text to speech software

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 to choose
• How we test

1. Best overall 2. Best custom voice 3. Best for beginners 4. Best Microsoft extension 5. Best website reader 6. FAQs 7. How to choose 8. 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.

Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the entries on our best free text-to-speech software list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.

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, ' 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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Text-to-Speech Software

Find the best Text-to-Speech Software

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Showing 1 - 20 of 63 products

Wellsaid is an AI-powered text-to-speech solution that can create voiceovers for any digital content. Wellsaid converts text to high-quality voices, which can be added to apps and products using a robust API. Teams can also custom... Read more about WellSaid

4.4 ( 14 reviews )

Blakify is a software service that harnesses A.I. and Machine Learning technology from Google's TTS, Amazon Polly, and Microsoft Azure to give customers a full text-to-speech experience Blakify has over 400 voices and is continu... Read more about Blakify

4.4 ( 10 reviews )

Descript is a powerful all-in-one multimedia editor that makes editing as easy as a word doc. Record, edit, mix, collaborate, and master your audio and video with Descript. ... Read more about Descript

4.8 ( 166 reviews )

Google Cloud Text-to-Speech

Cloud Text-to-Speech is a Google-powered Text-to-Speech API that can convert text into natural-sounding speech. Using the same TTS technology as Google Translate, Cloud Text-to-Speech provides high-quality voices that are designed... Read more about Google Cloud Text-to-Speech

4.7 ( 12 reviews )

Murf Studio

Murf enables organizations to manage voiceover projects using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. The platform offers a collection of realistic AI voices in multiple languages. The application automatically converts scripts i... Read more about Murf Studio

4.5 ( 4 reviews )

Synthesia is an AI video creation app that makes it easy to create professional videos without any expensive hardware or editing skills. With Synthesia, you can create videos with just an idea and a script. Type it in, and watc... Read more about Synthesia

4.7 ( 125 reviews )

ReadSpeaker

ReadSpeaker is a cloud-based API that converts text input into high-quality natural-sounding audio. Developers can integrate the ReadSpeaker API into their websites and applications to make it possible for people with visual impai... Read more about ReadSpeaker

3.6 ( 5 reviews )

Ginger is a proofreading software that enables educational institutions and businesses to identify and correct errors and improve articles, blogs, classified and a variety of other content. The platform includes a grammar checking... Read more about Ginger

4.0 ( 85 reviews )

Listen2It automatically generates an audio version of text content in seconds. Choosing from 600+ lifelike text to speech voices in 75 different languages, users can give their brand a unique voice. It also offers a pre-built audi... Read more about Listen2It

5.0 ( 4 reviews )

Voiceley is an automated software turning any text into a natural lifelike voice-over in just a few clicks. Voiceley can accommodate any business and is perfect for creating voiceovers for video sales letters, educational videos, ... Read more about Voiceley

5.0 ( 1 reviews )

Instead of paying voice actors to narrate text, video presentation, or even your next Audiobook, Talkifier can do all this in a matter of seconds. Use Talkifier to turn your blog posts into audio so your visitors can listen on th... Read more about Talkifier

No reviews yet

LOVO is an AI-based voice generator that helps creators, marketers, educators, and other professionals transform texts into speeches and clone voices. The software provides an end-to-end solution for generating human-like speech a... Read more about LOVO

4.5 ( 57 reviews )

Trinity Audio

Trinity Audio is an enterprise-grade audio streaming and podcast platform that caters to media companies, broadcasters, and audio creators. The platform offers an array of features for managing an audio streaming service. It provi... Read more about Trinity Audio

4.5 ( 2 reviews )

TTSAI Pro is an AI-enabled text-to-speech software solution. It can be used in various use cases and serves multiple industries, such as e-learning, contact centers, and content creators that want to convert text into natural-soun... Read more about TTSAI Pro

