# A Balabolka alternative with natural neural voices

Updated 2026-10-24

Balabolka is a free Windows program that reads text aloud with the voices installed in the system and can save the speech to audio files. It works well, but it sounds only as good as those voices. SuperClonica brings a neural model, Supertonic 3, with natural-sounding voices that also run offline on an ordinary processor.

This page compares the two honestly, says when Balabolka is still the better tool, and shows how to turn text files into MP3 with SuperClonica on Windows.

## Two different engines

Both run offline on your own computer; the difference is the voice technology and the way you work with it.

- Balabolka: a desktop program with a window, using the speech voices installed in Windows.
- SuperClonica: a free command-line engine and Python library with a neural model and voices as JSON files.
- SuperClonica has no window of its own: you work in PowerShell or with a small script.
- SuperClonica voices speak 31 languages; Chinese is not supported yet.

## When Balabolka is the better tool

If you want a familiar window with menus, read text from many document formats and the clipboard, and are happy with the system voices, Balabolka remains a convenient choice. SuperClonica does not try to be a document reader with a user interface.

## When SuperClonica fits better

On Windows you can also train your own voice in the SuperClonica studio with an NVIDIA RTX 20 series card or newer, or a GTX 16.

- You want natural neural voices instead of the robotic system ones.
- You need narrators, character voices or a voice trained from your own recording.
- You want the same voice in 31 languages.
- You want to automate: the same engine works from scripts, Python and a Docker HTTP server.

## Text files to MP3 on Windows

Install Python from python.org, then the engine in PowerShell: py -m pip install superclonica-cpu. Create a file read.bat with the line py -m superclonica --text-file "%~1" --voice F1 --lang en --output "%~dpn1.mp3", and drag any.txt file onto it: the engine voices the text and saves an MP3 with the same name next to it. Save documents as.txt in Notepad first; long texts are split at natural pauses and joined into one file.

## What it costs

The engine and the ten stock voices of the model are free, with no character limit, and several catalog voices are free too. Other voices are bought once, with no subscription, and stay yours as a JSON file. Balabolka itself is free; its voices are the ones your system provides.

