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.
What You Will Learn:
Text To Speech Software
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q #1) What is Text-to-Speech software?
Answer: Text-to-speech (TTS) is an assistive technology meant to read text aloud. The sound we listen to through TTS solutions is computer-generated, and we can control the reading speed by speeding it up or slowing it down.
Q #2) Is voice quality the same in every text-to-speech tool?
Answer: Voice quality can vary depending on which solution you use, but some solutions use human voices, with premium solutions using voices of acclaimed narrators such as David Attenborough and Morgan Freeman.
You can even make the sound similar to the sound of how children speak. Many tools also highlight the text they are reading, especially in online web page readers and even in audiobooks.
Q #3) How can we use Text to Speech software?
Answer: There are several ways to use this technology. Some tools extract words from a digital document or an online web page and read it for users. Other tools can even transform the hand-written text into speech using advanced technologies like Optical Character Recognition (OCR).
Text-to-speech software is available on a range of devices and works on most personal digital devices, such as laptops, computers, tablets, and smartphones.
Q #4) How does text to speech work?
Answer: A majority of text to speech solutions work similarly. Users upload either a text file or type in the text they must convert to voice. After that, they select from the voices available and see which sound is perfect for the voiceover.
Many TTS solutions rely on some variant of OCR technology. OCR helps us to recognize written and digital text and extract it from documents and images. For instance, if you click a picture of a street sign, the tool will read the words written on it.
List Of Top Text To Speech Software
Here is a list of popular text to speech tools:
- Notevibes
- NaturalReader
- Linguatec Voice Reader
- Capti Voice
- VoiceDream
- Wideo
- From Text to Speech
- NextUp Technologies
- Azure Text to Speech
- Google Cloud Text-to-Speech
- Amazon Polly
Comparison Of Best Text To Speech Solutions
| Text to Speech Software | Features | Price | Best For | Ratings ????? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notevibes | · 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 |
| Natural Reader | · 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 |
| Linguatec Voice Reader | · 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 |
| Capti Voice | · 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 |
| Voicedream | · 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:
#1) Notevibes
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.
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.
Features
- 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.
Price
- Limited Free Online Usage
- Personal Pack: $9/month | $84/ year ($7/month)
- Commercial Pack: $90/month | $840/year ($70/month)
Website: Notevibes
#2) Natural Reader
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.
Features
- Built-in OCR
- Choice of interfaces
- Built-in browser
- Dyslexic-friendly font
Verdict: A free text to speech solution that offers OCR as well as an in-built web browser; ideal for personal usage.
Price
- 7-day free trial
- Single plan $49
- Team Plan (4 users) $79
Website: Natural Readers
#3) Linguatec Voice Reader
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.
Features
- 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.
Price
- Free Demo
- Voice Reader Home 15: $57.34
- Voice Reader Studio 15: $573.4
Website: Linguatec
#4) Capti Voice
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
Unsurprisingly, many people use Capti Voice to improve their productivity at school and at work.
Features
- Speech tracking word by word
- Cross-device sync
- Screen-reader accessibility
- Advanced text navigation
- Offline use
Verdict: Designed and optimized for education, Capti Voice is easily one of the best text-to-speech e-learning tools for people of all ages and groups.
Price
- 1 Week Trial: Free
- 1 Month: $ 1.99
- 6 Months: $ 9.99
- 12 Months: $ 19.99
Website: Capti Voice
#5) Voicedream
Best For text-to-speech mobile app for iOS users.
Voice Dream Reader is a mobile text-to-speech app that offers a premium Acapela Heather voice for its users. The app is ideally designed for Apple users, as some of its best features are reserved for iOS. It offers users over 30 languages and 200 voices to choose from.
Even the free version of the application offers a rich collection of features. Aside from text-to-speech conversion, the users can benefit from features like text highlighting, full-screen reading mode, dictionary lookups, and creating & pinning notes.
Features
- Reading Modes
- Audio Controls
- Visual Controls
- Library Management
- OCR
Verdict: With a clean and optimized interface and advanced features, Voice Dream Reader gives a premium mobile text-to-speech solution.
Price
- Free version
- iOS app: $14.99
- Android: $9.99
Website: Voice Dream
#6) Wideo
Best For video editors and content creators looking to leverage text-to-speech features for free.
Primarily, Wideo is an online video maker hosting more than 2.5 million registered users across the world. However, the developers of his exciting tool decided to offer a free text-to-speech tool for their users.
Now, the users can easily convert text to voice and download it in an mp3 file format for further use, which helps them to create high-quality professional voiceover.
Features
- Exceptional Video editing features
- Read Text Aloud
- Free Text to Speech Features
- Downloadable MP3 files
Verdict: Wideo’s free text-to-speech feature gives video editors an extra perk and helps them create catchy and inclusive voiceovers.