Voicely 2.0

Voicely 2.0 is a cloud-based text-to-speech software that produces human sounding voice-over from text. Voicely 2.0 allows users to change the Voice Type, Pitch, and speed as well as add professional background music to give more... Read more about Voicely 2.0

4.6 ( 14 reviews )

Synthesys Studio

Elevate your content creation with Synthesys AI Studio. This all-in-one platform empowers users to generate high-quality audio and video content effortlessly. No longer limited by technical expertise or language barriers, Synthesy... Read more about Synthesys Studio

4.5 ( 21 reviews )

Fliki is a Text to Speech & Text to Video converter that helps you create audio and video content using AI voices in less than a minute. With Fliki you can convert your blog articles or any text-based content into video, podcasts... Read more about Fliki

4.8 ( 261 reviews )

Cleartouch Cloud Contact Center Platform

ClearTouch is a cloud-hosted contact center platform provider that enhances the customer experience of organizations across financial services and insurance, healthcare, BPOs, ARM/Collections, eCommerce, and automotive, among othe... Read more about Cleartouch Cloud Contact Center Platform

4.6 ( 36 reviews )

eCall Business Messaging is a professional Swiss SMS solution designed for all industries. It aims to increase interaction rates with target groups through communication via SMS. High open and interaction rates from recipients ma... Read more about eCall

AudioBot is a cloud-based text-to-speech platform that helps individuals and businesses convert multilingual written text into audio files utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technology. It lets staff members listen to the crea... Read more about AudioBot

A majority of us have come into contact with computer-generated voices at some point. Voice assistants such as Alexa, Cortana, Siri, or Google Home have the capability to read texts aloud, allowing the user to continue to engage in other physical activities such as walking, driving, cooking, and so on. Apart from personal use, this technology, known as text-to-speech, has become increasingly useful in almost all kinds of industries, such as education, healthcare, automotive, and consumer goods.

Text-to-speech software helps boost productivity by enabling text to be converted into speech sounds. For example: With a text-to-speech app on your computer, it will read new messages aloud along with the sender’s name. This will save you the time it takes to stop and read incoming messages, allowing you to multitask with other physical activities.

While there are many text-to-speech software available in the market, some software applications (such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word) along with Android and iOS devices have built-in text-to-speech features with limited functionalities.

This buyers guide explains what text-to-speech software is as well as what you should look for to fit your business or personal needs.

Here’s what we'll cover:

What is text-to-speech software?

Common features of text-to-speech software, what type of buyer are you, benefits of text-to-speech software, key considerations when purchasing text-to-speech software, market trend to understand.

Text-to-speech (TTS) software is a speech synthesizer software that converts text into artificial speech. It is a natural language modeling process that reads digital text aloud to assist people with disabilities or for other uses.

TTS software allows users to see text and hear it read aloud simultaneously. This gives a wider population easy access to digital content.

Voice editor in Murf Studio Software ( Source )

Before purchasing a text-to-speech solution, you should assess what kind of a buyer you are. Most buyers fall into two categories:

For businesses: Buyers in this category belong to different industries which can include customer service, sales and marketing, learning and development, telecommunications, and banking. Whether they publish interactive voice ads and e-learning modules, or serve customers across different countries, text-to-speech software can help optimize customer experiences. These buyers should look for a fully featured software that offers advanced features such as speech recognition, transcripts/chat history, chatbots and collaboration tools, and word prediction capabilities. These features will then provide more personalized experiences with customized messages, better navigation details, and interactive learning sessions.

For personal use: Buyers in this category are people who are looking for convenience or have disabilities. People are spending more time on digital content, and text-to-speech software can help these buyers convert digital content into a multimedia experience by allowing them to listen to news, blogs, or eBooks on the go. A text-to-speech solution with basic features such as multi-language, multi-voice, and content library capabilities should prove beneficial for such buyers. Free text-to-speech software products are suitable for individual or personal use.

Accessibility: Text-to-speech software can assist people with learning and visual disabilities to access and understand digital content easily. For businesses, providing the option to hear anything on your website can make it easier for your customers to digest content when they are juggling multiple tasks or are on the go.

