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Listnr vs Speechify

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors. Speechify publishes a starting price ($29); Listnr does not. Both have a free tier. Both ship a public API.

ListnrText to speech with voice cloning and podcast hostingSpeechifyReads PDFs, web pages and email out loud

Side by side

FactListnrSpeechify
CategoryText-to-SpeechText-to-Speech
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at—$29 month
Public APIYesYes
PlatformsWeb, APIiOS, Android, Chrome Ext, Web, macOS, API
CompanyListnr, Inc.Speechify Inc.
Launched20202017
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 6, 2026

What our research says

Listnr

Reasonable value if you want TTS plus podcast hosting and an embeddable player on one bill; on raw voice quality alone the specialists are still ahead. Part of its current traffic is simply people migrating off TTS vendors that shut down.

Pros

  • bundles generation, hosting, distribution and an embeddable player, which is unusual at this price point
  • voice cloning and multi-speaker scripts are included rather than gated behind enterprise
  • a real TTS API, so it can sit inside your own product
  • credits refresh monthly and cover video output as well as audio

Cons

  • pricing displays annually by default and the true monthly rate is meaningfully higher
  • credit-to-minutes conversion makes the real cost per finished episode hard to forecast
  • headline voice and language counts aggregate resold engines rather than distinct proprietary models
  • storage caps apply on top of generation limits, which bites on long back catalogues

Speechify

The most complete listen-to-anything reader on a phone, but the $29 monthly sticker is a trap — the same thing is $139 a year, and the free tier is deliberately unpleasant.

Pros

  • Handles almost any input, including scanned pages captured through the camera
  • Voices stay intelligible all the way up to 5x playback
  • One library syncs between phone, browser extension and Mac

Cons

  • Monthly billing costs about 2.5x the annual rate for the same features
  • Free tier is held to 10 robotic voices and 1.5x speed
  • Studio and the developer API are separate products on a separate domain
  • API pricing is unpublished and gated behind a sales conversation

Which one fits

Choose Listnr if you need

  • publishers adding audio versions of articles through an embed
  • creators who want generation and podcast distribution without two subscriptions
  • multilingual voiceover for e-learning and explainer video
  • developers who want a TTS API without an enterprise contract

Choose Speechify if you need

  • Students and professionals working through long PDFs and articles by ear
  • Readers with dyslexia or low vision who need OCR capture plus playback
  • Developers who want the Simba voices without building a reader app

More comparisons

All Listnr alternatives →Browse all Text-to-Speech →