You sit down with a pile of reading for school or work. You need to be more excited about it. The very thought of reading all that stuff is exhausting. You just want to get through it. With NaturalReader, you can. This easy-to-use tool can convert all that dry text into audio in a snap. And you can listen to it instead of reading it.
So, what is text-to-speech? It's a technology that converts written text into spoken word. NaturalReader is a popular version of this software. It has a friendly interface and many natural-sounding voices and can help you read online and offline. This article will help you start with NaturalReader to reach your reading goals.
CoeFont also has an excellent text-to-speech tool for generating AI voices for your projects. This smooth-sounding AI voice changer can help you create better presentations, podcasts, videos, and more.
What Is NaturalReader?
NaturalReader
NaturalReader is an AI-powered text-to-speech solution that converts text into human-like audio. It allows you to listen to documents, ebooks, webpages, and more instead of reading on screen. NaturalReader is available for personal, commercial, and educational use. It uses advanced deep-learning neural networks to study human voices and speech patterns. This artificial intelligence generates incredibly natural-sounding human-like voices that can read text aloud.
Is Natural Reader Free?
NaturalReader
Natural Reader offers a free version that limits users to 20 minutes of daily usage. This account includes access to premium voices and is available for online, Windows, and Mac applications.
Users need to subscribe to a paid tier to use the web-based application without restrictions. The Premium tier costs $9.99 monthly or $59.88 if billed annually and includes unlimited access to premium voices, MP3 conversion, and various file formats. A Plus tier provides access to over 100 voices for $19.99 per month or $110 per year. Natural Reader also has paid plans for its downloadable applications. Users can choose from three tiers: Personal ($99.50), Professional ($129.50), and Ultimate ($199.50). These tiers require a one-time payment and are not subscriptions.
If you plan to redistribute audio generated by the Natural Reader process for commercial purposes, you will need a commercial license that costs $49 per month ($588 per year if billed annually). There are also multi-user deals that reduce the cost per seat. Natural Reader has some educational options that allow all students to use the application for free. Overall, the cost of this service, even for commercial use, is very reasonable.
Natural Reader has a versatile text-to-speech engine that reads text aloud from over 20 file formats. These include common document types like Word and TXT, educational PDFs, ebooks, and webpages. The ability to extract text from many sources makes NaturalReader useful for students and professionals.
Humanlike AI Voices in Multiple Languages
Natural Reader has a wide selection of natural-sounding AI voices that can read text aloud in dozens of languages. You can also choose from different accents and dialects within each language. This greatly benefits language learners and people who want to customize their speech experience.
Adjustable Reading Speed and Voice Selection
Natural Reader lets you control how fast the speech sounds, which can be helpful for both learning and personal preferences. You can also choose from the various AI voices to find the one you are most comfortable with.
Emotive Speech Styles for Dynamic Narration
Natural Reader also has many customizable features that enhance your speech experience. For example, the software has different voice styles for reading that let you convey different tones and emotions. This is especially useful for reading books and stories to create dynamic narrations with natural speech that sounds like a human.
Downloadable Audio Files for Offline Access
Another useful feature of Natural Reader is that you can download audio files of your speech for offline access. The software lets you save your files as MP3s, which are compatible with almost all devices. This way, you can take your audio files on the go and listen to them anytime, anywhere.
Mobile Apps, Chrome Extension, and Desktop Applications
Natural Reader has a full suite of applications to help you take your reading and writing to the next level. You can use the web-based version, download the software onto your Windows or Mac computer, or use the mobile apps for iOS and Android. There’s also a Chrome extension for reading web pages aloud.
14 Best NaturalReader Alternatives for Text-to-Speech
NaturalReader
1. CoeFont: Unleash the Power of AI Voice Technology
CoeFont’s web-based solution provides a state-of-the-art AI voice generator and voice changer technology. It allows users to create distinct digital voices by converting text to speech or cloning existing voices using advanced AI algorithms and deep learning techniques.
