Through text-to-speech extensions on your web browser—you can listen to text on any webpage instead of reading it. Here are the best five.
It seems like text-to-speech add-ons for popular web browsers like Google Chrome are popping up like mushrooms after rain. They range from free to premium, with all of them offering unique features to make your experience more enjoyable.
Nevertheless, it can be quite hard for a person to choose the right TTS extension if they’re new to this technology. But there’s no need to despair. In the following text, we’ll list our top-5 picks with all their pros and cons to make your choice easier.
Read Aloud
The first pick on our list is Read Aloud. This is a free, open-source browser extension and supports over 40 different languages. As such, it’s a perfect choice for anyone on a tight budget who enjoys listening more than they do reading.
Aside from reading content in 40 different languages, Read Aloud supports various formats like Google Docs, PDF, Amazon Kindle, and many others. It’s also simple to use. All you have to do is right-click on the selected text and pick the Read Aloud option.
Users can also change the reading speed, volume, and pitch of the AI narrator. However, the narrator itself is pretty basic. If you want to change the Wavenet free voice, you’ll need to purchase third-party ones, which is a bit complicated, requiring tutorials and permissions.
NaturalReader
Next up, we have NaturalReader. This is a smart extension that can cope quite well with various forms of digital text, including PDFs, articles, and emails. Nevertheless, it’s something else that puts it on this list.
Namely, NaturalReader has an immersive reader mode that allows dyslexia fonts to make reading easier for—you’ve guessed it—dyslexics. This mode rids the text of any distractions, including aggressive ads on web pages.
NaturalReader is also simple to use. You can activate it through a keyboard shortcut that’s set to Alt + R on default. It also allows you to listen to a text from any paragraph or sentence, unlike some others. All that for a fee from $100 to $200, depending on the version.
Talkie
Another text to speech extension for web browsers on this list is Talkie. It comes in two versions—free and premium. The free version is rather simple, but it’s not useless. It can do all the basic stuff an average person needs a TTS app to do.
Talkie detects the language itself and sets an appropriate voice-over to accommodate the reading. Unfortunately, for those unwilling to pay for the premium version, Talkie has a default voice in English that you can’t change. But, that’s what you get from freeware.
When it comes to the premium version, there isn’t a set price. It depends on how much you’re willing to use Talkie. Therefore, the amount you’re going to pay solely depends on how much text you’re looking to transcribe into audio.
Snap&Read
Talking about great text to speech software can’t come about without mentioning Snap&Read. This is one of the richest TTS extensions for Google Chrome when it comes to features that it offers.
Snap&Read can transcribe all sorts of text formats, from PDFs to Google Docs. Moreover, it can also turn handwritten text into audio due to its optical character recognition (OCR) tool. You just snap a screenshot of the text and select the rectangular icon on the sidebar.
There’s a free trial version of Snap&Read after which you can purchase it for a monthly fee of $4.
Speechify
Our last pick is the best text-to-speech extension for Google Chrome—Speechify. Aside from making easy work out of any digital text format, Speechify offers its users more than 150 male and female voices in over 30 languages. Furthermore, you can highlight and bookmark passages and start from the middle of the text.
Speechify also uses optical character recognition, allowing you to snap photos of personal notes or documents and turn them into natural-sounding audio.
FAQ
Is there a Chrome extension for text to speech?
Yes, there are many text-to-speech extensions for Google Chrome. Nevertheless, not all of them offer as much as Speechify. With its over 150 premium voices and 30+ languages, Speechify sets itself apart from all other read-aloud extensions out there.
What is the best text to speech extension?
Speechify is the number one text-to-speech extension for both Google Chrome and Safari web browsers. It offers the most to its users and is fairly easy to use.
Is there an extension that will read text aloud?
There are countless read-aloud extensions out there. Some of the best include Speechify, Read Aloud, and Natural Reader.
How do I turn on text to speech in Chrome?
Regardless of which text to speech Chrome extension you use, you’ll have an icon in the toolbar of the browser which allows for activating the read-aloud feature.
Is there a Chrome extension for text to speech?
There are numerous speech voice reader extensions for Google Chrome, with the best one being Speechify due to its versatility and easy-to-use interface.
What is the best text to speech extension?
Speechify is the best-rated text to speech extension for both Google Chrome and Safari web browsers. It works on all popular operating systems (iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS). Add it to your browser, and you’ll immediately find out why.
How do I turn on text to speech in Chrome?
First, you need to add a text-to-speech extension to Google Chrome. You can do that at the Chrome Web Store, where you type text-to-speech and pick an extension that seems best to you. Our advice—choose Speechify and turn any text into a podcast in one click.
How do I read text aloud in Chrome?
For Google Chrome to read text aloud to you, you must first add a text to speech extension like Speechify from Chrome Web Store.
What is the best extension for text to speech?
Speechify offers the most to its users, with over 150 natural-sounding voices in over 30 different languages. It’s available for both Google Chrome and Safari web browsers.
Is there a way to read text aloud?
Through the use of text to speech apps like Speechify, you can listen to any digital text instead of reading it yourself.
What is a good text to speech extension for Chrome?
Some fine text-to-speech extensions for Google Chrome include Amazon Polly and Microsoft Azure. However, if you want the best, you should opt for Speechify. It offers more than all other extensions with a high-quality API.
