The best public speaking apps in 2026: an honest comparison (from one of them)

How we compared (and our bias)

We looked at each app's own website and, where it sells through Apple, its US App Store listing, on 15 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars as shown there. Where the website and the App Store disagree, we give both, because that happens more often than you'd think.

What we didn't do: we didn't run a blind test of how accurately each app counts fillers or measures pace, and we didn't buy every paid plan. We describe what each company says its app measures. We also couldn't find independent, published evidence that any of these apps, ours included, produces lasting improvement in real-world speaking. If that evidence exists, we'd like to see it.

Our bias is obvious, so here's how we've tried to handle it. We don't rank the apps or give star ratings. We say who each one suits, including when a competitor fits better than we do. And our own entry lists what we don't do before anyone else's does.

Quick picks by need

Start with the job you need done. Most people need one of these:

• Rehearse a real moment out loud, with measured feedback: SpeakConfident, Orai or Speeko.
• A daily speaking habit with short exercises: Speeko or Orai.
• AI roleplay for workplace conversations, often bought by employers: Yoodli or VirtualSpeech.
• Job interview practice: Big Interview, Yoodli's individual plans, or SpeakConfident's interview track.
• Accent and pronunciation for non-native speakers: BoldVoice, or Vocal Image's accent tools.
• Rehearsing a slide presentation: PowerPoint's Speaker Coach, free on the web.
• Feedback on your real meetings: a meeting assistant with coaching, such as Read AI.
• Live human feedback and a regular audience: Toastmasters.

Not sure which habit to work on first? The speaking style quiz takes two minutes and points you to the one listeners notice first.

The apps, one by one

SpeakConfident (us)

A practice coach for real moments: interviews, meetings, presentations and speeches. You record a short take, see every filler marked on the replay along with your pace, pauses, melody (pitch spread) and punch (volume variation), get one thing to change, and do take two. The path runs through ten chapters, from fillers to structure, stories and pressure.

Free: the one-minute Voice Snapshot, Chapter 1 and four coached reps a week, plus seven days of Pro after your first Snapshot, with no card. Pro is $19.99 a month or $179.99 a year, and adds the full path, the full interview question bank, a two-minute meeting debrief, review of a real recording, and an AI partner that talks back, then shows how you did. Web, plus iPhone and Android apps. See pricing.

Not for: live feedback during your calls (we don't join meetings), accent coaching, eye contact or body language, or anyone who wants a human coach. We're also newer and smaller than most apps here.

Yoodli

Yoodli now presents itself as “the AI platform for human skills”, built on AI roleplays for organisations: sales, onboarding and training teams, with integrations for Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Slack.^[1] Individual plans still exist for interview prep, public speaking and communication coaching.

Pricing for individuals: Starter is free with five roleplays in total. Pro is $8 a month billed annually ($11 monthly) for up to ten roleplays a week, and Advanced is $20 a month billed annually ($28 monthly) for unlimited roleplays. Team and Enterprise are priced on request.^[2] We read the monthly figures from the pricing page's own code, as the page shows annual prices by default.

Best for: practising specific conversations, such as an interview or a sales call, against an AI that responds. Not for: people who want a structured daily course on delivery. Its focus is now clearly the workplace.

Orai

A mobile practice app that scores filler words, pace, clarity and energy right after you speak, with one tip per session.^[3] Its pricing page lists $12 a month, $49.99 a year or $149 lifetime, with a seven-day free trial.^[4] The App Store lists $12.99 monthly, $49.99 yearly and $99.99 lifetime, with a 4.6 rating from 3.7K ratings.^[5] iOS, Android and web.

Best for: a simple, low-cost daily check on your delivery. Not for: rehearsing a specific interview or meeting with structure and scenarios.

Speeko

A speech coach with short daily exercises for presentations, meetings and interviews, including content from US voice coach Roger Love. It tracks pace, filler words, intonation and word choice, and its homepage says it can track your voice and speech patterns in real time.^[6] We couldn't confirm from Speeko's site whether that works inside video calls.

Its subscriptions page lists $29.99 a month, an annual plan shown as $8.33 a month, and $299.99 lifetime, with a seven-day trial, and says its main features are free forever.^[7] The App Store lists $24.99 monthly and $99.99 annual, and its description mentions a different annual price ($89.99), so check before you pay.^[8] iOS, macOS, Android and web.

Best for: people who like a guided daily routine with a voice-coach feel. Not for: anyone who wants feedback on a specific speech they're preparing, rather than general exercises.

VirtualSpeech

A training platform for teams, with AI roleplays, avatars, virtual practice rooms and courses, usable in a browser or optionally in a Meta Quest headset. The individual plan is $45 a month or $399 a year. There's no free plan listed; organisations can get a one to two week trial.^[9]

Best for: employers and universities, and people who want to rehearse in front of a virtual audience. Not for: casual or budget users. You don't need VR to use it.

BoldVoice

An accent training app for non-native English speakers, with lessons from accent coaches and AI feedback on pronunciation.^[10] It offers a seven-day free trial. The website shows no prices; the App Store lists a 12-month Premium plan at $149.99 among several Premium prices, with a 4.8 rating from 54K ratings.^[11]

Best for: clearer pronunciation and accent work. Not for: presentation structure, fillers or nerves. It's a different job from the other apps here, and a good one if that's your goal.