CoeFont has a library of over 10,000 voices in multiple languages, making it an excellent choice for various applications like video creation, live streaming, voice acting, and more.
2. Murf AI: Create Natural-Sounding Voice Overs for Any Project
Murf AI is an advanced AI-driven platform that turns written text into realistic spoken audio, simplifying the creation of voiceovers for various applications. Whether you’re putting together a presentation, an audiobook, or educational content, Murf AI makes it easy to add professional-sounding narration.
The platform’s voice generator turns scripts into speech with over 120 distinct AI-generated voices across 20 languages, including widely spoken ones like Spanish, French, Japanese, Russian, Italian, German, and Portuguese. This flexibility makes it suitable for global projects. You can choose the ideal voice and accent to suit your needs, enhancing your audio content with natural, human-like quality.
Pros
High-quality, natural-sounding AI voices across multiple languages.
User-friendly interface suitable for beginners.
Affordable alternative to professional voiceover services.
Extensive customization options for voiceovers.
Collaboration features for team projects.
Cons
Some voices may sound more robotic than others.
It might not replace the need for human voiceovers for specific content.
3. Azure Text To Speech: Generate Speech With Emotion
With Microsoft Azure's text-to-speech service, users can generate realistic speech that matches the intonation and emotion of human voices. Azure supports an extensive library of 400 neural voices across 140 languages and variants and speaking styles, including newscast, shouting, whispering, emotions like cheerful and sad, and customer service.
The platform also allows users to tune their voice output for different scenarios by quickly adjusting rate, pitch, pronunciation, pauses, and more. Users can also use speech synthesis markup language (SSML) to define lexicons and control speech parameters to customize their speech output. Microsoft Azure TTS is also available as an API integration that users can integrate into any system and transform into a speech-enabled application.
Pros
Covers 140+ languages and dialects and offers over 500 standard AI voices.
Offers extensive customization options for voice output through SSML.
Benefits from Azure’s robust cloud infrastructure, ensuring scalability and reliability.
Smoothly integrates with other Microsoft Azure services and third-party tools.
Cons
It can be expensive for high-volume usage compared to some alternatives.
Requires a learning curve to utilize advanced features and integrations fully.
Relies on an internet connection for cloud-based functionalities.
Needs to be more accurate with pronunciation and word recognition.
4. Lovo: Create Custom Voices for Your Brand
Lovo.ai is an AI-powered text-to-speech software for various applications such as animation voiceovers, eLearning, audio ads, audiobooks, gaming, and more. It offers two main modules - Lovo Studio and Lovo API - that cater to businesses and individuals looking for voice AI solutions for their marketing and customer service needs. With Lovo, users can create custom voices that sound human, overcoming language barriers and helping to establish brand identity. The Lovo Studio offers a wide range of voice options, while the Lovo API allows real-time conversion of texts into speech in 33 different languages. With Lovo, users can create unlimited audio files and refine their voiceovers until perfect.
Pros
Add background music to the voices
Provides options for selecting a Character based on emotions
The output of voices is quite realistic
Cons
UI/UX feels plain and boring
The choice of voices is a bit limited
A handful of voices sound robotic
5. Speechelo: AI Voiceovers Made Simple
Speechelo simplifies AI voiceover creation for various purposes, offering convenience and versatility to users. Beyond its ease of use, Speechelo empowers entrepreneurs to enhance their marketing efforts by creating persuasive sales videos that resonate with their audience.
Similarly, educators can leverage Speechelo to develop engaging educational content, while marketers can craft impactful promotional materials. With a wide selection of voices available in over 23 languages, Speechelo caters to diverse linguistic needs, ensuring effective communication across different demographics and regions.
Pros
It has an intuitive user interface with no learning curve. You can create voiceovers in 3 steps.
It is an online service. You can use it without any software downloading.
Support multi-language and multi-tone to meet a variety of video needs.
It offers a 60-day money-back guarantee. Ask for a refund if you don’t think it’s human-speaking.
