LingQ alternative
A lighter alternative to LingQ
LingQ is an entire system: import anything, give every word a status, watch the known-words counter climb. Readlang Mobile does one slice of that — you read a book on your phone and tap what you do not know. The choice mostly comes down to whether you enjoy running the system.
Download Readlang Mobile for iOSFree to start. iPhone and iPad.
The short answer
Stay with LingQ if you import your own material — YouTube, podcasts, Netflix subtitles, articles — need one of its 50+ languages, or have years of saved LingQs and a known-words number you care about. Nothing on this page replaces that: LingQ is the most capable tool in the category.
Choose Readlang Mobile if you mainly want to read books on a phone without maintaining anything. No word statuses, no import pipeline, no lesson management — a library graded A1 to C1, your own EPUB files, tap to translate, and translation that runs on the device. A year costs $47.99 against $120 at LingQ's annual rate.
Side by side
| LingQ | Readlang Mobile | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Web, native iOS and Android apps, browser extension | Native iOS app for iPhone and iPad |
| What you read | Anything you import — YouTube, podcasts, Netflix subtitles, articles, ebooks — plus a large community library | Curated books graded A1–C1, your own EPUB, or a link you paste |
| Languages | 50+ | Around 20 — whatever Apple Translation supports on your device |
| Free plan | 20 saved words (LingQs) in total and 5 imported lessons | 30 translations per day, with the whole library included |
| Paid plan | Premium $14.99/month, $10/month billed annually, $8.99/month on 24 months; Premium Plus from about $22.50/month annually | Premium $6.99/month or $47.99/year |
| How translation runs | On LingQ servers, with sentence translation and generated audio | On the device via Apple Translation, with a server fallback |
| Vocabulary | Word statuses 1–4, SRS flashcards, a known-words metric | Saved automatically, practised on the sentence you met it in |
| Learning curve | Substantial — statuses, lessons, courses, imports, settings | Open a book and read |
Checked against lingq.com and the official LingQ blog on 24 August 2026. Prices in USD.
Two different jobs
LingQ is closer to a learning management system built around reading. Every word carries a status, lessons live in courses, imports need tidying, and the payoff is a number — known words — that genuinely tracks progress over years. People who love LingQ love exactly this, and they are not wrong.
Readlang Mobile deliberately has none of it. You open a book, you read, you tap the words you do not know, and they are saved without you deciding anything. The cost of that simplicity is real: no import pipeline, no course structure, no known-words metric to show off. The benefit is that reading starts about four seconds after you open the app.
The free plans are not in the same category
LingQ's free tier allows 20 saved words in total — not per day, in total — and five imported lessons. It is a demonstration rather than a way to use the product; the moment you hit the cap you have to delete something to save something else.
Readlang Mobile's free tier is 30 translations a day with the full library available, and it renews every day for as long as you use it. Neither is generous the way a free app used to be, but one of them lets you finish a book.
What a year actually costs
LingQ Premium is $14.99 a month if you pay monthly, $10 a month on the annual plan — $120 for the year — and $8.99 a month if you commit to two years. Premium Plus, which adds AI voices and the AI chat tool, starts around $22.50 a month on the annual plan.
Readlang Mobile Premium is $6.99 a month or $47.99 for the year. That buys unlimited translations, longer phrases, your own EPUB uploads and the vocabulary practice — but it buys a reader, not a system, and it is worth being clear about which of those you are actually looking for.
What LingQ does better
LingQ has a fifteen-year head start, and it shows in several places:
- Import anything. YouTube, podcasts, Netflix subtitles, ebooks, any web page through the extension — with transcripts and audio generated when the source lacks them. Readlang Mobile has nothing comparable.
- Languages. 50+ against roughly twenty. Czech, Greek, Ukrainian, Hebrew and many more are on LingQ and are not on Readlang Mobile.
- The known-words number. One metric that keeps counting across years. A reading streak does not motivate the same way.
- The community library. Thousands of lessons with audio, graded and contributed by learners over more than a decade.
- Desktop and Android. LingQ works on a big screen with a keyboard and on Android phones. Readlang Mobile is iOS only.
Keeping both is a perfectly sensible answer: LingQ at a desk for imports and statistics, Readlang Mobile on the phone for the book you are in the middle of.
If you move over
There is no import from LingQ, so the LingQs you have saved stay in LingQ along with the known-words count built on them. Export them there if you want a copy. What transfers is only the habit — tap what you do not know, keep reading, review the sentences later.
A cheaper middle path: keep a LingQ account on the monthly plan for the months you are importing a lot, and read books in Readlang Mobile the rest of the time. The two do not conflict.
Questions people ask
Does LingQ have an iPhone app?
Yes — LingQ has native iOS and Android apps as well as the web version and a browser extension. Unlike some competitors in this category, the mobile app is a real app, not the website on your home screen.
How much does LingQ cost?
Premium is $14.99 a month billed monthly, $10 a month on the annual plan, or $8.99 a month on a 24-month commitment. Premium Plus starts around $22.50 a month on the annual plan. Readlang Mobile Premium is $6.99 a month or $47.99 a year. Checked August 2026.
What does the LingQ free plan actually include?
Twenty saved words — LingQs — in total, and five imported lessons. When you reach the limit you delete something to add something. Readlang Mobile's free plan is 30 translations a day, renewed daily, with the built-in library included.
Can I import YouTube videos or podcasts into Readlang Mobile?
No. Readlang Mobile reads books from its library, EPUB files you upload, and articles from links you paste. If importing media is central to how you learn, LingQ is the right tool.
Can I move my LingQs to Readlang Mobile?
Not today — there is no import from LingQ. Words you translate in Readlang Mobile are saved from that point on, so plan to leave the old list where it is or keep both accounts for a while.
Which languages does Readlang Mobile support?
The languages Apple Translation supports on your device — roughly twenty, including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. LingQ covers over fifty.
Read one book without running a system
If the appeal of LingQ is the machinery, keep it. If what you actually wanted was to finish a novel in the original, try a chapter this way.
Download Readlang Mobile for iOSFree to start. iPhone and iPad.
Other comparisons
- Readlang Mobile vs Readlang — a web reader with a Chrome extension
- Readlang Mobile vs Beelinguapp — parallel text with recorded narration
- Readlang Mobile vs Language Reactor — dual subtitles on Netflix and YouTube
- Readlang Mobile vs Lingopie — learning from licensed TV shows
- Readlang Mobile vs Instapaper — read-it-later vs reading in another language
- Readlang Mobile vs Pocket — after the shutdown — for foreign-language reading
- Readlang Mobile vs Kindle — reading a foreign-language book without the dictionary detour