Price
- Free
- Basic: $19/month
- Pro: $39/month
- Pro +: $79/month
Website: Wideo
#7) From Text to Speech
Best For users who want a free online text-to-speech converter.
From Text to Speech is as simple and intuitive as its name suggests. It offers a fast online platform for converting text to speech without any difficulty.
Although there are several text speech solutions offering fancy features, some users prefer simple tools that allow them to convert text to speech online. You can convert text into an MP3 audio file and replay it on your favorite device.
Features
- Simple Pastebin for text
- No download required
- Free application
- 50,000 Character word limit
Verdict: In a world full of expensive tools, From Text to Speech offers a free and intuitive option that gets the job done.
Price: Free
Website: From Text to Speech
#8) Nextup
Best For saving your time.
Nextup Read Aloud is similar to most standard text-to-speech solutions, by offering features like document conversion into speech. However, what makes it unique is that it offers this feature at a really low price cap. Moreover, the tool can be integrated with MS Word.
At the same time, the tool gives you a natural-sounding experience by adding pauses to sentences, between words in a sentence, commas, and similar punctuations. It can even read certain types of text such as text in parentheses and quotes differently.
Features
- Voice generation
- Follow along with text
- English dictionary lookup
- Pronunciation editor
- Proofreading enhancements
Verdict: Nextup Read Aloud is a nice and affordable text-to-speech tool that offers neat features along with accurate voice generation.
Price:
- Purchase from $34.95
- Download a FREE trial.
Website: Nextup
#9) Azure Text To Speech
Best For developers who want to augment text-to-speech and other cognitive features in their applications.
AI is increasingly becoming ubiquitous and thus is transforming into a permanent part of application development. Azure Text to Speech gives you a chance to include intelligent text to speech features in your application. The tool offers highly advanced audio controls to help you create realistic voiceovers of text.
Features
- Lifelike speech
- Customizable voices
- Fine-grained audio controls
- Flexible deployment
- 110 voices and over 45 languages available.
Verdict: Azure Text to Speech is one of the best tools in the market to build apps and services that speak naturally in your preferred programming language.
Price
- Free version
- Stand version – Pay per use
Website: Microsoft Azure Text To Speech
#10) Google Cloud Text-to-Speech
Best For app builders.
Similar to Microsoft Azure’s text-to-speech API, Google Text-to-Speech is a reliable way to enhance your apps by including advanced text to speech features.
The tool gives developers a free tool to integrate with Google’s other apps and creates a comprehensive and intelligent app. Augmenting it with Google Translate gives developers a deadly combination of features.
Features
- Custom Voice (beta)
- WaveNet voices
- Voice tuning
- Text and SSML support
Verdict: Google Cloud Text-to-Speech allows you to synthesize natural-sounding speech with over 100+ voices and augment it with Google’s vast treasure of tools.
Price
- Free 90 days trial with usage limit.
- Standard after free quota: $4.00/1 million characters (0 to 4 million characters)
- WaveNet after free quota: $16.00/1 million (0 to 1 million characters)
Website: Google Text To Speech
#11) Amazon Polly
Best For developers who want to leverage machine learning and AI to create unbelievably natural voices from text.
While augmenting text to speech features in your application is neat, generating lifelike sounds artificially through high-level AI is something unique. Amazon Polly offers you just that.
You can create applications that speak and build unexplored types of speech-enabled products. Backed by deep learning and advanced AI, you can deliver an unmatched natural-sounding speech.
Features
- Natural sounding voices
- Store & redistribute speech
- Real-time streaming
- Customize & control speech output
- Low cost
Verdict: Amazon Polly allows you to leverage deep learning to create apps that turn text into lifelike speech.
Price
- Free 5 million characters per month for 12 months.
- $4.00 per 1 million characters for speech or Speech Marks requests after free tier consumed.
Website: Amazon Polly
Conclusion
While searching for the best text to speech software, you must consider what you need. The list above recounts the top text to speech tools in the market. However, each tool is ideal for a certain group of users.
Overall, Notevibes offers the best of every feature in a text to speech software. Depending on your needs, you can choose a different option for yourself. Affordable tools like Natural Reader are great if your use is limited, and you can always leverage simple tools From Text to Speech too.
Further reading =>> Top Typing Tutor Software
Similarly, developers looking to augment TTS features in their app can use either Microsoft Azure, Google, or Amazon for their product. Ultimately, what you choose should fulfill your needs without costing you too much.
Research process:
- Time Taken To Research And Write This Article: 10 Hours
- Total Tools Researched Online: 20
- Top Tools Shortlisted For Review: 11