Cons
The library offers only 30 unnatural voices that can be recognized as AI-generated.
Adjustments you make to the text, such as adding pauses, are counted in the character count.
You can’t use the generated voices for commercials. You need to upgrade to the Pro lifetime license to unlock this feature.
In its terms and conditions, Speechelo states that the standard license can generate up to 500 characters monthly. This differs from the limit of 700 words per generation advertised on the website homepage.
6. PlayHT: Versatile Text-to-Speech Tool for Audio Content
Play.ht is a web-based platform for generating high-quality text-to-speech. With its user-friendly interface, users can type in their text and select their preferred language, voice style, and speed to generate speech quickly. Play.ht offers over 907 AI voices supporting 142 languages, making it suitable for personal and commercial use.
Additionally, it can fine-tune speech tone with voice inflections and customize speech pronunciations. Play.ht also offers podcast hosting capabilities, allowing users to publish their podcasts to major platforms like iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Users can also convert their WordPress blog posts directly into audio files using their WordPress plugin.
Pros
Allows to add team members
The quality of voices is amazing
Premium voices in multiple languages and accents
Cons
Have to upgrade to expensive plans to use premium voices
Some features, like the pronunciation library, are only available to premium users
7. IBM TTS: Text-to-Speech for Business Applications
Businesses and content creators can use IBM Watson text-to-speech service to convert written text to natural-sounding speech that can be used across a variety of voice-driven applications from voice-automated chatbots to speech-enabled tools for the disabled or visually impaired to home-automation solutions.
Watson TTS offers a wide range of synthetic voices in 13 different languages. Users must use SSML tags to customize the speech output on IBM Watson TTS. The software service also provides APIs that use IBM's speech-synthesis capabilities to synthesize text into natural-sounding speech in various languages, dialects, and voices.
Pros
Uses advanced AI for conversion
Overcome audio generation problems of content creators
It can be integrated with other apps/software
Support multiple languages to assist every user around the globe
Amazon Polly Text to Speech is a cloud-based service that converts text into realistic speech. It utilizes advanced deep-learning technologies to produce natural-sounding speech. Amazon Polly has gained widespread acceptance in various industries, such as entertainment, marketing, contact centers, assistive apps and devices, and personal voice assistants.
Pros
Reliable TTS services include chatbot audio, help desk queries, and interactive voice response (IVR) for various use cases.
Simple API operations that generate lifelike speech, allowing developers to build speech-enabled applications quickly.
Reasonable pricing for AWS customers, with free tier users receiving five million characters every month for the first year.
High-quality voices can speak English and a foreign language in the same sentence.
Integration with popular platforms like WordPress and Medium through plug-ins makes creating audio content easy.
Cons
Limited support for non-text input and non-audio output files.
Separate applications like Amazon Transcribe do not offer built-in speech recognition services like dictation, voice typing, or transcription.
The user interface may be intimidating to non-developers, as generating speech with specific requirements requires manual command entry and knowledge of SSML tags.
Limited range of voice and language options compared to some other text-to-speech solutions.
9. Listnr: Create Audio Content for Podcasts and More
Listnr is an innovative AI-powered text-to-speech solution that provides high-quality voice outputs in over 75 languages and 600 human-like voices. Its built-in editor allows you to make adjustments, such as adding pauses and changing pronunciations.
Listnr offers the option to generate a custom audio player that can be embedded into websites, making it a valuable tool for creating and managing podcasts. The tool supports advertising for monetization purposes and the distribution of audio content on platforms such as Spotify, Apple, and Google Podcasts.
Pros
Saves time in creating audio-based content from existing posts
Natural-sounding voices
Built-in audio embedding feature
Many languages and accents to choose from
Cons
It can have bugs or lag with big text
Experienced a bug that caused a user to lose words from their balance
Some accents are more elaborate than others
Automatic failures can occur, requiring manual correction.
