Readlang vs LUTE: a hosted reader, or open-source software on your own machine?

Side by side

Prices are from readlang.com and the App Store in September 2026, in US dollars. For LUTE the table states only what we verified; where a cell says not stated here, we did not check that point and would rather leave it open than guess.

Readlang Mobile is an independent app, not affiliated with Readlang or LUTE. Checked 14 September 2026.

Who runs the software

Every row in the table follows from one fact. Readlang runs on Readlang's servers: your texts and vocabulary live there, the company handles updates, and in exchange it sets the limits and the price. That is why it can offer the things that need a server, an extension that talks to your account from any page, a shared library, a video player, a forum with the founder. It also means you depend on the company continuing. Readlang has already changed hands once, sold to Duolingo in 2016 and later sold back to its creator; not every service comes out the other side.

LUTE runs where you put it: Python software on your own computer, data on your own disk. Nobody can change the price, because there is none, and nobody can close the account, because there is none. In exchange, installing, updating and backing up are yours, and when something breaks the help is a manual and a Discord community rather than a support address. For some readers that is exactly the deal; for others it is the reason they pay $48 a year not to think about it.

Who picks LUTE

• People who want to own their data. The texts you read and the words you save stay on your own computer; no export step, no account to close.
• People who do not want another subscription. LUTE is free in the plain sense: no plan, no daily counter, no Premium tier. The MIT License also means the code is there to read and to change.
• People who can install Python software. This is the filter. If Python, Flask and localhost are familiar words, the install is a known kind of task and the manual walks through it. If not, the setup is the price you pay instead of money.
• People who like open-source projects for their own sake: a Discord, a manual, code you can inspect. Nothing else on this page offers that.

We have not checked what LUTE is like to read with day to day, how it handles a given language or whether it runs on a phone. The manual is the place for that; installing it takes less time than reading reviews.

Who picks Readlang

• People who want nothing to install. An account at readlang.com and you are reading; the free plan has no card and no expiry, and the free plan page goes through its limits.
• People who read the live web. The Web Reader extension for Chrome, Edge and Firefox turns the page you are on into clickable text; Safari gets a bookmarklet. The extension page and the Safari page cover both.
• People who want a library and a video player. A shared library, YouTube import with a synchronized transcript, 100+ languages, and frequency-ranked flashcards with spaced repetition.
• People who want their words out. Readlang exports vocabulary with translations and context to CSV, which is how people build Anki decks from it; the Anki export page shows the route.

The trade: your reading lives on Readlang's servers, the free plan has counters, and unlimited phrases cost $48 a year. Against LingQ, Readlang is the light option, as the Readlang vs LingQ page shows; against LUTE, it is the convenient one.

Where Readlang Mobile fits

Neither Readlang nor LUTE is built around a phone: Readlang there is the website on the home screen, with no native app and no offline mode; LUTE runs where you install it, and we did not verify phone use. Readlang Mobile is our answer to that gap, with the disclosure repeated: an independent iOS app, not affiliated with Readlang or LUTE, and neither open source nor self-hosted, so it is not the answer to a search for a Readlang open-source alternative. It is an answer to reading on an iPhone.

It is a native reader for iPhone and iPad on iOS 18 or later. Tap a word and the translation appears in the text; tap the first and last word of a phrase for the whole 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. The library is public-domain books graded A1 to C1, some with audiobooks, and web articles open when you paste a link. Free is 30 translations a day with the whole library; Premium at $8.99 a month or $59.99 a year removes the limit and adds your own EPUB files and vocabulary practice, with the first year at $29.99 as of September 2026.

What it does not do: about twenty languages rather than a hundred, no browser extension, no YouTube, no export, no Android. If those are your needs, the two columns to the left are the better ones.

Trying all three

All three are free to start. LUTE is free entirely; Readlang's free plan works without a card; Readlang Mobile's opens the whole library at 30 translations a day. Take the same chapter or long article and read it in each. Notice which one you stopped noticing.

1. LUTE: follow the manual to install it on your computer. If the install goes smoothly, that alone tells you whether self-run software suits you; if not, the Discord is where people ask.
2. Readlang: create an account at readlang.com, paste the text or upload a DRM-free EPUB, and read in the browser. Try the Web Reader extension on a live page too.
3. Readlang Mobile: install it, open a book at your level, or paste the link to the same article.

Vocabulary does not move between them: Readlang exports CSV, Readlang Mobile has no import or export, and we did not check LUTE. Whichever you settle on, the words you saved elsewhere stay there.

Questions people ask