Turn Any Text Into a Natural-Sounding Podcast
Paste an article, notes, a chapter, or any other text. Scholarly turns it into a three-speaker podcast with a synced transcript and self-quiz prompts. Alex hosts, Sam produces, and the Guest explains the material.
Free to start · No credit card required
Quick answer
Can I turn text into a podcast?
Yes. Paste an article, notes, a chapter, a transcript, or an email thread. Scholarly turns it into a three-speaker conversation that defines terms, works through examples, and connects ideas. Alex hosts, Sam produces, and the Guest explains the text. Choose a target length; final runtime varies. Each completed episode includes a synced transcript.
Updated July 2026. Speaker roles and length controls reflect the current version of Scholarly.
From a block of text to a finished episode
Three steps, then audio you can take on a walk.
Paste or upload your text
Paste text straight in, upload a document, or drop in a link. Combine several passages — an article plus your notes on it — into one episode when they cover the same topic.
Scholarly scripts the conversation
Alex hosts, Sam provides context, and the Guest explains the text. Choose Conversational, Exam Prep, Deep Dive, or Quick Summary.
Listen, then self-test
Stream with a tap-to-jump transcript and share a link on every plan. Paid plans can download the MP3. Turn any unclear passage into flashcards.
Where turning text into a podcast pays off
Reading dense text is slow and easy to put off. Hearing it explained as a conversation lets you cover it during time you could not read anyway — and a second pass in a different format is how ideas actually stick.
Get through the backlog
Paste the articles and chapters you keep skipping. Hearing them explained on a commute clears the queue you would never sit and read.
Hear your own draft back
Listen to an essay or summary you wrote. Hearing it explained can reveal gaps in the argument.
Learn while your eyes are busy
Gym, dishes, the bus, a walk. Audio reaches the minutes reading never could, and that second exposure is spaced repetition you did not have to schedule.
Prime the material, then test it
Listen to a topic explained, note what you could not finish the sentence about, then turn that text into flashcards. You walk in knowing where the gaps are.
The point is not the audio itself, it is that hard text gets a second pass in a format you will actually finish — and that you understand the ideas rather than just half-remembering the sentences.
What good source text looks like
The episode can only be as good as the text you paste. Here is what separates a rich conversation from a flat read-aloud.
- Complete sentences and paragraphs the hosts can reason about, not a bare list
- Terms introduced with a definition or an example in the text itself
- Cause-and-effect and comparisons, so the hosts can explain why, not just what
- Enough length to discuss — a few solid paragraphs beats two stray lines
- Clean, readable text rather than garbled exports or broken formatting
- Disconnected keywords or headings with no explanation underneath
- A page of formulas or figures with no surrounding text to read
- Very short snippets — a single sentence cannot fill an episode
- Scrambled copy-paste where sentences are cut off mid-thought
Rough text still works: the hosts organize loose paragraphs into a coherent discussion and expand standard abbreviations from context. But they will not invent content that is not on the page. If a passage is thin, paste a second related source alongside it — an explainer or a chapter — and the episode fills in the context around your text.
A real text-to-podcast outline
The shape of an episode generated from a roughly two-page article on how vaccines train the immune system.
Article — How Vaccines Train the Immune System
What this article is about
The hosts frame the central question and why it matters before the detail.
Antigens and the first response
The key terms defined exactly as the text uses them, then restated plainly.
Memory cells, explained out loud
A spoken walk-through of the mechanism the article describes in a dense paragraph.
The worked example
The case study from the article, retold start to finish so the idea sticks.
What the text leaves open
Two claims the article states but never explains — flagged so you look them up.
Recap and self-quiz
A fast summary, then three questions drawn from the text to answer out loud.
What to expect from a text episode
Adjustable target length
Set a short summary or a longer deep dive. Final runtime depends on the text and can differ from the target.
Three speakers, your exact text
Alex hosts, Sam adds context, and the Guest explains the text. Natural voices are available in 70+ languages.
Four styles plus instructions
Conversational, Exam Prep, Deep Dive, or Quick Summary, plus custom instructions like 'spend most of the time on the second section'.
Transcript, sharing, and paid MP3
Tap any transcript line to jump, toggle captions, and share the episode on every plan. Paid plans can download the MP3.
What a text podcast can and cannot do
The episode is only as complete as the text you paste. It explains what is on the page — it does not research the rest of the topic for you. That honesty is useful: when the audio feels thin on a point, the source text was thin there too, and now you know before the exam does.
If your source is a recording rather than writing, start there instead: turn the lecture into a podcast and Scholarly transcribes and re-explains the audio so you are not pasting in a rough transcript by hand.
And like any audio, this is review and priming, not problem-solving. Listening tells you what you recognize; it cannot tell you what you can produce under exam conditions. After the episode, turn the same text into flashcards and answer from memory.
Text to podcast, frequently asked
How do I turn text into a podcast?
Paste text or upload a document, then choose a style, target length, and language. Scholarly creates a three-speaker conversation that defines terms, works through examples, and connects ideas from the text. Each episode includes a synced transcript and self-quiz prompts. Runtime varies.
Can I paste text directly?
Yes. Paste any block of text straight in — an article, your notes, a chapter, an abstract, a transcript — or upload a document instead. Text copied from Google Docs, Notion, OneNote, a web page, or any plain-text editor all works.
What kinds of text work best?
Explanatory prose works best: articles, study notes, textbook sections, summaries, and transcripts. Complete sentences give the hosts something to reason about. Bare keyword lists or pages of figures with no surrounding text make a thinner episode, since there is less to explain out loud.
