Play ht vs Altered: Best Text-to-Speech Generator in 2025?

Choosing the right text-to-speech (TTS) software can be a game-changer.

Whether creating content for YouTube, creating e-learning courses, or needing help, a good TTS tool can save you time and effort. 

Two popular choices are Play.ht and Altered. Both offer incredible features and realistic voices, but which is the best?

In this head-to-head comparison, we’ll explore the key differences between Play ht and Altered and their features to help you make the right decision.

Play ht vs Altered: Overview

To give you the most accurate comparison.

We’ve spent weeks testing both Play.ht and Altered, exploring their features, listening to their voices, and putting them through their paces in various situations. 

This hands-on experience allows us to provide real-world insights and help you choose the platform that best fits your needs.

What is Play ht?

Have you ever wished you could have Morgan Freeman narrate your latest blog post?

Or maybe David Attenborough for your wildlife documentary? With Play.ht, you can!

This powerful AI voice generator gives you access to over 907 lifelike voices in 142 languages and accents.

You can use it to create voiceovers for videos, audiobooks, e-learning courses, and so much more.

It’s incredibly easy to use, even for beginners. Paste your text, choose your voice, and let it play. It works its magic.

Also, explore our favourite Play ht alternatives…

Key Benefits

• Huge Voice Library: Access over 900+ expressive AI voices with diverse accents and languages.
• Realistic Voices: Play.ht uses advanced AI to generate incredibly natural-sounding voices.
• Podcast-Ready Audio: Create high-quality audio with podcast-specific features like intro/outro music and separate tracks for each speaker.

Pricing

Play.ht offers a free trial to test out the platform. Paid plans start at $31.20 per month. Here’s what you get:

• Free Trial: $0/month
• Creator: $39/month
• Unlimited: $99/month

What is Altered?

Want to create voiceovers that sound genuinely human? Altered might be just what you need.

This AI-powered platform goes beyond basic text to speech. 

It gives you incredible control over your audio, allowing you to fine-tune every aspect of the voice, from pitch and speed to emotion and emphasis.

Altered is a favorite among creators, educators, and businesses alike. It’s known for its user-friendly interface and focus on realistic, expressive voices.

Also, explore our favourite Altered alternatives…

Key Benefits

• AI voice cloning: Altered can clone your voice or create a custom voice using their impressive AI technology.
• Huge voice library: Choose from over 100+ unique and expressive voices.
• Easy integration: Altered works seamlessly with other apps and platforms like Discord and Zoom.

Pricing

Altered offers a free version with limited features, but their paid plans are incredibly affordable. Check them out:

• Free: $1/month
• Real-time: $1/month
• Creator: $40/month
• Professional: $120/month

Play ht vs Altered: Feature Comparison

Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and compare the most important features when choosing a text-to-speech platform.

Both Play.ht and Altered offer powerful tools for creating realistic AI voiceovers, but they each have strengths and weaknesses.

Voice Quality and Realism

• Play.ht is known for its ultra-realistic AI voices. It uses advanced speech synthesis technology to produce natural-sounding speech that is almost indistinguishable from a human voice. This makes it ideal for creating professional voiceovers for YouTube, e-learning courses, and audiobooks.
• Altered: Altered also offers high-quality AI voices focusing on expressiveness and emotion. While not quite as polished as Play.ht in terms of pure realism, Altered excels at creating engaging and dynamic voiceovers that capture attention.

Voice Library and Languages

• Play.ht: Boasts an extensive voice library with over 907 voices in 142 languages and accents. This makes it an excellent choice for content creators who need a wide range of voices and languages for their projects.
• Altered offers fewer voices than Play, but it still provides a diverse selection of high-quality AI voices. Altered continues to expand its library, adding new voices and languages regularly.

Customization Options

• Play.ht provides essential customization options, allowing you to adjust your audio’s speed, pitch, and pauses. You can also fine-tune the pronunciation of specific words and phrases for greater accuracy.
• Altered: This feature takes customization to the next level, with advanced controls for adjusting emotion, emphasis, and breathing patterns. This gives you greater creative control over your audio and allows you to craft unique voiceovers.

