational AI
Education
Entertainment
Experimental marketing

ReadSpeaker Pros

Offers grammar and spell check functionality

Retains order history for previous recordings

Easily integrates with existing systems and platforms

ReadSpeaker Cons

Difficulty reading in languages apart from the default ones

No free trial, except the demo widget on the home page.

ReadSpeaker Pricing

ReadSpeaker pricing is only available on request.

Best for Basic Needs

FreeTTS is a user-friendly online text into speech converter that offers flexibility to choose between male and female voices, as well as different accents. It lets users easily paste text, select the desired voice, and convert it to speech.

FreeTTS also comes with complimentary tools such as vocal removal, voice enhancement, and audio editing tools, and is best for basic text-to-speech conversion.

FreeTTS Features

Transcription: Accurately transcribe spoken words into text
Vocal removal: Extract workers from your favorite audio
Audio enhancement: Boost quality with the audio enhancement feature
Audio segmentation: Easily divide audio into smaller sections

FreeTTS Use Cases

Language translation
Audiobooks and podcasting
Proofreading documents

FreeTTS Pros

Sample audio is available for all languages

No registration is required for easy access

Free technical support in the free plan

FreeTTS Cons

Audio quality is not as good as other tools

No real-time text conversion

Insufficient character limit with the starting plan

FreeTTS Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Free	$0	10,000 characters per month, 5000 characters for each conversion, support SSML
Monthly plan	$19	500,000 characters per month, 5000 characters per conversion
Yearly plan	$99	1,000,000 characters per month, 5000 characters per conversion

Google Text-to-Speech AI

Best for developers.

Google’s text-to-speech AI converts text into life-like speech with advanced AI technologies. With over 380 voices across 50+ languages and variants, it uses DeepMind’s state-of-the-art speech synthesis to deliver near-human quality voices. The API supports a wide variety of audio formats and allows customization of pitch, speaking rate, and volume. Ideal for developers, it seamlessly integrates into applications to help create an engaging and accessible user experience. It is beneficial for global applications that improve user interactions and accessibility with extensive language support.

Google Text-to-Speech Features

Long audio synthesis: Generate audio from inputs up to 1 million bytes
WaveNet voices: Use over 90 WaveNet voices developed from DeepMind’s research that closely mimics human performance
Pitch tuning: Adjust the pitch of any selected voice by up to 20 semitones higher or lower
Custom voice: Create a unique voice for your project by training a custom model with your own audio recording

Google Text-to-Speech Use Cases

Voice-enabled devices
Multilingual applications
Interactive voice response systems (IVR)
Education and learning
Content creation

Google Text-to-Speech AI Pros

As a Google product, seamless integration with applications is a plus here

Low latency, ensuring smooth response times

The pricing model is flexible and beginner-friendly

Google Text-to-Speech AI Cons

Integrations work fine but basic familiarity with cloud services and APIs is required

Limited streaming capabilities

Google Text-to-Speech AI Pricing

Feature	Free Usage Limit	Price After Usage Limit is Exhausted
Neural2 voices	0 – 1 million bytes	$16 per 1 million bytes
Studio voices	0 – 100 thousand bytes	$160 per 1 million bytes
Polyglot voices	0 – 100 thousand bytes	$16 per 1 million bytes
Standard voices	0 – 4 million characters	$ 4 per 1 million characters
WaveNet voices	0 – 1 million characters	$16 per 1 million characters

Best for AI-Powered Speech Synthesis

IBM Watson is a versatile AI platform that includes WatsonX assistant, a next-generation conversational AI solution designed for a frictionless self-service experience. It supports multiple global channels and can be deployed on any cloud – public, hybrid, private, multi-cloud, or on-premises. These robust deployment options and comprehensive language support make it easy to leverage AI for superior customer management for organizations. It also provides natural-sounding audio in multiple languages supported by deep neural networks, making it the best text-to-speech software ideal for AI-powered speech synthesis.

IBM Watson Features

Tone control: Choose speaking styles for tailored communication
Voice customization: Adjust strength, pitch, rate, temper, and more to personalize voice quality
Adjustable speech: Modify pronunciation speed, pitch volume and other attributes using Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML)
Real-time speech synthesis: Deliver natural-sounding speech in multiple languages in real-time

IBM Watson Use Cases

Customer self-service
Call analytics
Agent assist

IBM Watson Pros

Language, grammar, and acoustic model training

Can be used in contexts including dictation and conference call transcription

Pay-as-you-go pricing, no monthly or annual commitments

IBM Watson Cons

Insufficient customization options for creative tasks

Requires technical knowledge; the platform is not beginner-friendly

Limited additional languages for speech-to-text

IBM Watson Pricing

Plan	Pricing (monthly/user)	Key Offerings
Lite	$0	10,000 characters per month
Standard	$0.02 per thousand characters	Standard characters
Premium	Contact team for pricing	Usage and training data stored in an isolated environment, level uptime, mutual authentication

Amazon Polly

Best for realistic speech generation.

Amazon Polly is a cloud-based text-to-speech service from AWS that uses advanced deep learning technology to convert text into life-like speech. It supports multiple languages and offers a variety of voices including standard, neural, long-form, and generative options. It supports speech synthesis markup language (SSML) tag and custom lexicon, which helps adjust speech rate pitch, and pronunciation for a more natural tone. The platform also provides metadata streams for better visual synchronization, such as the speech synchronized facial animations and karaoke-style word highlighting.

Amazon Polly Features

Streaming audio optimization: Stream all kinds of information through your app in real-time
Newscaster speaking style: Synthesize speech for news articles or deliver briefing updates
Custom lexicons: Modify the pronunciation of selected words for your audio
Synthesis via API: get full control over the capabilities of Amazon Polly, irrespective of the usage through console API or command line interface (CLI)

Amazon Polly Use Cases

Content creation

Amazon Polly Pros

Speech mark functionality to synchronize speech with visuals

Backed by the Neural Text to Speech (NTTS) model, which ensures advanced voice qualities

Option to request additional metadata to detect when a particular sentence, word, or sound is being pronounced

Amazon Polly Cons

Difficult learning curve for beginners

Despite being high quality, the voiceover might lack emotional nuances

Lack of extensive custom voice creation features

Amazon Polly Pricing

Amazon Polly pricing varies based on the number of requests and text length. For 1 million characters, costs are $4.00 for Standard TTS, $16.00 for Neural TTS, $100.00 for Long-Form TTS, and $30.00 for Generative TTS; shorter texts like average emails and news articles have proportionally lower costs. Full details are available on the Amazon Polly Pricing Page .

Best for Extensive File Format Support

Balabolka is a free text-to-speech converter for Windows, with comprehensive file format support. It can process more than 25 text file formats, making it one of the best tools for extensive file format support.

Balabolka’s interface is highly customizable, with options to change the font and background color for a comfortable reading experience. The platform leverages multiple versions of the Microsoft Speech API for various speech engines to produce high-quality audio. You can control this from the system tray or through global hotkeys, which makes it convenient to use.

Balabolka Features

Customizable skins: Apply skins personalized and enhance your window appearance for a unique user experience
Clipboard monitoring: Reads text copied to the clipboard aloud
Substitution list: Enhance the clarity and quality of voice articulation
Synchronized text display: Save synchronized text in external LRC files or embedded in MP3 tags for the text to display in sync

Balabolka Use Cases

Ebook conversion
Video narration
Audiobook creation
Personal assistant
Educational tools

Balabolka Pros

Supports clipboard reading

Completely free to use

Pronunciation correction functionality for enhanced accuracy

Balabolka Cons

Old-fashioned interface affecting user experience

New languages need to be updated

Works only on Windows OS

Balabolka Pricing

Balabolka is completely free to use

Top Text-to-Speech Software at a Glance

Below is a comparison table of the best text-to-speech software we have discussed.

