VoicedByMe / Use cases / TTS without a subscription
Guide · Windows and Mac · Updated 23 October 2026
You don't need a subscription for good text to speech. Windows, the Mac and Microsoft Edge read text aloud for free, open-source apps run natural AI voices on your own computer, and a growing number of apps sell a one-time license. VoicedByMe is one: natural voices or your own, offline, with no word limits, for $30 once.
Samples made offline with ready-made voices. All of them are AI-generated.
Why it's a subscription
Speechify, ElevenLabs and NaturalReader make the voice on their servers. Every word you listen to costs them computing time, so they charge monthly and cap how much you can listen to.
Natural voices no longer need a data centre. Open models such as Kokoro run on an ordinary graphics card or an Apple silicon chip, and when the voice runs on your computer, there's nothing to meter. That's why the pay-once and free options are, almost always, the ones that work offline.
Free
Press CtrlShiftU on a web page or PDF. Its natural voices are good and free, but online, and only inside Edge.
Read any text, offline. The voices are the system's own: clear, but tiring over long reading.
Review → Read Aloud reads documents with word highlighting. Its best voices need the internet.
Free apps built on Kokoro, Piper and similar models sound natural and run offline. Some install like any app; many still need Python and the command line.
What to check
If not, someone pays for servers, and a one-time price usually comes with limits or doesn't last.
"Lifetime" plans for online services often include a monthly allowance. Look for no limits at all.
System voices, natural AI voices, or your own cloned voice. Listen to samples of long text, not one sentence.
PDF, EPUB and Word if you read books and documents; reading selected text in any app if you read the web and email.
Whether you can save MP3s or audiobooks to take to your phone.
Whether updates are included, and whether you can try it fully before paying.
Compared
| Cost | Voices | Offline | Limits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VoicedByMe | $30 once | Natural AI voices or your own | Yes | None |
| Windows Narrator, Mac Spoken Content | Free | System voices | Yes | None |
| Microsoft Edge Read Aloud | Free | Natural | No | Web pages and PDFs in Edge |
| Open-source readers (Kokoro, Piper) | Free | Natural | Yes | Setup varies |
| Speechify Premium | $139 a year | Natural | No | A monthly allowance of premium-voice words |
| ElevenLabs | From $6 a month | Natural, with voice cloning | No | Monthly credits |
As of October 2026. Check each app's own site for its current features and prices.
Be honest
If you listen mostly on your phone, need dozens of languages, or want the most expressive studio voices for production work, the subscription services do things a desktop app doesn't. Compare them on our Speechify and ElevenLabs pages.
If you read on a Windows PC or Mac, in one of the eight languages it reads, offline text to speech covers it, and the money you'd spend in a year buys it outright.
Yes. Apps that run the voice on your own computer can sell a license once, because they have no servers to pay for. VoicedByMe is $30 once for Windows and Mac, with natural voices, your own voice and no limits.
Microsoft Edge's Read Aloud has free natural voices online, for web pages and PDFs. Offline, open-source readers built on Kokoro or Piper are free but take more setup.
Online services make the voice on their servers, which costs them for every word. Local apps make it on your computer, so they don't need to charge again.
Yes: Windows Narrator and the Mac's Spoken Content work offline, with the system's voices. Natural offline voices come from open-source apps or a paid app like VoicedByMe.
Yes. Updates arrive by themselves, with nothing more to pay.
$30 once for the first 50 customers, then $50. No subscription. The full app is free for one day so you can try it first. A license is for one computer.
For Windows 10 and 11, and Macs with Apple silicon
$30once. Launch price for the first 50 customers, then $50.
One computer. No subscription.
The full app, free for 24 hours. Purchases aren't refundable, so please try it first.