Digital voice interactions are paving the new way for browsing experiences. Text-to-Speech (TTS) solutions are just one of them and are becoming critical for online businesses. It helps serve groups with low literacy rates or disabilities, and people visit sites from different regions or dialects.
However, many automatic speeches and free tools are only sometimes accurate enough to translate complex expressions. But again, efficient TTS solutions can give small businesses a hard time maintaining and scaling up.
So, this blog mentions the 11 best text-to-speech solutions for small businesses that don’t cost a bomb and make lives simpler.
Let’s dive in!
1. From Text to Speech
From Text to Speech is a free TTS tool offering over 50,000 characters per TTS. It performs well for MP3 conversions and takes about a minute to translate 80 characters. The solution is available in English and consists of only a few languages.
Pros
- Seamless interaction
- Free tool
- User-friendly
Cons
- Limited features
- Limited language options
2. Descript
Descript is one of the most convenient and all-rounder TTS solutions, which makes audio and video editing a breeze. You can upload or record your speech through Descript and transcribe your media into text.
You can edit all your fillers or eliminate unwanted pauses with just one tap before publishing. You can start with the free version, but that's a bit limited. Paid versions start at $12/mo.
Pros
- Value for money
- Free trial available
- Export projects to other sites and apps.
- User-friendly and enhanced interactions
- No advanced knowledge required
Cons
- Cannot edit two separate tracks in single audio.
- Pauses sometimes can sound hard in the final output.
- Weak transcriptions for non-neutral accents.
- Manual checking of edits.
3. ReadLoud.net
ReadLoud is a free TTS tool providing a voice to any text and offers an incredible character count. It can convert webpage text into audio and works for various sites like news, blogs, online university, etc. It uses EPUB extension readers that make skimming through PDFs, whitepapers, and ebooks seamless.
Interestingly, you can also change voice, pitch, and reading speed and enable text highlighting through the Gear option available on their site. According to Chrome stats, the solution has a rating of around 4.1 and has over 4,000,000 users. A must-check-out tool.
Pros
- Completely free to use.
- Has over 16 English voices
- Offers 40+ languages
- It can convert up to 30,000 characters.
- Extensions are available for various platforms.
Cons
- Glitches with one-click conversions.
- Works slower at times for heavy text files
4. Fliki
Fliki is one of the widely recommended TTS solutions for businesses. It is affordable, has great features and excellent customer support, offers countless voice and language options, and provides accurate results. If you are planning to turn your text into audio creatives like podcasts, Fliki is the best tool you will find.
You can add custom files between the script, add an intro, and any sound effect you like. The AI feature of Fliki also gives you room to customize pronunciations and tweak them in your way. The app carries some great reviews online, and comes with free and paid plans, the latter starting at $29/mo.
Pros
- Generate voices in 65+ languages.
- Fliki AI supports 700+ voices.
- 100+ dialects available
- Offers using multiple voices in one script
- Convert 30,000+ characters in a month
- Free trial for lifetime
Cons
- Audio analytics are not available.
- No feature to collaborate with team members.
5. Voicely
Voicely is a voice and dialect-rich text-to-speech tool that offers human-like voices to the text. It’s a user-friendly solution and saves a lot of time with its editing and formatting features. The MP3 output is compatible with any device and lets you change the background music, reading speed, and pitch.
The cherry on top is that you can pay for premium voices per their usage. It’s cheaper than full monthly subscription plans, and you have to pay as low as $0.004 per character. Along with this, the annual subscriptions start from $69.
Pros
- Countless voices in 60+ languages
- Over 100 free background music
- Lifetime access to the Voicely tool
- User-friendly interface
Cons
- Previews of voiceovers not available
6. Synthesis Studio
Synthesis Studio is one of the first human text-to-speech apps, offering numerous human avatars with human voices reading out your text files and generating engaging videos from the same. The app mainly intends to serve businesses, affiliate marketers, trainers, bloggers, and product and service providers.
You can use the human voices of Synthesis Studio for video ads, commercials, VO services, animations, demo videos, etc. The app has excellent reviews and a 4.5 rating on Trustpilot and is widely recommended by users.