TTS Software	Voice Quality and Realism	Voice Options	Pricing and Accessibility
Murf.ai	Excellent realism	120+ unique voice options	$23 per month
LOVO	Highly realistic voiceovers	500+ voices	$24 per month
Fliki	Moderate to high-quality realism	2000 ultra-realistic voices	$21 per month
Listnr	Moderate realism in voice quality	1000+ natural-sounding AI voices	$50 per year
Speechify	High-quality realism	200+ human-sounding voices	$11.58 per month
ElevenLabs	Excellent realism	Limited voice options	$50 per year
Notevibes	Good quality voiceover	225+ unique voices	$8 per month
TTSReader	Basic quality	Limited voice options	$10.99 per month
NaturalReader	High-quality voice over	200+ voice options with customizations	$9.99 per month
ReadSpeaker	Basic voice-over quality	200+ voices	On request
FreeTTS	Reasonably realistic	Limited options available (3 voices)	$19 per month
Google Cloud	Moderate to high-quality voice-over	Limited options (4 voices)	$16 per 1 million bytes
IBM Watson	Excellent realism	35 neural voices	$0.02 per thousand characters
Amazon Polly	Highly realistic natural voices	96 voice options	$4 per 1 million characters
Balabolka	Basic realism	Depends on the TTS voices installed on the user’s system (uses voices from the Microsoft Speech Platform)	Free

What is Text-to-Speech Conversion?

Also referred to as “ read-aloud technology ,” text-to-speech conversion transforms written text into spoken words using computer-generated voices. It works by analyzing the text and converting it into phonetic sounds, which are then synthesized into speech. This makes it easy for the user to listen to the written content for better accessibility and convenience.

How does Text-to-Speech Software Work?

Speech-to-text software converts text into spoken words using artificial intelligence and advanced deep-learning technology. This involves Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze the text’s structure and context, followed by speech synthesis to generate realistic audio.

The speech synthesis engine uses neural networks trained on extensive datasets to produce voices that sound natural, which you can use for various applications such as audiobooks, virtual assistants, and more.

But what if you want to create an entire video from your text? This is where an AI Text-to-Video Generator comes into play. These tools combine the generated text using visual elements to create engaging videos directly from the text. This process involves synchronizing the audio with animations, subtitles, or even lip-sync avatars providing a comprehensive multimedia experience.

Benefits of Text-to-Speech Solutions

Text-to-speech solutions provide multiple benefits to independent users as well as businesses and institutions. Below are some advantages of this technology.

Text-to-speech technology improves accessibility for people with visual impairments reading difficulties or learning disabilities by converting written content into spoken words. This makes it easier for such individuals to access and comprehend information.
TTS technology removes the need to hire voice actors and produce audio content, which reduces production costs. It also allows for quick updates and changes to content without the need to re-record which is both cost-efficient and scalable.
TTS software works well with teleprompter apps to improve presentations and video production. Providing an audible guide helps the speaker stay on track while reading from the teleprompter for a smooth speech delivery that feels natural.
TTS software helps maintain a consistent brand voice across audio content for businesses. This is especially beneficial if there’s heavy reliance on audio, such as in commercial ads, customer service and interactive voice response (IVR) systems.
Text-to-speech solutions save time and resources by automating the process of converting text to speech. For example, in education, it can help students access textbooks and learning materials more quickly, while in healthcare, it can be paired with the best transcription software to assist in automating report generation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. TTS Reader, Balabolka, TTSMaker, and NaturalReader are some free text-to-speech software.

The voices generated by modern text-to-speech software are highly realistic, often indistinguishable from human speech.

Yes. If the platform you are using offers commercial licenses, you can create and distribute audio content legally.

Top 16 BEST Text To Speech Software [2024 Review]

Edited by Sruthy

We publish unbiased product and service reviews; our opinions are our own and are not influenced by our advertising partners. Learn more about how we review products and read our advertiser disclosures.

An extensive list of popular Text to Speech Software with features, pricing, and comparison. Select the best text-to-speech software from here:

Text to speech is a specialized speech synthesis application that reads digital and written aloud. The application has several use cases and is used by everyone, right from professionals and students to small children and adults.

Text to speech tools is extremely helpful for the visually impaired and people with learning disabilities such as dyslexia. The software also assists people in learning to speak a new language and helps them overcome language barriers.

Table of Contents:

Text To Speech Software

List of top text to speech software, #2) speechify, #4) deepbrain.ai, #6) speechelo, #7) flexclip, #8) synthesys, #9) nuance dragon, #10) easetext, #11) spocket, #12) notevibes, #13) natural reader, #14) linguatec voice reader, #15) capti voice, #16) voicedream, #18) from text to speech, #19) nextup, #20) azure text to speech, #21) google cloud text-to-speech, #22) amazon polly, #23) ispring suite, #24) nova ai, #25) panopreter, #26) elevenlabs, frequently asked questions, was this helpful, recommended reading.

Pro-Tips: If you have limited use of text-to-speech software, then it’s best to go for free tools; there are plenty of them available. However, if you seek advanced features and don’t like restrictions on usage, then paid versions are ideal.

Amongst paid text-to-speech tools, you should look for text to speech software with natural voices enabled. A top-rated solution should offer real-time speech features and have a simple & usable interface.

Our TOP Recommendations:




• Voice-Over Editing • Add Pause • 100 Voices	• 30+ Voice • Note-Taking • Convert Scanned Text	• Voice Adjustment • 23 Languages • Tone Setting	• 3-Click TTS • AI-Voice Library • Sell Voices
$13 Monthly Trial version: Free Plan	$139 annual Trial version: Free Plan	$47 Trial version: NA	$29 monthly Trial version: NA

Here is a list of popular text to speech tools:

Deepbrain.AI
Nuance Dragon
NaturalReader
Linguatec Voice Reader
Capti Voice
From Text to Speech
NextUp Technologies
Azure Text to Speech
Google Cloud Text-to-Speech
Amazon Polly
iSpring Suite

