--- title: "ElevenReader alternative: Omphalis vs ElevenReader | Omphalis" description: "Compare ElevenReader and Omphalis for listening, questions, source-linked notes and return. See workflow differences, costs and limits." canonical: "https://omphalis.ai/vs/elevenreader" source: "https://omphalis.ai/vs/elevenreader" --- Omphalis vs ElevenReader # ElevenReader or Omphalis: choose what happens after you listen. ElevenReader turns books, PDFs, articles and your own files into audio in 1,000+ voices, adds a catalog of 200,000+ audiobooks, and in its phone apps offers Voice Chat for questions about what you are hearing. Omphalis combines listening with contextual explanations, source-linked notes and questions across a notebook of sources you choose. Listen to a saved report, return to the passage that lost you and write what you think beside it. Add related papers or talks to a notebook and inspect the citations in an answer across them. ElevenReader is the stronger choice for voices, speed and audiobooks; try the same source in both and judge the reading, note-taking and return workflow. [Start free](https://app.omphalis.ai/signup) 30-day trial, no card required. Includes 600 comprehension units, 200 Ask voice minutes and 15 assistant answers a day. After that, Free stays free. [See plan allowances.](https://omphalis.ai/pricing) Disclosure: this comparison is written by Omphalis about its own product, so it is not a neutral review. We are not paid by ElevenReader or by anyone else to be compared favourably, this page carries no affiliate links, and every claim about ElevenReader is checked against their own public documentation. Read the full [disclosures](https://omphalis.ai/disclosures), and [tell us](https://omphalis.ai/contact) if something here has gone out of date. Checked October 23, 2026 and rechecked October 29, 2026 against ElevenReader's [homepage](https://elevenreader.io/), [pricing page](https://elevenreader.io/pricing), [App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/elevenreader-read-books-aloud/id6479373050), and [Voice Chat help page](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/help-center/product/mobile-apps/elevenreader/how-does-voice-chat-in-elevenreader-work). Our suggestions about fit are our judgment. Updated October 29, 2026 ## What does ElevenReader do well, and when should you stay? ElevenReader is built to turn text into audio you enjoy. On its pricing page, the free plan includes 10 hours of text to audio a month, 1,000+ natural voices, thousands of free audiobooks, sync between web and mobile, speeds up to 4x, a sleep timer, and bookmarks. Ultra adds unlimited text to audio for your own imports, 20 hours a month of premium audiobooks, offline downloads, custom voices, and smart file imports that skip headers, footers, and filler text. You can upload PDF, DOCX, EPUB, Markdown, and TXT files, open an article link, scan a page from an image, or paste text, on iPhone, iPad, Android, or the web. In the phone apps, Voice Chat, still a beta, answers questions about the book or document you are listening to. If you listen to a lot of books, want a voice you love, or need a sleep timer, stay with ElevenReader. Omphalis will not match its voices, audiobook catalog, or speed. ## Why is hearing a source not the same as understanding it? A good voice makes a long source easy to get through, and it does not make a hard paragraph easier. A dense report often turns on one passage: a method you have not met, a term defined pages earlier, a claim that rests on one table. When it goes past at 2x on a walk, you hear it once. ElevenReader highlights the words as they are read, its bookmarks can hold a note, and Voice Chat can answer a question about the passage you just heard. Omphalis puts the explanation on the reading page beside the sentence, keeps your note on that line, and reopens it there the next time you open the source, so you can build understanding from the sources that matter to you. That is the part Omphalis is built around. Listen gets you through the piece. The reading page, the explanation beside the passage, and the mark that reopens it get you through the hard part. ## How do ElevenReader and Omphalis compare? | Compared on | ElevenReader | Omphalis | | --- | --- | --- | | Working across selected sources | Your uploads and audiobooks sit in one library. Voice Chat, a beta in the phone apps, answers questions about the book or document you are listening to. | Gather selected sources, passage notes and your own writing in a notebook. Ask across that material, inspect the citations and return to the evidence later. | | Built