In this article, I’ll provide an overview of the best text-to-speech plugins for WordPress and also give you basic information about the technology used in text-to-speech converters that run on the browser so you can better understand how these plugins work and make an informed decision on which one to adopt.
Structure of a Text-to-Speech Plugin for WordPress
A TTS plugin for WordPress usually comprises two parts: A UI on the back end to configure the TTS conversion settings and perform the TTS conversions. An audio player in the front end usually positioned at the beginning of the articles or in a custom position using a shortcode.
Features to Look for in a Modern TTS Plugin for WordPress
When selecting a TTS plugin for WordPress, verify the presence of these features:
- AI-based voices – AI-based voices are more realistic. Choose them over standard voices when possible.
- Integrations with third-party TTS services – Choose a TTS plugin that can generate audio from the best TTS services available on the web.
- Voice cloning – TSS with voice cloning capabilities allows you to create custom voices based on provided audio recordings. For example, with this feature, you can create voices based on your voice or the voices of people who give you the proper authorization.
- Support for SSML – This markup language allows you to include metadata along with the text to convert. For example, using SSML, you can add pauses and variations, indicate how a word should be spoken (using the phonetic language), etc.
How Plugins Generate Spoken Audio From Text
WordPress text-to-speech plugins can use two main categories of TSS converters.
Based on the Web Speech API
The SpeechSynthesis interface is part of the Web Speech API and enables developers to incorporate text-to-speech functionality in websites. This technology is available in all modern browsers, and the text-to-speech conversion is free.
The downside of using this API is that the quality of the spoken audio is average. Specifically, the spoken audio produced using the Web Speech API is robotic and unnatural. The audio will remind you of the old text-to-speech converters available in Windows since the nineties.
For more information on integrating the Web Speech API into a web application, I suggest checking out this technical article.
With Integration for Third-Party Text-to-Speech Services
If speech quality is your priority, using third-party cloud services to convert text to audio is necessary. However, third-party cloud services have a cost that is usually calculated based on the number of converted characters.
Among the most popular third-party text-to-speech services are Google Text-to-Speech AI, Amazon Polly, Azure Text to Speech, IBM Watson Text to Speech, and ElevenLabs.
Reasons to Add a Text-to-Speech Audio Player to a Site
A text-to-speech plugin makes your site more accessible, allowing visually impaired users or those with reading difficulties to access the content more easily. Implementing a text-to-speech audio player on your WordPress articles can also increase engagement, as visitors can listen to articles or blog posts while multitasking.
How to Add a Text-to-Speech Plugin for WordPress Entirely for Free
With a plugin based on the Web Speech API, there is no cost in converting your articles to audio since the conversion is performed in the browser.
For example, the Real Voice plugin on WordPress.org allows you to convert text to audio with the content of any length at no cost.
The Best Plugins
Real Voice
Real Voice is a versatile text-to-speech plugin for WordPress that supports the Web Speech API and four major text-to-speech cloud services.
To start using the plugin, you can download the free version from the official WordPress.org repository.
After that, from the plugin UI, you must define the text-to-speech technology you intend to use. If you select the Web Speech API, you have to deal with limited audio quality, but no configuration is required, and the text-to-speech conversion will have no cost (as explained before this API is integrated into the browser)
If you prefer a high-quality spoken version of the WordPress articles, you can configure one of the support text-to-speech services. Configuring these services involves creating an account on the sites of the services and including the API key (used to authenticate the HTTP requests performed by the plugin to the cloud service API) in the plugin options.
Note that with this plugin, the selected text-to-speech converter determines the number of supported languages and voices.
Features:
- Supports the browser-based Web Speech API
- Support for the major cloud text-to-speech services (Amazon Polly, Google Text-to-Speech AI, Azure Text-to-Speech, and ElevenLabs)
- Includes a dashboard to monitor the HTTP requests performed to third-party services
- The audio player can be customized from the plugin settings
- SSML Support
- Support for voice cloning via the ElevenLabs API
BeyondsWords
BeyondWords, a specialized audio publishing platform, develops and maintains the BeyondWords WordPress plugin.
You can try this plugin using a free plan named “Pilot” available here. This plan has usage limits and can be upgraded to a paid plan if you like the service.
The plugin is easy to set up. Start by downloading the plugin from the WordPress.org repository. Once the plugin is installed, you will be notified to create an account. You can do it from the signup page. To conclude, configure the site with the provided credentials. For more information, see the official installation instructions.
Note that this plugin sends BeyondWords the data to process the audio each time you publish an article.
Features:
- Premium AI voices
- Modern audio player
- Easy integration in WordPress
Text To Speech TTS Accessibility
The Text to Speech TTS Accessibility plugin is a text-to-speech plugin for WordPress that uses the Web Speech API.
A Pro version is also available with additional features like custom post types support, unlimited characters, etc. For more information see the pricing page.
Features:
- Based on the Web Speech API and free for basic purposes
GSpeech TTS
GSpeech TTS is another popular text to speech plugin for WordPress. In this case AI Voices and additional options are unlocked with a paid plan. The information required to activate the plugin is available in the plugin back-end.
Features:
- Support for AI voices
- Voice tuning
- Downloadable audio files
Trinity Audio
The Trinity Audio plugin for WordPress is built by the Trinity Audio company and requires registration to work. A free plan is available, and it’s perfect for personal blogs that convert a maximum of five articles per month. Information on the available plans is available on the pricing page.
The generated audio will be of high quality and in the same league as the audio produced by the best competition, such as Azure TTS, Amazon Polly, etc.
Features:
- Support for over 125 languages and 250 voices.
- High-quality spoken audio
- Modern audio player style
- High-quality website and documentation
Site Narrator
SiteNarrator Text-to-Speech Widget can use browser-based TTS, Amazon Polly, and Google Text-to-Speech AI.
The plugin automatically adds an audio player to your articles. You can also manually add the audio player in a custom position using the Site Narrator editor block.
Features:
- The browser-based TTS is free
- Support for Amazon Polly and Google Text-to-Speech AI cloud services
ResponsiveVoice
ResponsiveVoice is a text-to-speech plugin for WordPress with a relatively large user base. It’s worth noting that certain features require creating an API key on the developer’s site.
Features:
- HTML5 based text to speech