Say Bye to Natural Reader: 5 TTS Alternatives You Must Try!

Text-to-speech tools are useful tools that transform written text into spoken words. They are designed to help people who struggle with reading or prefer listening to content.

Thanks to advanced technologies like Natural Language Processing, these tools have evolved and now generate voices that closely resemble human speech.

NaturalReader is one such text-to-speech tool that has been around for a while.

However, the advancements in Natural Language Processing systems have pushed the TTS tools to evolve.

And this has brought forth numerous applications that closely mimic human voices, making them nearly indistinguishable.

Compared to the latest TTS tools available at a much more affordable price, the features and voices in NaturalReader seem obsolete mainly due to their limited language options and robotic voices.

 

 

So if you are looking for the best alternatives to Natural Reader that better suit your needs, this blog post is for you.

We have listed a few noteworthy Natural Reader alternatives that will surely interest you!

If you want a TTS tool that is affordable, allows you to customize, offers different voices, or has special features, these alternatives are good options for your text-to-speech needs.

We will explore each alternative’s overview, pricing, and key features, equipping you with the necessary information to make a well-informed choice.

Let’s dig in,

1. Animaker Voice
2. Murf.ai
3. Wellsaid Labs
4. Play.ht
5. Resemble.ai

1. Animaker Voice

Animaker Voice is a simple, free, AI-powered, online text-to-speech tool for creating realistic voiceovers. With the help of an AI engine, it helps to create voiceovers that sound like real humans.

 

 

With Animaker Voice, you can access over 300 unique voices in more than 40 languages. 

You can create unique voiceovers just by entering your script, whether for entertainment or educational purposes.

Wanna create an audiobook? You can use Animaker Voice to do that. In case you are looking for tips to create an audiobook, check out this blog - How to make an audiobook? 

This is just one use case. Similarly, you can create your own voiceovers for podcasts, tik tok videos, youtube shorts, and likes. 

To get started, you just need to create a free account, and you can start creating your voices immediately without needing a credit card. 

Yes! It’s a freemium model where you can explore all the app's features without paying. 

Animaker Voice offers several key features for customizing your voice,

Gender - You can choose between male and female voices.

Language - There are over 40 plus languages available.

Voice - You can select specific voices within the chosen gender and language.

Auto-Enhancement feature - This AI-based feature enhances the voice output automatically, adjusting factors like breath effect, speed, and pitch. You just need to enable this feature, and boom, Animaker Voice does the magic for you.

Newscaster feature - This option makes the voice sound like a newsreader.

Pitch, Speed, and Volume Controls - You can adjust the voice's pitch, speed, and volume as per your voiceover needs.

Whisper Effect -  Animaker Voice offers a unique whisper effect to make the AI voice sound like it's whispering a secret. No, I am not kidding! With Animaker Voice, you can actually make voiceovers. 

Download Format - The best part about Animaker Voice, compared to the other TTS alternatives, is that it allows free users to download up to five voices per month in .MP3 format directly. 

You can download your voiceovers in .MP3/.WAV/.AAC formats using the Voice Pro Plan. Aren’t these features so cool that they can indeed make the generated voice sound human?

Animaker Voice offers different pricing plans:

1. Free Plan (Free Forever): Export up to five voices for free each month and access all features.
2. Voice Pro Plan: Starting at $19 per month (billed annually), it provides up to 100 voice downloads per month, unlimited project creation, an auto-enhancement feature, priority support, and access to over 200 premium human-like voices.
3. Enterprise Plan: Depending on team size and needs, custom pricing options are available for businesses.

It offers up to 1000 voice downloads per month and includes access to all Voice Pro features and Animaker Video Creation Suite.

Overall, Animaker Voice can be one of the best TTS alternatives to Natural Reader, as the possibilities for creating realistic human-like voices are endless. Try it today by signing up for free. 

You can also check out the tutorial for easy steps on converting text to speech. 

 

 

Alternatively, if you are looking for a textual guide, check out this blog - How to make computer generated voice.

2. Murf.ai

Murf is an online tool that uses artificial intelligence to generate voiceovers and create voice-over videos from text. It uses advanced speech synthesis technology to make the voices sound natural.

 

 

Let’s have a look at Murf’s Key features, 

Voice-overs options - You can create voiceovers in 20 languages using over 130 different voices. This is great for e-learning, business presentations, and video games.

Murf Studio - Murf Studio makes it easy to create "voice-over videos" and presentations. You can quickly turn your text into audio and combine it with images to create seamless "voice-over videos" in just a few minutes.

Timeline Feature - Murf Studio includes a timeline feature that allows you to add films or photographs and adjust their timing. By using the blocks in the timeline, you can create perfect video timing within minutes.

Free Music - Murf Studio provides a collection of royalty-free audio files that you can use in your projects. The background music files are labeled based on use cases and moods, making it easy to find the right music for your needs.

Though it has a freemium model, you can not download voiceovers for free. You will have to upgrade to a premium version. Here are Murf.ai’s pricing plans:

1. Free Plan: This plan is more of a trial option and does not allow downloads. It offers limited features, including a single-user account, 10 minutes of transcription, and voice generation.
   
2. Pro Plan starts at $26/month and includes unlimited downloads, commercial usage rights, 48 hours of voice creation, and 24 hours of transcription per year. It also provides access to support chat and help features.
3. Team Plan starts at $52/month and allows up to 3 users, and includes 144 hours of AI text-to-speech and 72 hours of transcription per year.

These plans provide flexibility and options based on your usage and team size.

3. Wellsaid Labs

The WellSaid Labs Text-to-Speech tool is an AI-driven platform that transforms text into speech, creating lifelike and natural-sounding audio.

