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The best text to speech apps for Mac

Every Mac can read text aloud for free. Paid apps add natural voices, document libraries, scanning and audiobooks. Here are six options, with prices checked on their own sites, and a straight answer on who each one suits.

By the SpeechBee team, who make SpeechBee. Prices checked on 12 October 2026

  • SpeechBee
  • Speechify
  • ElevenReader
  • NaturalReader
  • Voice Dream
On this page
  1. At a glance
  2. How to choose
  3. 1. SpeechBee
  4. 2. Speechify
  5. 3. ElevenReader
  6. 4. NaturalReader
  7. 5. Voice Dream
  8. 6. Speak selection, built into macOS
  9. Questions
  10. Keep comparing
  11. Sources

At a glance

US dollars, as published on 12 October 2026.

AppPriceFree optionHow you use it on a MacBest at
SpeechBee$9/mo, $79/yr, or $99 once7 days freeNative app, reads selected text in any appYour own text, on device, plus dictation
Speechify$29/mo or about $139/yrBasic voices up to 1.5xMac app, web, Chrome and EdgeBooks, PDFs, scanning
ElevenReader$11/mo or about $99/yr10 hours a monthWeb and Chrome extensionVoices and audiobooks
NaturalReader$79 to $159/yr20,000 AI characters a dayWeb app and Chrome extensionMP3 export, OCR
Voice DreamIn-app purchasesFree downloadApp on iPhone, iPad and MacLong documents, accessibility
Speak selectionFreeBuilt inSelect text, press Option-EscQuick listening

How to choose

Do you want to hear your own writing, or other people's? Proofreading your drafts and emails means reading text where it is, in Mail, Word or a browser. Getting through books and reports means importing files into a reader. Those are different apps.

Does your text need to stay on your Mac? Cloud readers send text to their servers to be voiced. Speak selection and SpeechBee generate the voice on your Mac.

How much will you listen? For a few minutes a day, free tools are enough. For hours, voice quality and features matter more.

1. SpeechBee

Voice to text
New message

Hi Maya, I'll send the revised proposal tomorrow morning.

SpeechBee's listening indicator on Mac
Hold your key, talk, let go. The text lands at the cursor.
Text to speech
Article

Most people read faster than they speak. SpeechBee reads the sentence you selected out loud, while you keep working.

SpeechBee's Read Aloud player on Mac
Select text, press your reading key, listen.

SpeechBee is our app. Select text in any Mac app, press your reading key, and a natural voice reads it, with a small player to pause, skip and change speed from half to double. The voices download once and run on your Mac, so your text never leaves it and reading works offline. Each read takes up to 5,000 characters, so it suits emails, articles and chapters read in parts.

It also does dictation: hold another key and your words appear at the cursor. It needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later, and one plan covers Mac, iPhone and iPad.

2. Speechify

The best-known reader. Premium gives 1,000+ voices in 60+ languages, speeds up to 5x, Scan & Listen for printed pages, cloud-drive imports, AI summaries and podcasts, and voice typing. $29 a month or about $139 a year, with a 3-day trial. See Speechify pricing.

3. ElevenReader

From ElevenLabs. The free plan gives 10 hours of audio a month with 1,000+ voices. Ultra, $11 a month or about $99 a year, adds unlimited listening to your imports, 20 hours a month of premium audiobooks and offline downloads. On a Mac it runs in the browser and as a Chrome extension.

4. NaturalReader

A long-running reader with Lite, Plus and Pro plans at $79, $119 and $159 a year. Paid plans add OCR for scanned pages and MP3 export; the free plan includes 20,000 characters a day of AI voices. Web app, mobile app and Chrome extension. See NaturalReader pricing.

5. Voice Dream

A reading app built for accessibility. Import PDFs, EPUBs, Word files and web pages, highlight and annotate, tune voices and pronunciation, and listen offline across iPhone, iPad and Mac. Free download with in-app purchases.

6. Speak selection, built into macOS

Turn it on in System Settings, Accessibility, Read & Speak, then select text and press Option-Esc. You can highlight words as they're read and show a controller for speed. It's free and private; the voices are clear but, to our ears, flatter than neural ones. Guide: how to make your Mac read text aloud.

Hear any text on your Mac in a natural voice. Free for 7 days.

Voice to text and Read Aloud on your Mac, iPhone and iPad. After the week, $9 a month, $79 a year, or $99 once. Every plan has every feature.

Download for MacGet it for iPhone & iPad

Questions

What is the best free text to speech for Mac?

Speak selection, built into macOS. ElevenReader's free plan, with 10 hours a month of natural voices in the browser, is the best free option for longer listening.

Which text to speech app works offline on a Mac?

SpeechBee and Speak selection generate voices on your Mac. Voice Dream supports offline listening, and ElevenReader Ultra offers offline downloads.

Which Mac text to speech app sounds most natural?

We haven't run a listening test, so we won't rank voices. Every app here except Speak selection uses modern AI voices, and most have free tiers or trials, so try them with your own text.

Can one app read and dictate on a Mac?

SpeechBee does both, on your Mac. Speechify Premium also lists voice typing.

Keep comparing

Sources

All checked on 12 October 2026.