Five Arabic dialects. Seven native voices that actually pass the native-speaker test. RTL preview, dialect breakdown, and real recommendations for MSA, Gulf, Egyptian, Levantine, and Maghrebi content. The Arabic-specific page the rest of the internet did not write.
Last updated by the FreeTTS team · Reviewed by native Arabic speakers
Arabic speakers globally
422 million native speakers; Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is understood across all Arab countries
Best dialect for pan-Arab content
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA / الفصحى) — understood in all 22 Arab League countries for news, education, and business
Most widely understood spoken dialect
Egyptian Arabic — decades of Egyptian cinema and TV made it the default for entertainment content across the region
Best for Gulf/Saudi content
ar-SA-HamedNeural (male, documentary) and ar-SA-ZariyahNeural (female, education) on FreeTTS and Azure Neural TTS
Diacritics (تشكيل) impact
Adding vowel marks significantly improves pronunciation accuracy for ambiguous words — recommended for religious or formal Arabic content
AI voice for Quran recitation?
No — AI voice cannot replicate tajweed rules. Use AI for surrounding educational narration only; human qari for actual recitation
RTL preview . sample voice line
مرحبًا بكم في فري تي تي إس. اختاروا اللهجة المناسبة لمحتواكم: الفصحى للأخبار والتعليم، والمصرية للترفيه، والخليجية للأعمال.
"Welcome to FreeTTS. Pick the right dialect for your content: Modern Standard for news and education, Egyptian for entertainment, Gulf for business."
Dialect coverage
Five Arabic dialects, what each is for
Pick the dialect first, then the voice. Each dialect serves a different audience.
AR
Modern Standard Arabic
اللغة العربية الفصحى
The pan-Arab written and broadcast standard. Used in news, education, and any content meant for an Arabic-speaking audience across borders.
Hamed (M)Zariyah (F)Hala (F)
SA
Saudi / Gulf Arabic
اللهجة السعودية / الخليجية
Spoken across Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain. The voice of choice for Gulf-region content, business, and Vision 2030 messaging.
Hamed-SA (M)Zariyah-SA (F)
EG
Egyptian Arabic
اللهجة المصرية
The most widely-understood spoken Arabic dialect in the region (thanks to decades of Egyptian cinema and TV). Best for entertainment and consumer content.
Salma (F)Shakir (M)
LV
Levantine (Syrian/Lebanese/Palestinian)
اللهجة الشامية
Spoken in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine. Warm and conversational. Limited TTS coverage in 2026, but growing.
Laila (F, beta)
MG
Maghrebi (Moroccan/Algerian/Tunisian)
اللهجة المغاربية
Distinct from Mashriq Arabic (different vocabulary, French and Berber influence). Native TTS coverage is the thinnest. Most tools fall back to MSA for these regions.
MSA fallback (no native voices yet)
Voice spotlight
The 8 production-grade Arabic voices
Each voice tested with a 50-word MSA paragraph and a 30-word dialect-specific paragraph by native speakers.
Hamed
ar-SA
حامد
Saudi Arabic, deep narrator voice. Excellent for documentary, news, and corporate. Available on FreeTTS, Azure Neural TTS.
MaleGenderDocumentaryBest forStudioQuality
Zariyah
ar-SA
زريا
Saudi Arabic, professional female narrator. Bright, clear delivery. Best for educational content and consumer brands.
FemaleGenderEducationBest forStudioQuality
Salma
ar-EG
سلمى
Egyptian Arabic. Warm, conversational. The most-used Egyptian Arabic voice for podcasts and YouTube content from Egypt.
FemaleGenderPodcastsBest forStudioQuality
Shakir
ar-EG
شاكر
Egyptian Arabic male voice. Clear and personable. Often paired with Salma for two-host Egyptian podcast formats.
MaleGenderTwo-hostBest forStudioQuality
Hamdan
ar-AE
حمدان
Emirati Arabic. Suited for UAE government communications, business presentations, and Dubai-focused content.
MaleGenderBusinessBest forStudioQuality
Taim
ar-JO
تيم
Jordanian Arabic. Closest production-grade voice to Levantine dialect available. Used widely for Levant-region content.
MaleGenderLevantineBest forStudioQuality
Rana
ar-IQ
رنا
Iraqi Arabic. Limited but unique for Iraqi-region content. Quality is solid for narration.
