text to speech

Our Top Nine Picks: BeyondWords Alternatives

What is BeyondWords?

For businesses that have extensive use of converting text to speech or working with AI audio, BeyondWords isn’t a foreign name. It is a thoroughly efficient platform that allows streamlined and quick text to speech conversions using an audio CMS that smoothens out the creases.

Businesses can create custom-branded natural sounding AI voices through a wide selection of AI voices from BeyondWords' voice library or through voice cloning. Users can choose from a range of over 550 AI voices in over 140 languages to accomplish their end goals. They also have the choice to apply local accents to the selected voice to engage with the relevant target audience.

One of the unique features of this platform is that it empowers businesses to handle and leverage data seamlessly, ensuring a comprehensive and efficient workflow. Some of the voices in the BeyondWords library are created ethically in partnership with exclusive voice actors.

Table of Contents

What is BeyondWords Used For?

BeyondWords TTS can be used to create:

YouTube Videos

BeyondWords makes it easy to add narration and voice overs to videos, helping enhance engagement. The support for multiple spoken languages helps make the video content more accessible to audiences worldwide.

Podcasts

Podcasts are basically “spoken blogs.” Given that many people like to multitask today, podcasts have increased in popularity because they allow people to do two things at a time. Podcasters can use BeyondWords to narrate their episodes, freeing creators from having to record everything manually for the episodes to air on time. This not only streamlines the production process but also offers a more efficient way to handle the spoken content, enhancing the overall management of podcast data.

Audiobooks

BeyondWords has tremendous potential for use in the world of audiobooks. In order to make books more accessible for everyone, BeyondWords' words to speech can be used as a read-aloud feature for eBooks. Depending on the nature and theme of the book, the tone and style of the voice can be easily customized for the best narration.

eLearning Videos

eLearning has enabled easy access to skill-building for one and all. Using BeyondWords AI voices, it is possible to create effective narration for explainer videos in the learning modules. BeyondWords also empowers educators to clone voices and repurpose them for use across the eLearning modules they create themselves.

Training Videos

Corporate training contains diverse content that requires narration to make it more engaging. BeyondWords gives enterprises the capability to create branded voices that resonate with the company’s image. The customized voice can be repurposed for use with all the training content across the organization, providing a consistent and cohesive approach to presenting data in training videos.

Best Alternatives to BeyondWords

Even as effective as BeyondWords is at text to speech and AI voices, there may be use cases where it isn’t the best fit. If you have one such use case that requires something different, check this list of BeyondWords alternatives:

Murf AI

Murf is a text to speech powerhouse with AI voices that are indistinguishable from humans. Users get access to over 120 voices in over 20 languages to create custom natural-sounding voiceovers.

Some key features are:

  • Emphasis and speed adjustment in AI voices

  • Pitch control

  • Voice filters based on use case and style

  • Ability to add media including images, videos, and background music 

Murf has a free version where you can use all features for limited conversions. 

ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs can smoothly convert text into audio using text to speech. It offers 120 natural-sounding synthetic voices across 29 languages. Some of the key features of this tool are:

  • Voice tuning for clarity, stability, and amplification

  • Read-aloud feature for online apps that are powered by deep learning

  • Supports voice cloning

Speechify

Speechify is one of the most successful text to speech tools and has over 30 voices in 15 exclusive languages. The app allows users to “listen to the internet,” meaning that they can convert any web text into voice. Some of its key features include:

  • Celebrity voices like Gwyneth Paltrow and Snoop Dogg

  • Adjustment to reading speeds

  • Compatible with desktop and mobile devices

  • Text to speech for anything email, instant messages, blogs, reports, and websites

NaturalReader

NaturalReader is a handy AI text to speech solution for educational, commercial, or personal use with over 200 voices. It has exclusive package-based solutions for these three use cases. Some of its key features include:

  • Cross-platform compatibility

  • Emotive voice styles

  • Special features for educational use like sharing licenses for K-12 groups

  • Camera-scan-based text to speech, making it convenient for users to convert image-based text into audio

  • Support for over 20 file formats

15.ai

15.ai is a unique non-commercial freeware AI that provides users with quick text to speech conversions in high-quality AI voices. The interesting part is that this software can craft TTS audio in real time. Some interesting features are:

  • Extremely user-friendly and straightforward

  • Real-time speech synthesis

  • Voice cloning

  • Popular character voices like Twilight Sparkle, Spy, and more

  • Freeware AI platform

Google Text to Speech

In the world of voice synthesis and communication, Google is a name everyone is familiar with. It has launched a text to speech AI platform that can be accessed using APIs. New customers get a $300 credit that they can use on text to speech on this platform. Some of its most interesting features are:

  • Humanlike intonation in outputs

  • Over 380 voices in over 50 languages and their variants

  • Audio adjustment for various output devices

TTSReader

TTSReader is a versatile solution if you need audio generated from an uploaded file. It supports TTS for books, web pages or website, text, files, and more. Some of its interesting features are:

