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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Readwise Reader vs Speechify

Readwise Reader 4.6★ · Free to download 75
Winner Readwise Reader
Speechify 4.7★ · Free + IAP 60

Readwise Reader is better for dedicated readers who want a robust content aggregation and highlighting tool, while Speechify is better for those primarily seeking text-to-speech functionality for existing content, despite its pricing and reliability issues.

Full reviews: Readwise Reader · Speechify

Readwise Reader excels as an all-in-one reading hub for articles, PDFs, and RSS feeds, offering excellent text-to-speech and highlighting features, though it struggles with bugs and a high subscription cost. Speechify focuses on text-to-speech, providing various voices and aiding reading comprehension, but faces criticism for misleading advertising, high prices, limited library content, and frequent app crashes.

Head to head

Features & Content Aggregation edge: Readwise ReaderR5R8R20R29
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader is praised as a comprehensive hub for collecting and managing various digital content, including articles, PDFs, RSS feeds, and even YouTube transcripts, with powerful highlighting and note-taking capabilities R5R8R20R29. Users appreciate having all their reading in one place R5.
Speechify Speechify is primarily used for text-to-speech, allowing users to listen to books and other content R81. However, many users are disappointed by its limited library of books and the need to scan pages manually for content not in its collection, which is seen as impractical and misleading compared to advertisements R61R64R66.
Text-to-Speech (TTS) Quality & Functionality edge: Readwise ReaderR20R26R29R32
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader offers excellent text-to-speech, making any media listenable and allowing users to read along without losing their place R29R44R56. Users specifically mention using it for articles, books, and YouTube transcripts R32R56. Some users wish for TTS playlists R20 or a sleep timer R26.
Speechify Speechify is well-regarded for its text-to-speech capabilities, with users appreciating the choice of voices, tones, and tenor R81. However, some find the voices can be slightly robotic , and there are complaints about the lack of continuous playlists and the need to keep tapping the screen when listening to certain content R81.
Ease of Use & Interface edge: Readwise ReaderR2R7R27R53
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader is praised for its impeccable and elegant interface, being easy to use despite its many features R2R53. However, some users find the iPadOS app inferior to the web version R27 and note issues with RSS screen customization R7 and small fonts on iPad .
Speechify Speechify is described as easy to navigate and set up . Despite this, some users struggle with understanding how the app works and find the process of scanning pages tedious and not as simple as advertised .
Reliability & Performance tieR3R4R6R9
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader suffers from significant bugginess and performance issues, including slow loading times, frequent crashes, articles saving improperly, and the app heating up phones R3R4R6R9. While some users report fixes for battery and performance , many still experience these problems.
Speechify Speechify also faces reliability issues, with users reporting frequent app crashes, especially after updates . Some users experience slow loading times and issues with scanned pages not saving or being deleted .
Price & Value edge: Readwise ReaderR2R19R21R30
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader is considered expensive, with users citing prices around $10-13/month or $95/year R21R30R42. While some find it absolutely worth the yearly subscription due to its features and support R2, others feel the price is too high for the service offered, especially given the bugs and missing basic features R19R30.
Speechify Speechify is widely criticized for its high price, with users mentioning costs of $50, $140, or $25 for a basic plan R64R87. Many feel it's not worth the money, especially since it often requires additional payments for books or better voices, despite being advertised as free or implying broader access R61.
Customer Support & Development edge: Readwise ReaderR2R7R9R23
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader receives praise for responsive and human customer support, with instances of trial extensions R2. Users also note that the app is actively developed, with new features and quick acknowledgment/resolution of issues R23R44. However, some feel certain long-standing issues, like RSS customization R7 or performance problems R9, are not addressed.
Speechify Speechify users report difficulties contacting support, with no phone number available and issues getting refunds . There's also a perception of a lack of fixes and developer response to bugs .
Pick Readwise Reader if

you are a serious reader looking for a powerful, all-in-one platform to aggregate, read, highlight, and manage various forms of digital content, including articles, RSS feeds, PDFs, and even YouTube transcripts R5R8R20R29. You value excellent text-to-speech and a well-designed interface, and are willing to pay a premium subscription for these features and responsive customer support R2R23R44.

