As much as I love reading for pleasure, reading academic literature for school might be one of the most mind-numbing things I engage in on a daily basis. The language is dense, the pages are endless, and the only imagery to accompany most of it is graphs or maps. This can create a backlog of reading between textbooks and PDFs piling up on any student’s desk, especially if they’re a slower reader or, like me, can lose focus halfway through any given chapter.
A few years ago, I finally had enough of reading my textbooks the old-fashioned way. That’s when I found Speechify, and even then, before all the wonderful upgrades and features it packs in now, it completely changed my study habits. Initially, the voices were a bit robotic, and even though I didn’t mind it, the developers have made leaps and bounds in that regard. Now, Speechify is my go-to study buddy, and I haven’t regretted it a bit.
- Developer
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Speechify, Inc.
- Subscription cost
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$29/month
- Offline downloads
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Yes
- Free trial
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3 Days
Speechify is a productivity platform that turns text from books, PDFs, and more into natural-sounding speech.
Let your textbooks talk back to you
It will completely change how you study
Speechify works by taking PDFs, textbooks, articles, class notes, and any other text a user uploads to the platform and turning it into what is essentially an audiobook. The handwriting detection is, as one would expect, not the best, but if you’re like me and take your notes on a laptop or any other device with a keyboard, you shouldn’t run into any problems. When paired with a transcription app like Otter.ai, Speechify can even take the transcribed text that Otter spits out and create a short audio description of that day’s lecture.
This means that you don’t have to be seated at a desk or dining room table to read your assigned texts anymore. I listen to readings at the gym, on my commute, or even while cleaning around the house. This is thanks in part to how fast the translation speed has gotten on the platform. At one point, a massive document would take some time to process. Now, it’s almost instantaneous.
Quiz
Productivity apps for studying
Trivia challenge
From flashcards to text-to-speech — how well do you know the apps that power
student success?
FlashcardsNote-TakingFocusReadingOrganization
Which spaced repetition algorithm is Anki’s flashcard scheduling system famously
based on?
Correct! Anki uses the SM-2 algorithm, developed by Piotr Woźniak as
part of the SuperMemo project in the late 1980s. It calculates optimal review intervals based on how
well you recalled each card, making your study sessions far more efficient over time.
Not quite — Anki’s scheduling is built on the SM-2 algorithm, created by
Piotr Woźniak. While the Leitner system is also a spaced repetition method, SM-2 is the specific
algorithm that powers Anki’s intelligent card scheduling.
Speechify is primarily designed to help users do what?
Correct! Speechify is a text-to-speech app that converts written content
— including PDFs, web pages, and documents — into audio using high-quality AI voices. It’s especially
popular among students with dyslexia or those who want to consume reading material faster.
Not quite. Speechify is a text-to-speech tool that reads written content
aloud using AI-generated voices. It’s designed to help users absorb textbooks, articles, and notes more
efficiently, particularly useful for auditory learners or those with reading difficulties.
Which note-taking app uses a block-based editing system and is known for combining
notes, databases, and project management in one workspace?
Correct! Notion is built around a flexible block-based system that lets
users mix text, tables, kanban boards, and databases in a single page. Students love it for building
everything from lecture notes to full study wikis in one unified workspace.
Not quite — that’s Notion. Its block-based approach lets students
combine text, databases, and task lists all in one place, making it far more versatile than a
traditional note-taking app. Obsidian and Evernote, while powerful, work quite differently.
The Pomodoro Technique, often built into study-focused apps like Forest and Be
Focused, was developed by whom?
Correct! Francesco Cirillo developed the Pomodoro Technique in the late
1980s while he was a university student, using a tomato-shaped kitchen timer — ‘pomodoro’ means tomato
in Italian. The method breaks work into 25-minute focused intervals separated by short breaks.
Not quite — the Pomodoro Technique was created by Francesco Cirillo. He
named it after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used as a student. Apps like Forest and Be Focused
have since built entire productivity experiences around his simple but effective method.
Google’s study app Quizlet introduced a feature that uses AI to automatically
generate flashcard sets from uploaded notes or textbook content. What is this feature called?
Correct! Quizlet’s Magic Notes feature uses AI to turn uploaded study
materials — like PDFs and notes — into ready-to-use flashcard sets automatically. It’s designed to save
students the time-consuming step of manually creating cards from their course content.
