Read&Write alternatives & competitors

Find out more about the Read&Write alternatives and competitors to pick the best TTS reader for your needs.

Finding good assistive technology tools for multiple applications can seem challenging. But that’s expected given the overwhelming number of online and offline choices.

Like many others, perhaps you found Read&Write a top recommendation. But before you jump on board, it’s best to know more about what it does, who it’s for, and what alternatives can better satisfy your needs.

What is Read&Write?

Read&Write is a popular literacy support tool developed by Texthelp. The assistive technology uses text to speech to help students overcome various learning disabilities. It also helps teachers better understand how to assist and grade dyslexic learners.

Text to speech can use computer-generated and artificial intelligence-generated speech to read aloud digital text in different languages and at various playback speeds.

As a literacy support tool, Read&Write can improve the user’s English language decoding and recognition skills, reading abilities, and writing via a multisensory reading experience.

The app can read entire documents aloud using AI-generated voices, highlight text for real-time tracking, and gives users access to dictionaries and custom vocabularies. Everyone can personalize the app for tackling specific languages and topics.

Read&Write has impressive functionality in the educational space thanks to its accurate grammar checker, speech to text feature, word prediction, and visual word representation for enhanced word comprehension.

The app costs $163 annually for students and other users who might need literacy support tools. However, teachers don’t have to worry about pricing because they can use the app for free with access to all vital features.

Users can find different versions of Read&Write for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices and dedicated browser extensions for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

The Read&Write alternatives

Although Read&Write is a popular literacy support tool and TTS reader, some alternatives are worth considering.

Read Aloud

Read Aloud is a simple text to speech reader designed to convert digital text on websites into audio to enhance the user’s learning experience. The software has advanced language processing technology that lets it tackle complex sentence structures and any topic, from social media posts to university course materials.

In addition, the app can read Google Docs, Amazon Kindle eBooks, PDF files, non-DRM epub files, and other file formats.

Although it has some merit as a literacy support tool, the Read Aloud assistive technology mainly focuses on enabling users to listen to written content instead of reading. The text highlighting feature and adjustable playback speed can help users with dyslexia and ADHD stay focused and overcome typical letter, sound, and word confusion. This open-source TTS reader supports eight languages.

Kurzweil 3000

Like Read&Write, Kurzweil 3000 uses text to speech technology to help learners with visual impairments and reading difficulties keep up with their studies and unlock their full potential.

The Kurzweil 3000 app comes with a text magnifier and a dyslexia-friendly font. It can read from a wide range of digital file formats, including locked text from PDF files and screenshots.

Users can listen in real-time while following the text or download the audio conversions in an mp3 format. Because of its educational-oriented design, Kurzweil 3000 contains additional helpful tools like multiple highlighters, a built-in dictionary, templates, tutorials, vocabulary, note-taking, etc.

But unlike many TTS readers, this app includes writing assistance tools that can help users compose and proof school papers.

Amazon Polly

Amazon Polly is a web-based TTS service and voice synthesizer that uses deep learning algorithms to turn digital text into natural-sounding speech. Unlike standalone text to speech readers, this service enables users to integrate the technology into their own apps and even create new TTS readers using the Amazon Polly machine learning platform.

It’s a pricier alternative to standard TTS readers and can have a steeper learning curve.

However, anyone can use it the Amazon Polly SaaS freely to turn up to 5 million characters into speech every month. The limit applies to all supported languages.

Interestingly, some languages benefit from neutral text to speech voices. These narrations are more realistic and fantastic for reading articles aloud.

Murf.ai

Murf.ai offers a cloud-based text to speech reader. But that’s not the bread and butter of the platform. It mainly shines as more of a studio for content creators.

It uses advanced text to speech technology to simplify web page navigation, create realistic voiceovers, and design TTS bots for professional use.

Despite its complexity, the Murf.ai platform is easy to use and enables all users to create high-quality content. It also empowers users with reading difficulties to tap into their hidden potential and let their creativity go wild.

Naturally, the accurate text processing and AI voices make Murf.ai a reliable TTS reader that can help people read and write better or learn foreign languages.

Speechify

Speechify is an award-winning text to speech reader and arguably the most well-rounded on this list. Like others, its first design revolved around improving the reading and language comprehension skills of dyslexic users.

However, it now offers a more balanced set of features with applications in every field, from studying to work productivity and leisure.

Speechify offers AI-generated voices and celebrity voices to make audio narrations more realistic. It uses text-tracking and highlighting to provide a multisensory reading experience to users of all ages.

The platform supports many different languages and can perform accurate translations.

Users can add Microsoft Word files, PowerPoint presentations, Google Docs, and standard TXT files or scan their hard copy documents into the app. 

Speechify can pretty much read any digital text aloud and give it a warm, human tone, creating an immersive experience whether using the mobile app or browser plugins.

Try Speechify today – the TTS reader for all

You can try Speechify for free on Chrome, Safari, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android mobile devices. It won’t take long to notice improvements in your reading abilities and how fast you absorb and retain new information.