Liso
Liso · Voice & Language
Liso is a text to speech web app that turns anything you read online into audio you can play anywhere. Highlight a passage on a webpage, or paste your own text, and Liso reads it back in a natural-sounding AI voice. Every listen lands in a personal library you can organize, speed up, resume across devices, and download for offline playback. It works in the browser and through a Chrome extension text to speech tool, and it's built as an alternative to Speechify, NaturalReader, and ElevenLabs Reader.
About Liso
What Is Liso
Liso is a browser-based reader that converts written text into spoken audio. You don't upload a document and wait. You highlight a paragraph on a page you're already reading, and a few seconds later it's a voice you can press play on.
The product targets a simple gap. Most people save articles, newsletters, and posts they mean to read later, then never get to them. Liso treats that backlog as a listening queue, so the same content works on a commute, a walk, or a flight when your eyes are busy. It's a straightforward idea. The execution is what decides whether it sticks.
The main limits are worth knowing up front. The free tier caps how many listens you can create each month, so heavy users hit a paywall fast. Offline downloads and the full set of premium voices sit behind Liso Pro. It's also a web and Chrome product, with no native phone app and no Google Play listing, so Android users reach it through the browser rather than a download. Is that a dealbreaker? For most people, no.
Getting Started
- Create a Liso account at getliso.app and sign in, since your library and playback position sync to it.
- Add content by pasting text straight into the app, or install the Chrome extension and highlight any passage on a page.
- With the extension, right-click the highlighted text and choose "Listen with Liso" to send it to your library in one step.
- Pick a voice and set the playback speed between 0.75x and 2x, then press play.
- Download the listen for offline use, or leave it in your library and Liso remembers where you stopped.
Product Information
A quick look at Liso's pricing, supported platforms, and performance.
Best for
The users, tasks, and scenarios where this tool fits best.
Users
- Busy readers with a backlog of saved articles and newsletters
- Listeners who want to hear articles offline later
- Students and commuters who want hands-free study material
- People who prefer listening over reading
Tasks
- Converting a long article into audio
- Turning pasted notes or a doc into a listen
- Building a personal podcast feed from your own reading
Scenarios
- Commutes and flights with no signal
- Doing chores or workouts while catching up on reading
- Picking up a long read across sessions
Key features
Highlight to Audio in One Step
The core flow starts on the page you're already reading. You highlight a passage and Liso converts it into spoken audio in seconds, with no file uploads or copy-paste. The Chrome extension adds a right-click action, "Listen with Liso," that sends the selection straight to your library. That's it.
A Native-Sounding Voice Library
Liso uses high-quality AI voices with several styles to pick from, so the same text can sound calm, neutral, or more expressive depending on the content. Voice quality is the dividing line here. It's the feature most review sites compare first. Because the voice does the heavy lifting, it's fair to call Liso an AI narration app first and a reader second.
Adjustable Playback Speed
You can slow playback to 0.75x for dense material or push it to 2x when you're skimming familiar topics. The range matches what dedicated listening apps offer, and it matters most for long-form reading where an hour of audio can stretch past a normal commute. Speed controls sound boring until you rely on them daily.
Resume Playback Across Devices
Because your library lives in an account, your position is saved automatically. Start an article on a laptop and finish it on a phone browser without hunting for the spot. That continuity is the practical difference between a one-off text to audio reader and a tool you keep using.
Offline Downloads
Any listen can be downloaded for offline playback. This is the feature that makes it possible to listen to articles offline on a plane or in a dead zone, where streaming audio would simply fail. It sits behind the paid plan, so it isn't part of the free tier.
Folders and Tags for Your Library
Every listen is stored in a personal library that you can sort with folders and tags. If you save articles across several topics, tags keep them findable instead of piling into one undifferentiated list, which is where most saved-reading apps fall apart. Worth the effort? Yes, once your list grows past a dozen items.
Browser and Extension Coverage
Liso works in the web app and through a Chrome extension. The extension is optional, and pasted text covers everything the extension doesn't reach, so coverage depends on the browser rather than the operating system. One caveat: no native app means no offline phone widget.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Turns any highlighted web text into audio without uploading files.
- Handles articles, newsletters, Substacks, blog posts, threads, docs, and pasted text.
- Voice styles plus 0.75x to 2x speed give real control over how a listen sounds.
- Offline downloads and cross-device resume make it fit commutes and travel.
- Folders and tags keep a growing library organized.
Cons
- Free tier limits how many listens you can make each month, so regular use requires paying.
- No native mobile app or Google Play listing, so Android users are tied to the browser.
- Offline downloads and full premium voices are locked behind the paid plan.
Frequently asked questions
Liso is a text to speech app that turns written content into audio you can listen to. It captures highlighted text from web pages or text you paste in, then reads it back in a natural voice and stores each item in a personal podcast-like library.
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