Comparison

Auren vs Murmur

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

Head to head
About

Auren

Features
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Auren turns books, documents, and saved pages into speech. Choose about 75 minutes of Auren Premium Voice each month or 15 hours each year. The annual allowance starts when an eligible free trial begins. Apple voices remain unlimited. You can also download Auren's on-device Kokoro voice pack, try the experimental Supertonic 3 voice pack, or paste an existing xAI, OpenAI, or Google developer API key for optional cloud voices. Build a listening library from printed pages, photos, pasted text, PDFs, EPUBs, text files, web links, and audio transcripts. Open any item, tap a paragraph to start listening, and follow the text as Auren reads. Auren also includes a maintained catalog of U.S. public-domain editions sourced from Standard Ebooks and a Discover feed limited to written articles from approved sources with a documented sharing basis. Other websites can be imported by link or followed through a personal RSS feed. With Auren, you can: - Listen with Apple voices available on your device - Use Auren Premium Voice, about 75 minutes each month or 15 hours each year - Download the recommended Kokoro on-device voice pack - Try the separately downloaded experimental Supertonic 3 voice pack - Paste an existing xAI, OpenAI, or Google API key for optional cloud voices - Scan pages and extract text from photos - Import PDFs, EPUBs, text files, web links, and audio - Discover verified written articles from approved public sources - Save articles locally for offline reading and listening - Create a branded Audio Card video and optional revocable listening link - Continue from the Home Screen with Auren widgets - Keep your place in every item - Adjust voice, speed, rewind, forward, and sleep timer - Read and listen in the same focused view You do not create an Auren account or sign in. Auren creates an anonymous installation identity on your device for online services such as translation, connected-provider narration, Gift a Listen, and support. The identifier and its 32-byte secret stay in ThisDeviceOnly Keychain storage. Auren stores only a hash of the secret and uses short-lived installation sessions. Auren Premium Voice sends each uncached passage through Auren's service for narration and tracks the period allowance. A Premium-only access token is stored in iOS Keychain. Premium audio is cached on the device and on Auren's service; private-import audio is owner-scoped. Optional connected-provider narration accepts an existing developer API key. For each uncached passage, Auren sends the provider key and passage through its Cloudflare service to the provider selected. Connected-provider audio is cached on the device. Auren does not create provider accounts or sell provider usage. Before translating an article, Auren asks for permission to send the article title and text through Auren's service on Cloudflare to Google Gemini. Do not continue with content you do not want processed off your device. Auren requires an Auren subscription for app access. In the US, Auren Monthly is $7.99 per month and includes about 75 minutes of Auren Premium Voice each month. Auren Annual is $59.99 per year and includes 15 hours of Auren Premium Voice each year. App Store pricing varies by region. Eligible new annual subscribers can receive a 7-day free trial with the full annual allowance available from its start. The monthly plan has no introductory offer. Each plan renews automatically for its billing period unless canceled in your App Store account. Apple determines trial eligibility and shows the offer and price before purchase confirmation. Privacy Policy: https://aurenreader.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Support: https://aurenreader.com/support/

About

Murmur

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Turn the books and documents you already own into audiobooks. Murmur reads EPUBs and PDFs aloud with natural neural voices that run entirely on your iPhone. Import a book, choose a narrator, press play, and keep listening while you commute, exercise, cook, clean, or simply give your eyes a break. NO AUDIOBOOK? NO PROBLEM. Most books will never receive a professionally produced audiobook. Your textbooks, PDFs, self-published books, research material, old EPUBs, and personal documents may never have one at all. Murmur lets you listen to the files you already have instead of buying another copy. READ EPUB & PDF ALOUD Import EPUB and PDF files directly into your library. Murmur organizes books into chapters and paragraphs and keeps your reading and listening position together. Follow the text while the narrator speaks, or put your phone away and keep listening in the background. 23 NEURAL VOICES Choose from 23 bundled narrators across 10 languages. Set a default narrator for each language or choose a different voice for an individual book. Adjust playback speed whenever you want. PRIVATE AND OFFLINE Your books stay on your iPhone. Speech is generated on-device, so Murmur doesn't need to upload your EPUBs, PDFs, textbooks, or personal documents to a text-to-speech server. • No account • No document uploads • No cloud processing • No internet connection required for narration • Background playback BUILT FOR BOOKS, NOT JUST TEXT Murmur combines an EPUB reader, PDF reader, text-to-speech engine, audiobook player, and follow-along reader in one library. Use it for: • EPUB books • PDF books and documents • Textbooks and course material • Research and professional reading • Independent and self-published books • Out-of-print titles • Long reading backlogs • Hands-free reading • Read-aloud and accessibility workflows LISTEN YOUR WAY Murmur remembers your position, playback speed, and narrator settings for every book. Switch between reading and listening without losing your place. FREE TO START Import as many books as you want. Free includes 60 minutes of listening every 30 days and access to one English and one Polish narrator. Murmur Premium unlocks unlimited listening and all 23 voices. Your books already contain the words. Murmur gives them a voice. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://readbuildship.com/apps/murmur/privacy

Screenshots

Auren4 screens
Murmur4 screens

Verdict

The call

Auren and Murmur are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Auren sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Murmur sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Auren versus Murmur: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAurenMurmur
PriceFreeFree
Update frequency—Every 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size49 MB2.2 GB
Age rating12+4+
Developer21 MediaJan Piotrzkowski

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Auren

Subscriptions2
  • Auren Monthly$7.991 Month
  • Auren Annual7 Days trial$59.991 Year
3 purchases

Murmur

Subscriptions3
  • Premium Weekly$4.997 Days
  • Premium Monthly$14.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Auren free?
Auren is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Murmur free?
Murmur is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Auren or Murmur have ads?
Neither Auren nor Murmur shows ads.

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