Speechify
Turns any text into natural-sounding speech you can listen to on the go
Overview
Speechify is a text-to-speech app for people who'd rather listen than read, students, commuters, or anyone with a stack of PDFs they'll never get to. It reads documents, web pages, and books aloud in voices that sound genuinely human, and lets you speed up playback up to 5x once you're paying.
The free plan is a taste test at best, ten robotic voices and text-to-speech only. The real product, natural voices, AI summaries, voice typing, is locked behind Premium at $139/year, and that's an annual-only commitment for the best rate. Reviewers are largely happy with what the product does but frequently unhappy with how hard it is to cancel, so read the billing terms before you subscribe.
Key Features
Text-to-Speech: Converts PDFs, documents, and web pages into audio using 1,000+ natural-sounding voices.
60+ Languages: Listen to content across a wide range of languages and accents.
Voice Typing: Dictate text instead of typing, with automatic grammar correction.
AI Podcasts: Turns documents or a simple description into podcast-style audio.
Voice AI Assistant: Ask questions about the content you're reading and get summaries or quizzes.
OCR Scanning: Scans printed or image-based text and reads it aloud.
Pricing
Starting price
$139/yr
Free: $0/month. 10 robotic voices, playback up to 1.5x speed, text-to-speech only.
Premium (monthly): $29/month. 1,000+ natural voices, 60+ languages, 5x playback speed, AI summaries and chat, voice typing, AI podcasts.
Premium (annual): $139/year, about $11.58/month. Same features as monthly Premium, billed once a year.
Studio and API: Separate pricing for creator and developer tools, not covered on the main pricing page.
Disclaimer: pricing may change, confirm on Speechify's own pricing page before buying. The exact annual price and word caps on Premium were corroborated via third-party sources (TextToLab, CheckThat.ai) since Speechify's own pricing page did not clearly state the annual rate in the fetched content.
Pros
Natural-Sounding Voices: 1,000+ voices across 60+ languages, a noticeable step up from robotic TTS tools.
Genuinely Useful For Studying: Scan-and-listen and AI summaries make it popular with students working through dense reading.
Cross-Platform: Works on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and as a Chrome extension.
Large, Established User Base: Speechify reports 60M+ users and won a 2025 Apple Design Award, a signal the core product is well-built.
Cons
Cancellation Friction: Trustpilot reviewers report difficulty finding the cancel button and being charged after attempting to cancel.
Annual-Only Best Price: The $139/year rate requires a full year up front; the monthly option is a much steeper $29/month.
Free Plan Is Bare: Only robotic voices and basic text-to-speech, so you can't properly evaluate the AI voices without paying.
Word Caps On Premium Voices: Some reviewers report a monthly word cap on premium voices that isn't clearly advertised up front.
What Makes It Unique
All-In-One Listening Suite: Unlike single-purpose TTS readers, Speechify bundles text-to-speech, voice typing, AI podcasts, and a voice assistant into one subscription.
Kay Score
6.5
/ 10
Tool Information
Pricing
$139/yr
Category
Voice & Video
Platform
Web / iOS / Android
Last Updated
