Comparison

Seeing AI vs Speechify

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

Head to head
About

Seeing AI

This free app uses AI to narrate the visual world for individuals who are blind or have low vision. It describes people, text, and objects, assisting with daily tasks like reading documents, identifying products, and recognizing faces.

Highlights
  • Read text and documents
  • Describe photos and objects
  • Scan product barcodes
  • Recognize people and currency
  • Identify personal objects
  • Augmented reality environment exploration
  • Identify colors and light levels
Read full description

Seeing AI is a free app that narrates the world around you. Designed with and for the blind and low vision community, this ongoing research project harnesses the power of AI to open up the visual world by describing nearby people, text and objects. Seeing AI provides tools to assist with a variety of daily tasks: • Read - Hear text as soon as it appears in front of the camera. Document alignment provides audio cues to capture a printed page and recognize the text along with its original formatting. Ask Seeing AI about the contents to easily find the information you need. • Describe - Take photos to hear a rich description. Ask questions to focus on the information you care about. Explore photos by moving your finger over the screen to hear the location of different objects. • Products - Scan barcodes and Accessible QR codes using audio beeps to guide you; hear the product name and package information when available. • People - Save photos of friends and coworkers so you can recognize them later. Get an estimate of their age, gender, and expression. • Currency - Recognize currency notes. • Find My Things - Teach Seeing AI to recognize your personal objects and follow the audio cues to find them later. • World - An Audio Augmented Reality experience to explore an unfamiliar environment, including hearing objects announced around you with Spatial Audio (requires a device with a LiDAR, and iOS 14+). • Colors - Identify colors. • Light - Hear an audible tone corresponding to the brightness of your surroundings. • Photos and Videos in other apps - Just tap “Share” and “Recognize with Seeing AI” to describe media from Mail, Photos, WhatsApp, and more. • Browse Photos - Hear descriptions of photos and videos saved on your device. Seeing AI continues to evolve as we hear from the community, and AI research advances. Visit http://SeeingAI.com for more details. Questions, feedback or feature requests? Email us at SeeingAI@Microsoft.com.

About

Speechify

This app transforms text into spoken word with lifelike voices, reads documents, images, and articles aloud, and offers voice typing. It also features an AI assistant for summarizing and quizzing, and allows for AI podcast creation.

Highlights
  • Reads text aloud from various sources
  • Voice typing for faster input
  • AI assistant for summarization and quizzes
  • Customizable listening speeds
  • Human-like voices
  • Cross-device syncing
  • AI podcast creation
Features
Read full description

Text to speech from Speechify lets you listen to docs, articles, PDFs, email, and various other formats — anything you read. With 50M+ users, it is the top rated TTS app in the AppStore. Sir Richard Branson Loves Speechify. It helps him read with Dyslexia ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Speechify is brilliant. I’m so glad to have it today.” – Sir Richard Branson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our users have listened to 6.5 billion words. FEATURES YOU'LL LOVE • Listen at Any Speed Our high-quality AI voices can read 4.5x faster than the average reading speed, so you can learn even more in less time. Ease into 300 words per minute & slowly increase the speed to as fast as you need it to be. • Natural-sounding Human Voices Our text to speech voices sound more fluid & human-like than any other AI reader. • Active Text Highlighting The text is highlighted and perfectly synced, word for word, with the voice reader to help you read along. Reading & listening helps you retain more. • Listen to Any Book on Your Shelf Use the app to snap a pic of a page in any book or printed material and hear it read out loud to you. Your favorite book sitting on your bookshelf? Turn it into an audiobook. • Screenshot Image to Audio Find an image with text on it, no matter the length, with one click, you can easily take a screenshot and sync it to your cloud. Speechify will read the text out loud. Letters from loved ones? Scan them and turn them into audible notes. • Desktop or Mobile Anything you’ve saved to your Speechify library instantly syncs across devices so you can listen to anything, anywhere, anytime. * Hundreds of Timeless Books Titles you get with Speechify: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Moby Dick by Herman Melville; A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens; Ulysses by James Joyce; War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; Beowulf; Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy; The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne; Les Misérables by Victor Hugo; Walden by Henry David Thoreau; Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Gwyneth Paltrow Uses Speechify to Listen to Scripts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Speechify lets me listen to Goop blog posts out loud in the car and gets my friends through grad school. It's amazing for scripts." – Gwyneth Paltrow ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Features • Note taking tools • Save audio bookmarks • Floating widget • Exemplary customer experience • Inline player seamlessly integrates into all your websites • Get hundreds of timeless audiobooks for free • Cloud sync makes for a seamless listening experience across all your devices We created Speechify so that reading is never a barrier for anyone again. Designed to help people with dyslexia, ADHD, low vision acuity, concussions, and other reading disabilities. Speechify now helps hundreds of thousands of people to consume their reading content with ease. From those with reading disabilities to auditory learners, productivity fanatics, second language learners, hobbyists, and more, we love all of our users and strive every day to create a reading assistant that empowers them to read more and succeed in life. We can't wait for you to join the family :) Install Speechify today, for free! Privacy Policy: https://speechify.com/privacy/ Terms of Service: https://speechify.com/terms/