Comparison of Best Text to Speech Solutions

Features	Price	Best For	Ratings ?????
Customizing voice-over, adding pause, editing voice-over, etc.	Free, Basic: $13/month, Pro: $26/month, & Enterprise: $49/month onwards.	Providing powerful features to create voice-over videos.	5/5
30+ Natural sounding voices, 15+ languages supported, Convert scanned text into speech.	A free plan with basic features is available. The premium plan costs $139/year.	Fast AI-Powered Text to Speech Conversion	5/5
Natural sounding AI voices, Uncompressed WAV audio format, 30 emotions to set, Prosody control	Free forever, Basic: $25/month, Pro: $48/month, Pro+: $149/month.	AI-powered text to speech converters	4.5/5
Free, online TTS with realistic voices, 200+ AI voices of different tones and accents, Support for 80+ languages	Free Trial Available Starter – $24/month Professional – $180/month Enterprise – Contact them for the quote	Create Conversation	4.5/5
140+ languages supported, AI-powered, preview-generated speech	Free to use	Generating realistic-sounding AI voices.	4.5/5
23 languages, change speed & pitch, voice tones, breathing & pauses.	One-time payment $47.	Cloud-based solution to create voiceover.	4.8/5
Customize voices, Wide language selection, AI-powered	Free to use, Price starts at $9.99/month.	AI-driven text to speech converter	4.5/5
Large professional AI voice library, 3-Click text to speech generation, cloud-based, unlimited speech generation.	Audio Synthesys – $29 per month, Human Studio Synthesys – $39 per month, Audio and Human Studio Synthesys – $59 per month.	Generating Natural Sounding Voices from Text	5/5
AES 256-bit encryption, Sync data across devices, 99% accuracy with typing, etc.	Professional: Starts at $500 Home: $200.	Providing superior speed and accuracy.	4.8/5
Customization, Batch conversion, multi-lingual support	Personal Edition: $3.95/month, Family Edition: $6.95/month, Business Edition: $12.95/month	Create accurate human sounding AI voices	4.5/5
Integration with ecommerce platforms	Starter: $39.99/month, Pro: $59.99/month, Empire: $99.99/month	Integration with ecommerce platforms	4.5/5
· Built-in OCR · Choice of interfaces · Built-in browser · Dyslexic-friendly font	7-day free trial Single plan: $49 Team Plan (4 users): $79	Personal use and learning, especially for dyslexic learners	4.8/5
· Fast conversion of text to audio · Dynamic changing between male and female voices · Customized voices through control of pitch, volume and speaking speed · Simple pronunciation correction through user dictionaries · High data throughput for fast response times	Open-source – free version available Personal (available only online): $29.99/sensor Business (available via Credit Card or Purchase Order): $399/sensor	People learning to speak a foreign language	4.7/5
· Realistic voice generator · Read Text Aloud · Save Your Audio As MP3 · 47 Natural Voices · 200 – 1,000,000 Characters	Limited Free Online Usage Personal Pack: $9/month \| $84/ year ($7/month) Commercial Pack: $90/month \| $840/year ($70/month)	Commercial use, as well as personal usage and learning	5/5
· Speech tracking word by word · Cross-device sync · Screen-reader accessibility · Advanced text navigation · Offline use	1 Week Free Trial 1 Month: $ 1.99 6 Months: $9.99 12 Months: $19.99	Personal learning and improving productivity	4.6/5
· Reading Modes · Audio Controls · Visual Controls · Library Management · OCR	Free version iOS app: $14.99 Android: $9.99	Best text-to-speech mobile app for iOS users	4.4/5

Let us review these tools in detail:

Best for providing powerful features to create voice-overs for eLearning, videos & presentations.

Murf is a text-based voice-over maker. You can type your script or upload your voice recording and the tool converts it into hyper-realistic AI voices. Murf provides the voices that are trained on professional voice-over artists. It checks the voices for multiple parameters. Murf can be used for representing the brand, product, business, presentation, etc.

Murf will let you generate voice-overs from the text. It also lets you convert your voice into editable text and then you can edit it like a word document or convert it into AI voice.
Murf Studio has the capabilities of syncing the time of your voice-over with the visuals.
Murf offers more than 100 realistic voices across 19 languages.
It also offers the features of adding pauses, changing the speed of narration, emphasis, etc.
It contains many more capabilities like checking the script with grammar assistant, adding free background music, trimming video & music, and many more.
If you are an enterprise looking to create voiceovers at scale, Murf provides advanced team collaboration features, access control, pronunciation library, and SLA.

Verdict: Murf is a platform for creating and adding voice-overs to your media quickly. It is easy to use and super-friendly for beginners. It offers a lot of features that include editing of the voice-overs.

Price: Murf offers the solution with four pricing plans i.e. Free, Basic ($13/month), Pro ($26/month), and Enterprise ($49/month onwards).

Visit Murf Website >>

Best for Fast AI-Powered Text to Speech Conversion.

Speechify can take the text in any form (doc, PDF, email, etc.) and turn it into speech with the help of high-quality AI voices. The software allows you to add a ‘play button’ to all sorts of content on your website and app. Speechify also allows you to adjust the reading speed, allowing you to listen at a reading speed that is 5 times faster than usual.

High-Quality Natural Sounding AI Voices.
Adjust reading speed as per your wish.
Save Converted audio across multiple devices.
More than 30 natural-sounding male and female voices to choose from.
Supports 15+ languages
Scan and convert printed text into speech for listening.

Verdict: There is plenty to adore in Speechify. The platform supports more than 15 languages and allows you to convert text into more than 30 different types of natural-sounding voices. Its ability to scan and convert printed text into speech alone makes the tool one of the best Text-to-Speech converters out there.

Price: A free plan with basic features is available. The premium plan costs $139/year.

Visit Speechify Website >>

Best for AI-powered text to speech converter.

Lovo features massive collection of AI voices for you to choose from. Each AI voice you’ll find on the platform is on par with realistic sounding human vocals. Plus, there are 30 different emotions you can choose from to make the text sound just the way you want it to. You can preview the voice by simply typing the text and immediately hitting the ‘Listen’ button.

Realistic sounding AI Voices
Preview Generated Speech immediately
Convey text in 30 different vocal emotions
Adjust speed on word and sentence level
High quality raw audio in uncompressed WAV format

Verdict: Lovo is intuitive and easy to use. Its library of realistic sounding AI voices is fascinating. Plus, you get speech generated in high quality uncompressed WAV format. This is a great AI-powered text to speech converter that anyone can try for free.

Price: There are multiple subscription plans available.

Basic: $25/month>
Pro: $48/month
Pro+: $149/month

The tool can also be used for free with limited features.

Visit Lovo.ai Website >>

Best for create conversion.

Deepbrain AI is a distinguished text-to-speech software that comes with an AI voice generator. It enables you to swiftly produce studio-grade voiceovers using a selection of over 100 avatar voices across 80 languages.

What sets Deepbrain AI apart is its ability to effortlessly synchronize video, music, or images. Moreover, it allows for fine-tuning of the chosen AI voice’s pitch, punctuation, and emphasis to align perfectly with your intended message. The AI voices can be further customized with sound effects such as phasing, chorusing, flanging, and reverberation.

A distinguishing feature of Deepbrain AI is its ability to generate speech that sounds incredibly natural. This functionality empowers users to create engaging presentation or conversation videos. With its versatile applications, Deepbrain AI emerges as a preferred choice for both corporate entities and creative collectives.

Realistic Speech: The best AI voice generators create audio that feels just like listening to a human speak.
Wide Range of Voices: Offers over 100 AI Avatar voices in more than 80 languages.
Realistic Voice Quality: The voices sound natural and lifelike.
Voice Editing: Easy editing of recorded voiceovers with options to adjust pitch, emphasis, and pauses.

Verdict: Deepbrain AI offers best text-to-speech & video. If you have a script AI generates not only the voice but also video. You just choose among the 100+ avatars, then the Avatar will read your script naturally. If you want to add more AI avatars like a brand model for you.

Free Trial Available
Starter – $24/month
Professional – $180/month
Enterprise – Contact them for the quote

Visit Deepbrain.AI Website >>

Best for Generating realistic-sounding AI voices.

Vidnoz offers you a free-to-use online tool that can generate realistic-sounding voices based on the text you feed it. Vidnoz can be used to convert a maximum of 2000 characters of text into audio each time. You can choose to generate speech in over 140 different languages. You also get to choose from a variety of male and female voices to generate speech in varying tones.

140+ languages supported
Variety of natural-sounding male and female voices to choose from
Set the tone of speech.
Adjust the speed of generated speech.
Preview voice before downloading.

Verdict : With Vidnoz, you get a simple and smart AI voice generator that’ll convert text to speech in a variety of natural-sounding male and female voices. Easy to use, free, and limitless in its application, this is one of the best text-to-speech generators out there.

Price: Free to use

Visit Vidnoz Website >>

Best for a cloud-based solution to create a voiceover.

Speechelo provides the real voice sound and with all the expressions. This makes voiceovers more engaging for people. Speechelo is useful for sales videos, training videos, educational videos, etc. It offers various facilities like breathing & pauses and voice tones, changing speed & pitch, support for 23 languages, etc.

Speechelo’s text-to-speech engine can add inflection to the voice.
It has over 30 human-sounding voices.
It has male as well as female voices.
It is compatible with almost all the video creation software such as Camatasia, Adobe, Premier, iMovie, etc.
It has three tones to read the text, normal tone, joyful tone, and serious tone.

