Speechify Alternative for Audiobooks: Make Them, Don't Just Listen

When Speechify is the better pick

If you want to get through your reading faster, Speechify is the better tool. It runs on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows and the web, with Chrome and Edge extensions. Speechify says it opens PDF, EPUB, DOCX, XLSX and TXT files, web links and pasted text, and its Scan & Listen feature reads printed pages from a photo. Premium lists more than 1,000 voices in 60+ languages, speed-listening, AI summaries and chat.

FullCastBook does none of that live-reading work. There's no reading app or browser extension and no OCR for scanned pages, and it isn't meant for clearing your inbox at double speed. For studying, accessibility or a long reading list, use a reader.

Speechify audiobook creator options

If you want a Speechify audiobook creator, Speechify does have ways to make audio you keep. Its guide to MP3 downloads routes them through AI Podcasts, which turn a document into a podcast-style show with hosts. Speechify says AI Podcasts are in English and for personal use only. For commercial work it points to Speechify Studio, a separate subscription for voiceovers, dubbing and audiobooks, where paid plans can download MP3 and include commercial rights.

What Speechify's pages don't describe is the book part: detecting chapters, working out who speaks each line, casting a voice per character, or exporting an M4B with chapter markers. Studio is presented as a voiceover, video and dubbing editor.

Finished files, chapters and character voices

FullCastBook starts where a reader stops. It splits the manuscript into chapters from the contents page or headings, assigns every line to the narrator or a character, and gives each one a distinct voice. Write direction into the text, like [whisper, like sharing a secret], or a sound tag like [sigh], and regenerate one line when something lands wrong.

When it sounds right, export an M4B with chapter markers for audiobook players, one MP3 for the whole book, or a ZIP with a file per chapter. The files are yours to use under the terms, including commercially. Starting from plain text? The text to audiobook guide shows the quickest route.

Cost comparison

Speechify's Reader Premium is listed at $29 a month billed monthly, with a yearly option advertised as saving 60%; the free Reader has 10 voices and listening up to 1.5×. Speechify Studio is priced separately: Free with 600 credits and no commercial rights, Studio Starter at $100 a year with 86,400 credits, and Studio Creator at $300 a year with 345,600. A Studio voiceover uses one credit per second of audio.

By our arithmetic, Starter's credits cover 24 hours of voiceover a year and Creator's 96 hours, while an 80,000-word novel runs roughly eight and a half hours at a typical narration pace. Speechify notes that changes to pitch, speed or emotion go back through the AI and use credits again.

FullCastBook charges credits by the characters voiced, so a full cast costs the same as one voice for the same text at the same voice tier. Put your word count into the audiobook cost calculator, or compare plans in the pricing section.

Which one should you choose?

Choose Speechify if you want to listen: articles, PDFs, homework, email and scanned pages, at speed, on every device. Choose FullCastBook as your Speechify alternative for audiobooks if you want to make one: chapters, a cast, and files you can publish. You might well use both, a reader to proof-listen your draft and FullCastBook to produce the finished book.

Weighing other production tools? See how we compare with ElevenLabs, or hear a chapter of your own in the AI audiobook generator.