Head to head · Audio · updated Oct 26, 2026
Kokoro TTS vs Speechify
Kokoro TTS scores 41 to Speechify's 38 on public evidence for text-to-speech & voice cloning, and they rank #3 and #4 there. Both are free to start. Numbers below are the same public signals the ranking uses, recomputed nightly — nothing here is sponsored.
Kokoro TTS
An 82M-parameter open TTS model that runs fast enough on a CPU.
+ Apache-licensed and small enough to run locally without a GPU.
− Limited voice range and no cloning.
Speechify
A read-aloud app that turns web pages, PDFs, books and emails into speech with celebrity and natural voices.
+ Listens to anything you would otherwise read, including scanned pages via OCR, at up to 4.5x speed.
− Aggressive upsells and auto-renewing annual billing generate frequent complaints.
Side by side
public evidence| Kokoro TTS | Speechify | |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence score / 100 | 41 | 38 |
| GitHub stars | 9,691 | closed source |
| Hacker News stories, 30d | 3 | 0 |
| Release-feed mentions, 30d | 0 | 0 |
| Last activity | 445 days ago | – |
| Pricing | Open source · Free, Apache-licensed weights | Free tier · Premium $139/yr |
| Platforms | cli, linux, mac, windows, api | web, mac, ios, android, chrome-extension |
| Maker | hexgrad | Speechify |
Which one?
Pick Kokoro TTS if
- you want the stronger public evidence (41 vs 38)
- you want open source — self-host it, read it, fork it
- you need it on api, cli, linux
- a bigger GitHub community matters (9,691 vs 0 stars)
Best for free local speech synthesis.
Pick Speechify if
- you need it on android, chrome-extension, ios
Best for listening to articles and documents.