Verdict: Speechelo can be used with any video creation software. It is easy to use, just create the voiceover, download the mp3, and import it into the video editor.

It will let you convert any text into a human-sounding voiceover in just 3-clicks. You will get a 100% human-sounding voiceover. It supports English as well as other languages.

Price: There will not be monthly fees or subscriptions. Speechelo is available as a one-time payment solution. It offers a 60-days money-back guarantee. Now it is available at $47 (Discount price).

Visit Speechelo Website >>

Best for AI-driven text to speech converter.

Flexclip is an AI-powered tool that lets you convert any form of text into natural sounding speech in no time. You simply type your text on the web browser and hit the convert button. There are 400 voices to select from. The tool also supports up to 140 different languages. You can change the pitch and sound of the generated speech to convey a variety of emotions.

Wide voice and language selection
Pre-built neural voices to select from
Change volume, trim, and add effects
Directly share on social media channels.

Verdict : With Flexclip, you get a user-friendly and convenient Text to Speech converter that’s powered by an advanced AI. It is free to use and fast in its functioning.

Price : Free to use with limited capabilities. Starts at $9.99/month. The business plan will cost you $19.99/month.

Visit FlexClip Website >>

Best for generating Natural Sounding Voices from Text.

Synthesys allows you to create natural-sounding speech from texts. You get a wide range of tones, languages, male and female voices, languages, and reading speeds to choose from with Synthesis. It takes only 3 steps to generate natural-sounding artificial speech, which can be used for a wide range of commercial purposes.

To begin with, choose the gender, style, accent, and tone that you would like the generated voice to represent. The next step requires you to either paste or write the text you want to convert to speech into Synthesys’s AI voice generating interface.

Here you can set the reading speed and pause length. Finally, click ‘create’ to generate your artificial speech within minutes.

Cloud-based application.
Large library of professional and natural-sounding voices. Over 35 female and 30 male voices.
Create and sell unlimited voices.
Extremely user-friendly interface.

Verdict: Synthesis should be the platform you choose if you want a text to speech generator that is user-friendly and can be used for a variety of commercial purposes. You get to choose from a variety of female and male voices, tones, and accents to create radio commercials, tutorials, podcasts, and friendly greetings documentaries.

Price: Audio Synthesys – $29 per month, Human Studio Synthesys – $39 per month, Audio and Human Studio Synthesys – $59 per month.

Visit Synthesys Website >>

Best for providing superior speed and accuracy.

Nuance Dragon is an AI-powered speech recognition solution. It has solutions for home as well as professional use. It offers cloud solutions and runs on geographically dispersed data centers.

The infrastructure used for hosting is Microsoft Azure, a HITRUST CSF certified. All solutions are according to industry-standard frameworks. Nuance Dragon encrypts the data with 256-bit encryption, in transit as well as at rest.

Nuance Dragon supports HIPAA requirements that are essential for security and confidentiality in public sector settings.
It can be used by diverse professions.
It provides comprehensive security.

Verdict: Your data is secured with Nuance Dragon as the data is encrypted with 256-bit encryption. Its cloud-hosted solutions sync the data across your devices and hence you will get unparalleled flexibility even when used in combination with other cloud solutions like Office 365.

Price: The price of Nuance Dragon Professional starts at $500. Nuance Dragon Home’s price is $200.

Visit Nuance Dragon Website >>

Best for Create accurate human sounding AI voices.

EaseText is a software that can automatically covert written text into natural sounding human voices, thanks to its intelligent TTS tech. The voices this software generate can replicate all sorts of human speech patterns. Add to that, the software is available in 30 languages, thus allowing you to produce ultra-realistic speech in multiple languages other than English.

Adequate Customization Option
Batch convert written text
Over 1300 different voices to choose from
Supports over 30 languages

Verdict : Easy to use and quite affordable, EaseText is a great software if you wish to effortlessly convert a boat-load written text to human-sounding speech. Its superior AI and a plethora of customization options make it one of the best AI voice generators out there today.

Price : The Windows and Mac versions of EaseText offer the following subscription plans:

Personal Edition: $3.95/month
Family Edition: $6.95/month
Business Edition: $12.95/month

All plans are billed annually.

Visit EaseText Website >>

Best for Integration with ecommerce platforms.

Spocket is a dedicated dropshipping platform that helps you choose products to sell from thousands of dropshipping suppliers across the world. You’ll be able to sell products in a wide range of categories, which include toys, cosmetics, sports goods, watches, footwear, jewelry, automotive, etc.

Spocket allows you to test the products before you choose to list them on your store. For instance, you can demand a sample of the product to assess its quality. The order for a sample can be placed directly from your dashboard with a single click. Spocket also comes pre-integrated with Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, and other such platforms for a hassle-free dropshipping experience.

Choose from a broad category of products to sell
Pre-integrated with Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce
Order free sample of products with just a single click
Branded invoicing
Does not facilitate major dropshipping marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.
Can’t view supplier’s inventory

Price: Spocket offers subscription plans. They are as follows:

Starter: $39.99/month
Pro: $59.99/month
Empire: $99.99/month

A 14 day free trial is available.

Visit Spocket Website >>

Best For personal usage and learning, as well as for commercial Youtube, broadcasts, TV, IVR voiceover, and other businesses.

Notevibes is an amazing text-to-speech software that offers a free version, as well as a feature-rich paid version. It gives users over 500 characters of translation; at the same time, it allows users to customize the pronunciation too.

Further Reading => Most Popular Translation Websites to Look for

As a result, users have all the tools they need to understand a new language and vastly improve their reading comprehension. What’s more, is that Notevibes offers 177 unique voices that speak in 18 different languages.

Users love the natural-sounding voices that help them with their pronunciation. As the tool offers a wide variety of features, users across the spectrum can benefit from it.

Realistic voice generator
Read Text Aloud
Save Your Audio As MP3
47 Natural Voices
200 – 1,000,000 Characters

Verdict: Ranging from personal use for small projects to commercial applications like voiceovers for TV, YouTube, and broadcast, the tool provides everything, thereby making it the perfect text to speech tool for you.

Limited Free Online Usage
Personal Pack: $9/month | $84/ year ($7/month)
Commercial Pack: $90/month | $840/year ($70/month)

Further Reading => List of the BEST Machine Translation Software

Best For personal use and learning, especially for dyslexic readers and foreign language learners.

Natural Reader is one of the few text-to-speech tools that offer exciting features despite being completely free. It’s really simple to use and you can get started by loading documents directly into its library.

What’s more, is that the tool allows you to manage multiple files across several formats. Lastly, the in-built OCR enables you to upload photos or scans of text and have it read aloud.

Built-in OCR
Choice of interfaces
Built-in browser
Dyslexic-friendly font

Further Reading => A Complete Review of Notta.ai Text-to-Speech Transcription Tool

Verdict: A free text to speech solution that offers OCR as well as an in-built web browser; ideal for personal usage.

7-day free trial
Single plan $49
Team Plan (4 users) $79

Best For people learning to speak a foreign language.

Linguatec Voice Reader offers everything you need to convert texts into high-quality voice recordings automatically. The tool is specifically designed to support the needs of private users. It offers a rich collection of improvised and natural-sounding voices.

Linguatec has increased voice and language selection extensively to offer the users a wide variety of accents and pronunciations. You can convert all your text documents, ebooks, emails, as well as PDFs into audio and then hear them directly on your phone or computer.

Fast conversion of text to audio.
Dynamic changing between male and female voices.
Customized voices through control of pitch, volume, and speaking speed.
Simple pronunciation correction through user dictionaries.
High data throughput for fast response times.

Verdict: Optimized for personal use, the Linguatec Voice Reader Home gives you a complete set of tools to master the language you want.

