ReadAloud turns any web page, PDF, or article into clear, natural speech — and highlights every word as it’s spoken, right on the page. Clear your reading backlog on your commute, your walk, or while your eyes rest.
The quiet revolution in how we read
For most of the last century, reading meant sitting still with a page.
Today the words can come to you — spoken aloud and highlighted in perfect sync.
The result feels less like a screen reader and more like a great audiobook narrator who never loses your place.
Aria — Premium voice
Warm & natural · English (US)
Also reads files
PDF · EPUB · DOCX · TXT
Built for everyone with more to read than time to read it
The honest truth
There’s more worth reading than any pair of eyes can keep up with. ReadAloud doesn’t ask you to read faster — it lets you read with your ears, hands-free, anywhere, while keeping the words in front of you.
47 tabs open “to read later.”
Send them to your ears and clear them on your commute.
Eyes fried after a day of screens.
Lean back, close your eyes, and keep absorbing.
Long PDFs you keep “starting tomorrow.”
Press play and finish that report while you cook.
How it works
One click from the Web Store. No sign-up, no credit card, no onboarding maze. You’re ready in about ten seconds.
On any page, a slim floating bar appears and reads — highlighting each word right on the page. Or drop in a PDF, EPUB, DOCX, or TXT.
Pick a voice, set the speed from 0.5× to 3×, switch languages, and follow along — or look away. It picks up exactly where you left off.
Everything in one reader
Most read-aloud tools sound robotic and lose your place. ReadAloud was built the other way around — accuracy and feel first.
Every word lights up exactly as it’s spoken — painted right over the real page with zero changes to it. Your eyes and ears stay in lock-step, so nothing gets lost.
Reading becomes effortless when the words keep your place for you.
Free voices that work offline, or ultra-realistic premium voices you have to hear to believe. Pick a favourite and switch anytime.
It detects the language automatically, picks a matching voice, and renders right-to-left scripts correctly — no settings to fiddle with.
Drag in a PDF, EPUB, DOCX, or TXT and it opens in a clean reader — even long documents start playing the moment you hit play.
Not sure a 4,000-word piece is worth it? Get an instant summary — and have that read aloud too, with the same highlighting.
No account. Free voices run entirely on your device. We never touch the page’s content beyond reading it to you — and never sell a thing.
Speed 0.5×–3×, skip by sentence, click any word to jump there, Space to play, auto-scroll, and a draggable bar that docks where you want it.
Voices & languages
Start free with the voices already on your device. Upgrade to ultra-realistic voices when you want narration that sounds like a real person — not a robot.
Free forever · works offline
A handpicked set of the voices already on your device, organised by language. No connection, no cost, no account — perfect for everyday reading.
Ultra-realistic · sounds human
Narration so lifelike it’s easy to forget no one’s actually reading to you — and the highlighting stays perfectly in step. Each voice has its own personality; pick the one you want to spend an hour with.
Aria
Warm & natural
Atlas
Deep & steady
Nova
Bright & crisp
Sage
Calm & clear
Automatically detects & reads
ReadAloud for iOS and Android is on the way — the same synced highlighting and natural voices, built for the moments you’re nowhere near a laptop. Be the first in line.
Illustrative testimonials — ReadAloud is an independent portfolio project, shown here as a sample of the experience.
“I get through three times the research papers now. The word highlighting means I never lose my spot when I glance away.”
Dr. Lena Ortiz
Postdoctoral researcher
“As someone with dyslexia, following along while it reads has been the difference between finishing an article and giving up halfway.”
Marcus Bell
Product designer
“I “read” my entire newsletter backlog on my morning walk. The voices are good enough that I forget it isn’t a podcast.”
Priya Nair
Founder, two-time newsletter hoarder
Pricing
The free plan isn’t a crippled trial — it’s genuinely useful forever. Premium is for when you want the human-sounding voices every day.
$0 forever
Everything you need to read with your ears.
Add to Chrome — free$5 / month
Cancel anytime. Less than one coffee.
Try Premium voicesPrices shown are illustrative for this preview. No payment is taken on this page.
FAQ
Yes. Reading web pages and files with the free voices is free forever, with no account required. Premium only adds the ultra-realistic voices and instant summaries.
No. You can install it and start listening immediately. An account is only needed if you choose to subscribe to Premium voices.
Any web page, plus uploaded PDF, EPUB, DOCX, and TXT files. On a web page it reads just the article — skipping the menus, ads, and clutter around it.
Free voices run entirely on your device, so that text never leaves your computer. Premium voices send the text to our secure voice service only to create the audio — it isn’t stored, and we never sell your data or modify the pages you read.
ReadAloud is a Chrome extension and works on Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers like Edge, Brave, and Arc. Dedicated iOS and Android apps are coming soon.
Almost certainly. It automatically detects the language and reads 30+ of them, including right-to-left scripts. The free voices available depend on your device; premium voices speak every supported language.
Free to install, free to use, no account. Add ReadAloud and listen to the first thing on your list in under a minute.
Free voices forever · No account · Private by design