Serbian text to speech (TTS)
Readnara turns text into natural speech in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin (Latin and Cyrillic script, Ekavian and Ijekavian) and in English. It uses its own model built for reading books: it runs in the browser with nothing to install, for personal listening, learning and for developers through the API.
Listen to the voices on the home page
Readnara and AlfaNum: how they differ
AlfaNum is a Serbian company that has developed speech technology for Serbian and related languages for more than 20 years, both speech synthesis and speech recognition. Below are the differences in purpose and in how the products work, based on publicly available information.
| Item | Readnara | AlfaNum |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Listening to books and texts (an audiobook from any book) and speech synthesis through an API. | Speech synthesis (AN Sintetizator), speech recognition, a voice for screen readers (anReader), reading websites aloud ("Čitaj mi"). |
| Languages | Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin and English. | Serbian and related languages. |
| Where it runs | In the browser on a computer, phone or tablet, nothing to install. | Windows (anReader), Android (AlfaNumTTS SER, free on Google Play), websites ("Čitaj mi"), your own servers. |
| Voices | 20 voices (Serbian and English). | For example Snežana and Jovana (Serbian), Marica (Croatian). |
| Your own voice | Yes, in the Plus plan: your own voice or the voice of someone who has given consent. | Not stated on their site. |
| Books and school reading | PDF, EPUB, MOBI, FB2, TXT and scanned books (OCR); a free library of more than 3,000 public-domain works and the school reading list; the sentence being read is highlighted, M4B export. | Not stated on their site. |
| For developers | API with a key; credit in minutes of audio is bought on the site, with free starter credit. | Integration of AN Sintetizator; terms are not stated on their site. |
| Prices | Published on the site; the public library and school reading list are free. | Not stated on their site. Blind insured persons (pupils from year 5, students, employees) can get anReader free through the national health insurance fund (RFZO), with a certificate from the Serbian Association of the Blind. |
| Runs on your own servers | No, the service runs in the cloud. | Yes, in-house versions of all products. |
| Screen readers (NVDA, JAWS) | The site is built to work with screen readers, but it is not a system voice for a screen reader. | Yes, anReader works with screen readers on a computer. |
Which one to choose
Readnara is a good fit when
- you want to listen to a book, school reading or study notes: upload the file and listen, with the sentence highlighted on the page.
- you need a free library of classics and the school reading list, right away, with nothing to install.
- you want a choice of voices or your own voice (with consent).
- you are building an app or a website and need an API with clear prices and credit you can buy on the site.
AlfaNum is a good fit when
- you need a system voice for a screen reader on a computer (anReader); blind insured persons can get it free through RFZO, and Readnara does not replace it.
- data must not leave your network and you need it to run on your own servers.
- you also need speech recognition (speech to text).
For schools, libraries and institutions
- School reading and teaching materials read aloud, with the sentence highlighted: it helps pupils who find reading hard and those who remember better when they listen.
- Our accessibility target is WCAG 2.2 AA (screen readers, keyboard, larger text and higher contrast).
- Offers for schools, libraries and the public sector on request: [email protected].
Offer for schools and librariesAccessibility statementAPI documentation
AlfaNum, anReader and the names of their products are trademarks of their owners. Readnara is not affiliated with AlfaNum. Information about AlfaNum products comes from publicly available sources (alfanum.co.rs), as of 8 October 2026; if anything is wrong, write to [email protected] and we will correct it. Sources: alfanum.co.rs, anreader.alfanum.co.rs.