Improved productivity: E-learning professionals and the HR department can prepare learning and onboarding modules for their employees and new hires using TTS software. This will enable them to engage their employees better which improves productivity. Your employees can learn materials or onboard themselves with the help of voice commands anywhere and anytime without actual human assistance.

Improved user experience: Using computerized or automated speech can help sales and marketing teams to offer personalized services, such as voice assistance and product demonstrations. A TTS tool makes telephonic calls more interactive, and you can reach customers in multiple languages across different countries. This helps enhance the user experience with your brand.

Business needs: Whether you are an individual looking for convenience or running your business over the internet, first look for a free text-to-speech service that is compatible with your device (both desktop and mobile) and social media platforms. You’ll also want to look for a tool with all basic features such as text highlighting, multi-language support, and audio file creation. This will enable you to upload files to different social media platforms and customize voices according to your audience. But if you are a midsize or large company, then you will usually want software that offers some advanced features such as privacy control, unlimited storage, content library, and monetization rights capabilities. This will help you enhance your customers’ experience, improve sales processes, or create learning modules and podcasts You can also opt for a subscription-based text-to-speech platform.

Neural text-to-speech (NTTS) services enhance user experience: Voice assistant technology, such as text-to-speech software, has helped people enhance their literacy and reading skills. Businesses are benefiting from the technology by providing a better user experience, increasing web presence, and saving time and money. Software providers are upgrading their solutions by using machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to generate speech from text with highly expressive human-like voices. Known as neural text-to-speech, the technology has a self learning capability that learns from human speech. This will help businesses make interactions with chatbots and virtual assistants more natural and engaging, making it difficult for customers to distinguish between a robot and a human agent.

Note: The application mentioned in this article is an example to show a feature in context and is not intended as an endorsement or recommendation. It has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.

NaturalReader Software

Read many formats,, all in one place.

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.

*All prices are in USD

(Free to use)

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

(One-time payment)

• 2 natural voices included
• All features of Free Version included
• Text to downloadable audio files
• Convert to MP3

Professional

• 4 natural voices included
• All features of Personal Version included
• 6 natural voices included
• All features of Professional Version included
• 5000 images/year for OCR to read from images & scanned PDFs

Convert any text or document into natural-sounding voices.

Supports PDF, Docx, and text documents.

OCR function can convert printed characters into digital text. This allows you to listen to your printed files or edit it in a word-processing program.

OCR can be used to convert screenshots of text from eBook desktop apps, such as Kindle, into speech and audio files.

Converts text into mp3 files for Windows or Mac.

Preserves the original formatting of PDF files

Adjust reading margins to skip reading from headers and footnotes on the page.

Offers a simple way of reading text directly on the page

You can manually modify the pronunciation of a certain word.

*Additional voices and other languages below are available for separate purchase; However the voices cannot stand alone, they only work with paid versions.

$39.50 USD per voice

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How many devices can I install NaturalReader Software on?

How to read selected text, what are the minimum system requirements for mac and pc.

a) NaturalReader for Windows:

Operation system: windows7, Win8, Win8.1 and Win10

Processor: 500Mhz 

Memory: 64 MB (128 recommended)

Free Disk Space: 500MB (Natural Voices may require 600MB free space)

b) NaturalReader for Mac supports Mac OS X 10.11 or later.

What files are supported in NaturalReader Software?

Pdf, txt, doc(x), pages, odt, ppt(x), ods, non-DRM epub, jpeg, and png.

The OCR feature is required to read from image files (jpeg or png), scanned documents, inaccessible PDFs, or screenshots. OCR is included with a paid version only.

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If you see a "Windows protected your PC" notification, please do not be concerned. This is a new version of the software so the Windows network might not recognize the program automatically so they send you this message just as a precaution.

To proceed with the download, click on "More info", then "Run anyway".