for | Turning books, PDFs, and articles into audio in a voice you pick, plus a large audiobook catalog. | Getting through a source you want to understand. Listening is one way through it, and the text, your marks, and explanations are in the same place afterwards. | | Voices and languages | 1,000+ voices on the free plan too, and 90+ languages listed on its site. On Ultra, Voice Design creates a custom narrator from a short description. | A far smaller voice catalog. Everyday voices on every plan, with HD and Lifelike voices on Premium, Scholar, and the trial in the web app and the Mac app. | | Speed and extras | Up to 4x, with a sleep timer and bookmarks on the free plan. | Up to 2x in every player. The mobile player has no sleep timer. | | Audiobooks | 200,000+ audiobooks and eBooks, thousands of them free, and 20 hours a month of premium titles on Ultra. | None. Omphalis narrates what you save, and has no audiobook catalog. | | Getting text in | Upload PDF, DOCX, EPUB, Markdown, or TXT files, open an article link, scan a page from an image, or paste text. | Save articles, PDFs, EPUB and Word files, podcast episodes, and YouTube links. Omphalis works from what you save, not from a scanned image. | | Skipping clutter | On Ultra, smart file imports skip headers, footers, and filler text. | Narration leaves out references, footnotes, citations, front and back matter, and page numbers, and reads shorthand such as et al. as spoken words. | | After you listen | The text highlights as it is read, bookmarks can hold notes, and in the phone apps Voice Chat can answer a question about what you just heard. | The piece is a reading page with a section map. Open an explanation beside a hard passage, mark it with a note and a tag, and reopen it at that line later. Bring the mark into a notebook when the question spans more than one source. | | Price | Free with 10 hours of text to audio a month, or Ultra at $11 a month or $99 a year. | Free is $0. Pro is $9 a month or $90 a year. PDFs are read on paid plans and during the trial. | ## What does listening to a report look like in Omphalis? Say you save a long report as a PDF and choose Listen on your commute. The reference list, footnote sections, bracketed citations, and page numbers are left out of the narration, and "et al." is read as "and colleagues". In the iOS or Android app it plays in the background with lock screen controls, and Make available offline keeps it playing in a tunnel. Somewhere in the middle you lose the thread. At your desk, open the same report in your Library, use the section map to go to that part, select the paragraph, and open an explanation beside it. Highlight it, tag it Confusing, and write the question you still have. Tomorrow the mark reopens the page at that paragraph with your note beside it. When the report is one of several on the same question, put them in a notebook and ask across them. The answer draws on your sources, not a web search, and each numbered citation opens the passage it used. The details of what narration leaves out are on the page about [listening to PDFs](https://omphalis.ai/listen/pdf). ## ElevenReader, Speechify, or Matter? People who compare ElevenReader often also look at other apps that read text aloud. [Speechify](https://omphalis.ai/vs/speechify) reads almost anything aloud on phones, browsers, and computers. [Matter](https://omphalis.ai/vs/matter) is an Apple-first app with strong listening for saved articles and newsletters. Choose ElevenReader for voices, books, and audiobooks. Choose Omphalis when the source is hard and you want to come back to the passage that lost you. If the source is a paper you cite, the [Zotero comparison](https://omphalis.ai/vs/zotero) covers references. ## How do you use ElevenReader and Omphalis together? Keep ElevenReader for the listening you do for pleasure: novels, audiobooks, and a favorite voice reading you the news. Save the sources you need to understand in Omphalis: the papers, reports, long articles, and talks that a project depends on. Listen to them in Omphalis when you want, or not at all, then work through the hard sections on the reading page and keep marks you can return to. The [Listen page](https://omphalis.ai/listen) covers voices, offline listening, and the browser extension. ## Who should pick which? ### When should you stay with ElevenReader only? Stay if you mostly want books and articles read aloud, want a very large voice catalog or audiobooks, listen at more than 2x, or want a sleep timer. [Visit ElevenReader](https://elevenreader.io/) ### When should you add Omphalis? Add it when you listen to dense sources and need to come back to the hard parts, with an explanation beside the passage and a note that reopens it. [See the Omphalis web app](https://omphalis.ai/product/web-app) ## What do ElevenReader and Omphalis cost? On ElevenReader's [pricing](https://elevenreader.io/pricing), Free includes 10 hours of text to audio a month, and Ultra is $11 a month or $99 a year. Omphalis Free is $0. Pro is $9 a month or $90 a year. Listen works on every Omphalis plan, including Free, and draws on the same monthly units that process new sources. PDFs are read on paid plans and during the 30-day trial. 