FemaleGenderIraqiBest forGoodQuality
Jamal
ar-MA
جمال
Moroccan Arabic. The only native Maghrebi voice with broadcast quality in 2026. Use for Morocco/Algeria/Tunisia regional content.
MaleGenderMaghrebiBest forGoodQuality
Use cases
Four real Arabic-content use cases
Different content needs different voices. Here's the right pick for each.
Arabic news / current affairs
Modern Standard Arabic with a clear, authoritative narrator. Stick to MSA so the content reaches the entire Arab world without dialect bias.
Pick: ar-SA-HamedNeural (male) or ar-SA-ZariyahNeural (female)
Arabic education / kids learning
MSA voice with slightly slower pace (0.9x). Diacritics enabled in source text for accurate pronunciation. Pair with Egyptian voice when teaching dialect-specific vocabulary.
Pick: ar-SA-ZariyahNeural at 0.9x speed
Egyptian podcasts / YouTube
Egyptian Arabic for the widest spoken-dialect reach. Paired Salma + Shakir works well for two-host shows. Avoid MSA in casual content (it sounds stiff to younger audiences).
Pick: ar-EG-SalmaNeural + ar-EG-ShakirNeural
Gulf business / corporate
Saudi or Emirati Arabic. Cultural fit matters in Gulf-region B2B. Use Hamed (Saudi) for general Gulf, Hamdan (Emirati) for UAE-specific content.
Pick: ar-SA-HamedNeural or ar-AE-HamdanNeural
Tools that handle Arabic
Where to actually use these voices
Most TTS tools claim Arabic support. Few actually deliver native quality. Honest grades.
FreeTTS
A . Recommended
7 native Arabic voices across regional dialects. MSA, Saudi, Egyptian, Emirati, Jordanian, Iraqi, Moroccan. Free tier 5k chars/month. PRO $19/mo for commercial use, watermark-free.
7 voicesNative5 dialectsCoverage$19/moPRO
Microsoft Azure Neural TTS
A . Best raw quality
Same neural voices powering FreeTTS, accessed directly. Best for enterprise and dev integration. Pay-per-use ($16/M chars). Most natural Arabic prosody available in 2026.
Arabic voice cloning from 30-second sample. Works for MSA and most dialects. Cloned voices preserve speaker tone but prosody is occasionally off for native ears.
Standard MSA voices plus Egyptian and Gulf. Quality good but slightly more robotic than Azure. 1M chars/month free tier on standard voices makes it useful for prototyping.
4-5 voicesNative3 dialectsCoverage1M freeMonthly
Amazon Polly
B . Reliable for AWS shops
Arabic neural voices via AWS. Decent quality, deep AWS integration. 5M chars/month free for 12 months. Right pick if your team already lives in AWS.
Both list Arabic support but voice variety is thin (1-2 voices, MSA only) and prosody on longer text is noticeably off. Fine for short snippets, not recommended for serious Arabic content.
1-2 voicesLimitedMSA onlyCoverageAvoid for long-formVerdict
FAQ
Arabic TTS questions
Which Arabic dialect should I use for my content?▼
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA, اللغة العربية الفصحى) for anything pan-regional: news, education, business, religious content. Egyptian Arabic for entertainment, comedy, and consumer content (it's the most widely understood spoken dialect across the Arab world). Saudi/Gulf for Gulf-region business and government. Levantine and Maghrebi only when you specifically know your audience is in those regions.
Best AI voice for Arabic Quran recitation?▼
Honestly, no AI voice in 2026 properly handles Quranic Arabic with correct tajweed. AI voices read MSA correctly but cannot replicate the rules of recitation. Use a human qari (reciter) for any actual Quran recitation. AI voice is fine for surrounding educational narration about Quran, just not the verses themselves.
Does FreeTTS support Arabic?▼
Yes. FreeTTS includes Arabic voices in 7 regional locales (Saudi ar-SA, Egyptian ar-EG, Emirati ar-AE, Jordanian ar-JO, Iraqi ar-IQ, Moroccan ar-MA, plus the MSA Standard ar voice). Free tier: 15,000 chars/month. PRO at $19/mo for 1,000,000 chars/month and commercial use.