Not quite — the feature is called Magic Notes. Quizlet launched it as
part of its broader AI-powered push, allowing students to upload their existing notes and have flashcard
sets generated for them automatically, streamlining study prep significantly.
Obsidian stores all of its notes locally in which file format, making them portable
and future-proof?
Correct! Obsidian saves all notes as plain Markdown (.md) files stored
directly on your device. This means your notes aren’t locked into a proprietary format — you can open
them with any text editor, which many students appreciate for long-term accessibility.
Not quite — Obsidian uses Markdown (.md) files, stored locally on your
device rather than in the cloud. This plain-text approach is a big draw for students who want full
ownership of their notes and the freedom to access them without relying on any particular app.
Which app gamifies studying by letting users grow a virtual tree that dies if they
leave the app during a focus session?
Correct! Forest lets you plant a virtual tree at the start of a study
session, which grows while you stay focused. If you leave the app to check social media, the tree
withers and dies. The app also partners with a real tree-planting organization, so consistent focus can
fund actual trees.
Not quite — the app is Forest. It uses the clever mechanic of a growing
virtual tree to discourage phone use during study sessions. Flora is a similar app, but Forest is the
original and most widely recognized version of this gamified focus concept.
Which productivity app, popular with students for task management, uses a system of
projects, sections, and priority flags to help users organize their workload?
Correct! Todoist is widely praised for its clean interface and powerful
organizational features, including projects, sub-tasks, color-coded priority flags, and natural language
input for adding tasks quickly. Students use it to juggle assignments, deadlines, and personal goals all
in one place.
Not quite — that’s Todoist. Its combination of projects, priority
levels, and natural language task entry makes it a favorite among students managing heavy workloads.
While TickTick and Microsoft To Do offer similar features, Todoist’s design and depth set it apart for
many users.
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Turn study time into listening hour
Why sit at a desk when you can learn from anywhere
I’m not the biggest fan of multitasking. Research actually shows that we can’t truly multitask efficiently, after all. What we’re actually doing is rapid task switching. However, some studies have also shown that, if the task is menial enough, you can pay closer attention to the audiobook you’re listening to. What’s a routine enough task, you might ask? Think about your walk to class or your daily commute. The odds are you could do it with your eyes closed. That’s the perfect time to fire up an audiobook.
That huge back-to-school reading list you’ve got piled up? What if you could knock out 20 minutes of it at a time on 1.5x speed throughout your day? I’d bet that you’d have it all knocked out by the end of the week. Speechify gives users the kind of flexibility that every developer is looking to provide, and has been doing it for quite some time.
Arguably the best part about Speechify is its beginnings.
A more accessible pathway to literature
Speechify lowers the barrier for entry to better education
Arguably the best part about Speechify is its beginnings. The company’s founder, Cliff Weitzman, was diagnosed with Dyslexia at an early age. Like other differently abled children with similar diagnoses, Weitzman struggled to sit down and read. For those with dyslexia, the brainpower it takes to read a paragraph is about the same as what it takes for someone without it to work out a four-digit long division equation in their head.
Speechify bridges that gap for students who may also struggle with assigned readings, and with audiobooks continuing to gain popularity, it only makes sense that Speechify itself has added a library of audiobooks through which users can listen to their favorite stories in distinct voices (including Gwyneth Paltrow and Snoop Dogg, not kidding).
Pricing and Important Features
Is Speechify right for you
By far the biggest drawback to Speechify’s premium plan is the price, but when it comes to the absolute best text-to-speech app out there, you get what you pay for. The monthly plan is $30 a month, and the yearly plan is $140. That’s a pretty solid deal on the yearly option, but if you’re still not convinced, there are some other interesting features that stand out.
Outside the adjustable reading speed, which has saved me a total of 65 hours at the time of writing this story, students can ask Speechify’s AI agent about the material to create an important second learning touchpoint. You also don’t have to upload a file for Speechify to read, either. You can snap photos of hard-copy books, and if the text is even close to normal, Speechify can handle it with ease.
If you’re serious about getting your study habits in line this school year, I cannot recommend Speechify enough. After getting my entire PhD cohort on board, we’ve put it through its paces and then some, and it still keeps churning out great material.
