Comparison

Ghost Reader Live vs Leola

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

Head to head
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

About

Leola

Features
Read full description

Everything you saved to read, read aloud. Leola puts articles, PDFs, pasted text and notes in a library with a queue and playlists, like a music app. The voices are generated on your iPhone: no cloud, no account, no credits. NO AI TOKEN COSTS Leola's voices come from a neural text-to-speech model that runs on the chip in your iPhone. No cloud service bills per word, so there are no credits to buy and no word limits. It downloads the voice model once; after that, Leola works in airplane mode. What it uses is your battery and storage. ADD IT IN A TAP Share an article from Safari, paste text or import a PDF. LISTEN LIKE MUSIC A queue, playlists, a mini player and lock screen controls. Each item remembers the exact sentence where you stopped, and the queue keeps going when it ends. Sleep timer included. LISTEN OFFLINE (PLUS) Download a reading and it plays with no connection and no wait for the voice: on a plane, on the subway, anywhere. A download icon in the row shows what is downloaded, and the Downloaded filter in your library finds it. See and free up the space it uses in Settings › Voices and storage. FOLLOW EVERY SENTENCE The sentence being read is highlighted, so you can look down and find your place. 0.75× to 2× free, up to 3× with Plus. PDFS, CLEANED UP (PLUS) Footnotes, citation brackets, page headers and page numbers are skipped, so you hear the text, not the layout. KEEP IT AS AUDIO, FOR YOU (PLUS) Save a reading as an M4A file to Files or AirDrop it, and listen without the app: in the car, on a walk, on an old player. Downloads are for your personal use: please don't share audio of other people's writing. Each file says in its metadata that the voice is machine-generated. YOUR TEXT STAYS ON YOUR iPHONE What you add is never sent to us or to any server. No sign-up, no email, no password. VOICES AT LAUNCH English, Spanish and Portuguese (Brazil). Free includes one voice per language; Plus, all of them. FREE • On-device neural voices, one per language • Articles, pasted text and notes • A queue of up to 3 items and 1 playlist • Resume, lock screen controls, sleep timer, 0.75–2× • 1 trial audio download, up to 10 minutes • 1 trial offline download, up to 10 minutes LEOLA PLUS • Offline downloads with no cap • Audio downloads (M4A) with no cap • Every voice • PDFs that skip footnotes, headers and page numbers • Library, queue and playlists with no cap; speed up to 3× SUBSCRIPTION Leola Plus is available as a yearly subscription with a 7-day free trial ($34.99/year after the trial), a monthly subscription ($5.99/month, no trial) or a one-time Lifetime purchase ($59.99). Prices are in US dollars and may vary by country. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase, or when the free trial ends. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. We remind you 2 days before your trial ends. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Voices by Supertonic 3 (Supertone), used under the OpenRAIL-M license. Terms of Use: https://leola.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://leola.app/privacy Questions: hello@leola.app

Screenshots

Ghost Reader Live3 screens
Leola4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Ghost Reader Live at none against Leola's shown. Leola's advantage is update cadence (daily vs fortnightly). On price, in-app purchases, device support 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

Both are free to download. Ghost Reader Live sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Leola sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ghost Reader Live ships an update fortnightly, Leola daily. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Ghost Reader Live versus Leola: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGhost Reader LiveLeola
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyDaily — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size343 MB104 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJan AncajasSantiago Gonzalez Fernandez

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Ghost Reader Live

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

Leola

Subscriptions2
  • Leola Plus · Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Leola Plus · Yearly7 Days trial$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • Leola Plus · Lifetime$59.99

Questions

Is Ghost Reader Live free?
Ghost Reader Live is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Leola free?
Leola is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Ghost Reader Live or Leola have ads?
Leola shows ads; Ghost Reader Live does not.
Which is updated more often, Ghost Reader Live or Leola?
Ghost Reader Live ships an update fortnightly, and Leola daily. Most recently, Ghost Reader Live was updated on October 31, 2026 and Leola on October 31, 2026.

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