Speechify

What it does

Speechify is a text-to-speech application designed to read written content aloud, turning articles, documents, PDFs, and ebooks into listenable audio. Rather than being a voice creation tool for producing content, it is fundamentally a reading tool — you feed it text, and it reads it back to you in a natural-sounding voice at your preferred speed. The platform works across a browser extension, desktop app, iOS, and Android, syncing your reading position and library across devices. It handles a variety of input formats cleanly: you can paste text, upload PDFs, scan physical documents with OCR on the mobile app, or use the browser extension to read any web page. Speed controls go well beyond what most TTS tools offer, with many users listening at 2-3x speed once they acclimate.

Who it's for

The core audience is people who want to consume written content through audio rather than reading. Students use it to listen to textbooks and research papers during commutes or while exercising. Busy professionals use it to get through articles, reports, and emails faster by listening at accelerated speeds. People with dyslexia, ADHD, or visual impairments find it genuinely useful as an accessibility tool — this is one of the use cases where Speechify has the most practical impact. The tool is not designed for content creators who need to produce voiceovers, audiobooks, or audio content for distribution. For that workflow, the voice quality and output controls of ElevenLabs, Murf, or Play.ht are significantly better suited. Speechify is for consuming content, not creating it, and it does that specific job well.

Reading experience and accessibility

The reading experience across platforms is where Speechify justifies its price. The browser extension is the standout — click it on any web page, and the text is immediately available for listening with visual highlighting that tracks the spoken word. This synchronized highlighting is particularly valuable for users with reading difficulties, as it pairs auditory and visual processing. The mobile app handles PDF scanning through OCR with surprising reliability, making it possible to listen to physical textbooks or printed documents without manual transcription. Speed control is granular and smooth, without the pitch distortion that plagues many TTS tools at high speeds. The voice library has expanded considerably, with the better voices sounding natural enough for extended listening sessions. Where the experience falls short is in handling complex document layouts — multi-column PDFs, tables, and documents with heavy formatting can produce disjointed reading order.

The bottom line

Speechify does one thing — converting text to listenable audio — and does it with more polish than most alternatives. The cross-platform sync, browser extension, and OCR scanning create a cohesive reading workflow that is hard to replicate by cobbling together free tools. The pricing is the main point of friction: $139 per year is a meaningful commitment for what amounts to a reading aid, and the free tier is too limited to rely on for regular use. For students processing heavy reading loads, professionals who want to reclaim commute time, and users with accessibility needs, the annual cost is easy to justify through daily use. The Studio tier at $288 per year adds voice cloning and content creation features, but those are better handled by dedicated tools. Speechify earns its place as a reading tool, and that is where its value sits.