 

 

Using sophisticated deep-learning algorithms, this tool generates high-quality speech that closely resembles human speech.

It is well-suited for various applications, including e-learning, audiobooks, and voiceovers for videos, among others.

Let’s have a look at the key features of Wellsaid Labs,

Tone & Speed - What sets this tool apart is its ability to customize the tone and speed of the generated voice, allowing users to achieve their desired style.

Voice Recognition - WellSaid is a platform that offers different voice recognition services. They have tools like WellSaid Studio, WellSaid API, and WellSaid Avatars. These tools help with synthetic voice, text-to-speech, and managing projects.

Voice Avatars - With WellSaid, customers can choose from different voice avatars and use them to create voiceovers from scripts. They can also share project files with team members to get feedback and work together on productions.

Voice Infrastructure - WellSaid's voice infrastructure allows companies to add voice features to their existing services and tools. This means clients can create their own branded voice avatars, add voice to apps and products, and use the technology in their own production tools.

Wellsaid APIs - The platform's API service uses a technology called RESTful Architecture. It can render and deliver mp3 streams in real-time. Clients can test their prototypes in the API Sandbox, which can connect to their internal tools. It can handle a large number of avatar characters every month.

Wellsaid Labs is available in different pricing plans (billed annually),

1. Free Plan (Limited Period) - Users can try out all the avatars for only one week. Access to all the features is provided.
2. Maker Plan - starts at $44 per month, offers 3,000 downloads, 5 projects, 30+ voice styles, and 24 voice avatars.
3. Creative Plan - starts at $89 per month, offers 9,000 downloads, 50 projects, 80+ voice styles, and live chat support.
4. Teams Plan - starts at $79 per user per month, offers 100 projects, collaboration workspace, and includes dedicated support.

Overall, WellSaid takes care of hosting, scaling, and upgrading the infrastructure based on the size of the client's projects. They ensure that the processing, security, and compliance requirements are met.

4. Play.ht

Play.ht is a user-friendly text-to-voice editor that can transform text into realistic AI voices.

 

It utilizes synthetic voices from Google and Amazon Polly to generate audio content based on the text you upload or enter.

With Play.ht, you can easily convert blog posts or articles into an audio format using the built-in plugin. The user interface is simple and intuitive, making it easy for anyone to use. 

Some of the key features are, 

Premium Voices: Play.ht offers over 200 different voices in more than 100 languages, including various accents for American, British, Canadian, and Australian English.

Blog to Audio: Play.ht has a special feature that allows you to convert blog posts or articles into an audio format using the built-in plugin.

Download Format: You can easily download the audio files as MP3 and WAV files, enabling you to translate text into a voice that sounds human.

Simple User Interface: The interface of Play.ht is designed to be user-friendly, even if you are not an expert in AI speech generation.

Play.ht Addons: Play.ht provides a Chrome addon for WordPress and Medium, allowing you to add audio to your WP or Medium stories quickly.

Play.ht offers four packages:

1. Free Plan - Users can check out the features of Play.ht by using a free plan. It offers to generate voices for 5000 words per month. However, commercialization is available only in the premium versions.
2. Personal Plan: Starting at $19 per month, this plan is suitable for school assignments and content proofreading. However, it does not include commercial rights for reuse or podcast hosting. It does provide unlimited previews and downloads.
3. Professional Plan: Starting at $39 per month, this plan includes premium voices, exclusive commercial rights, and customizable audio players. It also includes podcast hosting.
4. Growth Plan: Available for $99 per month, this plan includes everything from the Professional Plan, along with a pronunciation database and an automatic audio generation feature.

Each plan offers different features and benefits, allowing you to choose the one that best suits your needs and budget.

5. Resemble.ai

Resemble.ai is an emerging AI voice generator alternative in the market. It provides a high level of control over the voices, allowing you to create realistic AI voices. 

 

 

There are various customization options available to enhance the realism of the voices. Resemble.ai is particularly well-suited for video voiceovers.

Let’s have a look at the key features:

Speech to Speech: With the real-time speech-to-speech feature, you can transform your voice into the desired target voice. You can personalize the inflection and intonation of the voice according to your needs.

Realtime Voice Cloning: Adding different emotions to the generated voice is effortless, providing you with endless possibilities.

Resemble Fill: This feature allows you to combine natural and artificial voices seamlessly. You can mix synthetic information with your own voice recordings and easily add, remove, or replace any speech.

Flexible APIs: The Resemble API tool offers low latency and enables you to integrate it into your production-ready systems quickly. You can acquire existing footage, create new clips, and generate voices instantly.

Other Integrations: Resemble allows you to integrate personalized AI voices into your favorite tools, enabling you to create high-quality AI content.

Resemble.ai offers two pricing plans:

There is no free plan being offered. Users can choose between Basic and Pro Plans. 

1. Basic Plan: This plan follows a pay-as-you-go model for custom voices, charging $0.006 per second of voice generation. It includes English as the only available language and provides access to ten different voices.
2. Pro Plan: Custom pricing is available for this plan. It offers unlimited voices, projects, and audio downloads. Additionally, it includes the Voice Creation API and Speech to Speech features.

Both plans cater to different needs and offer flexibility in terms of voice generation and customization options.

 

 

Now that you have an overview of some of the best Natural Reader alternatives, it's time to give them a try. 

Each option offers unique features and capabilities, so make sure to test them out and see which one suits you better. 

Whether you need TTS for educational purposes, accessibility, or simply for a more convenient reading experience, these alternatives are sure to meet your expectations.

We would love to hear your feedback on which alternative worked best for you. Feel free to share your experience, and let us know if you have any other recommendations! 😁