Guide
How to make Brave read a web page aloud on Mac
Brave blocks the ads and trackers, but it doesn't put a read-aloud button in front of you. Here are two ways to listen to a page instead of reading it.
Updated 11 November 2026.
Short answerFor a free option, turn on Speak Selection in System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content, select text in Brave and press Option-Esc. To hear the whole article without menus and ads, with a word highlight and resume, open it in Brave and press Control-Option-A in Aloud.
The free built-in way: Speak Selection
- Turn on Speak Selection. System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Speak selection.
- Select the text in Brave. Drag over the paragraphs you want, or press Command-A in the article.
- Press Option-Esc. Your Mac reads the selection in the system voice. Press Option-Esc again to stop.
- Pick a better voice. Spoken Content → System voice → Manage Voices, and download an Enhanced or Premium voice.
It works, but it reads only what you selected, in one system voice, with no way to jump back a sentence.
What about Brave Speedreader?
Speedreader strips a page down to the article. Brave has built a text-to-speech player for it, but it is experimental and off by default, so most people never see a play button. Brave's GitHub request for native read aloud on desktop is still open. Until it ships, use Speak Selection or an app.
The better way: Aloud reads the front Brave tab
Aloud (ours, $19 once per Mac, macOS 14 or later) reads the article on the front tab of Safari, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi or Chromium:
- Control-Option-A reads the article in the front Brave tab and skips menus, cookie banners and ads.
- One-time setup: in Brave, choose View › Developer › Allow JavaScript from Apple Events. If it's off, Aloud tells you where. Aloud only asks Brave for the page address and its HTML; the page is read on your Mac.
- A reading window with a word highlight and click-to-seek, plus a notch reader or floating player while you keep browsing.
- Speed from 0.75x to 2x, changed mid-sentence, and resume from the last sentence.
- Natural voices: Apple Enhanced and Premium voices, the on-device Kokoro neural voice (Apple silicon, macOS 15+), or ElevenLabs v4, v4 Turbo and v3 or Cartesia with your own API key.
- .m4a export to keep an article as audio.
Buy Aloud, $19 once No subscription, no account.
Questions
Does Brave have read aloud on Mac?
Not as a visible button. Brave has an experimental text-to-speech player in Speedreader, but it is off by default, and Brave's request for native read aloud is still open. The free route is macOS Speak Selection: select text in Brave and press Option-Esc. Aloud reads the whole front Brave article with Control-Option-A.
Why does Option-Esc do nothing in Brave?
Speak Selection is off by default. Turn it on in System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content, then select text first and press the shortcut again.
What does Aloud need to read a Brave tab?
Allow JavaScript from Apple Events turned on in Brave, under View › Developer. If it's off, Aloud tells you where to switch it on. Aloud only asks Brave for the page address and its HTML.
Can I listen to a Brave article in the background?
Yes. Aloud reads in a notch reader or floating player, so you can switch Spaces or tabs while it keeps reading, and it resumes from the last sentence.
Which voices can Aloud use?
Your Mac's Apple voices including Enhanced and Premium, the on-device Kokoro neural voice (Apple silicon, macOS 15 or later), or ElevenLabs (v4, v4 Turbo, v3) and Cartesia with your own API key.
How much does Aloud cost?
$19 once per Mac. No subscription, no account, and no free trial.
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.