A cheaper alternative to Speechify
Speechify is the best-known read-aloud app, and also one of the most expensive. Here is what else is out there, with prices taken from the official pages, and what Readotte does and does not do.
Why look for an alternative to Speechify?
Mostly for the price: Speechify's Premium plan is listed at $29 a month on its official page, and the free plan is limited to basic voices. To listen to a few lectures or articles a week, that is a lot.
Some people also want a tool that runs in the browser, with no app to install.
How much does Readotte cost?
Listening is free and needs no account, for about 10 minutes a day. Readotte Plus costs €3.99 a month, VAT included, no commitment: listening with no daily limit, within a fair use of about 20 hours a month, plus MP3 download.
You can stop renewal in one click from your account, and the plan stays active until the end of the paid month.
What does Speechify do better?
Speechify has mobile apps, a browser extension and can read scanned documents, which Readotte cannot. It also offers many more voices and languages.
If you read in several languages, or mostly photographed paper documents, Speechify or another tool with OCR will serve you better.
What about ElevenReader, free for 10 hours a month?
ElevenReader offers 10 free hours of listening a month, according to its official page, which is more generous than Readotte's 10 minutes a day. The hours do not roll over from one month to the next.
If its free plan is enough for you, it is a good option; Readotte stands out with a €3.99 subscription once you go beyond the free amount.
What does Readotte actually do?
You upload a PDF, paste an article link or a text, and Readotte reads it while highlighting the sentence and the word being spoken. PDF layout is rebuilt (headings, lists, paragraphs), without headers or page numbers.
It offers 10 voices, 5 in English (with US and UK accents) and 5 in French, speed from 0.75× to 3×, and pitch, warmth and clarity settings. There is nothing to install: everything happens in the browser.
- No mobile app or browser extension for now.
- No scanned PDFs (OCR) for now.
- MP3 for personal use only: no publishing or reselling.
| Tool | Listed price | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Readotte | free about 10 min a day; Plus €3.99/month (MP3 included) | no account to listen, no commitment, French and English |
| Speechify | Premium: $29/month official page, checked on 23 October 2026 | free plan limited to basic voices |
| ElevenReader | free 10 h/month; Ultra $11/month official page, checked on 23 October 2026 | hours don't roll over Where they are better: 10 free hours a month |
| NaturalReader | Lite: $13.90/month or $79/year official page, checked on 23 October 2026 | audio for personal use only |
| Narakeet | $0.20/min (30-min pack for $6) official page, checked on 23 October 2026 | Where they are better: credits never expire |
| TTSReader | $10.99/month or $99/year official page, checked on 23 October 2026 |
Compared use : listen to a PDF or an article
Listen to your document
PDF with selectable text, 25 MB max. Scanned PDFs (images only) are not read yet.
ListenFrequently asked questions
Is Readotte really subscription-free?
Free listening needs no account and no card. The Plus plan is a monthly subscription at €3.99, which you can cancel in one click.
Where are my documents processed?
The text is extracted and read by our servers in Europe (Google Cloud in Belgium). The PDF file is not kept, only its text is, until you delete it.