10. TTS Reader: Listen to Any Text Instantly Online
TTS Reader is a user-friendly online tool that converts text into natural-sounding speech. It allows users to listen to texts from various sources, such as web pages, PDFs, ebooks, and custom input. With its intuitive interface and seamless experience, TTS Reader enhances multitasking, comprehension, and accessibility through the power of text-to-speech technology.
Pros
An intuitive user interface for easy text-to-speech conversion without needing file downloads or complicated apps.
Automatically highlights the text it narrates, making it easier to follow.
Pronunciation corrections and rich text formatting options for improved accuracy and readability.
Ability to skip paragraphs or lines while reading, allowing users to customize their listening experience.
Multilingual capabilities with natural-sounding voices in different accents and languages.
Cons:
Limited voice customization options compared to some other text-to-speech solutions.
The free version may be limited, with additional features available through a premium subscription.
The alternative option of hearing the audio recording of a random, exciting article may not be helpful for everyone.
It may not offer advanced features like voice cloning or real-time team collaboration.
11. Narakeet: Create Voiceovers for Video and Audio Projects
Narakeet is a text-to-speech platform designed to simplify the process of creating voiceovers for audio and video content. It offers an alternative to traditional voice recording, editing, and synchronization tasks.
Narakeet also serves as a video presentation creator, enabling the transformation of presentations from PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote into videos with integrated voiceovers.
Pros
Top-up on-demand pricing without set-up fees or recurring costs.
Provides video creation capabilities along with text-to-speech.
Cons
User Interface needs improvement.
Some voices may sound robotic.
Voice cloning is not present.
The free version may be limited, with most features available through paid plans.
12. Speechify: Text-to-Speech for Learning and Accessibility
Speechify is a reading app and Chrome extension that aims to assist in reading for two core purposes: improving reading speed and helping individuals with reading difficulties such as ADHD and dyslexia. The cloud-based solution is limited in generating new speech, but Speechify offers a text-to-speech API for businesses.
This API helps increase engagement and accessibility for content publishers. The app features various customization options, including multiple playback speeds, text highlighting, natural-sounding voice accents, and celebrity voices.
Pros
Clean and intuitive interface for multiple platforms (desktop, Chrome app, and mobile)
Efficient and friendly customer support
Control the speed of voices easily
Cons
Minor bugs exist, but the company quickly fixes them
Limited features with the free plan and upgrade to premium are required for full benefits.
13. Typecast: Create Audiobooks, Video Narration, and More
Typecast is an AI-powered voice generator and video editing software. It provides services for a wide range of audiences and allows the creation of a wide variety of content, such as audiobooks, educational videos, sales videos, documentaries, and training videos. The platform has two main tools: Typecast Audio and Typecast Video.
Typecast Audio provides the ability to generate text-to-speech audio in over 300 voices. Users can type or upload a script, adjust the tone and delivery, and choose from templates for different use cases. Typecast Video integrates AI speech synthesis with videos to create virtual characters and experiences. By inputting video transcripts, users can create voice-generated videos. Additionally, users can adjust the facial expressions of their virtual voice actors.
Pros
Wide variety of emotions and tones that AI voices can convey.
Ability to adjust the tone and emotion of the voice to create unique voiceovers.
Intuitive user interface that makes it easy to use even for beginners.
High-quality and realistic AI voices.
Cons
The free plan offers limited trial characters(voices)
Complex pricing structure with feature lock-ins!
No customer reviews on g2, capterra, etc
14. FakeYou: Generate Voiceovers From 3,000+ Voices
FakeYou is an online tool that utilizes deep fake technology to generate custom voiceovers from text inputs. With a vast library of 3,000 voices, the platform offers many options for users looking to imitate celebrities, characters, and even regular people. Whether you're looking to enhance your content or add a unique touch to your project, FakeYou provides a versatile solution for voice generation.
Featuring an intuitive and user-friendly interface, FakeYou leverages AI algorithms to generate convincing voiceovers. The platform continues to improve its output quality with regular updates. Users can also edit and save their creations in popular file formats for later use.