Amazon Polly Text to Speech

Amazon Polly is a high-performance text to speech tool that offers dozens of languages for TTS. It helps users develop and customize natural-sounding AI voices that support lexicons and SSML tags. Some of the interesting features are:

  • Simple to use API

  • Standard and Neural text to speech voices

  • Adjustments for style, rate, pitch, and loudness

  • Time-driven prosody settings

Resemble AI

Resemble AI is an enterprise-focused text to speech software that promises voiceover creation within seconds. Some of the most interesting features are:

  • Speech to speech conversion

  • Neural audio editing

  • Language dubbing

  • Voice cloning

  • Supports up to 100 languages

  • Capability to edit audio by changing the script

WellSaid Labs

WellSaid Labs is a branding-focused text to speech tool that allows customizations to achieve the most optimum branded voiceover from text. Some of its interesting features are:

  • Controls for tone, punctuation, and emphasis

  • Respelling feature to format words to emphasize syllables

  • Create voiceovers from multiple voices and reduce production time

Why is Murf the Best Alternative to BeyondWords?

When it comes to text to speech and voiceover generation, one thing that matters most is getting a convincing diction. This is where Murf shines with an entire library of AI voices that are indistinguishable from human voices for a wide range of use cases like marketing, corporate, storytelling, and more.

Natural Sounding Synthetic Voices

Murf’s 120+ AI voices are 100 percent natural sounding that it can get hard to distinguish from human voices. When compared to the sourced voice library of BeyondWords that leverages Microsoft, Google, and Amazon text to speech voices, Murf Studio provides original AI voices that are created using its own AI engine. 

Voice Cloning

The voice cloning feature in Murf helps you create an exact clone of a targeted voice and repurpose it for countless voiceovers in different styles. You can also reuse it for various applications like IVRs, marketing videos, and more by simply making minor changes to the script on the fly.

Voiceover Video

Murf Studio allows you to effortlessly add a voice over to your existing videos and save time and effort along the way. It is a definite benefit over Beyondwords, which doesn’t have dedicated workflows for voice over videos.

Voice Changer

For professionals who require quick voice modulation for high-speed productions, Murf’s AI Voice Changer is the ultimate solution. You can easily apply customizations to each element with a few simple clicks. Beyondwords, on the other hand, does not provide extensive voice customizations.

In Conclusion

When it comes to choosing between Murf and BeyondWords, there is a lot at stake. While BeyondWords is targeted more toward enterprises and businesses, Murf Studio has high utility for users of all kinds individuals, enterprises, marketers, educators, and others. Explore the vast improvements Murf AI can bring to your TTS operations by trying its free trial today!

FAQs

What is BeyondWords, and how does it work?

BeyondWords is a text to speech tool that provides you with neural voices sourced from Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure. The platform automatically applies normalization and conversion of text into its phonetic equivalents, enabling high-speed text to speech conversions at scale.

Is BeyondWords free?

Beyondwords has a limited free plan that allows you to create one project of 10,000 characters. This tier also provides CMS integrations, API, player SDKs, basic support, and analytics. Users also get the Editor and neural voice access. 

What are the subscription charges of BeyondWords?

There are two tiers in BeyondWords that allow users access to the more premium features. The Pro plan starts at $89 per month and provides features like podcast feeds, pro analytics, and premium neural voices. The Enterprise plan has custom pricing and comes with webhooks, priority support, invoicing, ad monetization integrations, and more.

What is the character limit of text to speech in BeyondWords?

In the free tier, users can generate free text to speech projects for up to 10,000 characters. Beyond that, the platform requires a subscription. Users can effectively create one free project using the free plan on the platform.

What are the key features of BeyondWords text to speech software?

Some of the key features of Beyondwords are voice cloning, automatic SSML, local accents, virtual narration, branded audio, API, analytics, and ad monetization features. Some of these features are available only with the Pro plan and upwards. 

Who can use BeyondWords text to speech?

BeyondWords is best suited for users who need to create text to speech applications at scale. It offers access to over 500 voices in 50 languages, making it an enterprise-ready solution.

What language and voice styles does BeyondWords text to speech offer?

BeyondWords offers users access to over 50 languages spoken worldwide. Additionally, users also get insights into different localized accents and variations to customize their brand voice for local audiences further. You can also customize the voices for emphasis, emotion, and pauses.

Why should I explore alternatives to BeyondWords for text to speech in 2023?

While BeyondWords is an excellent tool to use for text to speech conversions, you can look for alternatives if the scale of your project isn’t as large. You can explore other options like Murf to apply quick text to speech customizations and get the ball rolling.

Is Murf better than BeyondWords?

Murf has a library of AI voices that resemble human voices very closely. This makes Murf a tough competitor for BeyondWords. Additionally, Murf offers other features like voice changer, voice cloning, and AI translation at more competitive prices, making it the better alternative.