Voice Cloning

• Play.ht: Offers a voice cloning feature, allowing you to create a custom voice based on your recordings. This is a powerful tool for personal branding and creating a unique audio experience for your audience.
• Altered: It also offers voice cloning capabilities through its separate “Altered Studio” application. This allows you to clone your voice or create custom voices from scratch, adding another layer of personalization to your audio content.

Ease of Use

• Play.ht: Designed with user-friendliness in mind, Play.ht features an intuitive interface that makes it easy to convert text into speech. You can create high-quality voiceovers in minutes, even if you’re new to text-to-speech tools.
• Altered: It also offers a user-friendly experience with a clean and straightforward interface. Altered focuses on simplicity and accessibility, making it easy for beginners and experienced users to create engaging audio content.

Integrations and API Access

• Play.ht: Offers seamless integration with popular platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Zapier. This streamlines your workflow and makes incorporating Play.ht into your existing content creation process easy.
• Altered provides a robust text-to-speech API, allowing developers to integrate Altered’s voice synthesis technology into their applications and workflows. This opens up a world of possibilities for custom integrations and unique use cases.

Pricing and Free Trial

• Play.ht offers a free trial with limited features, allowing you to test the platform before committing to a paid plan. Paid plans start at $29.25 monthly and offer various options for different needs and budgets.
• Altered stands out with its free plan, which provides 1,200 free monthly characters for experimenting with the platform. This makes it an excellent option for beginners or those with limited budgets. Paid plans start at $24 monthly and offer more features and higher usage limits.

What to Look for When Choosing a Text-to-Speech Generator?

• Your budget: Free trials and plans can help you explore before committing.
• Specific needs: Consider features like voice cloning or API access.
• Ease of use: Choose a platform that matches your technical skills.
• Voice library: Think about the languages and accents you’ll need.
• Output quality: Prioritize natural-sounding voices and customization options.
• Integration with your workflow: Check for compatibility with other tools you use.
• Customer support: Look for responsive and helpful support channels.
• Future-proofing: Choose a platform that’s actively developing new features.
• Ethical considerations: Ensure the platform uses ethical sourcing for voice data.
• Community and resources: Look for platforms with active forums or helpful documentation.
• Try before you buy: Most platforms offer free trials or demos. Please take advantage of them!
• Read reviews: See what other users are saying about their experiences.

Final Verdict (Our Pick)

Both Play.ht and Altered are fantastic text-to-speech AI tools.

They can both turn your written content into realistic AI voices. But for us, Play.ht takes the crown. Why?

It offers a broader range of high-quality voices and languages.

Play.ht makes it easy to create voiceovers for YouTube, audiobooks, and more. Its realistic AI voices are hard to beat.

That said, Altered is still a great option, especially if you need more customization options or want to explore voice cloning.

Ultimately, the best choice depends on your needs and budget.

We’ve given you the facts, so now it’s up to you to decide!

More of Play ht

Here’s a brief comparison of Play ht against its alternatives, highlighting standout features:

