Lisen
Lisen is a free Chrome extension that reads web pages aloud using the voices you already have in your Cartesia account.
Our verdict
Who it's for
Read web pages aloud with your existing Cartesia voices
Who should look elsewhere
Requires a separate Cartesia account and API key to function.
Pros
- +Free to use on top of your existing Cartesia plan with no additional subscription.
- +High-quality, customizable voices from your Cartesia library, including cloned or designed voices.
- +Privacy-conscious design with no analytics, telemetry, or data sent until you explicitly press play.
Cons
- −Requires a separate Cartesia account and API key to function.
- −Does not work on PDFs, Chrome's built-in pages, or the Chrome Web Store due to browser restrictions.
Key features
- ✓Works on articles, blog posts, newsletters, documentation, Substack, Medium, and long threads.
- ✓Streaming playback starts immediately, or generate the full article ahead of time for exact duration and scrubbable progress.
- ✓Word-by-word highlighting and passage tinting to help you follow along as the text is read.
- ✓Download any article as a WAV file with embedded word timings for offline read-along.
- ✓No server infrastructure, your API key and settings stay in your Chrome browser on your device.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | — | month | Basic features |
| Pro | — | month | Premium features; Priority support |