Vocal Image

An AI voice and communication coach that measures pitch, pace, clarity and filler words, with voice tests, articulation and breathing exercises, accent tests and roleplays. iOS, Android and web.^[12] The site shows no prices. The App Store lists ten options, from $7.99 a week to yearly plans between $39.99 and $129.99, with a 4.5 rating from 11K ratings.^[13]

Best for: people focused on how their voice itself sounds. Not for: anyone who wants clear, single pricing up front.

PowerPoint Speaker Coach

Built into PowerPoint. You rehearse a slide show and get a report on pacing, pitch, filler words, informal speech and whether you're reading your slides. Microsoft says the web version is available to everyone in free preview, even without an Office subscription, with a Microsoft account. Web, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.^[14]

Best for: rehearsing a slide presentation, for free. Not for: interviews, meetings or anything without slides.

Big Interview

An interview preparation platform with video lessons, an interview simulator and AI feedback on recorded answers. It costs $39 for 30 days, $99 for three months or $299 for lifetime access, with no free plan or trial but a 30-day money-back guarantee.^[15]

Best for: a structured interview course with many practice questions. Not for: meetings or presentations.

Read AI (for real meetings)

A meeting assistant, not a practice app. It joins your calls and adds a coaching report afterwards, with talking speed, filler words and other metrics. The free plan includes the meeting coach and five meetings a month; Pro is $15 per user a month billed annually or $19.75 monthly.^[16]

Best for: feedback on the meetings you actually have. Not for: rehearsing before a high-stakes moment. Check that the people you meet are happy with a notetaker joining.

Toastmasters (not an app)

Clubs where you give speeches to a real audience and get structured feedback from other members, in person or online, with over 14,000 clubs worldwide. Visiting is free. Membership is $72 every six months in international dues, plus a one-time $25 new member fee; clubs may add their own dues.^[17]

Best for: regular practice in front of real people, which no app can fully replace. Not for: preparing for something next week, or anyone who can't commit to regular meetings.

Closed or retired: Poised and others

Several tools that still appear in older lists are gone. Poised, a desktop coach that gave live feedback during calls, shut down in October 2026; its homepage still carries the shutdown notice.^[18] Our Poised alternatives page covers what to use instead. Google's free Interview Warmup now redirects to an interview tips article,^[19] and Speaker Coach in Microsoft Teams was retired in 2025 according to a Microsoft notice quoted on Microsoft's Q&A forum, though its admin page is still online.^[20]

Public speaking apps compared

Prices are in US dollars as shown on each company's site or US App Store listing on 15 October 2026. App Store prices can differ by country, and some apps show different prices to different people.

How to choose: four questions

If the quick picks didn't settle it, answer these four questions in order. Most people have their answer by the second.

1. What's the moment? A specific interview, talk or meeting in the next few weeks points to an app that lets you rehearse that exact thing. A general wish to speak better points to a daily-habit app or a club.
2. Do you want to practise before, or get feedback on the real thing? Practice apps work before the moment. Meeting assistants report on calls you've already had. Some people want both for a while.
3. Is the problem delivery, content or accent? Fillers, pace and a flat voice are delivery. Not knowing what to say is content, which suits roleplay and structured practice. Pronunciation is a different skill, and accent apps are built for it.
4. How will you pay? Check whether the price is per month, per year or lifetime, whether it renews, and whether the app store price matches the website. On this page, it often didn't.

Then use the free option or trial before paying, and do one real practice session in it. You'll know quickly whether the feedback is something you'll act on.

Before you record: check what happens to your voice

Every app on this page processes recordings of your voice, and some record your real meetings, which include other people's voices too. Before you sign up, it's worth spending two minutes on the privacy page.

• Can you delete recordings? Look for a way to delete individual takes and your whole account, not just to cancel a subscription.
• Is your audio used to train AI? Some apps say so plainly. Yoodli, for example, lists “Data is excluded from AI training” as a feature of its Advanced plan.^[2]
• Who else hears it? Most apps send audio to a speech recognition or AI provider. A good privacy page names them.
• For meeting tools: does everyone on the call know they're being recorded, and does your employer allow it?

For what it's worth, here's ours: each take is saved privately to your account, transcription and feedback are handled by named providers, and you can delete any recording or your whole account. Our recordings and AI page has the details.

What an app can and can't do

An app is good at counting things and bad at reading minds. It helps to know which is which before you trust a score.

What apps measure reasonably well

Fillers, pace, pauses and how much your pitch and volume vary are acoustic or word-level measures. Software can count them consistently, though accuracy depends on the transcription, your microphone and your accent. Treat the numbers as a guide that's consistent from take to take, which is what you need to see change.

What they can't measure well

Confidence, charisma and emotion scores are much shakier. A review of nearly 30 years of research on emotional tone of voice concluded that the mapping between acoustic features and emotional states is still unclear.^[21] That's why we don't give confidence scores. If an app does, ask what it's actually measuring.

What makes practice stick

Short practice spread over days tends to beat one long session. A large review of memory research found that spacing practice out improves how much people retain, and that longer gaps suit longer-term goals.^[22] That review was about learning information, not speaking, but it's a sensible reason to prefer five minutes a day over an hour the night before. Whatever you choose, the habit matters more than the app.