Aloud!, text to speech reader vs Pagefold
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Aloud!, text to speech reader
Transform documents, articles, and eBooks into audio with this text-to-speech reader. Enjoy offline playback, customizable voices, and automatic progress tracking for a seamless listening experience anywhere, anytime. It's an ideal tool for productivity and accessibility.
- Hear PDF, DOCX, EPUB & web pages
- Background & offline playback
- Auto progress tracking
- Customizable speech rate and pitch
- Synchronized word highlighting
- Universal format support
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Reading on YOUR TERMS - Anywhere, Anytime, Anything Welcome to Aloud!, the ultimate Text-to-Speech (TTS) reader that transforms your content into audio. Turn your documents, articles, and eBooks into a personal audio library. Aloud! is the perfect voice reader for your commute, workout, or study session. It’s a powerful accessibility tool for anyone who needs reading support, and an essential productivity app for those who want to give their eyes a rest. ■ HEAR PDF, DOCX, EPUB & WEB PAGES Finally, a reader that handles everything. From critical PDF reports and Word (DOCX) documents to your favorite EPUB or Mobi eBook. Use our integrated browser to instantly import and listen to web pages, saving them for offline access. No more format juggling. ■ BACKGROUND & OFFLINE PLAY Aloud! works where you do. With true offline playback for all saved files, you're never limited by a connection. Continue listening with your screen locked or while using other apps—your audio plays seamlessly in the background. ■ AUTO PROGRESS TRACKING Never lose your place. Aloud! automatically remembers your position in every document and article. Pick up right where you left off, every single time. ■ YOUR VOICE, YOUR CHOICE Tailor your listening experience. Adjust the speech rate and pitch to find a voice that's perfect for you. Follow along with synchronized word highlighting, an essential tool for study, proofreading, and improving reading comprehension. THE ALOUD! ADVANTAGE: • Trusted Since 2014: A decade of continuous improvement and user-focused updates. • Universal Format Support: Our powerful engine supports PDF, Microsoft Office (DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX), iWorks Pages, OpenOffice (ODT, ODP), EPUB, MOBI, AZW, FB2, TXT, RTF, HTML, and even files inside ZIP, RAR, & 7Z archives. • Accessibility Focused: A vital tool for users with dyslexia, visual impairments, and other reading challenges. Stop reading, start listening. Download Aloud! today and reimagine your content.
Pagefold
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Pagefold turns paper into clean, shareable PDFs—fast and private on your iPhone. Scan with the camera or import from Photos. Adjust edges, enhance readability, build multi-page documents, and share a PDF in seconds. Your scans stay on your device—no account required. SCAN DOCUMENTS TO PDF • Document camera scan • Photo import • Edge detect & crop adjust • Color, black & white, and enhance filters • Multi-page PDFs with reorder • Folders to keep scans organized • Share via Mail, Files, Messages, and more BUILT FOR REAL PAPERWORK Receipts, invoices, homework, notes, and contracts—digitize what you need without uploading your documents to a cloud service. OCR (PAGEFOLD PRO) Make PDFs searchable with on-device text recognition. Processing runs on your iPhone—document images are not uploaded to Kick-Start.ai servers. FREE TO START • Limited free document scans • Full scan, adjust, enhance, and share • PDF exports include a small “Scanned with Pagefold” footer we add on export PAGEFOLD PRO • Unlimited document scans • PDF exports without the Pagefold footer • On-device OCR for searchable PDFs Pagefold is a document scanner—not a tool to remove or alter watermarks on files from other apps or publishers. Pro simply skips the footer Pagefold adds to free exports. Subscriptions are charged to your Apple ID and renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage in Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions. Privacy Policy: https://kick-start.ai/pagefold-scanner/pagefold-scanner-privacy-policy/ Support: https://kick-start.ai/pagefold-scanner/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Pagefold at none against Aloud!, text to speech reader's shown. Pagefold also leads on update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). Aloud!, text to speech reader's advantage is iOS requirement (14.2 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. Aloud!, text to speech reader sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Pagefold sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Aloud!, text to speech reader ships an update fortnightly, Pagefold weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Aloud!, text to speech reader | Pagefold |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (243 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 43.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 243 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.2 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 54 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chun Kai Lau | Kick-Start AI |
Bugs and requests
Aloud!, text to speech reader
Reported bugs
17 issues- App crashes when opening large files
- App crashes on startup after recent updates
- Save function fails to work
- Text repetition bug - reads same paragraph repeatedly
- Cursor position doesn't match audio being read
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- PDF files load with no spaces between words
- ePub files load in reverse order
- Language selection doesn't work
- App freezes when loading documents
- Upgrade widget broken - cannot complete purchase
- Purchased app reverts to free version
- Ads cause app to crash when closed
- Mispronounces special characters as 'to the power of'
- Cannot edit text after typing
- Incompatibility with iOS 12.5.5 and older versions
- Scrolling to previous location causes crashes
- Character recognition failures (fi, fl, ff)
Requested features
14 requests- Ability to set custom starting point for reading
- Better voice options and quality
- Ad-free paid version
- Improved PDF/ePub integration
- Better language support (Vietnamese, Dutch, etc.)
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- Screen lock prevention during reading
- Repeat/loop functionality
- Better character recognition (fi, fl, ff combinations)
- Direct PDF opening from other apps
- Better voice selection for different dialects
- Skip opening statements/introductions
- Improved keyboard handling
- Dark mode or customizable background
- Better integration with other apps
Pagefold
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Aloud!, text to speech reader
- Premium Version$6.99
Pagefold
- Pagefold Pro Monthly$6.991 Month
- Pagefold Pro Yearly$29.991 Year
Questions
Is Aloud!, text to speech reader free?
Is Pagefold free?
Do Aloud!, text to speech reader or Pagefold have ads?
Which is updated more often, Aloud!, text to speech reader or Pagefold?
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