Pick Speechify if

your primary need is text-to-speech for existing documents or a limited selection of books, and you benefit from listening to content to improve reading speed or comprehension . You are comfortable with a free-to-download model that requires in-app purchases for full functionality, and you are not deterred by the possibility of limited library content or the need for manual scanning R81.

Evidence note: Readwise Reader has significantly fewer reviews (565) compared to Speechify (496,296), leading to a less comprehensive user perspective for Readwise Reader. Speechify's reviews are heavily skewed by complaints about its pricing model and misleading advertising, which impacts its perceived value despite its core text-to-speech functionality.

Frequently asked

Is Readwise Reader free to use?
Readwise Reader is free to download, but it requires a subscription to use its features, with some users reporting trials expiring immediately upon sign-up R1. The subscription cost is around $10-13 per month or $95 per year R21R30R42.
Does Speechify allow me to listen to any book?
Speechify's advertisements often imply you can listen to any book by scanning it, but users report that its library of available books is very limited R61R66R87. For books not in their library, you typically have to scan each page manually, which many find impractical R64.
Do both apps have text-to-speech functionality?
Yes, both Readwise Reader and Speechify offer text-to-speech (TTS) functionality. Readwise Reader's TTS is praised for its quality across various media R29R44R56, while Speechify is primarily a TTS app known for offering multiple voice options R81.
Are there many bugs in these apps?
Both apps are reported to have significant bugs and reliability issues. Readwise Reader users frequently mention slow loading, crashes, articles saving improperly, and the app causing devices to heat up R3R4R6R9. Speechify also experiences frequent crashes, especially after updates, and issues with scanned content not saving .

