An Expressive, On-device & Unlimited Text-to-Speech App for Mac [Giveaway: Lifetime Codes]
👋 Hey everyone - Ex AI engineer turned indie maker here! Last year I launched Bantr in this sub, an offline text-to-speech app that generates natural-sounding voices natively on your Mac. You guys carried it to the all-time top 10, then kept helping me shape it through DMs/comments/emails that became features, use cases, and ideas I would've never had. Problem: I built Bantr because every decent TTS tool these days lives on the cloud: so subscriptions, usage limits, training models with your data and... privacy leaks. Comparison: Unlike cloud-first TTS (subscriptions, quotas, data uploaded to servers), Bantr runs fully on your Mac for offline, private, unlimited use, with faster local generation via Apple’s MLX. Bantr is the opposite of Mainstream TTS, it's Offline + Private + Unlimited: 🤖 200+ natural, expressive voices 🎙️ Clone your voice with short sample 🔒 Runs entirely on your Mac (no cloud) 🆓 No login, no credit quotas 💸 No subscription (one-time purchase, free future updates) ⚡ Fast local generation leveraging Apple's MLX framework 🔮 And more upcoming (PDF read-along, multilingual support) Pricing: Pay $59 once for lifetime access. Link: Bantr TTS . What people are doing with it: A primary school teacher uses it as a reading aid for struggling kids. A retired engineer in Colorado is voicing an hour-long film with 25 distinct character voices. A YouTuber voices his entire science channel with it. A nursing student listens to her readings between shifts. A biotech CEO listens to notes while doing dishes. A lecturer in Germany is generating ESL listening exercises for his students. A writer on X is voicing short fiction for his followers. And I use it for voicing my demo videos! . Le Giveaway: I want Bantr to be truly community-led and shaped by the people using it - more hands on the product and tighter feedback loops, leading to better UX and smarter product decisions. So every quarter I’m giving away 100% off codes to the community, in a number equal to 10% of Bantr's userbase. Right now, that’s 45 spots. Just drop a comment to participate and I’ll generate and publish a randomized list of winners by the end of next week. Sidenote: It'll be cool to hear your use case in the comments (: . P.S. Social workers, students, and creators (w/ reach) get special deals - just send me a dm! EDIT: Winner list posted in this comment!
Collected discussion
Always looking for a way to stop paying for Eleven Labs ! Will check it out.
Haha yep that's why I built it :)
WINNER LIST Thanks to everyone who participated! Here are the 45 users math.random() blessed today: redjazzman maog1 HermesD3 Osteomayolites Far-Potato1738 AdSubstantial4479 JINION117 macnatic0 LenrdZelig kareta_mirai bobytronik SirFleshWound imprezor IllusiveOrchestra Comprehensive_Catch michaelbobarev murinero dominik1220 jmstrong66 CestMiTo Wild-Stage-3051 missmandiel chrabauke pairustwo tinylilbit shiftlocked areallynicesandwich AhmedJM iamwillwall fierce_deity_mask Regular-Alpaca Spartanonymous cezwoo HorizonZeroYawn loratar areyouredditenough Mattiasd_ pavelgubarev brianjwalton bryceplatt ja_Bro CoachCamBailey ctrlaltdelaney masslesstrain roi_des_myrmidons If you're on the list, please DM me to get your free license code (: . Not on the list? If you commented before the deadline (Jun 15, 11:59 PM PT), then DM me for a discounted license!
I’m going to be the first! I’m in, count me in. I’d use Bantr for voiceovers in my upcoming project.
this looks amazing, I would use this for audio projects.
This is great! Just purchased a lifetime license. One feature I'd love to see from a tool like this is the ability to pass in stage directions for line delivery directly in the body. Perhaps in brackets. Would make workflow a lot easier than having to separate each line based on the tone and delivery. Great work on this!
Sounds interesting, would love to try the app
Would love to use Bantr – will try it for dubbing in my YouTube videos, since people are often complaining about my accent (which is not that bad, but still)
As someone whose current TTS solution is something like "my eyes do the reading like a true peasant," I could desperately use this. My usse case: I want to feed it massive, dry technical documentation so a smooth, AI-generated British dude (you know who I mean 😏) can read it to me while I lie on my bed and question my career choices. Let me give it a real spin. Upvoted...
New to MacOS looking forward to exploring the possibilities. I'd like to use this to help my students read (understand how to read aloud/to themselves) tough passages. I wonder how it handles inflection and emphasis when reading complex sentences or punctuation.
Can you guide generated voice with specific emotions? Interface looks good and offline/private mode is great!
This would come in so handy. Truly.
Im working on videos that introduces people to start something new, but i cant speak well for nuts. Hope to use a decent tool for this gap!
Damn.. That sounds awesome. I have struggled with my voice recently and would love to clone it for explainer videos and various things like that. I can't talk long enough without some kind of problem 😅 Great app! Probably worth the buy anyways, but will see if we can snag a key!
Woah, the voices sound so good! I would love to use this to have it read articles while I’m working on something else.
The ‘shhhhhhhh’ voice was actually a cool application of context. This app looks great!
Would love this for proofreading texts. And if it's capable of making audiobooks and supports M4B audiobook export, It could help me release my coming books as audiobooks. Is it possible to clone your own voice with Bantr, btw?
Very cool! Would love to see if it can replace elevenlabs for VO
My son has severe dyslexia and needs TTS to assist his reading. The one his school provides is subscription based and it only works during school hours and the school year. In two weeks when school is out he loses it until September. This will really help him out. Love this!
Excellent app. I would use it in everything I do, email, social media, blog writing, research writing, and more.
I would love to try it out. New member here. good luck everyone.
Can i have a lifetime code, I wanna try using this for interview set-up mocks.
I would love this! I am a product creator and woudl love to use this.
I’d really like to try it, do you have a trial version? My fiancé and I haven’t found an app that works for us, we’ve been looking for a TTS app that suits our needs (mainly paper-reading, ideally to listen while driving), without much luck.
Looking forward to try it ! Thank you for your work