Comparison · October 2026
You have the book — an EPUB, a PDF, a fanfic export — and you want to hear it. Six apps compared on what matters most for fiction: whether every character gets their own voice, plus formats, offline use and price.
Written by the Lyraboo team, so we are not neutral. Everything about the other apps comes from their own websites, checked in October 2026. If something has changed, tell us at [email protected] and we will correct it.
| App | Phones | Your files | Character voices | Offline | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyraboo | Android | EPUB, PDF, TXT | Yes — automatic, every book | No | 1 hour a month |
| ElevenReader | Android, iOS, web | PDF, EPUB, DOCX, TXT, links | No — one voice you choose | Paid plan | 10 hours a month |
| BookNPC | Android, iOS | EPUB, MOBI, AZW, FB2, TXT | Yes — paid “full-cast” mode, per page | Narrator mode | Narrator mode |
| AudiFlo | Android | EPUB, PDF, DOCX, TXT, web novels | Yes — character voice player | Yes | Free app |
| Éist | Android, iOS | EPUB, PDF, links, AO3, Royal Road | No — one voice | Yes | Unlimited listening, 3 books |
| Speechify | Android, iOS, web, desktop | Documents, PDFs, web pages | No — one voice | Not stated | Basic voices, up to 1.5× |
Lyraboo reads the book, separates narration from dialogue, works out who is speaking and gives each character their own AI voice — automatically, for every book you upload. The result sounds closer to an audio drama than to text-to-speech: you always know who is speaking, even in long dialogue. It plays in a player that feels like a music app — chapters, 0.25×–3× speed, lock-screen controls — with the text scrolling underneath like song lyrics, each line labelled with its speaker; tap any word to jump there. Upload a file and the first chapter is ready in a minute or two. There is also a built-in library of over 1,000 public domain classics in English. English books sound best; Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian and Russian are in beta.
Where it is weaker: Android only, it needs an internet connection, the free plan is the smallest here (one hour a month), audio cannot be exported as MP3, and scanned PDFs cannot be narrated. Paid plans start at $9.99 a month in the US for the Monthly plan. More: how full-cast narration works.
From ElevenLabs. Imports PDF, EPUB, DOCX, TXT and web links, with over a thousand voices in 90+ languages, on Android, iPhone and the web. The free plan includes 10 hours of text to audio a month; the paid plan is $11 a month or $99 a year and adds offline downloads. You pick one voice for the whole book — we found no automatic character voices.
Android and iPhone. Reads EPUB, MOBI, AZW, FB2 and TXT. The narrator-only mode is free and works offline on the device. Its AI full-cast mode detects narrator and character dialogue and is paid per page (around $0.25 for a 40-page book, per their site).
Android only. Imports EPUB, PDF (including scanned documents, via OCR), DOCX, TXT and web novels, and generates speech entirely on the device, so it works without a connection. It has a character voice player for giving characters their own voices. The app is free; some premium features unlock through referrals. More: AudiFlo and Lyraboo compared.
Android and iPhone. Imports EPUB, PDF and web links, including AO3, Royal Road and FicHub, and can generate speech on the device for offline listening. One voice reads the whole book. The free plan allows unlimited listening for up to three books; Premium is $4.99 a month. More: Éist and Lyraboo compared.
Available almost everywhere: Android, iPhone, web, desktop and browser extensions. Strong for articles, PDFs and study material read in one voice of your choice. The free plan has basic voices up to 1.5× speed; Premium is $29 a month. See also Speechify alternative for books.
Want the step-by-step instead? Read how to turn a book into an audiobook. Only listening to EPUBs? See the best EPUB to audiobook apps for Android, which also covers @Voice Aloud Reader. Working from PDFs? See the best apps to turn a PDF into an audiobook, with Paper2Audio, NaturalReader and Voice Dream as well.
ElevenReader, Speechify, BookNPC, AudiFlo, Éist and Voice Dream Reader are trademarks of their respective owners. Lyraboo is an independent app and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any of them. This comparison reflects publicly available product information.
The things people notice in the first chapter — and the reasons they stay.
Lyraboo’s AI finds every character in the book and casts a distinct voice for each — automatically, for every book. You always know who is speaking, and dialogue sounds like a real conversation instead of one narrator doing all the parts. Most reading and text-to-speech apps use one voice for everything.
Under the player, the book scrolls with the voice the way song lyrics do in Spotify: words light up as they are spoken, each line shows who says it, and tapping any word jumps there.
Chapters, speed from 0.25× to 3×, background playback with lock-screen controls, and it picks up exactly where you stopped.
Pick an EPUB, PDF or TXT and there is nothing to set up: the first chapter is ready in about one to two minutes, and the rest generate while you listen.
Novels, fanfiction and web-serial exports, indie ebooks, study PDFs — plus over 1,000 English classics already in the app.
One free hour of listening every month, no card needed. Hours are spent once per chapter — replaying is always free.
It depends on what you want to hear. For novels on Android, where you want every character to have their own voice without setting anything up, Lyraboo is built for exactly that. If you need iPhone or web too, ElevenReader reads your files in one natural voice. If you need it offline and free, AudiFlo (Android) and Éist (Android and iOS) generate speech on the device.
Lyraboo does it automatically for every book: it finds the characters and casts a voice for each one. BookNPC offers a paid full-cast mode charged per page, and AudiFlo has a character voice player. ElevenReader, Speechify and Éist read with one voice.
Several have free plans. Éist offers unlimited listening for up to three books, ElevenReader gives 10 hours a month, AudiFlo is free with on-device voices, and BookNPC’s narrator mode is free. Lyraboo’s free plan is one hour of full-cast listening a month, with no card needed.
Apps that generate speech on the phone — AudiFlo, Éist, and BookNPC in narrator mode — work offline. ElevenReader allows downloads on its paid plan. Lyraboo needs an internet connection, because its character voices are generated in the cloud.
ElevenReader, Speechify, BookNPC and Éist have iPhone apps. Lyraboo and AudiFlo are Android-only for now. Voice Dream Reader is a long-standing iPhone-only option.
Upload a book you own and let the app turn it into a multi-voice audiobook automatically.