Comparison

Voice Dream vs SpeakWeb

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Voice Dream

Transform digital and scanned text into natural-sounding speech with advanced AI. Listen to PDFs, web pages, emails, and books with customizable voices and reading styles. Supports numerous document formats and cloud services.

Highlights
  • AI Text-to-Speech
  • Supports PDF, Web, Email, eBooks
  • Customizable voices and languages
  • Built-in scanner for paper documents
  • Speed-reading and distraction-free modes
  • Cloud service integration
Features
Read full description

Apple Design Award Winner! Voice Dream - Read Aloud lets you listen to PDFs, textbooks, Web pages, emails, and books using advanced AI Text To Speech! Featured by Apple as Best New App and App of the Day in 81 countries. Voice Dream - Read Aloud is also part of App Store Permanent Collections in Education. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Both experts recommend Voice Dream Reader as the best app in the text-to-speech space.” - Wired “This app is one of the best educational finds of my entire career.” - Forbes “As a user myself and as a mother of a child with dyslexia, I am blown away by the features of Voice Dream.” - Quartz “Voice Dream Reader is hailed by many as the best mobile text-to-speech (TTS) app.” - Examiner ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Text-to-Speech - 36 built-in iOS voices in 27 languages are also available for free. - 200+ additional premium voices in 30 languages from Acapela, NeoSpeech and Ivona available. - Correct pronunciation with your own pronunciation dictionary. - All voices work offline and play in the background even with the screen locked. Supported Document Formats - PDF, Plain text, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, RTF, and Google Docs. - Textbooks - Web articles. - Bookshare Books. - EPUB eBooks. (DRM-free books only. Kindle, iBooks and most commercial eBook platforms are not supported.) - DAISY text-based books and audiobook. - Audiobooks in MP3, MP4 or zipped MP3 format. - Rich text and image support for all documents. Built-in Scanner - Scan paper documents with the camera for text-to-speech. - State-of-the-art A.I. is fast and accurate, even in poor lighting conditions. - Works entirely on device: No need for internet and your data stays private. - Only languages using Latin alphabets are currently supported. Reading Styles - Tee-up a list of articles and play while you drive, walk or run. - Spoken word is highlighted to improve comprehension and retention. - Auto-scrolling and full screen, distraction-free mode to help reader focus. - Finger reading. For beginners to read by at running a finger under each word. - Pac-Man. Harvard and MIT developed speed-reading method for everyone to read at 2x speed with no loss of comprehension. - High contrast and large font size for low vision readers. - Optimized for VoiceOver, Braille and switch control. Tools - Recognize text for scanned PDF documents. - Bookmarking, text highlighting and annotation. Highlights and notes can be exported. - Full-text search. - Built-in dictionary. - Automatically skip text in PDF header and footer. Content Sources - Native support for Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, Pocket, Instapaper and Evernote. - Native access to Bookshare. - Safari extension to save Web pages and Web addresses. - Support for Box and OneDrive via iOS Document Picker. Library Synchronization - Your entire library, including folders, reading locations, bookmarks and annotations are synchronized across all your devices using iCloud Drive A subscription is required to access the app. A free trial is offered to new users. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

About

SpeakWeb

Enhance your learning by combining reading with listening and speaking. Record yourself reading content and play it back, or type notes digitally. This app supports web pages, text files, PDFs, and iCloud content, with background playback and Google Translate integration.

Highlights
  • Text-to-Speech playback
  • Record and playback speaking
  • Keyboard typing for notes
  • Background audio playback
  • Google Translate integration
  • Supports web, text, PDF, iCloud
Features
Read full description

Until today, the self-learning method has been about reading with your eyes or taking notes by hand. How about grafting hearing as well? You can read out the learning content while recording, and play it back. You can type it with your keyboard, without using paper and a pen. Reading the text out loud or typing it out will definitely help the text last longer in your memory. - Listening through TTS (Text-to-Speech) - Speaking through recording - Writing through keyboard - Background playback “Even in situations where you can’t see the screen, you can read books just like listening to music” - Link to Google Translate “When reading a document written in a foreign language, you can translate it right away” - Web-site, Text, PDF - iCloud Use SpeakWeb to improve your learning efficiency!

Screenshots

Voice Dream4 screens
SpeakWeb4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: SpeakWeb at 100% against Voice Dream's 43%. SpeakWeb also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 18) and ads (none vs shown). Voice Dream's advantage is price (Free vs $0.99) and ratings volume (14K vs 9). On update cadence and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Voice Dream is free to download; SpeakWeb costs $0.99 up front. Voice Dream sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. SpeakWeb asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SpeakWeb holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Voice Dream has 14K ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 43% of Voice Dream's written reviews are positive against 100% of SpeakWeb's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Voice Dream ships an update every 3 weeks, SpeakWeb monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Voice Dream versus SpeakWeb: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVoice DreamSpeakWeb
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.5 (14K ratings)4.8 (9 ratings) — better
Positive reviews42.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings14K — better9
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size267 MB11 MB
Age rating+417+
DeveloperVoice Dream LLCCoCO SWING

Customer experience

Voice Dream

All ratings14,363 ratings
Positive86.7%
Neutral4.0%
Negative9.3%
Written reviews753 reviews
Positive42.6%
Neutral6.8%
Negative50.6%

SpeakWeb

All ratings9 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Voice Dream

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inconsistent behavior when importing files
  • Unreliable iCloud syncing
  • Jumps in playback position

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved table of contents and navigation
  • Ability to annotate and highlight text
  • Syncing across multiple devices
  • Better support for mathematical content

SpeakWeb

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Voice Dream

Subscriptions9
  • Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription3 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial2 variants$59.991 Year
Show 6 more
  • Annual Subscription$59.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription3 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription1 Month trial$79.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Premium3 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$89.991 Year
One-time7
  • Will (Acapela US English Voice)$4.99
  • Julie (NeoSpeech US English)$4.99
  • Kate (NeoSpeech US English Voice)$4.99
Show 4 more
  • Paul (NeoSpeech US English Voice)$4.99
  • Salli (Ivona US English Voice)$4.99
  • James (NeoSpeech US English Voice)$4.99
  • Hugh (NeoSpeech US English Voice)$4.99
None

SpeakWeb

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Voice Dream free?
Voice Dream is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SpeakWeb free?
SpeakWeb costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Voice Dream or SpeakWeb?
SpeakWeb is rated higher. Voice Dream averages 4.5 out of 5 from 14K ratings, while SpeakWeb averages 4.8 from 9 ratings.
Do Voice Dream or SpeakWeb have ads?
Voice Dream shows ads; SpeakWeb does not.
Which is updated more often, Voice Dream or SpeakWeb?
Voice Dream ships an update every 3 weeks, and SpeakWeb monthly. Most recently, Voice Dream was updated on November 1, 2026 and SpeakWeb on October 26, 2026.

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