Pros
- Offers 74 human avatars with 38 female and 36 male voices
- Provides 66 languages and over 254 voice styles
- Provides customization and high-resolution output
Cons
- You can export only 20 videos at a time
- Takes a little longer to generate videos
- Converts only 200 characters at a time
7. WellSaid Labs
WellSaid is an AI-powered TTS tool creating voiceovers for any digital content. You can add the app to any site or product with robust APIs. With realistic AI, you can convert scripts to engaging videos in one click, and the app will handle the rest. The tool offers a free trial with subscriptions starting at $49/mo.
Pros
- Offers 35 avatar options with 2500 monthly clip downloads at one go
- Free trial available
- High-quality audio
- Can add VO on the fly
- User-friendly interface
Cons
- Premium services can be expensive.
- Limited dialect options.
8. Amazon Polly
Amazon Polly is a super affordable and developers’ favorite text-to-speech tool. The solution is named after a parrot and deploys high-quality human voices in dozens of languages. If you go for the free-tier plan, you don’t have to pay anything up to $5 million characters per month for 12 months.
After one year, you pay only $4 for every 1 million characters using standard voices and $16 using neural voices. Interesting, isn’t it?
Pros
- Value for money
- Pay-as-you-go model for paid services
- Human-like voice
- Lesser size MP3 media files
- APIs are available, and you can embed Amazon Polly in any app or site.
Cons
- Customization is tricky since you have to know how to use SSML codes.
- Does not recognize symbols
9. Blakify
Blakify is an easy-to-use TTS solution that helps you turn text into audio, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. You can convert the text in any language into English and vice versa. Blakify is known for making YouTubing a breeze by offering unique and high-quality voice narration.
You can produce videos using multiple voices for the same script and add SSML tags for all voice sounds. The app gives a free trial with monthly subscriptions starting from $12.99.
Pros
- Offers 70 languages, and 400 different voices
- Offers 5000 characters of standard voice in free plans
- Paid subscriptions have 4,000,000 characters for both standard and neutral voice.
- Offers a free trial
Cons
- You cannot change dialects and pronunciations.
10. Speechify
Speechify is one of the most popular text-to-speech solutions and is widely used by businesses. It can read from any PDF, whitepaper, or other text media files and gives an excellent word count and conversion speed.
Speechify has over 29 languages to choose from and can import content from web pages without hassles.
Pros
- Provides 900 words speed per minute
- Has a reading speed of 200 words per minute
- Offers a free trial
- Has 30 different AI-powered voices
Cons
- Pricing differs from region to region
- No high-quality voice in free plans
11. ReadSpeaker
ReadSpeaker is quite a popular tool among students and businesses and offers numerous natural voices. The ReadSpeaker’s extension toolbox has numerous speech capabilities and assistance tools and processes voices in multiple languages, enabling companies to give vocal support to customers. The app has over 90,000 users on Chrome.
Pros
- Offers free trial
- Has 110 voices and 35+ languages
- Can use multiple voices in a single script
- Pay-as-you-go model
Cons
- Gives robotic voices at times
- Glitches in language translation
Key Takeaways – Text to Speech Offers Many Potential Advantages
Users are demanding more convenience and flexibility, driving up demand for content in various formats. Therefore, a text-to-speech solution might be of great use to you.
Furthermore, adding the text-to-speech capability to your blog, infomercials, ads, etc., can allow customers to listen to them from anywhere and multitask at once. Pick a text-to-speech solution like the ones mentioned above and make content more exciting for your customers.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Text-to-speech Solution
Consider these factors before subscribing to any TTS tool.
1. How many errors does it make when reading a script?
Check for the accuracy of the solution through the Word Error Rate (WER) method. You will get an idea of the quality of output and the number of errors it will commit in every audio. However, note that the accuracy rate varies depending on many factors like audio quality.
2. How many characters do the solutions convert?
Most TTS solutions work on a character count basis, which affects prices. Some will provide access to a specific number of characters, while others will offer unlimited conversions. Check the pricing details for each solution to see how many are included in the respective packages.
3. How good is the TTS engine core?
You will find many users complaining about incorrect pronunciations if you go through reviews. Not all TTS solutions use the same engine, and some have custom or proprietary solutions. Ideally, use a free trial to test the TTS solution you want to see how effective it may be.