• Play ht vs Murf AI: Murf AI offers diverse, natural voices with strong customization for professional voiceovers, unlike Play ht’s focus on affordability and quality.
• Play ht vs Speechify: Speechify excels in accessibility and speed reading with natural voices, differentiating from Play ht’s versatile voice cloning capabilities.
• Play ht vs Lovo ai: Lovo ai provides emotionally expressive AI voices and extensive multilingual support, contrasting with Play ht’s focus on lifelike and accurate voices.
• Play ht vs Descript: Descript uniquely edits audio/video through text and offers Overdub voice cloning, a different approach than Play ht’s text-to-speech emphasis.
• Play ht vs ElevenLabs: ElevenLabs generates highly natural AI voices with advanced cloning and emotional range, setting it apart from Play ht’s balance of quality and cost.
• Play ht vs Listnr: Listnr offers podcast hosting and AI voice cloning alongside natural voiceovers, while Play ht focuses on versatile and low-latency text-to-speech.
• Play ht vs Podcastle: Podcastle provides AI-powered podcast recording and editing tools, a different niche compared to Play ht’s general text-to-speech applications.
• Play ht vs Dupdub: Dupdub specializes in expressive talking avatars with strong multilingual features, a broader offering than Play ht’s voice generation focus.
• Play ht vs WellSaid Labs: WellSaid Labs delivers consistently professional-grade AI voices with detailed customization, contrasting with Play ht’s accessible high-quality voices.
• Play ht vs Revoicer: Revoicer offers advanced AI voice cloning and customization with SSML control, going beyond Play ht’s user-friendly voice generation.
• Play ht vs ReadSpeaker: ReadSpeaker focuses on enterprise-level accessibility with natural text-to-speech across many languages, while Play ht offers versatile voice options.
• Play ht vs NaturalReader: NaturalReader supports more languages and offers OCR functionality, distinguishing it from Play ht’s emphasis on lifelike voice quality.
• Play ht vs Notevibes: Notevibes provides AI voice agents for customer service with low latency, a specific application different from Play ht’s wider text-to-speech use.
• Play ht vs Speechelo: Speechelo focuses on natural-sounding AI voices with punctuation awareness for marketing, unlike Play ht’s general high-quality text-to-speech.
• Play ht vs TTSOpenAI: TTSOpenAI achieves high human-like voice clarity with customizable pronunciation, differing from Play ht’s balance of quality and affordability.
• Play ht vs Hume AI: Hume AI specializes in analyzing emotion in voice, video, and text, a distinct capability from Play ht’s text-to-speech conversion.

More of Altered

Here’s a brief comparison of Altered against the listed alternatives, highlighting their standout features:

• Altered vs Murf AI: Murf AI offers diverse voices with customization, while Altered specializes in voice cloning and morphing.
• Altered vs Speechify: Speechify excels in accessibility and speed for text-to-speech, unlike Altered’s focus on voice manipulation.
• Altered vs Descript: Descript integrates audio/video editing with voice cloning, a broader scope than Altered’s voice alteration capabilities.
• Altered vs ElevenLabs: ElevenLabs generates highly natural AI voices, while Altered emphasizes creative voice morphing and manipulation.
• Altered vs Lovo ai: Lovo ai offers emotionally expressive AI voices with multilingual support, unlike Altered’s emphasis on voice alteration.
• Altered vs Podcastle: Podcastle provides AI-powered recording and editing specifically for podcasts, a different focus than Altered’s voice manipulation.
• Altered vs Listnr: Listnr offers podcast hosting with AI voiceovers, while Altered specializes in voice cloning and real-time voice effects.
• Altered vs WellSaid Labs: WellSaid Labs delivers consistently professional-grade AI voices, contrasting with Altered’s emphasis on creative voice transformation.
• Altered vs Revoicer: Revoicer offers realistic AI voices with emotion and speed control, unlike Altered’s focus on voice morphing and cloning.
• Altered vs ReadSpeaker: ReadSpeaker focuses on text-to-speech for accessibility and enterprise solutions, a different focus than Altered’s voice alteration.
• Altered vs NaturalReader: NaturalReader provides versatile text-to-speech with customizable settings, whereas Altered specializes in voice cloning and manipulation.
• Altered vs Notevibes: Notevibes offers AI voice agents for customer service applications, a specific use case compared to Altered’s voice manipulation capabilities.
• Altered vs Speechelo: Speechelo generates natural-sounding AI voices for marketing, while Altered focuses on voice cloning, training, and morphing.
• Altered vs TTSOpenAI: TTSOpenAI offers high-quality text-to-speech with customizable pronunciation, differing from Altered’s emphasis on voice manipulation.
• Altered vs Hume AI: Hume AI specializes in understanding and analyzing human emotions in voice and other modalities, unlike Altered’s focus on voice transformation.

Frequently Asked Questions