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R5] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Revolutionized how I consume media: I finally feel like I have a grasp on everything I read and a single place to read it all. Highly highly recommend
  2. [R8] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Wow!: So I came from rss.app and Feedly cause I want to keep up with the playoffs.. I understand reader isn’t fast pace but it’s what I’m looking for .. use Flipboard and whatever is out there to find an article dump it in my library.. get feeds dump then then read them on my own time.. I been doing read later for now .. don’t get me started on chatting with highlights. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! Using
  3. [R20] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US The BEST media organization app: If you decide to use this app, prepare to expand your ideas of what is possible with a reader app. Wildly powerful and takes some time to get comfortable with, but for serious readers it’s 100% worth it. I wish there were TTS playlists but that’s not going to prevent me from happily giving 5 stars ✨
  4. [R29] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Elegant Interface - and a true 2nd Brain: I save everything in it - research, epubs, pdfs, feeds from twitter lists, and websites, blogs. The text to speech feature is excellent for anything from articles to books.
  5. [R26] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Great tts app: Please add a sleep timer The app is great so far
  6. [R32] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US reader app made by readers!: read & highlight anything, including YouTube and podcast transcripts. I can feel the love put into this app.
  7. [R2] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US absolutely worth it: this is the only app I’ve found worth paying a yearly subscription for. impeccable interface. so easy to use, yet so many awesome features. when I first started using Reader, I was between jobs. when my (already generous) free trial ended, they extended it by three more months for me + were highly responsive to emails. I did not feel like a random user; the Readwise team has
  8. [R7] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US No RSS compact view: Unlike every other rss app or similar apps such as email clients that all offer compact view vs default or vs expanded etc, Reader still has 0 options to customize the RSS screen. Can’t hide the image, can’t hide the excerpt etc so it’s a terrible rss experience and seems more aimed for the view one would want for curated saved articles not all ones rss feeds. Every years more
  9. [R27] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Inexplicably not the web-app on iPad OS: I love Readwise on my phone, my Palma, and my web browser. It’s the best reading app & it’s expensive enough that I almost trust it’ll stick around (unlike Omnivore…). For unknown reasons, though: the iPad OS app is the web browser’s inferior in every way. The lack of a sidebar is nuts and it’s basically a high-res version of the phone app. What’s up with t
  10. [R53] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Didn’t know how much I needed this: I try to minimize my use of apps/heavy tooling but this is downright incredible. It’s intuitive and exactly what I needed.
  11. [R3] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Great app, disastrous quality control: The amount of bugs this app has is amongst the highest I've ever seen on any app, whether high quality or otherwise . It's too bad, because this thing is really, really, really good when it works. For at least a year or two now, my inbox on my iPhone just does not want to work properly. It takes forever to load, and I've cleared the cache and done everything
  12. [R4] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US TTS broken again: No QA testing before each update? Now when using TTS and you tap the button to jump back, it jumps ahead instead. Acceptable for a free or cheap service, not acceptable at this price.
  13. [R6] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Unreliable: I love the idea of this app. I love the feature set. What I do t love is that a substantial portion of the articles I save get improperly saved. For example, I saved an article and the top and bottom sections (about 80% of the article) weren’t saved. I tried the same thing in GoodLinks, none. The article was as expected. Not sure what’s going on here but great features can’t make up f
  14. [R9] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Severe overheating: I've renewed my subscription for two years in a row, and my phone always gets hot shortly after I open the app, so I mostly use the web version. iOS has had many updates in between, and each time I hoped an update would fix the overheating, but the developers still haven't solved this issue. I hope the developers take this problem seriously and resolve it soon. · translated
  15. [R19] Readwise Reader 2/5 · US Good idea with lots of bugs without any fixes: The main idea is good but the app has several bugs which you encounter on a daily basis. And there isnt any way to report them easily in the app. Thats not fine with a paid app. I might cancel my subscription in the near future.
  16. [R21] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Subscription: Can’t justify $12/m
  17. [R30] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Good App, too pricey: I enjoyed my first day using the app, but learned that it costs about $10-13 a month! I read that a year ago it was $8-9. In a perfect world I would use this app, but this cost is ludicrously high for the service offered. Subscriptions are everywhere now and I’m frankly fine with a free version that is slightly worse.
  18. [R23] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US The best all-in-one reader around: This app has changed the way I consume almost all online, and some offline content. While it’s not perfect (yet), it is very actively developed and supported. New features are coming all the time and when things break, they’re at least quickly acknowledged and usually resolved reasonably fast as well. It’s the best app I’ve seen in this category and I’ve tried pl
  19. [R1] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US Just downloaded but my trial is expired?: This app must be connected to to original in terms of subscription. I’ve never used this one before but I’ve used the Readwise app; just downloaded this, signed up and it told me to subscribe to continue as my trial is expired. I can’t move past that page to even see what the app entails. Thats a real bummer, really wanted to try it as I get back into read
  20. [R42] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US nice: but should be charge less 95$/yr for a reading app sounds crazy
  21. [R61] Speechify 1/5 · US Not worth the money: There are apps out there that are so much better. So far, I cannot read a single book on this app without (of course) paying even more money! Absolutely not. I truly want a refund, advertised and what is delivered are two completely different things!!
  22. [R64] Speechify 1/5 · US Very deceptive: I paid $50 for this app thinking I could tap / take a picture of books and the app would read it too me. No it wants to charge me for everything. Extremely deceptive
  23. [R66] Speechify 3/5 · US Small Selection: I was disappointed that the books I tried to use with the app weren’t available. Not worth the money if I can’t use it for all books.
  24. [R87] Speechify 3/5 · US Nope: $140 and THEN you also pay for books you actually WANT to listen to. Cute idea but don’t say it’s free, then charge a ridiculous amount for some books you can get on other apps for actual free. Then have ppl pay for MORE books. I couldn’t even find John Douglas’ MINDHUNTER…not even sure what that means.
  25. [R44] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US My most used iOS app: I love the text-to-speech feature, making any media listenable while allowing for reading without losing one's place. The app receives consistent updates and provides excellent support. The highlight feature is transformative.
  26. [R56] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Turned my books into audiobooks: I really like this app, I can read every kind of document I want, including YouTube where I can highlight text. Also, the text to speech feature I use to listen to my epub books before I go to sleep. Amazing.
  27. [R81] Speechify 3/5 · US love-hate relationship: I love that it reads to me in so many voice options. I don’t like that I have to keep tapping the screen when I’m listening to Kindle Unlimited although I am grateful I am able to read my Kindle unlimited. I also like that it can read my textbooks back to me if it’s in the app. Unlucky for me none of my textbooks were in the app, so I was stuck, taking pictures of every pa

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store