30-day trial, no card required. Includes 600 comprehension units, 200 Ask voice minutes and 15 assistant answers a day. Monthly allowances for each plan are on [pricing](https://omphalis.ai/pricing). ## An ElevenReader companion for the sources you need to understand If you want books and articles read aloud in a voice you love, ElevenReader is the tool. If you listen to dense sources and need to come back to the hard parts, Omphalis keeps the reading page, the explanation beside the passage, and your note on the line, for PDFs, articles, podcasts, and video. [Listen to what you saved →](https://omphalis.ai/listen) · [Listen to PDFs without the references →](https://omphalis.ai/listen/pdf) [Compare Speechify →](https://omphalis.ai/vs/speechify) · [Compare Matter →](https://omphalis.ai/vs/matter) · [Compare LiquidText →](https://omphalis.ai/vs/liquidtext) · [Compare other tools →](https://omphalis.ai/compare) [Try the Omphalis reader →](https://omphalis.ai/demo) · [See plan allowances →](https://omphalis.ai/pricing) Also compare Omphalis with [Pocket](https://omphalis.ai/vs/pocket), [Omnivore](https://omphalis.ai/vs/omnivore), [Instapaper](https://omphalis.ai/vs/instapaper), [Matter](https://omphalis.ai/vs/matter), [Glasp](https://omphalis.ai/vs/glasp), [Readwise](https://omphalis.ai/vs/readwise), [Heptabase](https://omphalis.ai/vs/heptabase), [NotebookLM](https://omphalis.ai/vs/notebooklm), [Snipd](https://omphalis.ai/vs/snipd), [LiquidText](https://omphalis.ai/vs/liquidtext), [MarginNote](https://omphalis.ai/vs/marginnote), [Elicit](https://omphalis.ai/vs/elicit), [Zotero](https://omphalis.ai/vs/zotero), [Adobe Acrobat](https://omphalis.ai/vs/adobe-acrobat), [Speechify](https://omphalis.ai/vs/speechify), [Perplexity](https://omphalis.ai/vs/perplexity), [Goodnotes](https://omphalis.ai/vs/goodnotes), [Mindgrasp](https://omphalis.ai/vs/mindgrasp), [Eightify](https://omphalis.ai/vs/eightify) or [Recall](https://omphalis.ai/vs/recall). ## Before you choose ### Is Omphalis an ElevenReader replacement? For listening to books, articles and PDFs, no. ElevenReader has far more voices, goes up to 4x, has a sleep timer and an audiobook catalog, and its Voice Chat answers questions while you listen. Omphalis is a workspace for understanding: listen to a source, check a cited answer, keep your own note on the passage and continue the question in a notebook with related sources. Try the same source in both and compare how you check an answer and return to it. ### Is there a free ElevenReader alternative in Omphalis? Omphalis has a free plan, and Listen works on articles, podcast transcripts, and YouTube talks on every plan, including Free. PDFs are read on paid plans and during the 30-day trial, so a free plan alone will not read a PDF aloud. ElevenReader's free plan covers 10 hours of text to audio a month, including files you upload. ### Does Omphalis skip citations and footnotes? Yes. Narration leaves out reference lists, footnote sections, numbered and author and year citations, front and back matter, and page numbers. ElevenReader's Ultra plan also skips headers, footers, and filler text on file imports. The difference is what happens after you listen. ### Can I listen offline? Yes, in the Omphalis iOS and Android apps. Make available offline downloads the text and audio, on every plan. A narrated piece can also be saved as an MP3 with Download full audio. ElevenReader's offline downloads are on Ultra, and its audio cannot be exported from the app. ### Can I ask questions about what I listened to? Yes, in both products. ElevenReader's Voice Chat, a beta in its iPhone and Android apps, answers questions about the book or document you are listening to. In Omphalis, Ask answers from the item you are reading, a notebook, a Space, or all your Spaces, and each numbered citation opens the passage it used. Ask does not search the web. Written by [Omphalis team](https://omphalis.ai/about) · Last updated October 29, 2026 --- Listed on: [Featured on launched.tools REVIEWED ✓](https://launched.tools/tools/omphalis)