# AuditionLead vs SelftapePal: Two Browser Self-Tape Readers Compared > AuditionLead and SelftapePal both run in a computer browser and play lines that you or a friend record, but one films your take with the reader mixed in and the other leaves the filming to your phone. We judged both, and Offbook, on the same six points. Our pick for most actors is Offbook. - URL: https://www.offbook.com/blog/auditionlead-vs-selftapepal - Published: 2026-11-13 - Last updated: 2026-11-13 The request came in at lunch: two scenes, tape due tomorrow night, and nobody free to read. You open a laptop, search for a self-tape reader that runs in the browser, and two names keep coming up: AuditionLead and SelftapePal. Both play the other character's lines from a recording, both wait for you before they move on, and neither needs anything installed. They split on the tape itself. AuditionLead can roll your webcam and mix the reader into the take. SelftapePal does not film; you shoot on your phone or camera while it reads. We judged both apps, and Offbook, on the same six questions. Our pick for most actors is Offbook, which reads every other role with realistic voices, so there is nothing to record before your first run, and listens for you to finish each line. The reasons are below. ## How We Compared Them A reader app earns its place on the night of the tape, when you have an hour and a deadline. These six questions decide whether it helps or gets in the way. - **Who reads the other parts?** Realistic voices, your own recordings, or a friend's. - **How does it know it's your turn?** Listening for your whole line, for one cue word, or running a timer. - **How does your script get in?** Which files it takes and how long a scene can be. - **What memory tools does it have?** Hidden lines, first letters, a teleprompter or autocue. - **What happens to the tape?** Whether it films you, or reads while you film on another device. - **Where does it run, and what does it cost?** Browser and device, what's free, and what a plan looks like. ## Offbook, AuditionLead, and SelftapePal at a Glance The table puts the points that differ most side by side. How each app takes your script, and how long a scene can be, is in its entry below. | App | Other parts read by | Your turn | Memory tools | Tape | Runs on | Price (US) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Offbook | Realistic voices for every role but yours | Listens and cues the next line when you finish; Strict, Lenient, or Manual | Hide your lines or the whole script, first-letter cues, teleprompter, scene looping | Reads the other roles off camera while you film on your phone or camera | Laptop or desktop browser to rehearse; phone to listen | 7-day free trial; Starter $9.99/month, annual from $7.99/month | | AuditionLead | Lines you or a friend record | Waits for you to finish, or uses a timer | Teleprompter; first-letter line-learning mode | Webcam recording with the reader mixed in, no watermark | Chrome or Safari on a computer | Free, no sign-up | | SelftapePal | Lines you or a friend (remotely) record | Listens for your cue word, with a fallback timer | Autocue | Does not film your tape | Web app; Chrome on a laptop recommended | Short test scene with no sign-up; weekly, monthly, and yearly plans | ## Each App, Point by Point ### Offbook Offbook starts from the sides you were sent. Upload a PDF, a photo of the pages (PNG or JPEG), or a text file, and it sorts the pages into roles and lines and writes a title and summary for the scene. One scene can hold up to 50 pages or about 10,000 words, and the page picker can split up to 150 source pages into 10 scenes, so a full-length play fits. Pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character. Free and Starter cast from 12 voices; Pro and Premium cast from a larger catalog. When you rehearse, Offbook plays the other lines, listens through your microphone while you say yours, and plays the next cue when it hears you finish. You can also press Enter or say "next line" to move on. Strict matching holds you close to the script, Lenient has a 0-100 slider, and Manual never moves on by itself. Set the speed of the voices for the whole scene or for one line, and add a pause where the scene needs a beat. For memorizing, hide your own lines while everyone else's stay visible, hide the whole script for a final test, or swap your lines for the first 1-8 letters of each word. The teleprompter shows your line large and highlights each word as you say it. When you film, Offbook is the reader off camera while you record on your phone or camera. You rehearse on your laptop with the full script on a big screen, and listen to your scenes on your phone anywhere. **Price:** Starter is $9.99 a month, Pro $14.99, and Premium $29.99, with annual billing from $7.99 a month. Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial (it requires a card), paid plans have no monthly cap on the number of scripts, and students and educators get 50% off with a valid .edu email. **Best for:** actors who want the reader ready the moment the sides arrive, with no recording session first. ### AuditionLead [AuditionLead](https://auditionlead.com/) is a free self-tape reader that runs in Chrome or Safari on a computer, with no sign-up. There are no AI voices: you or a friend record the other lines. During a run it waits for you to finish your line, or it uses a timer instead. You load a PDF of up to 10 pages or paste the text. It has a teleprompter and a line-learning mode that shows only the first letter of each word. When you're ready to tape, it records from your webcam with the reader mixed into the take, and the file has no watermark. **Price:** free. **Best for:** actors taping at a computer who already have the other lines recorded. ### SelftapePal [SelftapePal](https://selftapepal.app/) is a web app, built for Chrome on a laptop as its recommended setup. It has no AI voices either: you record the partner lines, or a friend records them remotely. In a run it listens for your cue word, with a fallback timer, and its autocue keeps your text in front of you. Its homepage does not say which script files it takes or how long a scene can be, so build its free test scene before the night of the tape and check how your sides go in. It does not film your tape, so you shoot on your phone or camera while it reads. **Price:** you can build a short test scene with no sign-up; after that there are weekly, monthly, and yearly plans, and prices are not shown on its homepage. **Best for:** actors who film on a separate device and want a friend's recorded voice as the reader. ## Who Reads the Other Part Here the two apps agree. In both, a human voice reads, and the human is you or a friend. That gives you a real voice in the other chair, and it means a recording session before every new scene. Read the other character's lines at an even pace, leave a clean gap where yours go, and redo any line you stumble over, because the reader will play it back exactly as you left it. If a friend records for you, ask for a plain, clear read. Acting coach Joseph Pearlman, writing in [Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/reader-can-make-break-self-tape-auditions-333/), warns against a reader who goes flat or fades toward a whisper, and against giving each character a different voice. A recording keeps every flaw on every take, so it's worth getting right once. Offbook takes that session away. Realistic voices read every role but yours, from 12 voices on Starter up to a larger catalog on Pro and Premium, so a scene is ready to run as soon as the script is uploaded and you pick your role. You can still change the speed of any line or add a pause, which covers most of what you'd ask a friend to redo. ## Cue Words, Finished Lines, and Timers How an app decides it's your turn changes how a run feels. SelftapePal listens for your cue word, and if it doesn't catch it, a fallback timer moves the scene along. A cue word is quick once you're word-perfect, but it means the word has to come out clearly every time. Don't swallow it on the take that matters. AuditionLead waits for you to finish your line, or runs a timer if you'd rather it kept time for you. A timer is honest in a useful way: the scene keeps moving whether you've remembered the line or not, so it shows you fast where you're still reaching. Offbook listens to the whole line and plays the next cue when it detects you've finished. Strict is for word-perfect work, Lenient (with a slider) for while you're still finding the words, and Manual for a long held pause before you press Enter. It can also move on after 1 to 6 seconds of silence, so you don't have to touch anything between lines. **Tip:** before the real take, run the scene once at full performance volume. A reader that keeps up with you when you're quiet may cut in or lag when you're loud. ## Filming the Tape This is the biggest difference between the two. AuditionLead can record from your webcam with your microphone and the reader's audio mixed together, so one browser tab gives you a finished take. SelftapePal does not film, so you set up a phone or camera and let the laptop read beside it. Either way, the reader's voice is coming from close to the microphone, and that changes the mix. Casting director Caroline Liem, in her [rules for the perfect self-tape](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/self-tape-rules-from-casting-director-65931/), puts the reader about one step from the camera and asks them to speak more quietly than the actor, because they are closer to the mic. SAG-AFTRA's [Self-Tape Anatomy](https://www.sagaftra.org/self-tape-anatomy) guide makes the same point: the reader must not distract from you, and volume is the usual culprit. So whichever app reads, turn its volume down until your voice is clearly the loudest thing on the tape, and put the laptop close to the lens so you're looking just off camera when you listen. Offbook works the same way: it reads off camera from your laptop while you film on your phone or camera, and you set its level against yours. For the full setup, see [how to self-tape alone](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-self-tape-alone), and for taping without a person in the room, our page on how to [self-tape without a reader](https://www.offbook.com/self-tape-without-reader). ## Learning the Lines Before You Tape A teleprompter or autocue gets the words in front of you. Learning them is a different job, and the tools that help are the ones that make you pull the line out of memory. Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke showed why in a study [summarized by the APS](https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/test-enhanced-learning): students who tested themselves read the passages about 3.4 times and recalled 61% a week later, while students who kept rereading read them about 14.2 times and recalled 40%, and felt more confident they'd learned it. AuditionLead's first-letter mode shows only the first letter of each word, so you supply the rest. SelftapePal's autocue keeps the text moving in front of you while you work. Offbook hides your lines or the whole script, and its first-letter cues show the first 1-8 letters of each word or only the first word of each line. A practical order for a next-day tape: read the scene for what your character wants, run it a few times with your lines hidden, then do a final pass with the first letters only. Save the teleprompter for the morning you shoot, if you use one at all. ## What Your Situation Calls For - **You want a reader ready the moment the sides arrive:** Offbook, where realistic voices read every role but yours with no recording first. - **You want a reader that hears you finish your whole line:** Offbook, with Strict, Lenient, or Manual matching. - **You get new sides most weeks:** Offbook, whose paid plans have no monthly cap on the number of scripts. - **Your sides are a photo, not a PDF:** Offbook takes PNG and JPEG pages as well as PDF and text files. - **You want to go over the scene on the way to work:** Offbook's listen mode plays the whole scene on your phone. Need a scene to practice on first? Pick one from our [library of public-domain plays](https://www.offbook.com/plays) or a speech from the [monologue collection](https://www.offbook.com/monologues). For more readers judged the same way, see our guide to the [best AI reader for self-tapes](https://www.offbook.com/blog/best-ai-reader-for-self-tapes). ## Questions Actors Ask ### What is the difference between AuditionLead and SelftapePal? Both run in a computer browser and play lines that you or a friend record. AuditionLead is free with no sign-up, waits for you or uses a timer, and can film your take from the webcam with the reader mixed in. SelftapePal listens for your cue word with a fallback timer, has an autocue, offers weekly, monthly, and yearly plans, and does not film. Our pick for most actors is Offbook, which reads every other role with realistic voices. ### Is AuditionLead free? Yes. AuditionLead is free in Chrome or Safari on a computer, with no sign-up. You or a friend record the other lines before you run the scene. Offbook's run lines online tool and first-letter memorizer are free with no account too, and every Offbook plan starts with a 7-day free trial. ### Does SelftapePal record your self-tape? No. SelftapePal does not film your tape; you record on a phone or camera while it reads from your laptop. Offbook works the same way for filming: it reads the other roles off camera while you shoot on your phone or camera. ### Do AuditionLead and SelftapePal have AI voices? No. In both, you or a friend record the other lines. Offbook reads every role but yours with realistic voices, so a scene is ready to run as soon as you upload the script and pick your role. You rehearse on a laptop or desktop browser, and on a phone you can listen to your scenes. ### Which self-tape reader is best? Our pick is Offbook. It reads every role but yours with realistic voices, listens for you to finish each line, takes PDFs, photos, and text files, and lets you try its free tools with no account. For more apps judged the same way, see our guide to the [best self-tape apps](https://www.offbook.com/blog/best-self-tape-apps). ## The Verdict Our pick for most actors is Offbook. Realistic voices read every role but yours, so there is no recording session between getting the sides and running the scene. It listens for you to finish your whole line, not one cue word, and Strict, Lenient, or Manual matching fits how word-perfect you need to be. And its paid plans have no monthly cap on the number of scripts, which matters when new sides arrive every week. Between the two apps compared here, the split is the camera. AuditionLead is free in a computer browser and can film your take with the reader mixed in. SelftapePal leaves the filming to your phone or camera, listens for your cue word, and lets a friend record the reader remotely. In both, the reader is a voice you or a friend recorded. Offbook is made by the team behind this blog. Details as of November 2026.