Speechify
Reddit take
AI summary of the Reddit excerpts below — not a quote
Speechify is frequently criticized on Reddit for what users describe as predatory billing practices and a frustrating user experience. While the AI voice quality is occasionally praised as superior to competitors, the consensus is dominated by reports of difficult cancellation processes, unexpected high-dollar charges after trials, and restrictive hidden limits on premium features.
Pros
- AI voices are noted to be high-quality and more natural-sounding than many standard text-to-speech alternatives.
Cons
- Extremely difficult and 'hidden' cancellation process leading to unwanted charges.
- Reports of high annual fees being charged immediately following a 7-day trial.
- Poor customer support response times, sometimes taking weeks to address issues.
- Hidden usage caps on 'Premium' voices (reportedly around 150,000 words per month).
- Unreliable file uploads and poor handling of footnotes or graphic elements in documents.
- Severe limitations on offline listening, including page limits that make it difficult for travel.
Caveats
- The subreddit r/audiobooks sees recurring weekly threads warning users about the service's business practices.
- Marketing is often described as misleading regarding the actual functionality of the free vs. premium tiers.
Best for
- Users who prioritize high-end AI voice quality above all else and are extremely diligent about managing subscriptions.
Avoid if
- You want a straightforward, easy-to-cancel subscription.
- You need reliable offline access for long periods (e.g., flights).
- You are a heavy user who will exceed word-count limits on premium voices.
This summary uses balanced time weighting with about a 6-month half-life. The evidence is older (median age ~580 days), and because app services change frequently, this may not reflect the most recent software updates or pricing structures.
Sentiment
1 positive (5%) · 4 mixed (20%) · 15 negative (75%)
Trust + time weighted score: -68% · raw score -70%
What redditors said (10 of 20)
Not only was their app broken and hard to use, they make it extremely hard and hidden to cancel … it’s bad faith , would advise against
Parent context: It’s shockingly bad! I would find a pdf of the book and use speechify if I wanted to settle for an ai reader and it sounds waaay better. Reply: I would never use my audible credit for that.
SPEECHIFY IS A SCAM.....Every week we get a thread on this topic in this sub. I don't recommend Speechify to any one.
Yes, 'speechify is a scam' is posted here about once a week
Every now and then I come across a scam story about Speechify's trial.
Based on my observation of posts here over the past year, half had good experiences and like it, and half had bad experiences similar to you.
I cancelled the 7-day trial and was charged $384. I desputed it with my credit card but they refuse to return the money. I even reached out to them to see if I could use the service so that it wouldn’t go to waste but I got no response. They rather me pay for an app that I cannot use. I was ripped off by them. Stay away from this app, they are a very dishonest business.
I tested a few TTS services like PlayHT, Speechify, and ElevenLabs, but I prefer my own solution, it worked best overall thanks to AI.
alternatively, try Speechify.
Parent context: Their premium voice has limitation too. It is not mentioned clearly at features section. ... It said 6.3 Speechify may limit the availability of Premium voices for users who listens to more than 150,000 words with Premium voices per month. Reply: 150k words isn't even two 400 page novels!
Compare
Speechify vs God of PromptSpeechify vs StockfishSpeechify vs Flickr