Comparison

Paper2Audio vs Ghost Reader Live

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

Head to head
About

Paper2Audio

This app transforms your documents, PDFs, and web articles into spoken audio using high-quality, natural-sounding voices. It intelligently skips irrelevant content and summarizes complex elements, making reading hands-free and productive.

Highlights
  • Reads PDFs, EPUBs, .docx, .txt, and web articles
  • High-quality, natural text-to-speech voices
  • Summarizes figures, tables, and equations
  • Intelligently skips junk text
  • Reader View with word-level highlighting
  • Playback speed control
  • Table of contents navigation
Read full description

Paper2Audio is a free text to audio app that reads aloud your PDFs, ebooks, web articles, text documents, and plain text, turning complex reading into clear audio you can listen to anywhere. Paper2Audio’s text to speech (TTS) reader technology intelligently skips clutter like page numbers, footnotes, citations, and more. It summarizes figures, tables, and math so you can focus on what matters. Convert your documents and pdfs to audio to turn your commute, workout, or chores into productive learning time by listening to your documents hands-free. Over 700,000 documents converted to audio! Key features: • Read PDFs, webpages, EPUBs, .docx, .txt, scanned documents and copy-pasted text Turn your ebooks into audiobooks and your pdfs to audio to read text out loud • High quality text to speech voices Enjoy natural text to voice with engaging and realistic voices that make hours of listening engaging and easy to follow, including for people with visual impairments or learning challenges like dyslexia or ADHD. • Reads documents aloud with summaries of visual elements Summarizes equations, code, tables and figures in plain language instead of confusing symbol-by-symbol narration • A smarter audio text reader that cuts junk text you don't want to hear (page numbers, references list, ads, etc.) Our text reader skips the clutter and focuses only on the meaningful content • Read along with the audio with Reader View Reformats your documents for easier readability on small screens and shows images, math, formatting, and word-level highlighting in sync with the audio. • Highlighting and notes Keep track of key text with highlights and add your own notes • Familiar UI similar to a podcast or audiobook app Jump right in with an intuitive interface you already know how to use • Table of contents to select a section of your PDF or ebook Navigate instantly to any section that interests you most without endless scrolling • Read text aloud at your own speed with playback speed control from 0.5x to 4.0x in 0.05x increments Find your perfect listening pace whether you're a speed listener or prefer to savor every detail • Scan and read documents aloud Upload scanned PDFs to turn them into listenable audio. • Screen reader compatible and dyslexia-friendly fonts Pricing: Paper2Audio is a free text to audio document reader (up to 56 hours of audio generation per week) with no ads or annoying stuff. Paper2Audio Plus, our paid tier for business users, has higher limits and allows for audio file exports. Terms of use: https://www.paper2audio.com/terms-of-use Privacy: https://www.paper2audio.com/privacy

About

Ghost Reader Live

This app transforms documents and web content into spoken audio using on-device voices. Listen privately while following along with highlighted text, with options to adjust speed, navigate, and use lock-screen controls. A free tier offers limited daily listening, with premium options for unlimited access.

Highlights
  • On-device TTS narration
  • Focus mode with highlighting and auto-scroll
  • Adjustable listening speed (0.5x to 2x)
  • Document navigation and resume playback
  • Lock-screen and headphone controls
  • Sleep timer and MP3 export
  • Privacy-focused, no account required
Features
Read full description

Turn reading into listening — privately. Ghost Reader narrates PDFs, EPUBs, web articles, Markdown, and plain-text files with natural on-device voices. Import a document or paste a link, then listen while following the text in Focus mode. YOUR DOCUMENTS STAY WITH YOU Narration is generated on your iPhone. Your documents, extracted text, and audio are not sent to our servers. No account is required. MADE FOR LISTENING • Follow along with sentence highlighting and auto-scroll • Pick a voice and adjust listening speed from 0.5× to 2× • Navigate to any part of a document and resume where you stopped • Use lock-screen and headphone play/pause controls when narration is ready • Set a sleep timer or export narration as an MP3 FREE TO START Enjoy 30 minutes of narration each day for free. Upgrade through the App Store for unlimited listening with Monthly or Lifetime Access. Requires iPhone 12 or newer. Privacy Policy: https://bighippolabs.com/page-ghostreader/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://bighippolabs.com/page-ghostreader/terms.html

Screenshots

Paper2Audio4 screens
Ghost Reader Live3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Paper2Audio at free against Ghost Reader Live's freemium. Paper2Audio also leads on ratings volume (784 vs 1) and update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Paper2Audio sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $20.00 per month and Ghost Reader Live sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Paper2Audio against 5.0 for Ghost Reader Live. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paper2Audio has 784 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paper2Audio ships an update every 5 days, Ghost Reader Live fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Paper2Audio versus Ghost Reader Live: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaper2AudioGhost Reader Live
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (784 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews97.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings784 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB343 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaper2AudioJan Ancajas

Customer experience

Paper2Audio

All ratings784 ratings
Positive99.2%
Neutral0.5%
Negative0.3%
Written reviews173 reviews
Positive97.1%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.2%

Ghost Reader Live

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Paper2Audio

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • Occasional issues with chapter/section detection in long documents

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add support for footnotes and citations
  • Implement custom pronunciation dictionary
  • Improve handling of multilingual content
  • Expand compatibility to more file formats

Ghost Reader Live

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Paper2Audio

Subscriptions2
  • Paper2Audio Plus Monthly$20.001 Month
  • Paper2Audio Plus Annual$191.991 Year
2 purchases

Ghost Reader Live

Subscriptions1
  • Ghost Reader$1.991 Month
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$19.99

Questions

Is Paper2Audio free?
Paper2Audio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ghost Reader Live free?
Ghost Reader Live is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Paper2Audio or Ghost Reader Live?
Ghost Reader Live is rated higher. Paper2Audio averages 4.9 out of 5 from 784 ratings, while Ghost Reader Live averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Paper2Audio or Ghost Reader Live have ads?
Neither Paper2Audio nor Ghost Reader Live shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Paper2Audio or Ghost Reader Live?
Paper2Audio ships an update every 5 days, and Ghost Reader Live fortnightly. Most recently, Paper2Audio was updated on November 8, 2026 and Ghost Reader Live on October 31, 2026.

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