The page keeps going. Your attention doesn’t.
Long documents turn into rereading, tab switching, and losing the thread. Hearing the words gives your brain another way in.
For deep work
Private text-to-speech for Mac & Windows
Your screen has a voice. Let it speak.
Select any text. Press one shortcut. Rostra reads it aloud with clear, natural-sounding voices that run on your computer—not somebody else’s cloud.
- No cloud uploads
- No account required
- No subscription
THE QUIET ADVANTAGE
Reading should fit around your attention.
Some days, the words keep coming long after your focus has left. Rostra turns the text already on your screen into something you can listen to—without sending a private sentence anywhere.
Keep moving through the work while your eyes get a moment back.
Stays on this deviceText never leaves your computer
Built for the words you have to read
and the life happening around them.
The problem
You are not bad at focusing. You are buried in text.
Reports. Articles. Email threads. Drafts you have already read five times. Modern work asks your eyes to do everything—even when listening would be faster, easier, or simply more humane.
Your own writing hides from your eyes.
Awkward sentences and missing words become obvious when a voice says them back to you.
For proofreading
Convenience should not cost your privacy.
Contracts, client notes, internal messages, and unfinished ideas should not need to visit a server just to be spoken aloud.
For sensitive work
“I need to get through this. I just can’t stare at it anymore.”
That is the moment Rostra is built for.
One shortcut. That’s the workflow.
From selected to spoken in seconds.
Rostra stays out of the way until you need it, then gives you the controls that matter.
1
Select
Highlight text in the app you are already using.
2
Press
Use one global shortcut. No copying into another window.
3
Listen
Pause, skip, or change speed without breaking your flow.
Private by architecture
The text you select can be sensitive. Rostra behaves like it.
Rostra’s speech engine runs locally on your computer. Your selected text is processed into audio on the same device, so normal reading does not require an account, an API key, or a trip to the cloud.
- ✓ On-device speech generation
- ✓ Works offline after setup
- ✓ No reading history sent to us
- ✓ No per-character meter
Your computer
AaSelected text
→
RRostra engine
→
◖Private audio
Everything happens inside this line.
Made for everyday reading
Powerful where it counts. Quiet everywhere else.
A focused desktop tool with the depth to handle real-world text—not another dashboard competing for your attention.
Works across your apps
Select text in browsers, documents, email, and other supported apps.
Voices with range
Choose from 55 voices across nine supported languages.
Pay once
Own the app without renting your ability to listen every month.
Your listening pace
A careful 0.75× through a true 4× skim (Pro) — and the pauses keep their shape as you speed up.
Reads like a person
Takes a breath in long sentences, lets questions land, leans on bold words — and says prices, dates, and abbreviations the way you would.
Stay oriented
Pause, resume, and move between sentences from a compact floating player.
A different kind of AI reader
Nothing to upload. Nothing to count. Nothing to cancel.
Most premium readers make every sentence a transaction with a server. Rostra makes reading a capability your computer already owns.
Typical cloud reader
Rostra
Where text is processedRemote serverYour computer
Internet requiredUsuallyNo
PricingRecurringOne time
Character limitsOften meteredNone
Simple on purpose
A reading tool should not become another monthly bill.
Buy Rostra once. Use it whenever the words pile up—without wondering how many minutes or characters you have left.
See the full Free vs Pro comparison →
Rostra Pro
Launch price
$59$39one time
Launch price
Private, on-device reading for the text already on your screen.
- System-wide selection shortcut
- 55 voices across 9 languages
- Playback and speed controls
- Offline use after setup
- No recurring fee
Questions, answered
The important things before you listen.
Does Rostra really work offline?+
Yes. Core speech generation happens on your computer. Optional language and voice packs need an internet connection when you download them; after that, normal reading stays local.
What can Rostra read?+
Rostra is designed to read selected text from browsers, documents, email, and other macOS apps that expose selected text through system accessibility tools.
Is my selected text stored anywhere?+
Rostra does not need to send your selected text or reading history to a cloud service. Audio is generated locally for playback on your device.
Does Rostra work on Windows?+
Yes. Rostra runs on both macOS and Windows today, with the same private, select-and-listen workflow.
Why is Rostra a one-time purchase?+
Because the speech engine runs on your hardware. We are not paying a cloud provider every time you listen, so you should not have to rent the app every month.
Be there when Rostra speaks
Give your reading a second voice.
Join the launch list for release news, early access, and launch pricing.
The name
The Rostra was the speaker's platform in ancient Rome — a whole structure built so that words could be heard by a crowd. Which makes the name almost literally the product: the platform where written words become spoken ones.