Play.ht alternative

The Free Alternative to Play.ht

Play.ht closed at the end of 2025 after Meta hired its team. If your scripts and voices lived there, here is a free place to rebuild the narration: 500,000 cloud characters every 30 days when you sign in, commercial use allowed, no subscription.

Text to speech

Paste. Pick a voice. Generate.

Script to speak

This box is for the words to speak. Each Generate takes up to 5,000 characters without an account, 10,000 signed in, 20,000 on a paid plan, or 50,000 on-device; long text is read in parts and joined for you.

0 / 5,000 this Generate

Checking...

Cloud characters this 30 days — / —

Speed 1.0x

Language

Voice

WAV · 24 kHz

Your audio shows up here after you press Generate.

Fix how a word is said

Add a word the voice gets wrong and spell it the way it should sound. The fix is used every time you generate, and your script stays exactly as you typed it. Saved in this browser only.

By using this tool you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms.

Go ad free

Play.ht vs FreeTextoSpeech

Play.ht was known for its Ultra Realistic voices, voice cloning and a podcast-publishing workflow. In July 2025 Meta acqui-hired the team behind it (PlayAI), and the service was wound down and closed by the end of 2025. Accounts, cloned voices and saved audio went with it. The play.ht domain no longer loads. If you are reading this because an old project or integration broke, you need a new tool, not a comparison.

FreeTextoSpeech covers the most common Play.ht job, reading a script in a natural pre-built voice, at no cost: 54 Kokoro voices in 9 languages, MP3 or WAV download, commercial use allowed. It does not clone voices, so a Play.ht voice clone cannot be recreated here. Start by pasting one old script, auditioning three or four voices on it, and keeping the voice name and speed in your project notes so later episodes match.

What changes when you move

Feature	FreeTextoSpeech	Play.ht (before it closed)
Availability	Live	Closed at the end of 2025
Cost	Free; optional paid plans from $4 a month	Free trial, then paid plans
Free characters (every 30 days)	25,000 (no account), 500,000 signed in, no usage cap on-device (English voices)	Limited trial allowance
Commercial use	Yes, on the free tier	Paid plans
Voices	54 pre-built, 9 languages	Hundreds of voices, many languages
Voice cloning	No	Yes (paid)
API	No public API	Yes (closed with the service)

Comparison board showing FreeTextoSpeech versus Play.ht for Play.ht alternative — Visual guide
A free alternative comparison for Play.ht alternative.

Play.ht alternative workflow showing open freetextospeech, paste the script, pick a close voice, ... — In context
A step-by-step visual guide for Play.ht alternative.

FAQ

Play.ht FAQs

Is Play.ht still available?

No. Meta acqui-hired the PlayAI team in July 2025 and the service was closed by the end of 2025. The play.ht domain no longer loads, so accounts, cloned voices and saved audio are no longer reachable.

Can I recover my Play.ht audio or voice clones?

Not from Play.ht. If you kept local copies of your MP3 or WAV files, those still work. Scripts can be regenerated here with a pre-built voice; cloned voices cannot, because FreeTextoSpeech does not offer voice cloning.

Which FreeTextoSpeech voice is closest to my old Play.ht voice?

There is no direct mapping. Paste a paragraph from an old script, preview several voices of the same gender and accent, and compare against a saved Play.ht file if you have one. For US English narration, Sarah, Bella, Adam and Michael are good first tries; for UK English, Emma and George.

Can I use the audio in monetized YouTube videos?

Yes. Audio generated here can be used commercially, including monetized YouTube, ads, podcasts and client work, with no attribution required.

I used the Play.ht API. Is there an API here?

No. FreeTextoSpeech is a browser tool without a public API. For an API replacement, look at a hosted TTS API such as Google Cloud Text-to-Speech, Amazon Polly or ElevenLabs, and check each one's current pricing.