Guide
Speechify vs NaturalReader on Mac: which should you use?
Both are popular ways to listen to text. Here is how Speechify and NaturalReader differ for someone who reads mostly on a Mac, using each company's own pricing and help pages.
Updated 26 October 2026.
Short answerPick Speechify if you listen on your phone and computer, want one synced library, AI summaries or celebrity voices. Pick NaturalReader if you use Windows or Chromebooks too, want a big cloud voice catalogue, voice cloning or a commercial voiceover licence. Both have free tiers and yearly plans for the better voices. If you mainly want text read aloud on a Mac without a subscription, a third option is Aloud (ours): $19 once, no account, reads from any app.
Side by side
| Aloud | Speechify | NaturalReader | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $19 once per Mac, no subscription | Free plan with basic voices; Premium $139 a year or $29 a month on speechify.com (App Store prices differ) | Free tier with device voices; online plans Lite $79/yr, Plus $119/yr, Pro $159/yr (or $13.90–$25.90 a month); an older desktop app sold separately for $99.50–$199.50 once |
| Platforms | macOS 14 or later | iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Chrome, web | Web app, Chrome extension, iPhone, Android; older desktop app for Mac and Windows |
| Account | None | Required | Needed for paid voices |
| Voices | Apple voices (incl. Enhanced and Premium), on-device Kokoro (Apple silicon, macOS 15+), or your own ElevenLabs / Cartesia key | Cloud neural voices on Premium (the pricing page says 1,000+), including celebrity voices; about 10 basic voices free | Device voices free; cloud voices and voice cloning on paid plans |
| Limits | None from Aloud | Premium includes up to 1,000,000 premium-voice words a month, per Speechify's blog | Paid plans have daily and monthly character limits on the better voices |
| On a Mac | Reads from any app with Control-Option-S or the Services menu | Mainly a library app: you add text, files or pages | Mostly a web app and Chrome extension |
Competitor details from Speechify pricing, NaturalReader plans, as checked 8 October 2026 for our comparison pages. Prices change; check before you buy.
More detail
See our one-to-one pages: Aloud vs Speechify and Aloud vs NaturalReader, or the best text-to-speech apps for Mac.
A third option for Mac: Aloud
Aloud (ours, $19 once per Mac, macOS 14 or later) is a native Mac reader:
- Select text in any app and press Control-Option-S (or right-click → Services → Read with Aloud).
- A reading window with a word highlight and click-to-seek, so you can jump to any sentence.
- Speed from 0.75x to 2x, changed mid-sentence, and resume from the last sentence.
- Natural voices: your Mac's Enhanced and Premium voices, the on-device Kokoro neural voice (Apple silicon, macOS 15+), or ElevenLabs/Cartesia with your own API key.
- Private by default: with Apple or Kokoro voices nothing leaves your Mac; no account, no analytics in the app.
Buy Aloud, $19 once No subscription, no account.
Questions
Is Speechify or NaturalReader cheaper?
Speechify: Free plan with basic voices; Premium $139 a year or $29 a month on speechify.com (App Store prices differ). NaturalReader: Free tier with device voices; online plans Lite $79/yr, Plus $119/yr, Pro $159/yr (or $13.90–$25.90 a month); an older desktop app sold separately for $99.50–$199.50 once. Check both pricing pages before you buy, as prices change.
Do Speechify and NaturalReader need an account?
Speechify: Required. NaturalReader: Needed for paid voices.
Is there a one-time Mac alternative?
Yes. Aloud is a native Mac app for $19 once per Mac with no account and no usage limits from Aloud.
Is Aloud free?
No. Aloud is $19 once per Mac, with no subscription and no account.
More Mac utilities from the developer: SnapState puts your Mac windows, apps and browser tabs back after sleep or a monitor reconnect. $9.99 one-time.