Balabolka
A free Windows program that reads text aloud with installed voices and saves it as audio files.
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3 more ways to get Balabolka
Other download sites
Run by third parties, not by Cross+A. Prefer the official page above when it works.
Package managers
- Chocolatey
choco install balabolka
About Balabolka
Balabolka reads text aloud using any computer voices installed on the system and can save the result as an audio file. It reads clipboard content, extracts text from documents in formats such as EPUB, DOCX, DjVu, CHM and FB2, and can be controlled from the system tray or with global hotkeys.
Separate portable, command-line, text extraction, online TTS and translation utilities are also offered. It is freeware supported by sales of the developer's other software.
Strengths
- Uses any installed system voice
- Opens many document and ebook formats
- Portable and command-line versions
- Hotkeys and clipboard reading
Limitations
- Windows only
- Voice quality depends on the installed speech engines
- Not open source
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFreeware, funded by sales of the developer's Cross+A software.
- License
- Proprietary (Freeware)
- Developer
- Cross+A
- Platforms
- Windows, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Listening to documents or making audio files from text on Windows
- Categories
- Audio tools, AI voice
- Last verified
- Added
Alternatives to Balabolka
Compare allSoftware that can replace Balabolka for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
NaturalReader
A text-to-speech app that reads documents, PDFs, web pages and scanned text aloud with AI voices.
NaturalReader is a freemium reader on web, mobile and Chrome with AI voices and scanned text support, replacing installed Windows voices with cloud voices behind paid plans.
Speechify
A text-to-speech and voice typing app that reads documents, PDFs and web pages aloud.
Speechify reads documents and web pages on web, desktop, mobile and browser extensions, adding summaries and voice typing, but it is closed source and cloud-based.
Voice Dream Reader
A text-to-speech reading app that turns PDFs, ebooks, documents and web pages into audio.
Voice Dream Reader is a paid reading app for macOS and iOS that opens PDFs, EPUBs and Office files with VoiceOver and braille display support and offline listening.
Speech Note
A Linux app for offline speech-to-text, text-to-speech and machine translation using local models.
Speech Note is a free MPL-2.0 Linux app that reads text aloud offline with engines such as Piper and Kokoro, and also offers dictation and translation.
Balabolka as an alternative
Listings that name Balabolka as an alternative.
TTSMaker
A free online text-to-speech tool with over 600 voices in more than 100 languages.
Balabolka is a free Windows program that saves text as audio files offline using installed system voices, so quality depends on those engines.
Voicemaker
An online text-to-speech converter with many AI voices, adjustable pauses and audio export.
Balabolka is a free Windows program that saves text as audio offline using installed system voices, so quality depends on those speech engines.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
Piper
A fast neural text-to-speech engine that runs locally, even on modest hardware like a Raspberry Pi.
RHVoice
A free, open-source speech synthesizer for Russian and other languages, used with screen readers and desktops.
Narakeet
An online text-to-speech tool that makes voiceovers, audio files and narrated videos from text and slides.
Kokoro
Small, fast open-weight text-to-speech model you can run locally.
