When looking for a text to speech app, many people are torn between Natural Reader and Voice Dream. How good are the apps, and are there better alternatives?

NaturalReader vs Voice Dream Reader

NaturalReader and Voice Dream Reader are two of the most popular text to speech (TTS) platforms currently available. These high-quality apps work on multiple systems, but which one is better? We’re comparing to the two for you right here. If you want the best text to speech software to read your text aloud, it’s only natural to look at comparisons of the two systems. Read on to find out everything you need to know.

About NaturalReader and Voice Dream Reader

Natural Reader is one of the best text to speech platforms on the market. As a cloud-based OCR solution, it’s geared toward personal use. This text to speech software lets you convert PDF documents, Word files, web pages, and more into real-life speech. You can access the app via your computer, tablet, and smartphone. It also enables you to upload files from OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Voice Dream Reader offers a similar reading-aloud experience. The aim of the software is the same—converting web articles, eBooks, and documents into natural speech. You can command this OCR app to read articles while you exercise, work, or drive. There are distraction-free and auto-scroll modes to improve your focus. It works with many widely used platforms, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Pocket, Evernote, Instapaper, and iCloud Drive. The software has a user-friendly interface, labeled buttons, and intuitive VoiceOver controls. There are many other useful features, such as dictionary lookups, plain text highlighting, full-screen reading mode, and embedding notes.

NaturalReader platforms supported

You can use NaturalReader on the following platforms:

• Windows
• iOS (Mac, iPhones, iPads)
• SaaS software
• Android smartphones

You can access NaturalReader in nine different languages:

• British English
• American English
• Spanish
• French
• Swedish
• Dutch
• Portuguese
• Italian
• German

Also, this text to speech software supports various formats:

• TXT
• DOC(X)
• PDF
• ODT
• JPG
• PNG
• RTF
• MP3 streams
• WAV

Voice Dream Reader platforms supported

One of the biggest drawbacks of Voice Dream Reader is compatibility. Namely, it only works on macOS, iPhones, and iPads. Voice Dream is available in nearly 200 voices across 25+ languages, including:

• English
• Dutch
• Japanese
• German
• Italian
• French
• Danish
• Croatian
• Bulgarian
• Greek
• Hebrew

Finally, you can open a wide array of files with this voice reader:

• Word documents
• TXT
• PPT
• PPTX
• PDF files
• PAGE
• KEY
• HTML
• non-DRM ePUB

NaturalReader audience

Most people use Natural Reader for speech synthesis. If you’re suffering from a learning disorder like dyslexia, this OCR app can easily help you understand written text. Whether used on iOS, Android, or Windows, it offers visual cues combined with auditory outputs to help you focus on your writing. Plus, it can help you decode writing by slowly reading text aloud from Bookshare or other sources.

Voice Dream Reader audience

Similarly, Voice Dream Reader is an iOS app for people with communication disabilities. It can help you overcome your visual challenges through clear text pronunciation.

NaturalReader support

If you need help from Natural Reader’s customer service, you can contact their online support desk. All you have to do is enter your name, email address, phone number, and message.

Voice Dream Reader support

Voice Dream offers customer support via email only.

NaturalReader pricing

You can use NaturalReader for free if you’re an online, Apple, or Windows user. This tier is available for 20 minutes a day with premium voices. You'll need to purchase the Premium tier to unlock unlimited in-app access, more formats, and mp3 conversion. It costs around $60 per year or $10 per month. Alternatively, the Premium Plus subscription gives you more than 100 natural-sounding voices for $110 per year or $20 per month. Besides monthly and yearly plans, you can also make one-time payments for online and offline recordings:

• Personal ($99.50)
• Professional ($129.50)
• Ultimate ($199.50)

The more expensive your plan, the more features you’ll be able to use with audiobooks and other formats. You may also want to redistribute the sounds generated by this audio assistant. If so, you’ll need to buy your commercial license ($49 per month or $588 per year). You can reduce the price by sharing the plan with other users.

Voice Dream Reader pricing

Voice Dream goes for $9.99 on the App Store. The standard voice with this purchase is Acapela Heather. Once you buy your plan and set up the app, you can visit the Voice Store and purchase other voices, including NeoSpeech ($2.99) and Acapela ($1.99). Additionally, users can try out the software before buying it with Voice Dream Lite. This free version has pretty much the same features as the paid version. The downside is that it only reads the first 300 characters of your document or text.

NaturalReader reviews and ratings

Natural Reader has a 4.3/5 rating on Google Play. Users praise the app for its ease of use and accessibility to different media. However, they also wish premium voices weren’t so expensive. The software is also glitchy at times, which can prevent users from comprehending text.

Voice Dream Reader reviews and readings

Voice Dream Reader has a 4.6/5 rating on App Store. Most reviews suggest the software has a minimal learning curve. People also say it’s suitable for most age groups. The biggest problem seems to be the sound quality and robotic nature of the converted audio files Also, the app could be faster at reading text files.

NaturalReader training

Natural Training from NaturalReader introduces you to its software with in-depth documents. They describe the features of the app and how to use them.

Voice Dream Reader training

Voice Dream Reader doesn’t offer any training materials or tutorials.

NaturalReader company information

Natural Reader was founded in Vancouver, Canada. The real name of the company is NaturalSoft Ltd. As a leading tech firm, it delivers speech solutions for web browsers and mobile applications.

Voice Dream Reader company information

The developers of Voice Dream started building the app in 2011. The founder, Winston Chen, drew inspiration from nights of solitude while he lived on the Arctic Circle. The software was released a year later (February 2012).

What should you consider besides these two? Speechify

If you want to combine the features of NaturalReader and Voice Dream Reader, you can’t go wrong with Speechify. Widely considered the best text to speech platform around, this Chrome extension and app can elevate your reading comprehension skills. Speechify is designed for two purposes: helping you read faster and understand text despite communication disorders. You can also use it for multitasking, studying, learning a new language, or turning anything into an audiobook simply for entertainment. The software is chock-full of features that will enhance your comprehension. It works with Microsoft Word files, PDFs, web pages, pictures of documents, and virtually any text in your clipboard. Just enter it using a convenient interface, and the system will read it in high-quality, customizable digital voices. Speechify is also much quicker than standard platforms. You can listen at 400 words per minute (twice as many as regular assistants). All this makes Speechify the top choice for reading aloud.