What Is Speechify? A Reader That Turns Text Into Audio
By Joris van Huët · Speechify's own site
The short answer: if your reading pile is PDFs, analyst reports and long Google Docs, Speechify Premium at $139 a year turns them into audio at up to 5x speed, while the free plan stops at 1.5x with 10 robotic voices (pricing page, checked on 26 October 2026). Speechify now calls itself a voice AI assistant: a reader first, with voice typing, summaries, AI podcasts and an agent product added around it. It suits a marketing lead who reads for a living and would rather listen on the move.
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Before you pay:
- Do the year-or-month sum. Premium on the web is $29 a month or $139 a year (pricing page). For example, 12 x $29 = $348, so the yearly plan is cheaper once you keep it longer than 4 months ($139 / $29 = 4.8).
- Start from where your files already live. The web app imports PDF, .doc, .docx, .txt, ePub, RTF and HTML, takes pasted links, and connects Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive (import guide).
- Measure the backlog, not the minutes. Count the reports waiting to be read today; two weeks into Premium, count again.
What it does
The homepage describes "your voice AI layer across every device": apps for iOS, Android, Mac and Windows, a web app, and Chrome and Edge extensions. The reader highlights text as it plays, skips headers, footers, citations and URLs, scans printed pages with the camera, and reads Gmail and Google Docs inside the browser. Premium adds 1,000+ natural voices in 60+ languages, AI summaries and chat about what you are reading, voice typing, and AI podcasts made from a document.
Two products sit beside the reader with their own pricing: Speechify Studio for voiceovers, dubbing and AI video, and Speechify Work, which the help centre calls "your team of AI agents" for research, document analysis and memos, on a plan called Speechify Max with 2,500 credits a month.
Who it suits
People who process a lot of text alone: a marketing lead with competitor teardowns, a founder with board packs, a content team proofreading drafts by ear. Sensitive files can be encrypted on your device before upload (encryption article).
It suits less well a team that needs to publish audio. The reader is a listening product; voiceovers belong in Studio, a separate subscription whose commercial usage rights start on Studio Starter at $100 a year (Studio pricing, checked on 26 October 2026).
Premium, by store
Checked on 26 October 2026: on the web, Premium is $29 a month billed monthly or $139 a year billed yearly (pricing page). Speechify's cost article lists the same plan at $139.99 a year through the Apple App Store and $99.99 a year through Google Play.
Where you subscribe also decides where you cancel. A trial renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before it ends, and a store subscription is cancelled in that store, not on the web (cancellation article). A trial that rolls into a paid plan unless you act a day early is how the subscription is sold; put the end date in your calendar the day you start.
Against ElevenLabs and NaturalReader
ElevenLabs is built for producing audio rather than listening to it: voice generation, cloning, dubbing and agents on one credit pool, with 10,000 free credits a month (ElevenLabs pricing, checked on 26 October 2026). If the output is a file other people hear, look there; if the listener is you, Speechify.
NaturalReader splits its apps into Personal, for listening, and Commercial, for voiceovers meant for public or business use, plus EDU licences (homepage). The licence split is the deciding question: what you are allowed to do with the audio.
Getting going
How to use Speechify works through a reading backlog from import to shared notes, with an agent memo checked by a person at the end.
FAQ
Can I download what Speechify reads?
Yes, as MP3, the whole document or selected pages, in a voice you choose; celebrity voices cannot be downloaded and fall back to the John voice (MP3 article).
Does one subscription cover all my devices?
Yes. Speechify says Premium works across devices as long as you sign in with the same login (cost article).
Do AI summaries work on encrypted files?
No. AI features, sharing and Copy Link are off for encrypted files, while listening works as usual (encryption article).