Local TTS

Speechify

The fully offline Speechify alternative for iPhone and iPad

Local TTS is the fully offline Speechify alternative for iPhone and iPad: all 38 neural voices are generated on the device, so there is no account, no upload, and no monthly word allowance. Speechify Premium is $29 a month or $139 a year; Local TTS Pro is $4.99 a month or $19.99 once, forever.

Methodology·Prices and limits were checked on August 23, 2026

The differences that decide it

The differences between Local TTS and Speechify that decide which one to use

Feature	Local TTS	Speechify
Where speech is generated	On your iPhone or iPad — every voice	On-device iOS voices, plus cloud voices for the full catalog
Works offline	Yes, including text you paste while offline	On-device voices and downloaded audio; cloud voices and AI tools need a connection
Monthly word allowance	None — your device does the work	≥150,000 Premium Voice words guaranteed; 1,000,000/month through Dec 31, 2026
Price	$4.99/month or $19.99 once	$29/month or $139/year
Platforms	iPhone and iPad only	iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, web, Chrome, Edge

Full comparison, feature by feature: Local TTS vs Speechify: offline, privacy, and pricing

Why people look for an alternative to Speechify

1. 1The price. Speechify Premium is $29 a month, or $139 billed annually. One year costs about seven times the one-time $19.99 that unlocks Local TTS Pro permanently.
2. 2Reading is metered in words. Speechify guarantees at least 150,000 Premium Voice words a month; the raised allowance of 1,000,000 words a month is a 2026-only extension that expires on December 31, 2026. Speech generated on your own device is not counted at all.
3. 3The free tier is a sample, not a reader: 10 voices at up to 1.5× speed, text to speech only.
4. 4Saved documents leave the device. Speechify’s privacy policy says User Content is stored locally and synced with its servers, and its App Store label lists identifiers that may be used to track you. Local TTS is labelled Data Not Collected and has no account to sync to.

What changes when you switch

• Every voice works in airplane mode — including text you paste mid-flight, because the synthesis itself happens on the device rather than being downloaded ahead of time.
• The word counter disappears. Re-reading a 400-page PDF for the third time costs nothing, in words or in dollars.
• You lose the shared library. Local TTS is iPhone and iPad only: no Android, Windows, or web app, and progress syncs through your own iCloud rather than a Speechify account.
• You lose the AI layer — summaries, document chat, voice typing, and AI podcasts. Local TTS reads text aloud; it does not summarize or answer questions about it.

What you would pay instead

When to stay with Speechify

• You read on Android, Windows, or the web, or you want one library that follows you across all of them.
• You want the largest possible voice catalog: Speechify advertises more than 1,000 voices in over 60 languages, against 38 voices across 31 languages in Local TTS.
• You actually use the AI tools — summaries, document chat, voice typing, or AI podcasts. Local TTS has none of them.
• Your iPhone runs iOS 17, or is older than an iPhone 12. Speechify supports iOS 17; Local TTS needs iOS 18.6 and recent hardware to run the models locally.
• You import spreadsheets or send web links straight to your reader — Speechify lists XLSX and URLs, Local TTS does not.

Other options worth knowing

• 
  NaturalReader — NaturalReader is an established cross-platform reading service: iOS and Android apps, a web app, and a Chrome extension share one library, with more than 200 AI voices in over 90 languages converted on its servers.
• 
  ElevenReader — ElevenReader is ElevenLabs' consumer reading app: more than 1,000 cloud voices in 30-plus languages, a store of over 200,000 premium audiobooks, and iOS, Android, web, and Chrome versions sharing one account.
• 
  Voice Dream Reader — Voice Dream Reader is a veteran iOS and Mac reader built around accessibility: an Apple Design Award winner with Bookshare and DAISY support, annotations, a pronunciation dictionary, and a voice catalog that runs offline.
• All offline alternatives — how the apps compare on where speech is generated, what they cost, and what they meter.

Speechify alternative: common questions