## More guides

- [How to convert text to speech offline on your computer](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/offline-text-to-speech)
- [Voice cloning: how to get a voice that sounds like a recording](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/voice-cloning)
- [The best free text-to-speech models for local use in 2026](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/best-free-tts-models)
- [Text to speech for videos, audiobooks, games and apps](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-for-videos)
- [Supertonic 3 voices: where to get custom voices and how to use them](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/supertonic-3-voices)
- [Text to speech in Python: offline, free and with natural voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/python-text-to-speech)
- [Text to speech in JavaScript and Node.js](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/javascript-text-to-speech)
- [Self-hosted text-to-speech API in Docker](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-api-docker)
- [Text to speech for local LLMs and chatbots](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/local-llm-text-to-speech)
- [Bulk text to speech from a spreadsheet](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/bulk-text-to-speech)
- [Text to speech in character voices: voice any line as your favourite character](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/character-voice-generator)
- [Free unlimited text to speech without sign-up: run it on your own computer](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/free-unlimited-text-to-speech)
- [Narrator voice generator: narration for videos, audiobooks and podcasts](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/narrator-voice-generator)
- [Child voice text to speech: kid and teenager AI voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/child-voice-text-to-speech)
- [Anime voice generator: text to speech in anime character voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/anime-voice-generator)
- [Text to speech in 31 languages: one voice for every language](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-languages)
- [Female voice text to speech: natural AI female voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/female-voice-text-to-speech)
- [Male voice text to speech: deep and natural AI male voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/male-voice-text-to-speech)
- [Realistic text to speech: AI voices that sound human](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/realistic-text-to-speech)
- [AI voice generator: turn text into speech with ready AI voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ai-voice-generator)
- [Text to speech reader: listen to books, PDFs and articles](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-reader)
- [TikTok voice generator: voices for TikTok, Shorts and Reels](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/tiktok-voice-generator)
- [Dota 2 hero voices: make any hero say your line](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/dota-2-voice-generator)
- [Cartoon voice generator: make a cartoon character say your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/cartoon-voice-generator)
- [Scratch voices for animatics and storyboards](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/animatic-scratch-voice)
- [Jarvis voice generator: your text in a Jarvis-style AI voice](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/jarvis-voice-generator)
- [Darth Vader voice generator: Star Wars voices for your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/darth-vader-voice-generator)
- [Train your own TTS voice on your NVIDIA GPU](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/train-tts-voice)
- [Emotional text to speech: how to make an AI voice sound expressive](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/emotional-text-to-speech)
- [Hindi text to speech: AI voices that read Hindi](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/hindi-text-to-speech)
- [Spanish text to speech: AI voices that read Spanish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/spanish-text-to-speech)
- [Japanese text to speech: AI voices that read Japanese](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/japanese-text-to-speech)
- [Russian text to speech with voices recorded in Russian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/russian-text-to-speech)
- [Portuguese text to speech: AI voices that read Portuguese](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/portuguese-text-to-speech)
- [German text to speech: AI voices that read German](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/german-text-to-speech)
- [French text to speech: AI voices that read French](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/french-text-to-speech)
- [Korean text to speech: AI voices that read Korean](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/korean-text-to-speech)
- [English text to speech: AI voices that read English](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/english-text-to-speech)
- [Arabic text to speech: AI voices that read Arabic](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/arabic-text-to-speech)
- [Geralt voice generator: Witcher voices for your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/witcher-voice-generator)
- [GTA 5 voice generator: Trevor, Franklin and Lester say your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/gta-5-voice-generator)
- [How to make an audiobook with an AI voice](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/audiobook-ai-voice)
- [Text to speech for game development: NPC voices without a studio](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-for-games)
- [Italian text to speech: AI voices that read Italian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/italian-text-to-speech)
- [Polish text to speech: AI voices that read Polish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/polish-text-to-speech)
- [Turkish text to speech: AI voices that read Turkish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/turkish-text-to-speech)
- [Ukrainian text to speech: AI voices that read Ukrainian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ukrainian-text-to-speech)
- [Vietnamese text to speech: AI voices that read Vietnamese](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/vietnamese-text-to-speech)
- [Indonesian text to speech: AI voices that read Indonesian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/indonesian-text-to-speech)
- [Meme voice generator: funny voices for your memes](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/meme-voice-generator)
- [Discord text to speech with custom AI voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/discord-text-to-speech)
- [VHS voice-over dub: the 90s one-voice translation style](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/vhs-voice-over-dub)
- [Stream alert voices: character voices for follows, subs and donations](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/stream-alert-voices)
- [Dutch text to speech: AI voices that read Dutch](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/dutch-text-to-speech)
- [Swedish text to speech: AI voices that read Swedish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/swedish-text-to-speech)
- [Czech text to speech: AI voices that read Czech](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/czech-text-to-speech)
- [Greek text to speech: AI voices that read Greek](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/greek-text-to-speech)
- [Romanian text to speech: AI voices that read Romanian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/romanian-text-to-speech)
- [Hungarian text to speech: AI voices that read Hungarian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/hungarian-text-to-speech)
- [Danish text to speech: AI voices that read Danish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/danish-text-to-speech)
- [Finnish text to speech: AI voices that read Finnish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/finnish-text-to-speech)
- [Bulgarian text to speech: AI voices that read Bulgarian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/bulgarian-text-to-speech)
- [Croatian text to speech: AI voices that read Croatian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/croatian-text-to-speech)
- [Slovak text to speech: AI voices that read Slovak](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/slovak-text-to-speech)
- [Slovenian text to speech: AI voices that read Slovenian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/slovenian-text-to-speech)
- [Estonian text to speech: AI voices that read Estonian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/estonian-text-to-speech)
- [Latvian text to speech: AI voices that read Latvian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/latvian-text-to-speech)
- [Lithuanian text to speech: AI voices that read Lithuanian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/lithuanian-text-to-speech)
- [Scary voice generator: horror, villain and demon voices for your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/scary-voice-generator)
- [Cute voice text to speech: anime girl, kawaii and cartoon voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/cute-voice-text-to-speech)
- [Old man voice generator: grandpa, wizard and elder voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/old-man-voice-generator)
- [Deep voice generator: low AI voices for text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/deep-voice-generator)
- [SpongeBob text to speech: make him say anything](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/spongebob-voice-generator)
- [Batman text to speech: make him say anything](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/batman-voice-generator)
- [The Boys voice generator: Homelander and Billy Butcher](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/the-boys-voice-generator)
- [Lord of the Rings voice generator: Gollum and Saruman](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/lord-of-the-rings-voice-generator)
- [MiSide Mita voice for fan videos and memes](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/miside-mita-voice)
- [Text to speech for presentations: narrate your slides](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-for-presentations)
- [Rick and Morty voice generator: AI text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/rick-and-morty-voice-generator)
- [AI podcast voice: intros, ad reads and whole episodes](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ai-podcast-voice)
- [Russian accent voice generator: English with a Russian accent](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/russian-accent-voice-generator)
- [News anchor voice generator: an AI voice that reads the news](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/news-anchor-voice-generator)
- [Bedtime story AI voice: a calm narrator for fairy tales](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/bedtime-story-ai-voice)
- [AI voice changer or text to speech: which one you need](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/voice-changer-vs-text-to-speech)
- [Linux text to speech: natural offline TTS from the terminal](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-linux)
- [Windows text to speech: natural voices, offline, saved as WAV](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-windows)
- [Mac text to speech: natural offline voices on macOS](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-mac)
- [Voicemail greeting generator: a calm AI voice for your phone](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/voicemail-greeting-generator)
- [Announcement voice generator for PA systems](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/announcement-voice-generator)
- [AI voice for museum and tour audio guides](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/audio-guide-voice)
- [Escape room voices for briefings, hints and countdowns](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/escape-room-voice)
- [AI voice over for ads: radio spots, video ads and promos](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ai-voice-over-for-ads)
- [AI dubbing: the same voice in 31 languages](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ai-dubbing-same-voice)
- [AI voice for a faceless YouTube channel](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/faceless-youtube-ai-voice)
- [Reddit story voice for TikTok and Shorts](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/reddit-story-voice)
- [Witch voice generator: sorceresses, seers and dark fairies](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/witch-voice-generator)
- [AI voice for e-learning: narrate online courses and training](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/e-learning-ai-voice)
- [Text to speech for language learning](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-for-language-learning)
- [Text to speech pauses and pronunciation: control the voice with text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-pauses-pronunciation)
- [Text to MP3: save text to speech as an MP3 file](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-mp3)
- [Santa voice generator: Christmas greetings in a warm old voice](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/santa-voice-generator)
- [Happy birthday voice message from a character](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/birthday-voice-message)
- [D&D narrator voice: AI voices for tabletop RPGs](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/dnd-narrator-voice)
- [AI voice acting for visual novels and Ren’Py games](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/visual-novel-ai-voice)
- [AI voices for audio drama and radio plays](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/audio-drama-ai-voices)
- [A Speechify alternative that works offline](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/speechify-alternative)
- [A Murf AI alternative for offline voice-over](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/murf-ai-alternative)
- [A FakeYou alternative: character voices that run offline](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/fakeyou-alternative)
- [An offline alternative to Google Cloud Text-to-Speech](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/google-text-to-speech-alternative)
- [PDF to audio: convert a PDF to MP3 with natural voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/pdf-to-audio)
- [Word document to audio: turn Word and Google Docs into MP3](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/word-document-to-audio)
- [Article to audio: listen versions for blogs and news sites](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/article-to-audio)
- [Meditation voice generator: calm AI voices for guided sessions](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/meditation-voice-generator)