Pros
Easy-to-use interface with a text box and a " Speak" button
Wide selection of voices (3000+ options) with the ability to search for specific voices
Option to clear the text box and try different texts
Based on voice cloning technology
Cons
Voice quality may be better than text-to-speech tools using AI and machine learning technology.
Voice selection may not be as diverse or customizable as other text-to-speech tools.
Dependent on community contributors for voice building may result in inconsistent quality or limited options.
Pros and Cons of NaturalReader
NaturalReader
NaturalReader offers several advantages that make it a strong text-to-speech contender.
1. High-Quality Voices
NaturalReader employs neural speech synthesis to produce realistic voices, making it remarkably effective for generating engaging audio content.
2. User-Friendly Interface
The simple and intuitive interface is easy to navigate, making it accessible for users of all levels. This ease of use is crucial for quickly converting text to speech without a steep learning curve.
3. Versatility
NaturalReader supports various formats and platforms, making it a flexible tool for different use cases, from personal learning to professional presentations.
4. Customization
Features like the pronunciation editor and voice editor allow for a high degree of customization, enabling users to tailor the output to their specific needs.
5. Quick and Efficient
NaturalReader can quickly generate speech, particularly useful for users needing immediate results for projects or presentations.
6. Multi-Platform Support
NaturalReader is compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices. Besides NaturalReader software, you can also use the Chrome extension to convert text into natural-sounding audio online.
The Bad Stuff: Cons of Natural Reader
1. Punctuation and Cadence Issues
NaturalReader sometimes struggles with proper punctuation and reading cadence, especially in complex sentences. Users needing seamless and natural speech synthesis for professional projects might seek alternatives that better handle these nuances.
2. Subscription Model and Cost
The cost of premium subscriptions can be a concern for some users, especially if they face issues accessing paid features. This highlights the importance of reliable customer support and cost-effective solutions.
3. OCR and Scanning Limitations
The OCR feature, while helpful, can be unreliable with complex documents or poor-quality scans.
4. Voice Options and Robotic Sound
Despite the quality, some voices still sound robotic with technical jargon. This may cost you time to get a well-performing read-aloud voice.
5. App Stability and Bugs
Occasional bugs, such as skipping lines in PDFs, can disrupt the user experience.
6. Interface Issues
Some interface features, like manual page advancement for long documents, could be more convenient. A streamlined interface can significantly enhance overall usability.
NaturalReader is a text-to-speech software that allows you to listen to documents, books, articles, emails, and more instead of reading on screen. This opens up a world of opportunities. For one, it allows you to multitask by listening to information instead of reading it on screen. This is also useful for individuals with visual impairments or other disabilities that make reading difficult.
Support for Struggling and Reluctant Readers
NaturalReader can boost learning outcomes for struggling and reluctant readers. The software’s audio capabilities create an accessible environment for individuals with reading disabilities like dyslexia. NaturalReader can improve comprehension by simultaneously playing text and highlighting it as it’s read aloud. This supports dual auditory and visual input that aids learning.
Create Audio Files for Any Purpose
NaturalReader makes creating audio files and voiceovers for videos, podcasts, training materials, and other commercial applications easy. With a wide range of natural-sounding voices, you can find the best one to suit your audience and goals.
Web and App Accessibility Features
NaturalReader improves web and app accessibility with its Chrome extension. Once downloaded, the extension allows you to select text on any webpage or web-based application and have it read aloud with NaturalReader's speech capabilities.
Support for Students and Educators
NaturalReader can assist both students and educators. The software lets students listen to class materials independently or allows teachers to provide audio to their classes.
Try CoeFont's AI Voice Changer for Free Today
CoeFont’s cloud-based platform offers powerful AI voice generator and voice changer technology. It allows users to create natural-sounding digital voices by converting text to speech or cloning existing voices using advanced AI algorithms and deep learning techniques.
With a library of over 10,000 voices in multiple languages, CoeFont provides versatile voice options for various applications, such as video creation, live streaming, voice acting, and more.