A Speechify alternative for email and newsletters

Most people looking for a Speechify alternative have one of two reasons: the price, or the feeling that Speechify does far more than they need. Speechify is a strong text-to-speech app. But if what you really want to hear is your email and newsletters, a simpler tool may suit you better. This page compares Speechify fairly with the free tools already on your devices, a few other reading apps, and an app built only for email.

What Speechify does well

Speechify reads almost any text aloud. It has apps for iPhone, Android and Mac, a web app, and a Chrome extension. You can:

• Bring in almost anything: PDFs, Word and EPUB files, web links, pasted text, and files from Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive.
• Scan printed pages with your phone's camera and hear them read out.
• Follow along as each word is highlighted while it is read.
• Pick from over 1,000 voices in 60+ languages and listen at up to 5x speed (Premium).
• Keep listening with the screen off, and pick up your library on another device.

Premium also adds AI summaries and chat, voice typing and AI podcasts. If you listen to textbooks, reports and books every day, Speechify is hard to beat, and you may not need an alternative at all.

What Speechify costs

These are US prices from Speechify's pricing page and its own blog at the time of writing. Prices differ by country and app store, and Speechify often runs offers, so check before you buy.

• Free: 10 basic voices, speeds up to 1.5x, text to speech only.
• Premium, paid yearly: $139 a year, about $11.58 a month.
• Premium, paid monthly: $29 a month.

That is fair value if you use it every day for many kinds of reading. It is a lot to pay if you only want to hear a few emails on your commute.

Can Speechify read email?

Yes, with a few steps.

• On a computer: with the Speechify Chrome extension installed, open an email in Gmail and click the small play button under the sender's name. You can also select some text and press Alt+Q (Windows) or Option+Q (Mac).
• On a phone: copy the email's text, open Speechify, tap +, choose Paste Text, then tap Listen now. The email is saved to your library.

This works well for an occasional important email. For a daily batch of newsletters it gets tiring: you copy and paste each one by hand, and Speechify reads whatever you paste, footers and links included, unless you select the text carefully.

Speechify alternatives compared

Prices are US prices at the time of writing. “Not stated” means we could not confirm it from the maker's own pages.

Free alternatives already on your devices

Before you pay for anything, try what you already have. These all read one email at a time while it is open, and they read everything on the page.

• Speak Screen on iPhone and iPad: turn it on in Settings, then swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers to hear whatever is showing. It works in any email app. See our Speak Screen guide.
• Chrome reading mode: on a computer, right-click a page, choose Open in reading mode, then press Play. It works for Gmail in Chrome. More in Gmail read aloud.
• Microsoft Edge Read Aloud: right-click a page and choose Read aloud, or press Ctrl+Shift+U (Windows) or Command+Shift+U (Mac). It is also in the Edge app on iPhone and Android.
• Outlook's Immersive Reader reads Outlook emails aloud. See where Read Aloud went in Outlook.

Siri is not much help here: by default it reads only the sender and subject. Here is what Siri can and can't read. For every free option in one place, see our guide to having emails read aloud.

Paid Speechify alternatives

ElevenReader

The reading app from ElevenLabs, a company known for very natural AI voices. You upload files, paste links or text, or scan pages, and pick from over 1,000 voices. The free plan includes 10 hours of text-to-audio a month. Ultra costs $11 a month or $99 a year and adds unlimited listening to your own files, offline downloads and a large audiobook library. It is the closest match to Speechify for less money, or for free if 10 hours is enough.

NaturalReader

A long-running text-to-speech app for iPhone, Android, the web and Chrome. It reads PDFs, Word files, EPUBs and web pages, scans printed text, and can save audio as MP3. In the US App Store, Premium is $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year, with pricier Plus and Pro plans above it. Documents open where you left off.

Voice Dream Reader

A favorite for accessibility on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and an Apple Design Award winner. Its voices work offline, it keeps reading with the screen locked, and your reading position syncs through iCloud. It needs a subscription after a free trial; the App Store lists several plans.

Readwise Reader

A read-it-later app for articles, RSS feeds, PDFs and newsletters. It gives you your own Reader email address: subscribe to newsletters with it, or forward single emails to it, then listen with the built-in text-to-speech. After a 30-day trial it costs $9.99 a month paid yearly or $12.99 month to month (Readwise pricing). It is a good fit if you also highlight and take notes on what you read. It is a reading app first, so listening is one feature among many.

An alternative built for email: Spokeninbox

Spokeninbox is an app for iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and the web that does one job: reads your email aloud. There is no copying and pasting, and it never connects to your mailbox.

• You get a private address, like you@in.spokeninbox.com.
• You forward email to it: everything, through Gmail, Outlook or iCloud forwarding; just some senders, with a filter; or one email by hand.
• You press Play. Each email is turned into clean narration, with buttons, ads, sponsor blocks, legal footers and raw links removed, and read in a natural AI voice.
• It keeps playing with your phone locked, with lock-screen controls, and remembers exactly where you stopped in each email.
• It speaks English, Spanish and Russian, picking the right one for each email.

To be clear about what it is not: Spokeninbox does not read PDFs, books, web pages or attachments, and it does not scan paper. If you need those, Speechify or one of the readers above is the better choice. If most of what you want to hear lands in your inbox, it is the simpler one. Newsletters are a common use; see listening to newsletters.

How to choose

• You listen to PDFs, textbooks and books: stay with Speechify, or try ElevenReader, NaturalReader or Voice Dream Reader to spend less.
• You want to pay nothing: use the free tools on your phone and browser, ElevenReader's free plan, or Speechify's free plan.
• You read and highlight lots of newsletters and articles: Readwise Reader.
• You mostly want to hear email and newsletters while walking, driving or doing chores: Spokeninbox.

Questions