Voice Reader Home 15: $57.34
Voice Reader Studio 15: $573.4

Best For personal learning and improving productivity.

Capti is a specialized education and productivity app designed to help people (both adults and children) to listen to documents, web pages, and e-books. It is perfect for those who want to learn English and other languages and study lengthy reading assignments on the go.

Moreover, the tool offers assistive features for people suffering from dyslexia, vision impairments, and as well as other print disabilities. The tool also enables users to play a wide range of digital formats such as PDF, Word, Epub, Daisy, and HTML.

Suggested reading =>> Best Epub Reader Software

Use the Speak text-to-speech feature to read text aloud

Speak is a built-in feature of Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote. You can use Speak to have text read aloud in the language of your version of Office.

Text-to-speech (TTS) is the ability of your computer to play back written text as spoken words. Depending upon your configuration and installed TTS engines, you can hear most text that appears on your screen in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote. For example, if you're using the English version of Office, the English TTS engine is automatically installed. To use text-to-speech in different languages, see Using the Speak feature with Multilingual TTS .

To learn how to configure Excel for text-to-speech, see Converting text to speech in Excel .

Add Speak to the Quick Access Toolbar

You can add the Speak command to your Quick Access Toolbar by doing the following in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote:

Next to the Quick Access Toolbar, click Customize Quick Access Toolbar .

Click More Commands .

In the Choose commands from list, select All Commands .

Scroll down to the Speak command, select it, and then click Add .

Use Speak to read text aloud

After you have added the Speak command to your Quick Access Toolbar, you can hear single words or blocks of text read aloud by selecting the text you want to hear and then clicking the Speak icon on the Quick Access Toolbar.

Listen to your Word documents with Read Aloud

Listen to your Outlook email messages with Read Aloud

Converting text to speech in Excel

Dictate text using Speech Recognition

Learning Tools in Word

Hear text read aloud with Narrator

Using the Save as Daisy add-in for Word

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The best text to speech tools in 2024 (free & paid), share this article.

Thanks to incredible advancements in AI technology, text to speech software in 2023 is now sounding less and less like a robot – and more like a human reader.

This is great news for any Creator Educators looking to make their content creation process more efficient, without compromising on quality.

Text to speech apps can take your content from dull to dynamic in just one step, helping to transform boring text into natural-sounding audio that improves accessibility, productivity and engagement for learners.

Use text to speech software to open up new revenue streams for your business by transforming your existing content into videos and audio, as well as helping to make your content accessible for everyone. With these tools, you can create professional-sounding audio content in a fraction of the time you’d spend recording yourself. It’s a win-win!

Here’s our top list of the best text to speech software to help grow your business in 2023.

Click the links below to skip ahead:

Standard TTS vs Neural TTS

The best text to speech software in 2023

Amazon polly, google cloud text-to-speech, microsoft azure speech, natural reader, voiceovermaker, why use text to speech software.

If you’re a Creator Educator looking to convert your text content into audio for videos, audiobooks, social media and more, it’s time to find text to speech software for your business.

Here are some of the top use cases for businesses:

Enhance accessibility: Use text to speech software across all your content to boost accessibility for all learners and customers
Convert education content to audio: Make your educational content accessible for learners who are visually impaired, dyslexic, or who learn better with audio
Add voiceovers to presentations: Bring your content alive by adding professional voiceovers to slides and animations
Create audiobooks: Open up a new revenue stream by capturing sales from learners who prefer to listen rather than read
Make content more engaging: Enhance your existing content with more video elements to improve the learner experience
Repurpose blogs: Turn blog content into narration for engaging videos on YouTube, social media, and more

Turn text into speech to instantly repurpose your existing content into new formats and make sure your content is accessible to all.

Standard TTS vs. Neural TTS

Before diving into the world of text to speech, here’s a quick look at the difference between standard and neural text to speech tools.

Standard TTS is the older approach to text to speech software. If you think of artificial, stiff-sounding text to speech audio, you’re thinking of standard TTS.
Neural TTS draws on neural network technology or AI to generate more natural-sounding, humalike speech. Don’t let that creep you out, though – neural TTS can create truly lifelike and listenable audio that cuts out a major chunk of time for businesses and creators, helping you reach more people with your content.

Check out these best text to speech apps in 2023 to create stunning audio content – while saving you essential time and energy.

Creator Educators who are ready to pay for TTS with neural capabilities

Full-featured, with standard and neural TTS support at the best price point compared to competitors

Fewer language options than other TTS tools

businesses looking to create a unique brand voice

Offers wide range of voices and languages, plus a unique voice generator

Can only be bought as part of Google Cloud package

businesses concerned about data security and compliance

Comprehensive data security and compliance features

More expensive than other TTS apps

realistic, AI-driven video voiceovers

Easily sync professional AI-audio video content

Struggles with some pronunciation

creators looking for a cheap, straightforward solution

Straightforward, no frills text-to-speech software with flexible pricing

Voices are already widely used by YouTube creators

making multilingual video voiceovers

Blend multilingual audio and video together using in-built editor

Fewer features than other TTS tools

zero sign-up or registration TTS

Free for commercial use, no sign-up required

Can only convert 500 characters each time on free plan

creators looking for a basic, free TTS

Free and includes iOS/Android app

Limited functionality on free plan

Best paid text to speech software

The best all-round cloud-based text to speech software for Creator Educators

Pricing Options

Standard TTS: Up to 5 million characters per month for 12 months
Neural TTS: Up to 1 million characters per month for 12 months
Standard TTS: $4 per 5 million characters
Neural TTS: $16 per 1 million characters

Reasons to buy

Choose from 100+ voices across 36 languages
Stream converted speech audio on the go, without downloading files
Use Speech Marks to sync text and audio

Consistently ranked by users as the best option for text to speech software, Amazon Polly is one of the best TTS tools for generating natural-sounding audio content. Thanks to advanced AI and deep learning technology, Amazon Polly helps creators get high-quality, human-like audio that can be rolled out to a global audience. Choose from both standard and neural services to create your audio – and since it’s pay-as-you-go, there’s no need to worry about subscription fees draining your bank account when it’s not being used.

Amazon Polly also includes the handy Speech Marks feature, a tool that allows you to match your AI-generated audio with text so learners can follow along with your voiceover.

Try Amazon Polly

The best alternative with wide range of voices and languages to choose from

60 minutes per month
Standard TTS: $4 per 4 million characters
380+ voices in 50+ languages and variants
Personalize pitch with 20 semitones
Option to create a one-of-a-kind voice

As a close competitor to Amazon Polly, Google Cloud Text-to-Speech offers a comprehensive range of features as part of its text to speech software that lets you customize and control every aspect of your audio. Use voice tuning to personalize the pitch of your selected voice and use SSML tags to add pauses, numbers, and other pronunciation notes to create content that flows.

Google’s text to speech software makes use of their DeepMind speech synthesis expertise to deliver over 380 human-quality voices across a wide range of languages – ideal for tapping into a global audience with your content. Google’s TTS tool also has a custom voice generator that lets you create a unique voice for your brand – that no one else can use.

Try Google Text-to-Speech

The best choice for better data security and compliance

Neural TTS: Up to 0.5 million characters per month
Standard TTS: 5 audio hours per month
Custom TTS: $24 per 1 million characters
Better data security and privacy than other TTS apps
Zero code options available
Create and adapt custom voices for your brand

Take advantage of Microsoft’s AI-driven text to speech software and use their wide range of in-built features to help your content stand out from the crowd. Build your own custom voice and choose between different emotions and speaking styles to craft the perfect personality for your brand. This tool is also ideal for adapting your speech content to different use cases like customer support chatbots and educational content. Their no code tools also mean you don’t need to be a tech expert to take advantage of their top features.

