LisenAdd to Chrome
Free Chrome extension for Cartesia voices

Speechify, for Cartesia users.

A free Chrome extension that reads any article or PDF aloud with the Cartesia voices you already pay for. Everything you would expect from Speechify or ElevenReader, without a subscription on top.

Add to ChromeSee how it works

No account. No Lisen server. Your key stays on your device.

example.com/essays/tide-time

Three steps, then it is just a button.

No account to create and no settings page. The whole setup is one paste.

  1. 1

    Paste your Cartesia key

    Once. It stays in Chrome's extension storage on your device.

  2. 2

    Click the icon on an article

    A small player appears over the page. Nothing runs anywhere you did not click.

  3. 3

    Press play

    The passage being read is tinted, the spoken word is marked. Look away and come back.

Everything a reader should do.

The parts of Speechify you would actually miss, and a few it never had.

What it costs.

Lisen has no subscription and no account. The speech itself is billed by Cartesia, on whatever plan you already have with them.

The extension
Free from the Chrome Web Store. Nothing to subscribe to and nothing to sign up for.
The speech
Generated with your Cartesia API key and billed by Cartesia on your plan, which starts with a free tier. See Cartesia’s pricing.

Questions.

The short answers. The long ones are on the privacy page.

Do I need a Cartesia account?
Yes. Lisen speaks through Cartesia, so you need an account there and an API key from it. You paste the key into the player once.
What does it cost?
Lisen is free. Speech is billed by Cartesia on whatever plan you have with them, which starts with a free tier. See Cartesia’s pricing. There is no Lisen subscription and no account to create.
Which voices can I use?
Every voice in your Cartesia library, including voices you have cloned or designed there. The player lists them; pick one and change it whenever you like.
Is my API key safe?
It is kept in Chrome's extension storage on your device and sent only to Cartesia, as the credential for requests you start. Chrome does not encrypt that storage at rest, so treat the key like a saved password. Removing the extension deletes it.
What does it do with code, tables and lists?
It reads them the way a narrator would. Code is announced by its language rather than read symbol by symbol, unless it is a single command, or it is really writing, like Markdown notes, which are read as sentences. A table is described by its caption, columns and row count. Lists are read item by item, numbered where the page numbers them. Footnote markers and citation brackets are skipped, and a bare web address is read as its site name. There is nothing to configure.
Does it work on PDFs and paywalled pages?
It reads whatever the page shows you, so an article you can see behind a paywall you can also hear. A PDF opens in Lisen's own viewer when you click the icon on it, papers and reports included; for a PDF on your computer, turn on "Allow access to file URLs" for Lisen in chrome://extensions, or drop the file onto the viewer. Chrome does not let extensions run on its own pages or on the Web Store; the icon shows a badge there.
What does Lisen collect?
Nothing. No analytics, no telemetry, no crash reports, no server of its own. The only network traffic is to Cartesia, with your key, when you press play. Details on the privacy page.
Which browsers?
Chrome, from the Chrome Web Store. Other browsers are not supported yet.

Your voices. Any article. Free.

Paste a Cartesia key once, then press play on anything you would rather hear than read.

Add to ChromeGet a Cartesia key