LingQ alternatives: 14 apps for learning a language by reading

What LingQ does, as the baseline

LingQ runs on the web, iOS and Android, with an importer extension for Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge. You can import EPUB, PDF, DOCX, TXT and MOBI files, web pages, YouTube videos with subtitles, Netflix and podcasts, or pick a lesson from a library graded from Beginner 1 to Advanced 2. Every word carries a status, reviews use spaced repetition, a counter tracks your known words, and the vocabulary exports to CSV and Anki. It covers more than 50 languages.

The free plan is a trial in practice: 20 saved words in total, 5 imported lessons and one playlist. Premium costs $14.99 a month, $119.99 for 12 months or $215.76 for 24 months. Premium Plus is $29.99 a month or $269.99 a year. Offline reading is part of Premium. People usually start looking for an alternative because of the price, the 20-word cap, or because they want something lighter than a full system. Our longer head-to-head is on the LingQ comparison page.

The list at a glance

Checked on 20 September 2026. Prices in USD. "App Store US" means the product's own site did not show a price, so the figure comes from its US App Store listing; web prices are often lower.

Closest to the LingQ workflow

1. Readlang

Readlang is a web reader with a browser extension: click a word or a phrase, the translation appears in the text, and the word becomes a flashcard with spaced repetition. It runs in the browser, installs to a phone's home screen as a web app, and has extensions for Chrome (100,000 users) and Firefox. You can upload text and EPUB files and study YouTube videos with a transcript. Vocabulary exports with translation and context, including cloze cards for Anki. More than 100 languages.

The free plan translates single words without a limit and gives 10 phrase translations a day, up to 6 words each. Premium is $6 a month or $48 a year; Premium Plus is $15 a month or $120 a year. There is no native app for iOS or Android. Details are in our Readlang guide and the Readlang vs LingQ comparison.

2. Lingua Verbum

Lingua Verbum looks the most like LingQ: words are coloured by status, an AI assistant explains a word in its context, and videos and podcasts are transcribed for reading. It runs on the web, iOS and Android, with a Chrome extension, and imports EPUB files, text, web articles, subtitled videos and podcasts. The site lists 75 languages. The extension can import your progress from LingQ.

Free: unlimited import, 20 assistant requests a day and 60 minutes of transcription a month. Premium is $7 a month. No spaced repetition or vocabulary export is advertised, and the team has written against flashcards on its blog, so this is a choice rather than a gap.

3. LingoChampion

LingoChampion combines a feed of news and videos with your own imports. Tapping a word shows the translation and the base form of the word, an AI option rewrites a text for your level, and saved words go to flashcards with spaced repetition. Web, iOS, Android and a Chrome extension; 25 languages. It can also bring in vocabulary from Duolingo and Babbel.

The free plan is tight: 50 word translations and 50 sentence translations in total. Premium is $7.99 a month on the site, and the App Store lists a yearly plan at $79.99.

4. LUTE

LUTE (Learning Using Texts, version 3) is free, open source under the MIT licence, and runs on your own computer. You install it with Python or Docker and read in the browser; a phone can connect to the running copy over your network. It imports TXT and EPUB files, pasted text and web pages by URL, tracks words with statuses from 1 to 5 plus "well known" and "ignored", and supports parent terms for word forms. More than 50 languages come predefined.

There are no built-in flashcards. Terms export to CSV, and cards go to Anki through AnkiConnect on a desktop. There is no mobile app and no hosted version, which is the point for people who want their data on their own machine. We compare it with Readlang on the Readlang vs LUTE page.

5. InputDojo

InputDojo is a web app that installs as a PWA, with a Chrome extension that also works in Edge, Brave and Arc. Paste a YouTube link or an article URL, or add a PDF, a book or plain text, then tap a word for its meaning in context. It has study tracks for the JLPT and HSK exams and supports 14 languages. It is made by one developer in Sweden.

Free: up to 100 saved words with review and 10 AI grammar questions a month. Pro is $7.99 a month or $79 a year and adds spaced repetition (SM-2) and Anki export as CSV. Ultimate is $14.99 a month, $149 a year, or $199 once for a lifetime licence. There is no native iPhone app.

Book readers for a phone

6. Readlang Mobile (ours)

Readlang Mobile is a native app for iPhone and iPad, iOS 18 or later. Tap a word and the translation appears in the line you are reading; tap the first and the last word of a phrase to translate the phrase. By default, translation comes from Google Translate through the app's server; in Settings you can switch to Apple Translate, which runs on the device. Without a connection the app switches to Apple Translate, which translates on the device if the language pack for your pair is downloaded; a book has to be opened online once. It covers the twenty or so languages Apple Translation offers.

The library has public-domain books graded from A1 to C1 in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, and some come with audiobooks that highlight the current word. You can open a web article by pasting its link. Free: 30 translations a day, phrases up to 6 words, the whole library. Premium is $8.99 a month or $59.99 a year and adds unlimited translations, your own EPUB files and practice with saved words.

What it lacks next to LingQ: no Android, web or desktop version, no video or podcast import, no PDF, no word statuses or known-words counter, and no export to Anki or CSV. It is an independent app and is not affiliated with Readlang.

7. Simply Fluent

Simply Fluent is a mobile book reader for iOS and Android. It imports EPUB, TXT and PDF files (PDFs are converted to EPUB), and a saved word stays translated in every book you open afterwards. Built-in stories are graded from A1 to C2, with classics on top, for 45 languages; word translation covers 90. Flashcards use spaced repetition and can be filtered by book. It works offline.