There’s good news if you’re concerned about data security too – Microsoft’s text to speech tool comes in top for security and compliance. You don’t need to worry about speech inputs being logged during processing and you can breathe easier knowing Microsoft invests heavily in cybersecurity and privacy.

Try Azure Speech Services

The best choice for AI-powered video voiceovers

Up to 10 mins of voice generation per month
Starting at $39/month for 4 hours of voice generation per user/month
Create AI video voiceovers in minutes
120+ voices in 20+ languages
Convert home recordings to professional voiceovers

Specially tailored to video voiceovers, Murf offers text to speech software that lets users create studio-quality audio in minutes. Murf has a wide range of AI-voices to suit every context, with categories ranging from Educator to Corporate Coach to Educator to Marketer and more. Use Murf to convert any text to speech or to turn your home-recorded audio into professional, studio-quality content that’s ideal for videos, podcasts, presentations, and more.

Murf’s in-built video editor lets you add images, music and videos to your audio so you don’t need to switch between multiple platforms and apps to create your content. You can also tweak your AI voiceover to add different pitches, emphasis, and interjections. If you want to add more users and collaborate with multiple members of your team or across different organizations, opt for Murf’s Enterprise plan.

The best stripped-down text to speech software for creators who want simplicity

20 minutes of voice per day
Starting at $9.99/month for personal use
Starting at $49/month for commercial use

Reasons to Buy

Over 100 voices on paid plans
Works on mobile devices for editing on-the-go
Supports multiple text formats and includes OCR scanning

Designed for small businesses and Fortune 500 companies alike, Natural Reader is known for being extra user-friendly. With a simple user interface and pricing packages free of API frills, Natural Reader is a top choice for generating audio for YouTube videos, social media and education purposes. Simply paste your text into the text to speech tool and export the audio file – it’s instant and code-free.

If you want to make your voiceovers more engaging, experiment with adding extra emotions and effects in the app and use the studio editor to easily alter your audio without switching platforms. There’s one key drawback to note though – thanks to its usability, Natural Voice is popular with YouTube creators so you run the risk of choosing a voice option that’s been heard many times before.

Try Natural Reader

The best for creating multilingual voiceover content fast

Up to 800 characters per month
Starting from 9€/month (approx $9 USD/month) for 60,000 characters
Built-in easy-to-use video editor
Automatic translation into 30 languages
Uses Google’s WaveNet technology

If you’re just getting started with video, VoiceOverMaker is a quick and easy text to speech tool to help you get realistic-sounding audio content for your videos. The service uses Google’s neural WaveNet technology to create humanlike voices – and gives you a single, cloud-based app to edit your voice track and videos together. The software includes useful features like automatic translation, background music, and a built-in screen recorder tool. Plus, take advantage of VoiceOverMaker’s pay-as-you-go pricing to keep costs to a minimum.

Try VoiceOverMaker

Best free text to speech software

The best option for free text to speech software for commercial use

10,000 characters per month
Starting from $19/month for 1,000,000 characters

Reasons to use

Higher character limit than competitors
Download audio as mp3 in seconds
Powered by Google machine learning

With no registration or sign-up required, you can start using FreeTTS immediately to convert up to 10,000 characters each month – and it’s completely free! FreeTTS prides itself on being super fast, helping Creator Educators easily convert scripts into mp3 audio files in seconds, so it’s ideal for producing video voiceovers quickly and efficiently. FreeTTS uses Google’s machine learning technology to deliver decent quality results across 50+ languages and the free version is suitable even for commercial use – but it’s important to note that you can only convert 500 characters of text at a time, so it’s best for short videos.

Try FreeTTS

Straightforward, free text to speech software with mobile app

Unlimited text reading for personal use
$2/month for commercial use
Straightforward, no frills tool
Upload files, PDFs, ebooks,and more
Use online or download the iOS and Android app

On the surface, the TTSReader free text to speech software may look dated, but their free tool includes an impressive range of features. The TTSReader tool is about as utilitarian as it gets – it’s pared back but powerful, accepting a wide variety of file types that can be converted into simple audio files to listen to in your browser or save for later. The free version supports multiple languages and includes basic editing tools too. To unlock more features, you’ll need to purchase the premium plan – but at just $2 per month it won’t break the bank.

Try TTSReader

Use these top text to speech tools to engage your audience

Once you’ve started using text to speech software, there’s no going back. It’s so easy, efficient, and delivers impressive results – especially thanks to the range of new AI-driven tools on offer. To help you find the best text to speech apps for your needs, take advantage of the free plans and tools in this list and take some time to experiment with different options. Don’t forget, you can even create a unique voice for your brand!

If you’re a Creator Educator looking to earn more from your content, try Thinkific for free .

This post was originally created in 2022, it’s since been updated in June 2023.

Colin is a Content Marketer at Thinkific, writing about everything from online entrepreneurship & course creation to digital marketing strategy.

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Save time and be more productive with TextAloud

TextAloud 4 converts text from documents, webpages, PDF files and more into natural-sounding speech. Listen on your PC or create audio files.

An essential tool people use daily at work, school and home. Rest your eyes by listening.

Catch errors better by listening. Proofread reports and emails before they go out.

Improve reading and comprehension by listening while viewing text with word highlighting.

Get The Best Text to Speech Voices

to learn more about TextAloud 4 features and benefits

Connecting with others via Zoom™ or other video conference software can be difficult if they can only read but not hear your contributions. Now there is a way TextAloud users can weigh in by playing a high quality synthesized voice audio stream through the microphone of video conferencing / voice over internet applications.

is a Text to Speech program specifically designed for people who have temporarily or permanently lost their voice. With natural, human-sounding voices and convenient short-cuts to quickly enter commonly used sentences and phrases, NextUp Talker allows you to overcome vocal impairment by communicating with others using a Windows PC or Tablet PC.

is a clock application that uses TextAloud to announce the current time and alarms. For people who spend many hours on their Windows PC, it can help you avoid losing track of what time it is. TextAloud Clock is an add-on for TextAloud (sold separately) so you must have a registered copy of TextAloud on your PC before you can install and use it.

Featured Testimonial

"To the team at TextAloud, I love you guys. Your product helped me get my second master's degree. I was able to read so much more material since I was able to convert it and listen as I drove or worked, and it ultimately gave me back 15 hours or more a week in which I could do homework. When it came to my reading on scientific journals and more, TextAloud allowed me to do the unheard of and actually read them. That never happened before. TextAloud also made me a better writer. I always listen to my papers, to edit for style and grammar, before I submit them. I recommend your product to friends and students all the time. I can't imagine being without it now -- thank you."

#1 Text To Speech (TTS) Reader Online

Proudly serving millions of users since 2015

Type or upload any text, file, website & book for listening online, proofreading, reading-along or generating professional mp3 voice-overs.

I need to >

Play Text Out Loud

Reads out loud plain text, files, e-books and websites. Remembers text & caret position, so you can come back to listening later, unlimited length, recording and more.

Create Humanlike Voiceovers

The simplest most robust & affordable AI voice-over generating tool online. Mix voices, languages & speeds. Listen before recording. Unlimited!

Additional Text-To-Speech Solutions

Turns your articles, PDFs, emails, etc. into podcasts, so you can listen to it on your own podcast player when convenient, with all the advantages that come with your podcast app.

SpeechNinja says what you type in real time. It enables people with speech difficulties to speak out loud using synthesized voice (AAC) and more.

Battle tested for years, serving millions of users, especially good for very long texts.

Need to read a webpage? Simply paste its URL here & click play. Leave empty to read about the Beatles 🎸

Books & Stories

Listen to some of the best stories ever written. We have them right here. Want to upload your own? Use the main player to upload epub files.

