Comparison · October 2026
Five apps that take an EPUB and read it to you — compared on what you hear: cloud or on-device voices, whether characters get their own voices, offline use and price.
Written by the Lyraboo team, so we are not neutral. Facts about the other apps come from their own websites and Google Play listings, checked in October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Write to [email protected].
| App | Voices | Character voices | Offline | Free plan | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyraboo | Cloud AI voices | Yes — every character, automatically | No | 1 hour a month | Monthly $9.99 (US) |
| ElevenReader | Cloud AI voices (ElevenLabs) | No — one voice you choose | Paid plan | 10 hours a month | $11 a month or $99 a year |
| @Voice Aloud Reader | Your phone’s TTS voices | Alternating voices you set up | With phone voices | Free with ads | $15 once, removes ads |
| AudiFlo | On-device AI voices | Character player, you assign voices | Yes | Free app | Optional premium add-ons |
| Éist | On-device AI voices | No — one voice | Yes | Unlimited, 3 books | $4.99 a month |
Upload the EPUB and Lyraboo splits it into chapters, separates narration from dialogue, works out which character says each line — even in long exchanges with no “she said” — and gives every character their own AI voice, which they keep for the whole book. The first chapter is ready in about one to two minutes. It plays like a music app: chapters, 0.25×–3× speed, lock-screen controls, and the text scrolling under the player like song lyrics, each line labelled with its speaker.
Where it is weaker: Android only, needs a connection, no MP3 export, and the free plan is one hour a month. English sounds best; six more languages are in beta.
From ElevenLabs. Imports EPUB, PDF, DOCX, TXT and links, with a large library of natural voices in many languages, on Android, iPhone and the web. The free plan includes 10 hours a month; the paid plan is $11 a month or $99 a year and adds offline downloads. You choose one voice for the book. More in ElevenReader and Lyraboo compared.
A long-running Android reader for EPUB, AZW3, PDF, Word, HTML and text, including LCP-protected books from ebooks.com. It reads with the text-to-speech voices installed on your phone, or with cloud voices from Google, Microsoft or Amazon if you bring your own API key. Its dialog wizard sets up alternating voices for narration and quotes, and it can record what it reads as MP3, OGG or WAV. Free with ads; a one-time $15 licence removes them. See @Voice and Lyraboo compared.
Android only. Imports EPUB (with covers and images), PDF with OCR, DOCX, TXT and web novels, and generates speech on the phone, so nothing is uploaded and it works offline. Its character player detects dialogue and lets you give characters their own voices; it can also clone a voice from a short sample. The core app is free with no ads; premium add-ons unlock through purchases or referrals. See AudiFlo and Lyraboo compared.
Android and iPhone. Imports EPUB and PDF (with selectable text), web links, and fanfiction from AO3, Royal Road and FicHub, and has over 70,000 Project Gutenberg books inside. Voices run on the device, so it works offline. Free: unlimited listening for three books, three voices and 30 minutes of read-along a day; Premium is $4.99 a month. See Éist and Lyraboo compared.
New to this? Start with uploading your own book and listening to it, or read how EPUB to audiobook works in Lyraboo.
ElevenReader, ElevenLabs, @Voice Aloud Reader, AudiFlo and Éist 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.
For novels, Lyraboo: it turns the EPUB into a full-cast audiobook, finding the characters and giving each one their own AI voice automatically, and plays it with chapters and the text scrolling along. For one natural voice across Android, iPhone and the web, ElevenReader. For free offline listening, AudiFlo or Éist, which generate speech on the phone.
Lyraboo does it automatically for every book: it attributes each line to the character who says it and keeps their voice for the whole book. AudiFlo’s character player detects dialogue and lets you assign voices yourself, and @Voice Aloud Reader can alternate voices between narration and quotes once you set it up. ElevenReader and Éist read in one voice.
Lyraboo plays audio inside the app and does not export files. @Voice Aloud Reader can record what it reads as MP3, OGG or WAV with its premium licence.
Only if it is DRM-free. Protected EPUBs from Kindle, Apple Books or Kobo open only in the store’s app. DRM-free EPUBs — from indie authors, public domain libraries, fanfiction archives, or DRM-free Kindle downloads — work in all of these apps.
Upload a book you own and let the app turn it into a multi-voice audiobook automatically.