## Text to speech and comparisons

- [Text-to-speech that runs on your own computer](https://superclonica.com/en/text-to-speech)
- [Supertonic vs SuperClonica: same model, faster and cleaner](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/supertonic)
- [Fish Audio and Fish Speech vs SuperClonica](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/fish-audio)
- [OmniVoice vs SuperClonica: more languages or more speed](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/omnivoice)
- [Qwen3-TTS vs SuperClonica for local text-to-speech](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/qwen3-tts)
- [VoxCPM 2 vs SuperClonica: studio sound or CPU speed](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/voxcpm)
- [F5-TTS vs SuperClonica: zero-shot cloning or fast CPU speech](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/f5-tts)
- [An offline alternative to ElevenLabs](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/elevenlabs)
- [Kokoro TTS vs SuperClonica: two small models for local speech](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/kokoro)
- [Piper TTS vs SuperClonica: tiny devices or custom voices](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/piper)
- [Coqui XTTS-v2 vs SuperClonica: a Coqui TTS alternative](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/xtts)
- [Chatterbox TTS vs SuperClonica: instant cloning or a trained voice file](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/chatterbox)

## Frequently asked questions

### Is SuperClonica a replacement for Balabolka?

For turning text into natural-sounding audio files, yes. As a windowed document reader with menus and many file formats, no.

### Can I use SuperClonica voices inside Balabolka?

No. SuperClonica voices run in its own engine, not as Windows system voices.

### Does it need the internet?

Only once, to download the model on the first run. After that it works offline.

### Do I need a graphics card?

No. Voicing text runs on an ordinary processor; only training a new voice needs an NVIDIA graphics card.

- [Browse voices](https://superclonica.com/en/explore)
- [Install the SuperClonica engine](https://superclonica.com/en/superclonica)

## Sources

- [Supertonic 3 model card](https://huggingface.co/supertone-oss-archive/supertonic-3)
- [SuperClonica engine on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/superclonica-cpu/)
- [SuperClonica](https://superclonica.com/en/)
- [AI voice catalog for text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/explore)
- [Custom voice commissions for Supertonic 3](https://superclonica.com/en/requests)
- [How it works: voices, local speech, training](https://superclonica.com/en/guide)
- [Install the faster Supertonic 3 engine](https://superclonica.com/en/superclonica)
- [About us: speech synthesis enthusiasts](https://superclonica.com/en/about)
- [Contacts, support and voice complaints](https://superclonica.com/en/contacts)
- [Privacy policy: what data we keep](https://superclonica.com/en/privacy)
- [Terms of use: rules for buyers and authors](https://superclonica.com/en/terms)
- [Text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/text-to-speech)