Simply paste any URL (link to a page) and it will import & read it out loud.

Chrome Extension

Reads out loud webpages, directly from within the page.

TTSReader for mobile - iOS or Android. Includes exporting audio to mp3 files.

NEW 🚀 - TTS Plugin

Make your own website speak your content - with a single line of code. Hassle free.

TTSReader Premium

Support our development team & enjoy ad-free better experience. Commercial users, publishers are required a premium license.

TTSReader reads out loud texts, webpages, pdfs & ebooks with natural sounding voices. Works out of the box. No need to download or install. No sign in required. Simply click 'play' and enjoy listening right in your browser. TTSReader remembers your text and position between sessions, so you can continue listening right where you left. Recording the generated speech is supported as well. Works offline, so you can use it at home, in the office, on the go, driving or taking a walk. Listening to textual content using TTSReader enables multitasking, reading on the go, improved comprehension and more. With support for multiple languages, it can be used for unlimited use cases .

Get Started for Free

Main Use Cases

Listen to great content.

Most of the world's content is in textual form. Being able to listen to it - is huge! In that sense, TTSReader has a huge advantage over podcasts. You choose your content - out of an infinite variety - that includes humanity's entire knowledge and art richness. Listen to lectures, to PDF files. Paste or upload any text from anywhere, edit it if needed, and listen to it anywhere and anytime.

Proofreading

One of the best ways to catch errors in your writing is to listen to it being read aloud. By using TTSReader for proofreading, you can catch errors that you might have missed while reading silently, allowing you to improve the quality and accuracy of your written content. Errors can be in sentence structure, punctuation, and grammar, but also in your essay's structure, order and content.

Listen to web pages

TTSReader can be used to read out loud webpages in two different ways. 1. Using the regular player - paste the URL and click play. The website's content will be imported into the player. (2) Using our Chrome extension to listen to pages without leaving the page . Listening to web pages with TTSReader can provide a more accessible, convenient, and efficient way of consuming online content.

Turn ebooks into audiobooks

Upload any ebook file of epub format - and TTSReader will read it out loud for you, effectively turning it into an audiobook alternative. You can find thousands of epub books for free, available for download on Project Gutenberg's site, which is an open library for free ebooks.

Read along for speed & comprehension

TTSReader enables read along by highlighting the sentence being read and automatically scrolling to keep it in view. This way you can follow with your own eyes - in parallel to listening to it. This can boost reading speed and improve comprehension.

Generate audio files from text

TTSReader enables exporting the synthesized speech with a single click. This is available currently only on Windows and requires TTSReader’s premium . Adhering to the commercial terms some of the voices may be used commercially for publishing, such as narrating videos.

Accessibility, dyslexia, etc.

For individuals with visual impairments or reading difficulties, listening to textual content, lectures, articles & web pages can be an essential tool for accessing & comprehending information.

Language learning

TTSReader can read out text in multiple languages, providing learners with listening as well as speaking practice. By listening to the text being read aloud, learners can improve their comprehension skills and pronunciation.

Kids - stories & learning

Kids love stories! And if you can read them stories - it's definitely the best! But, if you can't, let TTSReader read them stories for you. Set the right voice and speed, that is appropriate for their comprehension level. For kids who are at the age of learning to read - this can also be an effective tool to strengthen that skill, as it highlights every sentence being read.

Main Features

Ttsreader is a free text to speech reader that supports all modern browsers, including chrome, firefox and safari..

Includes multiple languages and accents. If on Chrome - you will get access to Google's voices as well. Super easy to use - no download, no login required. Here are some more features

Fun, Online, Free. Listen to great content

Drag, drop & play (or directly copy text & play). That’s it. No downloads. No logins. No passwords. No fuss. Simply fun to use and listen to great content. Great for listening in the background. Great for proof-reading. Great for kids and more. Learn more, including a YouTube we made, here .

Multilingual, Natural Voices

We facilitate high-quality natural-sounding voices from different sources. There are male & female voices, in different accents and different languages. Choose the voice you like, insert text, click play to generate the synthesized speech and enjoy listening.

Exit, Come Back & Play from Where You Stopped

TTSReader remembers the article and last position when paused, even if you close the browser. This way, you can come back to listening right where you previously left. Works on Chrome & Safari on mobile too. Ideal for listening to articles.

Vs. Recorded Podcasts

In many aspects, synthesized speech has advantages over recorded podcasts. Here are some: First of all - you have unlimited - free - content. That includes high-quality articles and books, that are not available on podcasts. Second - it’s free. Third - it uses almost no data - so it’s available offline too, and you save money. If you like listening on the go, as while driving or walking - get our free Android Text Reader App .

Read PDF Files, Texts & Websites

TTSReader extracts the text from pdf files, and reads it out loud. Also useful for simply copying text from pdf to anywhere. In addition, it highlights the text currently being read - so you can follow with your eyes. If you specifically want to listen to websites - such as blogs, news, wiki - you should get our free extension for Chrome

Export Speech to Audio Files

TTSReader enables exporting the synthesized speech to mp3 audio files. This is available currently only on Windows, and requires ttsreader’s premium .

Pricing & Plans

Online text to speech player
Chrome extension for reading webpages

$10.99 /mo OR $39 /yr

Premium TTSReader.com
Premium Chrome extension
Better support from the development team

Compare plans

	Free	Premium
Unlimited text reading	✅	✅
Online text to speech	✅	✅
Upload files, PDFs, ebooks	✅	✅
Web player	✅	✅
Webpage reading Chrome extension	✅	✅
Editing	✅	✅
Ads free		✅
Unlock features		✅
Recording audio - for generating audio files from text		✅
Commercial license		✅
Publishing license (under the following )		✅
Better support from the development team		✅

Sister Apps Developed by Our Team

Speechnotes

Dictation & Transcription

Type with your voice for free, or automatically transcribe audio & video recordings

Buttons - Kids Dictionary

Turns your device into multiple push-buttons interactive games

Animals, numbers, colors, counting, letters, objects and more. Different levels. Multilingual. No ads. Made by parents, for our own kids.

Ways to Get In Touch, Feedback & Community

Visit our contact page , for various ways to get in touch with us, send us feedback and interact with our community of users & developers.

IMAGES

5 Best Speech to Text Software for Windows 10
How to Setup & Enable Windows 11 Text-To-Speech Voice Typing
TypeIt ReadIt Free Text-To-Speech Software For Windows 10, 8.1, 7
The Best Windows 10
Text to Speech Software 2021 for Windows 10, 7 and 8
Best text-to-speech apps for your Windows 10 device