My text is rough and disorganized. Will the episode make sense?
Usually, yes. The hosts organize loose paragraphs into a structured discussion and expand standard abbreviations from context. What they will not do is invent content that is not in your text — the episode discusses what you paste rather than fabricating around gaps.
Can I combine several pieces of text into one episode?
Yes. Paste or upload multiple passages on the same topic — for example an article plus your notes on it — and Scholarly weaves them into one coherent episode. Adding a second source is also the fix when one piece of text is too thin on its own.
How long is a text-to-podcast episode?
Episode length depends on the text, style, and chosen target. Set a short summary or a longer deep dive; final runtime can vary.
Is there a transcript?
Yes. Every episode includes a synced transcript, captions, streaming, and link sharing. MP3 downloads require a paid plan.
Does it just read my text aloud word for word?
No. A text-to-speech reader narrates the words. Scholarly creates a three-speaker discussion that defines terms, works through examples, and connects ideas.
Is turning text into a podcast free?
Yes. The Free plan includes one AI creation shared across Scholarly for the life of the account. It does not reset, and you can use it for a podcast. Premium includes unlimited AI creations. No credit card is required.
Keep exploring
More ways to study from your sources
The same text can become audio, flashcards, and a quiz.
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Everything Scholarly podcasts include, with examples.
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Build a podcast series per course from mixed sources.
Notes to Podcast
Turn a week of class notes into an audio recap.
Audio Summary Generator
A tighter spoken summary when you want the gist fast.
Give that text a second pass, out loud
Free to start. Paste your text, generate an episode, and listen before the material goes cold.
Free
- 3 AI Chat messages per day
- 1 free AI creation total
- 1 free file upload total (8MB)
- 5 quiz questions per day
- 1 exam attempt per day
- 15 voice minutes per day
- 32-page PDF to flashcards
- 500 autocomplete words per day
Use it to generate flashcards, improve a deck, or create a podcast, video lecture, slides, infographic, mind map, study guide, worksheet, spreadsheet, story book, timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline — or run Deep Research or turn a recording into AI Meeting Notes.
Premium
$144 billed yearly
Everything in Free, plus:
- Unlimited normal chat & autocomplete
- Unlimited premium model messages
- Unlimited AI creations
- Unlimited file uploads (up to 300MB)
- Unlimited study sessions
- Unlimited exams & quizzes
- 1000-page PDF to flashcards
- Export to Anki
- Priority support
Teams
Billed $324/seat yearly
Everything in Premium, plus:
- Start with 1 seat
- 450 weekly credits per member
- Premium models and admin controls
Pricing in USD. Local currency available in app.
Compare plans
Normal chat
- Free
- 3/day
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Premium chat
Messages with paid models like Gemini 3.6 Flash, Grok 4.5, Mistral Medium 3.5, and similar options. GPT 5.6 Sol and Claude Sonnet 5 are reserved for Enterprise.
- Free
- —
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- Unlimited
AI creations
AI creations are used for AI Flashcards, deck edits, AI Podcasts, AI Video Lectures, AI Slides, worksheets, AI Infographics, mind maps, study guides, spreadsheets, story books, timelines, SOPs, flowcharts, lesson plans, outlines, AI Meeting Notes, and Deep Research reports.
- Free
- 1 total
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- Unlimited
Video lectures
- Free
- Uses AI creations
- Premium
- Unlimited
File uploads
- Free
- 1 total (8MB)
- Premium
- Unlimited (300MB)
PDF to flashcards
- Free
- 32 pages
- Premium
- 1000 pages
Practice questions
- Free
- 5/day
- Premium
- Unlimited
Practice exams
- Free
- 1/day
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- Unlimited
Voice mode
- Free
- 15 min/day
- Premium
- 2 hr/day
Autocomplete
- Free
- 500 words/day
- Premium
- Unlimited
Export to Anki
- Free
- —
- Premium
- Included
Support
- Free
- Standard
- Premium
- Priority
What students say
Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.
Briana
Student
This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.
Kelvin
Student
I am currently preparing for a test that covers a substantial amount of material, and I've found that not having to physically write out my flashcards has been incredibly beneficia...
Isabelle
Student
Scholarly is great for students. I am enrolled in online university and my classes are all PDF based. All I do is upload the PDF and it creates flashcards decks for me. The greate...
Alexandra
Student
Your questions, answered
Is Scholarly free to use?
Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with clear limits: 3 AI Chat messages per day, one free AI creation total, 1 free file upload total, quizzes, practice exams, and manual flashcard creation. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited AI creations and unlimited uploads.
What uses my free AI creations?
Generating flashcards, improving a flashcard deck, making a podcast, creating a video lecture or infographic, building slides, a spreadsheet, or a story book, making a mind map, study guide, or worksheet, having an AI Agent create a timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline, running Deep Research, or processing a recording uses your free AI creation. It is a lifetime free credit and does not reset. AI Chat messages, quizzes, and exams still have separate daily limits; free file uploads are also lifetime credits.
Can I cancel anytime?
Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.
Can I use Scholarly with a class or school?
Yes. Scholarly for Teams is self-serve for up to 29 seats, so you can put a class or department on one plan yourself in minutes. For a larger rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so.
What happens when I hit a free plan limit?
You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new actions. Free AI creations and the free upload are lifetime credits and do not reset. Upgrading unlocks unlimited AI creations and unlimited uploads.
For Educators or Schools
Scholarly for Teams is self-serve and puts your class or department on one plan. For a larger rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so.