Audioread vs BeyondWords (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Audioread grades higher than BeyondWords: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Audioread grades higher on the free plan. BeyondWords grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Audioread
Turns articles, PDFs and emails into audio for podcast apps
Which one is for you
Pick Audioread if
- Fits if you listen to articles in your podcast app
- Works for a team of 2 to 9 on Team at $8.99 a user
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you listen to many articles, as Basic allows 3 a month
- Tight if you stay free: 1,000 characters per article
- Pricey if you go past the allotment, as packs are $15 per 1 million Pro characters or per 200,000 Premium ones
- Watch out: the yearly rate was not readable, and the FAQ mentions a 7-day trial with unreadable terms
Pick BeyondWords if
- Fits if you run a news or article site and want audio versions of every article
- Works for a publisher with a CMS such as WordPress or Ghost
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a price, as the pricing page sends you to a demo form
- Not for you if you are an individual wanting a voiceover, as the product is aimed at publishers
- Too light for one-off voiceovers, since it is built around article volume
- Watch out: the demo form asks about your monthly publishing volume
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAudioreadFair | 2.0GPABeyondWordsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$9.99 a month for Pro, at the category's $9.99 middle. | CNo price is published; the pricing address redirects to a book-a-demo form. |
| Free plan and trial | CBasic is free: 3 articles a month, up to 3 feeds and 1,000 characters per article. | FNo free plan, no trial and no price on its pages, so nothing to try first. |
| Features | CMany input types, a private podcast feed, voices, offline listening and team plans. The free plan is capped hard. | BAudio articles, voice cloning, an embeddable player, listener analytics, monetization and CMS publishing. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and you connect a feed to a podcast app. | CNo store rating on record, and it is set up through a demo and a CMS connection. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iOS and Android, with Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Slack. No desktop app. | BWeb with WordPress, Ghost, Spotify, Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager connections, plus OpenAI. No desktop or phone apps. |
| Best for | articles, PDFs and emails as podcast audio | audio for news and article sites |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Audioread and BeyondWords. How we grade
Where they differ
- Audioread also covers read later.
- BeyondWords also covers web analytics and voice cloning.
At a glance
| Audioread | BeyondWords | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $9.99 per month for Pro | Not published |
| Free plan | Basic is free: 3 articles a month, up to 3 feeds and 1,000 characters per article. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Audioread | LSTN LTD |
| Price read from | audioread.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Audioread
- The Basic plan allows only 3 articles a month at 1,000 characters each.
- Extra characters are sold in packs: $15 per 1 million Pro characters or $15 per 200,000 Premium characters.
- The page has a Monthly and Yearly toggle, but only $9.99 was readable, so the yearly rate is not recorded.
- The FAQ mentions a 7-day trial, but its terms were not readable.
BeyondWords
- No prices are published; the pricing address redirects to a book-a-demo form.
- Built for publishers, with the demo form asking about monthly article volume.
- The site says it complies with SOC2 and GDPR.
Key features
Audioread
- Many input types
- Converts links, PDFs, DOCX and plain text, forwarded emails and RSS or Atom feeds.
- Private podcast feed
- Finished audio appears in a playlist and a private feed that works with Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other players.
- Voices and languages
- Nearly 1,000 AI voices across more than 150 languages.
- Offline listening
- Audio can be downloaded through a podcast app for listening without a connection.
- Team plans
- Volume pricing for organizations with central billing and optional admin controls.
BeyondWords
- Audio articles
- Turns articles into audio with control over pronunciations, including names, dates and stock symbols.
- Voice cloning
- Instant cloning from about five seconds of audio, or professional cloning from five recorded articles.
- Embeddable player
- A customizable player that the site says meets WCAG 2 accessibility standards, with web, iOS and Android SDKs.
- Listener analytics
- Reports listen rates, time spent and completion rates, and sends events to Google Analytics.
- Monetization
- Connects to ad servers such as Google Ad Manager for audio and video ads.
- CMS publishing
- A WordPress plugin, a Ghost integration, an RSS importer and a one-line embed script publish audio automatically.
Plans
Audioread
Basic$0
3 articles a month, up to 3 feeds, 1,000 characters (about 1 minute) per article.
Pro$9.99
per month; yearly rate not confirmed
1 million characters a month, unlimited article length, premium voices, audio downloads and RSS feeds by URL.
Team$8.99
per user / month for 2 to 9 users
Everything in Pro with central billing. $7.49 per user for 10 to 49 users and $5.99 for 50 to 199.
BeyondWords
Pricing could not be confirmed. See beyondwords.io.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Audioread or BeyondWords?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Audioread starts at $9.99 per month for Pro, and BeyondWords has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Audioread or BeyondWords?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Audioread has a free plan. BeyondWords does not.
Which platforms do Audioread and BeyondWords run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Audioread lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.