COMMENTS

Best text-to-speech software of 2024
Dev focus. Alexa isn't the only artificial intelligence tool created by tech giant Amazon as it also offers an intelligent text-to-speech system called Amazon Polly. Employing advanced deep ...
Best free text-to-speech software of 2024
Limited free voices compared to paid plans. Natural Reader offers one of the best free text-to-speech software experiences, thanks to an easy-going interface and stellar results. It even features ...
The Best Text-to-Speech Apps and Tools for Every Type of User
TTSMaker. Visit Site at TTSMaker. See It. The free app TTSMaker is the best text-to-speech app I can find for running in a browser. Just copy your text and paste it into the box, fill out the ...
The Best Speech-to-Text Apps and Tools for Every Type of User
It's called VoiceOver on macOS and Speech Recognition in Windows. Don't confuse speech-to-text software with transcription software, either, even if the categories overlap. Transcription software ...
Best text-to-speech software for Windows
Panopreter. Panopreter is a desktop text-to-speech app that can read text and documents out loud, using voices installed on your computer. It offers options like opening batches of files and ...
10 best text-to-speech apps for your Windows 10/11 device
The software offers even individual pronunciation adjustments. If you're an educator, there are 14 free text to speech tools that you can use to relax your students' tired eyes: Announcify, Balabolka, DSpeech, NaturalReaders, PediaPhon, PowerTalk, QR voice, Select and Speak, SpeakIt!, SpokenText, Text2Speech, Voki, VozMe and WordTalk.
The Best Text-to-Speech Apps and Tools for Every Type of User
TTSMaker. The free app TTSMaker is the best text-to-speech app I can find for running in a browser. Just copy your text and paste it into the box, fill out the captcha, click Convert to Speech and ...
13 Best Text-to-Speech Software of 2024 (Free, Paid & Online)
Best Windows-Only Text-to-Speech Software. Call it simple or basic, a lot can be said about this powerful text-to-speech solution. Panopreter is a Windows-only text-to-speech software. Panopreter offers both 32-bit and 64-bit applications, although it doesn't offer a 64-bit version for Windows 10, which is quite surprising. ...
5 Best Free Text to Speech Software for Windows 10 and 11
Download. 4. Panopreter Basic. Panopreter Basic is a text to speech and text to mp3 freeware program with the following features. It can not only read the text in the software, but also allow you to convert the text to mp3 audio files. Price: free.
How to Use Text to Speech in Windows 11: A Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Open Settings. Click on the Start menu, then the "Settings" gear icon. The Start menu is usually located at the bottom-left corner of your screen. Clicking on it brings up a list of applications and options, including the "Settings" icon, which looks like a gear.
The best dictation and speech-to-text software in 2024
The best dictation software. Apple Dictation for free dictation software on Apple devices. Windows 11 Speech Recognition for free dictation software on Windows. Dragon by Nuance for a customizable dictation app. Google Docs voice typing for dictating in Google Docs. Gboard for a free mobile dictation app.
NaturalReader Text to Speech Software Download
NaturalReader is a downloadable text-to-speech desktop software for personal use. This easy-to-use software with natural-sounding voices can read to you any text such as Microsoft Word files, webpages, PDF files, and E-mails. Available with a one-time payment for a perpetual license.
The Best (Free) Speech-to-Text Software for Windows
For seamless, high-accuracy writing that will require little proof-reading, DNS is the best speech-to-text software around. 2. Windows Speech Recognition. If you don't mind proofreading your documents, WSR is a great free speech-recognition software. On the downside, it requires that you use a Windows computer.
9 Best text to speech software for Windows as of 2024
Add to Safari. Capti Voice, Intelligent Speaker, and Natural Reader are probably your best bets out of the 9 options considered. "Desktop and Web versions" is the primary reason people pick Capti Voice over the competition. This page is powered by a knowledgeable community that helps you make an informed decision.
15 Best Text-to-Speech Software in 2024
Balabolka is a free text-to-speech converter for Windows, with comprehensive file format support. It can process more than 25 text file formats, making it one of the best tools for extensive file format support. ... Speech-to-text software converts text into spoken words using artificial intelligence and advanced deep-learning technology. This ...
Use voice typing to talk instead of type on your PC
How to start voice typing. To use voice typing, you'll need to be connected to the internet, have a working microphone, and have your cursor in a text box. Once you turn on voice typing, it will start listening automatically. Wait for the "Listening..." alert before you start speaking. to navigate through the voice typing menu with your keyboard.
TextAloud Text to Speech Software
Download a free trial to get started now. The trial uses the resident Windows voice on your PC, as does the purchased version if no voices are added. TextAloud can be purchased optionally with the best, most natural sounding text to speech voices in a variety of accents and languages. To review optional premium voices, click on the link for AT ...
Top 16 BEST Text To Speech Software [2024 Review]
The software also assists people in learning to speak a new language and helps them overcome language barriers. Table of Contents: Text To Speech Software. List of Top Text to Speech Software. Comparison of Best Text to Speech Solutions. #1) Murf. #2) Speechify. #3) Lovo. #4) Deepbrain.AI.
Use the Speak text-to-speech feature to read text aloud
You can add the Speak command to your Quick Access Toolbar by doing the following in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and OneNote: Next to the Quick Access Toolbar, click Customize Quick Access Toolbar. Click More Commands. In the Choose commands from list, select All Commands. Scroll down to the Speak command, select it, and then click Add.
The Best Text To Speech Tools in 2024 (Free & Paid)
The Good - Straightforward, no frills text-to-speech software with flexible pricing. The Bad - Voices are already widely used by YouTube creators. VoiceOverMaker. Best for making multilingual video voiceovers. The Good - Blend multilingual audio and video together using in-built editor. The Bad - Fewer features than other TTS tools.
TextAloud Text to Speech Software and Natural Sounding Voices
Text to Speech Software for Windows. TextAloud 4 converts text from documents, webpages, PDF files and more into natural-sounding speech. Listen on your PC or create audio files. Learn More. An essential tool people use daily at work, school and home. Rest your eyes by listening.
Free Text to Speech Online with Realistic AI Voices
Text to speech (TTS) is a technology that converts text into spoken audio. It can read aloud PDFs, websites, and books using natural AI voices. Text-to-speech (TTS) technology can be helpful for anyone who needs to access written content in an auditory format, and it can provide a more inclusive and accessible way of communication for many ...
#1 Text To Speech (TTS) Reader Online. Free & Unlimited
TTSReader is a free Text to Speech Reader that supports all modern browsers, including Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Includes multiple languages and accents. If on Chrome - you will get access to Google's voices as well. Super easy to use - no download, no login required. Here are some more features.

Best free text-to-speech software of 2024

The best free text-to-speech software of 2024 in full:

The best free text-to-speech software overall

1. Natural Reader

Reasons to buy

The best free custom-voice text-to-speech software

2. Balabolka

The best free text-to-speech software for beginners

3. Panopreter Basic

The best free text-to-speech extension of Microsoft Word

4. WordTalk

The best free text-to-speech software for websites

5. Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader

The best free text-to-speech software: FAQs

What is SAPI?

Should I output files to MP3 or WAV?

How to choose the best free text-to-speech software

How we test the best free text-to-speech software

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Best text-to-speech software for Windows

Quick Links

The best, for a price

Best reader for online content

Best free online TTS tool

Best TTS browser extension

Best for Microsoft Office

Simple offline reader

More powerful offline options

Final thoughts

10 best text-to-speech apps for your Windows 10/11 device

What are the best text-to-speech apps for Windows 10?

PistonSoft Text-to-Speech Converter

NaturalReader

Zabaware Text To Speech Reader

Acapela Group Virtual Speaker

TextSpeechPro

TextAloud 3

Read The Words

Voice Reader

The Best Text-to-Speech Apps and Tools for Every Type of User

Best Text-to-Speech App for Windows

Microsoft/Edge Read Aloud in Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader

Best Text-to-Speech Browser Extension

Select to Speak

Select to Speak (Android)

Spoken Content

Spoken Content (macOS)

Spoken Content Mobile

Spoken Content (iOS)

Best Text-to-Speech Web Reader

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About Justin Pot

More From Justin Pot

13 Best Text-to-Speech Software of 2024 (Free, Paid & Online)

Best Text-to-Speech Software

2. Linguatec Voice Reader

3. Capti Voice

Best Text-to-Speech Software for Voice-overs.

5. Natural Reader

6. Notevibes

7. Voice Dream Reader

8. Balabolka

9. Natural Reader Online Reader

A Powerful Text-to-Speech Software Bundled Together with an Exceptional Video Editing Platform.

11. Panopreter Basic

12. WordTalk

13. Google Cloud Text-to-Speech

Key Features to Look for in Text-to-Speech Software

2. Languages

3. Download Options

4. Licensing Options

5. Extensibility

6. User Experience

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Text to Speech Software Should I Pick?

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5 Best Free Text to Speech Software for Windows 10 and 11