Parolu
Small open-source Linux app that reads text aloud offline using downloadable Piper voices.
- Verified facts
- 4 of 4
- Alternatives ranked
- 3
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- 0
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About Parolu
Parolu is a small GNOME-style desktop app for Linux that turns typed or pasted text into speech. It is built on Piper, an open-source neural speech engine, so the voices run locally and the text does not have to leave your computer. The app was started for Esperanto: because there were no suitable Esperanto voices to download, two are bundled with it. For other languages, such as German, French, Italian or Spanish, you first download at least one voice from inside the app. It is a hobby project by a single developer, distributed mainly as a Flatpak through Flathub, and is free and open source under the GPL. Compared with Speechify or NaturalReader it is deliberately basic: there is no document import, browser extension, cloud sync or mobile app. It suits Linux users who want an offline reader for short texts, and Esperanto learners in particular.
Best for: Linux users and Esperanto learners who want simple offline text-to-speech.
Pros and cons
What works
- Speech is generated locally with Piper voices
- Ships with two Esperanto voices out of the box
- Free and open source under the GPL
Why people leave
- Linux only
- Voices for languages other than Esperanto must be downloaded first
- No document import, browser extension or mobile app
- Small one-person project with a short feature list
Top Parolu alternatives
See all 3- 1
Balabolka66.5Free Windows reader that opens EPUB, PDF and Office files and saves speech as audio files.
- 2
NaturalReader62.6Reads documents and web pages on desktop, web, mobile and Chrome, with many more languages.
- 3
Speechify59.6Polished reader across phone, browser and desktop, with hundreds of natural voices on its paid plan.
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Parolu: common questions
Is Parolu free?
Yes. Parolu is free, open-source software.
Is Parolu open source?
Yes. The source code is on GitHub at wbernard/Parolu.
What platforms does Parolu run on?
Parolu is available for Linux.
What are the best alternatives to Parolu?
The highest-ranked Parolu alternatives right now are Balabolka, NaturalReader and Speechify. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.