Read Any Text Out Loud
Paste your text, press play and listen. SpeechReader reads it out loud in a natural AI voice and highlights every word as it is spoken, so you can follow along, look away, or listen at double speed.
Free with a free account: about five minutes of audio a day with standard voices, no card needed.
With SpeechReader you paste the text, press play and listen while you walk, cook or rest your eyes. Every word lights up as it is spoken, so you never lose your place.
Three gentle steps.
- 1
Add your text
Paste it, or on a paid plan drop in a PDF or a photo of a printed page.
- 2
Pick a voice
Choose from 2,000+ voices, then set the speed anywhere from 0.5× to 4×.
- 3
Listen or download
Follow the highlighted words as you listen, or download one MP3 for later.
Your eyes read what you meant. A voice reads what you wrote.
Read this email once, at your normal pace. Then let it be read to you.
Hi Sam, thanks for the quick reply. I've attached the the signed contract, and I'll send the invoice form our new office by Friday, as we agreed on the the phone.
Did anything catch your eye? Press play and follow the highlight.
How long is your text to listen to?
Paste any text to see how long it takes to hear and how many credits it uses. It is counted in your browser; nothing is sent.
432 characters
- Standard voices432 credits
Free plan: 8.6% of a day's credits
- Premium voicesup to 1,728 credits
Basic plan: 1.7% of a day's credits
- Studio voices6,480 credits
Premium plan: 1.3% of a day's credits
Listening time is an estimate, measured on standard voices at normal speed. Credits are used the first time a text is turned into speech; playing it again does not use credits while the audio is stored, and a day's credits renew every day. Premium voices use 3 or 4 credits a character, so the meter counts 4.
Voices you can listen to for an hour.
Tap a voice to hear a live sample. Standard, Premium and Studio voices cover 60+ languages, from everyday clarity to near-human narration.
When the built-in reader is enough, and when it isn't
Browsers and phones come with a read-aloud feature, and every major system has a screen reader. Here is when each one fits.
Use what's built in
- A few paragraphs on the page you are reading right now
- Reading the whole screen, menus and buttons included: VoiceOver, Narrator and TalkBack are made for that, and essential if you are blind or have low vision
- No account, nothing to open
Use SpeechReader
- Long texts you come back to: your library keeps your place on every device
- A voice you like, from 2,000+ in more than 60 languages, with each word highlighted as it is spoken
- Text from files: PDFs, Word and PowerPoint files, and photos of pages (Basic and Premium)
- One MP3 of the whole text to listen to offline (Basic and Premium)
Questions, answered.
Is it free to have text read out loud?
Yes. With a free account you get about five minutes of audio a day with standard voices, renewed every day. No card is needed. Paid plans add more listening time, more natural voices, file import and MP3 downloads.
Do I need to install anything?
No. SpeechReader runs in your web browser on computers, tablets and phones. Create a free account, paste your text and press play.
Can it read text in other languages?
Yes. There are voices for more than 60 languages, from Spanish, German and French to Japanese, Arabic and Hindi. Pick a voice in the language of your text and it is read with native pronunciation.
How fast can text be read aloud?
Anywhere from 0.5× to 4×. Slower speeds help with difficult material and language learning; many regular listeners settle between 1.25× and 2×. Most voices also let you change the pitch.
Can it read a PDF or a photo of a page aloud?
Yes, on the Basic and Premium plans. Upload a PDF, a Word or PowerPoint file, or a photo of a printed page, and the text is extracted and read aloud. On the free plan, copy the text and paste it in.
Can I save the audio as an MP3?
Yes, on the Basic and Premium plans: download the whole text as one MP3 and listen offline in any player. On the free plan you listen in the browser.
Does reading aloud help with dyslexia?
Many people with dyslexia find it much easier to understand a text when they hear it while following the highlighted words. SpeechReader highlights each word as it is spoken, and you can slow the voice down for difficult passages.
How long can the text be?
As long as you like. The editor handles anything from a sentence to a whole document, and your daily credits decide how much of it you can listen to each day.
Stop squinting. Start listening.
Your first five minutes a day are free, every day.