Free Alternative to Speechify: What Éist Offers
Looking for a free Speechify alternative? Éist converts EPUBs, PDFs, and web articles to on-device audio with no daily cap and no account required.
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The best free alternative to Speechify for converting your own documents and ebooks to audio is Éist — a mobile app for Android and iOS that synthesises narration directly on your device, with no daily listening cap, no account required, and no ads. Speechify’s free tier, as of publishing, caps playback speed at 1.5x and includes roughly 10 standard voices; Éist’s free tier places no speed cap on audio listening and runs everything offline. If you want a side-by-side rundown of several Speechify alternatives, our tested comparison list covers the full field — this article focuses specifically on Éist: what you actually get for free, where the limits sit, and what to expect from the audio.
Why do people look for a free Speechify alternative?
Speechify Premium costs $11.58/month billed annually, or $29/month billed monthly. That is a real recurring cost, and the free tier — while functional — comes with constraints that push heavier users toward the paid plan.
People searching for a free alternative typically want one of three things: a way to turn their own ebooks or documents into audio without a subscription, faster playback without hitting a speed ceiling, or synthesis that does not require sending their text to a remote server. Éist addresses all three in its free tier, though with its own limits worth understanding before you switch.
What does Éist give you for free?
Quite a lot — and the constraints are different in kind from the ones Speechify places on its free tier.
Listening is unlimited. You can listen to full AI-narrated audiobooks for as long as you like, across as many sessions as you want, with no daily cap and no per-book gate. The word-by-word read-along — text highlighted in sync with narration — is also free and unlimited, including in the floating window that follows you out of the app while you use something else on your phone.
No account required. You do not need to create a profile, verify an email, or agree to a data-sharing policy. Install the app, import a book, press play.
No ads. The free tier is not ad-supported.
On-device synthesis. All audio is generated on your phone using local AI models. Your book or article text is never uploaded anywhere to produce audio. This also means playback works without an internet connection once a book is imported. The difference between on-device and cloud synthesis is worth understanding in depth if you read a lot on planes, trains, or anywhere with unreliable connectivity.
Playback speed is adjustable with no ceiling. You can run narration faster or slower than realtime. The free tier does not cap this.
70,000 Project Gutenberg classics. Éist has a built-in, browsable, searchable catalogue of public-domain books. Each title is a one-tap download from inside the app — they are not pre-installed on your device at install time. This gives you access to an enormous library without importing a single file of your own.
Three voices. The free tier includes three built-in voices, one per synthesis engine (Piper, Supertonic, Kokoro). Before choosing, you can preview each voice using a short literary excerpt with per-word highlight timing — the same synced experience you get during real narration.
Where does the free tier have limits?
Éist’s free tier is genuinely free in the ways that matter most for daily listening. The limits are structural:
- Import cap: You can import up to 3 of your own EPUBs or PDFs, and up to 10 web articles or fanfiction chapters. If you want to load a larger personal library, Éist Pro removes both caps.
- Voice selection: Three voices is a workable starting point, but Éist Pro unlocks the full voice catalogue across all synthesis engines.
- RSVP speed-reading: Éist includes an RSVP mode where words flash one at a time for speed-reading practice. The free tier allows 30 minutes of RSVP per day; unlimited RSVP requires Pro. This limit applies only to RSVP mode — it has no effect on audio narration or the read-along.
Éist Pro costs $4.99/month. Reduced pricing is available in many countries via purchasing-power parity.
How do Éist and Speechify compare?
Prices and features as of publishing; check current listings.
| Feature | Éist free tier | Speechify free tier |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $0 | $0 |
| Audio listening cap | None | Check current listing |
| Playback speed limit | None | 1.5x maximum |
| Free voices | 3 | ~10 standard voices |
| Audio synthesis location | On your device | Premium AI voices: on Speechify’s servers |
| Account required | No | Check current listing |
| Own EPUB/PDF import | Yes, up to 3 | Check current listing |
| Upgrade price | $4.99/month | $11.58/month (annual); $29/month (monthly) |
The most meaningful difference for most readers is synthesis location. Éist processes all audio on-device — your text goes nowhere. Speechify’s verified documentation states that premium AI voices process text on Speechify’s servers. If privacy or offline use matters to you, that distinction is significant.
The other notable gap is playback speed. Speechify’s free tier caps at 1.5x, which is a real constraint for anyone who listens at 2x or faster. Éist places no ceiling on this.
Where Speechify’s free tier has more: roughly 10 standard voices versus Éist’s 3. If voice variety matters from day one and you are not upgrading, Speechify’s free tier has an edge there.
What does Éist’s audio sound like?
Éist uses three on-device engines: Piper (a lightweight, fully offline TTS engine), Supertonic, and Kokoro. The standard Kokoro engine on iOS runs at roughly 1.4x faster than realtime in the field — synthesis finishes ahead of your listening pace under normal use. On Android flagships, the on-device engine runs at approximately 0.9x realtime capacity, which in practice keeps up with most reading sessions.
On iOS, capable devices also have access to Fast Kokoro — an accelerated engine that runs on Apple’s MLX framework on the Metal GPU. On iPhone in the field, it synthesises at roughly 4x faster than realtime. The free tier gets a daily time quota of Fast Kokoro; Éist Pro removes the quota entirely. When Fast Kokoro is unavailable for any reason, the app falls back to the standard on-device Kokoro engine — synthesis always stays on your device.
Each voice in the app comes with a preview clip using a short literary quote and per-word highlight timing. You can audition voices before committing to one.
What can you read with Éist?
More than just ebooks. Éist accepts:
- Any EPUB you own or download, including Project Gutenberg exports and titles exported from other reading apps
- PDFs, including academic papers and longer documents — reading academic PDFs aloud is one of the more practical use cases for on-device TTS
- Web articles: paste a link into the Add screen and Éist extracts the readable text client-side, on your device, then narrates it with cover art and progress tracking
- Fanfiction with serial awareness: Éist has dedicated resolvers for AO3, Royal Road, and FicHub — if you have already imported a story, Éist can check for new chapters rather than requiring a full reimport each time
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is Éist actually free, or is “free” just a trial?
Audio narration is genuinely free with no time limit and no daily cap. The constraints on the free tier are structural: 3 voices, a 3-book cap on your own EPUB/PDF imports, a 10-item cap on web imports, and a 30-minute daily limit on RSVP speed-reading specifically. Those limits do not shrink over time — they are the permanent free tier, not a trial countdown.
Q: Does Éist work without internet?
Yes. All synthesis happens on your device. Once a book is imported or a Project Gutenberg title is downloaded, you can listen without any connection. There is no network step in the audio generation path.
Q: How many voices does Éist’s free tier include?
Three — one per synthesis engine (Piper, Supertonic, Kokoro). Each has a preview clip with synced word highlighting so you can compare them before choosing. Éist Pro unlocks the full voice catalogue.
Q: Can I import books from Speechify into Éist?
Éist accepts EPUB and PDF files. If you have titles from Speechify saved as EPUBs or PDFs, you can import them directly. Éist cannot reach into another service’s library on your behalf — you need the file itself.
Q: Is there a desktop version of Éist?
No. Éist is Android and iOS only. If you need a desktop TTS solution, the complete guide to text-to-speech apps covers options across platforms.
Get started
If the free tier covers your use case — unlimited narration of books and articles you own, on-device synthesis, no account — Éist is available on both the App Store and Google Play at no cost.
For more context on the broader alternatives landscape, the full tested comparison list covers several options beyond Éist. If on-device synthesis and offline use are the priority, the guide to offline text-to-speech apps goes deeper into how different engines perform without a connection.