Why is Levantine Arabic coverage so limited?▼
Microsoft Azure (the largest neural Arabic voice provider) hasn't released native Syrian, Lebanese, or Palestinian voices as of May 2026. Jordanian (ar-JO) is the closest available and works for most Levantine content. ElevenLabs Multilingual handles Levantine prosody slightly better with cloned voices.
Can I use AI Arabic voice for YouTube videos targeting Arab audiences?▼
Yes, with the right plan. FreeTTS PRO ($19/mo) includes commercial license. ElevenLabs Starter ($5/mo) for shorter content. Free tiers across all tools are personal-use only. Voice selection matters more for Arabic than for English: pick the right dialect for your target country.
Is voice cloning available for Arabic?▼
Yes, on ElevenLabs Multilingual v2. Clone a voice from a 30-second Arabic sample, then use that voice for any Arabic text. Works for both MSA and dialects. Quality depends on the sample quality.
What about diacritic marks (تشكيل) in Arabic TTS?▼
Diacritics improve pronunciation accuracy significantly, especially for similar-looking words with different meanings. FreeTTS, Azure Neural TTS, and Google Cloud all read diacritics correctly. For best quality, add diacritics to ambiguous words (especially religious or formal content). For casual MSA, undiacritized text reads acceptably.
Does Arabic TTS handle code-switching (Arabic + English mid-sentence)?▼
Partially. FreeTTS and Azure handle Arabic-English mixing reasonably if you tag the language switches with SSML. ElevenLabs Multilingual v2 handles it natively without SSML. For pure code-switching content (common in Gulf media), ElevenLabs is the strongest.
Can I generate Arabic audio at high speed without losing quality?▼
Yes. Modern Arabic neural voices stay clear up to 1.3x speed. Past 1.5x, prosody breaks. FreeTTS PDF to Audiobook with Arabic voices works well at 0.95-1.15x for audiobook narration.
Best tool for Arabic eLearning narration?▼
FreeTTS PRO at $19/mo for the volume (1M chars/month covers ~14 hours of Arabic narration). Use ar-SA-Hamed or ar-SA-Zariyah for MSA Saudi-tinted educational content, or ar-EG-Salma for warmer Egyptian-flavored consumer training.
Are Arabic AI voices good enough for radio broadcast?▼
FreeTTS Saudi voices (Hamed, Zariyah) and Azure Neural Arabic voices reach broadcast quality in 2026 for narration, ads, and transitions. For live news anchoring, human voices still win. Most regional Arabic radio stations now use AI voice for at least some segments (ads, transitions, station IDs).
Does FreeTTS support reading PDFs in Arabic?▼
Yes. /pdf-to-audiobook works with Arabic-text PDFs (auto-detects Arabic, suggests Arabic voice). Right-to-left text and Arabic script render correctly in the chapter list. PDFs in Arabic dialects work too if the text is correctly encoded.
How does Arabic TTS handle numbers and dates?▼
Good Arabic neural voices (FreeTTS, Azure) read numerals and dates in standard Arabic correctly. The occasional edge case: dates in dd/mm/yyyy format can trip engines. Write dates out ('الخامس والعشرون من مايو') in the script if you need guaranteed correct reading. SSML say-as tags also work for numbers and dates in Arabic.
What Arabic TTS tool is best for podcasts targeting the GCC market?▼
The GCC (Saudi, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain) is the highest-CPM Arabic creator economy. Use Gulf Arabic specifically: ar-SA-Hamed (male, formal) or ar-SA-Zariyah (female, educational) on FreeTTS or Azure. Pair with intro/outro music typical of Gulf radio style. Avoid Egyptian dialect for purely Gulf-targeted content — it reads as foreign even if understood.
Is there free Arabic TTS with no watermark?▼
FreeTTS signed-in free account gives 15,000 characters/month in any language including Arabic, with no watermark. That's about 15 minutes of narration per month. For commercial use or more volume, FreeTTS PRO at $19/month includes 1M characters and the commercial license. Microsoft Edge Read Aloud is also free with Arabic support, but has no audio export.
The recommendation against AI for Quran recitation aligns with broader scholarly consensus that AI cannot replicate the rules of tajweed. Use a human qari for recitation.
Vendor pricing
All prices verified May 23, 2026.
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FreeTTS includes 7 native Arabic voices across 5 dialects. Free for personal use, $19/mo PRO for commercial.