The product is moving from version 1 to a 2.0 beta and the limits differ between them. The 2.0 site says reading is free with a quota of 150 translation requests, and Premium is €7.99 a month or €59.99 a year; the US App Store lists $6.99 a month and $49.99 a year. There is no web version.

8. Linga

Linga is a book reader that runs almost everywhere: web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and Linux. It imports EPUB, PDF, MOBI, FB2 and TXT files up to 50 MB, ships with more than 1,000 books, and turns saved words into spaced-repetition flashcards and games. It works offline. You can learn six languages in it: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian and English.

The site has no pricing page. The US App Store lists $5.49 a month, $54.99 a year and $109.99 for a lifetime licence. The limits of the free version are not published.

9. Beelinguapp

Beelinguapp shows a text in two languages side by side with audio recorded by native speakers. A long press on a word gives the translation and adds it to a glossary with flashcards, both free. The library is graded (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, plus a kids section) across 23 languages, and downloaded texts can be read offline. iOS and Android only.

You cannot import your own content, and neither spaced repetition nor export is advertised. The free tier opens selected stories and news with ads. The US App Store lists $7.99 a month and $49.90 a year, with a 7-day trial. Our head-to-head is on the Beelinguapp comparison page.

10. Amazon Kindle

Amazon Kindle is not a language-learning tool, but many learners already read in it. Select a passage and choose Translation (it needs a connection). Word Wise prints short hints above difficult words, but only in English books marked as Word Wise enabled, and only on Fire tablets, Kindle e-readers from the 6th generation and Kindle for Android; iOS is not on Amazon's list. Vocabulary Builder, which makes flashcards from the words you looked up, is a feature of the e-readers.

Send to Kindle accepts PDF, EPUB, TXT and several other formats, and the store is the largest there is. There is no spaced repetition and no vocabulary export. More in our Kindle comparison.

Video first

11. Language Reactor

Language Reactor, formerly Language Learning with Netflix, adds dual subtitles and a pop-up dictionary to Netflix and YouTube. It is a Chrome extension for desktop (2,000,000 users) with a web app beside it. You can also import web pages, books, audio and your own video with an SRT file. More than 40 languages, and saved items export to Anki, JSON, CSV and Excel.

On the free plan words are saved only inside its PhrasePump trainer; Pro saves them everywhere and highlights them in subtitles. For a US visitor the checkout shows Pro at $5.95 a month, $13.95 for three months or $39.95 a year, with a two-week trial that needs no card. There is no native mobile app. See the Language Reactor comparison.

12. Migaku

Migaku is built for immersion: click a word in subtitles or on a website, get the dictionary entry, make a card in one click, and review it with spaced repetition. The Chrome extension (50,000 users) works on YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Viki and ordinary websites; the iOS and Android apps handle YouTube, pasted text and OCR from paper. It tracks five word statuses, your known words and how comprehensible a piece of content is for you. 11 languages, with courses for Japanese, Mandarin, Korean and English.

There is a 10-day trial without a card and no permanent free plan. Migaku's own landing pages give Standard at $10 a month or $96 a year and a lifetime licence at $499; the US App Store lists Standard at $14.00 a month.

13. Lingopie

Lingopie is a streaming catalogue of more than 5,000 shows, podcasts and books with clickable dual subtitles. A saved word becomes a flashcard with its video clip, reviewed with spaced repetition and four games. Web, iOS, Android and TV apps (Fire TV, Roku, Google TV), plus a Chrome extension for Netflix and Disney+. 15 languages.

You cannot import your own material, and there is no permanent free plan: the trial lasts 7 days and asks for a card. The US App Store lists the monthly plan from $11.99 and the annual plan from $59.99. Our Lingopie comparison has more.

14. Trancy

Trancy puts bilingual subtitles on YouTube, Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, TED, Coursera and Udemy, and translates words you select on any web page into a word list with flashcards. It supports more browsers than anything else here: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, Brave and Arc on desktop, Firefox for Android and Safari on iOS, plus iOS and Android apps. Up to 10 languages.

Free: bookmarks for 100 words and 50 sentences and PDF translation for 50 pages a month. The US App Store lists $3.99 a month and $29.99 a year. It does not read EPUB files or books, and spaced repetition is not advertised.

How to choose

Start from the device. If you read on a computer, Readlang, Lingua Verbum, LingoChampion, InputDojo and LUTE all work in a browser, and only LUTE is free without limits. If you read on an iPhone, the apps with a native version are Lingua Verbum, LingoChampion, Readlang Mobile, Simply Fluent, Linga, Beelinguapp, Kindle, Migaku, Lingopie and Trancy.

Then the material. Your own files and links: LingQ itself, Readlang, Lingua Verbum, LUTE, InputDojo, Simply Fluent, Linga. A ready library sorted by level: LingQ, Readlang Mobile, Simply Fluent, Beelinguapp. Films and series: Language Reactor, Migaku, Lingopie, Trancy.

Then the vocabulary. If you want spaced repetition inside the app, look at Readlang, LingoChampion, InputDojo on Pro, Simply Fluent, Linga, Migaku or Lingopie. If you already live in Anki, the apps that export to it are LingQ, Readlang, LUTE, Language Reactor and InputDojo. If flashcards are not your thing, Lingua Verbum and Readlang Mobile keep the reading in front.

Questions people ask