Read any web page aloud in your own voice
The VoiceLabs read-aloud extension reads the web page you are on, or just the text you select, aloud in a voice from your VoiceLabs account, including a clone of your own voice. It works in Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. Installing it costs nothing; reading aloud needs VoiceLabs Pro.
What it reads aloud
- The whole page. Open the extension and press Read this page: it takes the page’s main article text and reads it from the top.
- Just a selection. Select some text and press Read selection, or right-click the selection and choose Read aloud with VoiceLabs. That right-click item appears only when text is selected.
- With a player you control. Pause, resume, skip to the next passage or stop. The player shows which passage is playing out of how many.
The text is cut into passages and generated as you listen. Every generated passage uses your plan’s audio, so a very long page is queued only in part, and the player says so and leaves the rest for you to ask for.
The voices are yours
The extension carries no voice list of its own. It reads the voices on your VoiceLabs account: the voices you have cloned and the built-in presets. On its options page they are listed by name and language, with Account default first, and the one you pick is used for every read. To read in your own voice, clone it once in the VoiceLabs studio from a short recording of clear speech, then choose it in the extension. Clone only a voice you have the right to use: the responsible use policy says what that means.
Set it up in four steps
- Install it from the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store or the Chrome Web Store, with the buttons above or below.
- Create an API key on your VoiceLabs connections page with the
voice:generatescope ticked. Without that scope a key can read your account but cannot make audio. The key is shown once, so copy it straight away. - Paste it into the extension’s options page and press Save and verify. It confirms the connection and tells you how many voices your account has.
- Pick a voice and read. Choose a voice on the same page, open any article, and press Read this page.
Reading aloud needs VoiceLabs Pro, because the speech is made by the VoiceLabs API: US$8 a month or US$59 a year, with a 7-day trial that asks for a card up front.
What it stores, sends and can reach
- Your key stays on this browser. The API key and your chosen voice are kept in the browser profile’s local storage, deliberately not in browser sync, so the key is not copied to your other devices. Paste it once per profile.
- Text leaves only when you press read. The extension sends the text you asked it to read to the VoiceLabs API, its only remote host, to be spoken. Its manifest declares one host permission, https://app.voicelabs.now/*, and the store submission records that the built bundle was searched for analytics hosts and found none.
- Five browser permissions, each with one job:
storagekeeps the key, the voice and the reading progress;contextMenusadds the one right-click item;activeTabgives temporary access to the tab you acted on, only when you press a read control;scriptingruns a one-off script that returns the selection or the page’s main text, with nothing persistent and no remote code;offscreenplays the audio.
More in the privacy policy.
VoiceLabs vs Edge’s built-in Read Aloud vs Speechify
Three ways to have a web page read to you. The two competitor columns quote only what each vendor’s own page prints, with the page and the date it was read; their features change, so check the source before you decide.
VoiceLabs extension
- Voices: the ones on your account, clones of your own voice included.
- Browsers: Edge and Chrome, installed from their stores at no charge.
- Needs VoiceLabs Pro (US$8 a month) and a pasted API key.
Edge Read Aloud
- Built into Microsoft Edge; nothing to install.
- Microsoft’s page lists a variety of natural-sounding voices and accents, and adds that only a few voice options are available while offline.
- Its right-click item is called “Read aloud selection”. The page does not mention using a voice of your own.
Source: Microsoft Edge features, read 2026-10-05.
Speechify
- Its pricing page lists 1000+ voices in 60+ languages on Premium, at US$29 a month.
- The same page lists 10 voices without paying.
Source: Speechify pricing, read 2026-10-05.
The difference that matters here is whose voice reads. With the VoiceLabs extension the list starts with the voices you made yourself.
Questions about the read-aloud extension
- What does the VoiceLabs read-aloud extension do?
- It reads the web page you are on, or just the text you have selected, aloud in a voice from your own VoiceLabs account, including a clone of your own voice. Open the extension and press Read this page, or select some text and press Read selection, or right-click a selection and choose Read aloud with VoiceLabs. A small player lets you pause, resume, skip to the next passage and stop.
- How do I make a page read aloud in my own voice?
- Clone your voice in VoiceLabs once, from a short recording of clear speech, then pick that voice in the extension. After that, every page or selection you read aloud is spoken in it. A browser cannot add a voice of its own to its built-in read-aloud, so the extension asks VoiceLabs to make the speech and plays the result as audio. Clone only a voice you have the right to use.Responsible use
- Which voices can the extension read in?
- The voices on your VoiceLabs account: the voices you have cloned and the built-in preset voices. The extension's options page lists them by name and language, with Account default first, which lets VoiceLabs choose. Pick one there and it is used for every read. It does not carry a voice list of its own, so a voice you add to your account shows up after you reopen the options page.
- Does it work in Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome?
- Yes, in both. The same extension is listed on the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store and on the Chrome Web Store, and you install it from whichever store your browser uses. Other browsers are not covered by this page.
- How do I set it up?
- Install it from your browser's store, create an API key in the VoiceLabs developer console with the voice:generate scope ticked, open the extension's options, paste the key and press Save and verify. The extension then tells you how many voices your account has. Choose a voice, open any article, and press Read this page. The key is shown once when you create it, so paste it straight away. Without the voice:generate scope a key can read your account but cannot make audio.
- What does the extension cost?
- Installing it costs nothing. Reading aloud needs VoiceLabs Pro, because the speech is made by the VoiceLabs API: US$8 a month or US$59 a year, with a 7-day trial that asks for a card up front.Pricing
- What does the extension send and store, and what can it access?
- It stores your API key and your chosen voice in the browser profile's local storage, and deliberately not in browser sync, so the key is not copied to your other devices. It reads a page's text only when you press a read control on that tab, and it sends that text to the VoiceLabs API, its only remote host, to be spoken. It asks the browser for five permissions: storage, for the key and the voice; contextMenus, for the right-click item, which appears only when text is selected; activeTab and scripting, to read the tab you acted on at that moment and nothing persistent; and offscreen, to play the audio.Privacy policy
- Can it read a long page, or only part of one?
- Both. Select any stretch of text and read just that, or read the whole page's main text. The extension cuts what it reads into passages and generates them as you listen. A very long page is queued only in part, because every generated passage uses your plan's audio, and the player says so and leaves the rest for you to ask for.
VoiceLabs Pro is US$8 a month or US$59 a year, with a 7-day trial. Voice cloning and the API are included.
Microsoft, Microsoft Edge, Google, Google Chrome and Speechify are trademarks of their respective owners. VoiceLabs is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them. The competitor statements above quote their own pages on the dates shown.