Screenshots

Seeing AI4 screens
Speechify4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Seeing AI at none against Speechify's 10. Seeing AI also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (69% vs 34%). Speechify's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.3). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Speechify sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per 7 days. Seeing AI asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Speechify holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Speechify has 528K ratings behind it against 633, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 69% of Seeing AI's written reviews are positive against 34% of Speechify's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Seeing AI ships an update every 2 months, Speechify weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Seeing AI versus Speechify: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSeeing AISpeechify
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (633 ratings)4.7 (528K ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.6% of reviews — better34.3% of reviews
Number of ratings633528K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#18 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size309 MB531 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMicrosoft CorporationSpeechify Inc.

Customer experience

Seeing AI

All ratings626 ratings
Positive78.3%
Neutral10.9%
Negative10.9%
Written reviews204 reviews
Positive68.6%
Neutral11.3%
Negative20.1%

Speechify

All ratings526,786 ratings
Positive91.8%
Neutral3.4%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews6,203 reviews
Positive34.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative57.4%

User reviews

Seeing AI

From 633 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Helpful for visually impaired users
  • 🚀 Accurate text and document recognition
  • 🚀 Useful for reading labels, mail, and other text
  • 👍 Comprehensive set of features in one app
  • 👍 Life-changing for some users

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes or becomes unusable after updates
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance in scanning barcodes and recognizing colors
  • 🐛 Facial recognition not very accurate
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns with facial recognition
  • 👎 Difficult to navigate for blind users due to small buttons

Speechify

From 528K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Efficient text-to-speech
  • 👍 Diverse voice options
  • 🤖 Realistic AI narration
  • 💡 Helpful for dyslexic/ADHD users
  • 🤓 Improved reading comprehension

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🔇 Inconsistent voice quality
  • 🐛 Frequent bugs and glitches
  • 🔀 Unreliable page navigation
  • 🚫 Restrictive word limits on premium voices

Bugs and requests

Seeing AI

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Barcode scanning not working consistently
  • Document reader sometimes fails to load or process documents
  • Frequent crashes or app becoming unresponsive

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add support for more languages, including Arabic and Chinese
  • Improve accuracy of color and facial recognition
  • Allow users to read digital displays like clocks and appliances
  • Integrate with screen readers like VoiceOver for better accessibility
  • Add an offline mode for using the app without an internet connection
Show 1 more
  • Provide more customization options for voice settings

Speechify

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Frequent app crashes
  • Text syncing issues
  • Incorrect word pronunciations
  • Inconsistent highlighting/pacing
  • Unexpected voice switches

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to edit/annotate text
  • Improved PDF/document handling
  • More affordable subscription options
  • Seamless integration with ebooks/websites
  • Automatic removal of citations/formatting
Show 1 more
  • Expanded language support

In-app purchases

None

Seeing AI

No in-app purchases

8 purchases

Speechify

Subscriptions7
  • $160 Donation No HD voices$9.997 Days
  • Premium Monthly$11.991 Month
  • Premium Monthly$24.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Dyslexia Donation3 Days trial$139.991 Year
  • Premium3 Days trial3 variants$139.991 Year
  • Premium1 Month trial$139.991 Year
  • Speechify Premium3 Days trial$159.991 Year
One-time1
  • Speechify Library$24.99

Questions

Is Seeing AI free?
Seeing AI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Speechify free?
Speechify is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Seeing AI or Speechify?
Speechify is rated higher. Seeing AI averages 4.3 out of 5 from 633 ratings, while Speechify averages 4.7 from 528K ratings.
Do Seeing AI or Speechify have ads?
Speechify shows ads; Seeing AI does not.
Which is updated more often, Seeing AI or Speechify?
Seeing AI ships an update every 2 months, and Speechify weekly. Most recently, Seeing AI was updated on November 3, 2026 and Speechify on November 6, 2026.

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