LingQ vs Readlang: Which One Should You Use? (2026)

Prices and features below were checked on October 31, 2026. Apps change, so check the date on anything you read about software, this article included.

What decides it?

LingQ and Readlang both let you read a text in the language you are learning and look up the words you don't know. They are built around different things.

LingQ is built around your vocabulary. Every word you meet gets a status, from new to known, and LingQ keeps that status across everything you read in it. Its own guide describes your known-word count as the main way it measures your progress.

Readlang is built around the browser. Its Chrome extension and bookmarklets let you read almost any web page with a translation for any word you click.

LingQ's browser extensions work on web pages too, so the difference is not where you can read. It is what the app keeps track of, and what it costs. So the question is: do you want a record of every word you know, or do you want the cheaper tool for reading in the browser? Everything below is detail.

LingQ and Readlang side by side (October 2026)

LingQ's prices vary by region: the US App Store and the euro prices on its website are not the same amount. Check what it charges you when you sign up.

What does LingQ do?

LingQ keeps a model of your vocabulary.

Every word in every lesson has a status. LingQ's guide to statuses lists them: 1 New, 2 Recognized, 3 Familiar, 4 Learned, and then Known. The status follows the word into everything you read later, so a word you marked in an article three months ago is still marked when it appears in a podcast transcript today. Words you are still learning go into spaced-repetition review, and known words are never due for review. Your known-word count is the main measure of progress in the app.

LingQ has iPhone and Android apps, and supports over 50 languages. It has a library of thousands of lessons from podcasts, books, interviews, videos and articles, and you can import content from Netflix, YouTube, podcasts, books and articles. Its browser extensions for Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge import a web page with one click, or let you use LingQ's tools on the page itself.

If you want the app to keep count of your vocabulary and to tell you how it is growing, LingQ does that more thoroughly than anything else here.

It is also the more expensive of the two: $14.99 a month on the US App Store (October 2026), about two and a half times Readlang's price. The free plan allows 20 saved words and phrases and 5 lessons from imported content. Unlimited saved words, full sentence translations and offline access are Premium. There is a longer comparison on the LingQ comparison page.

What does Readlang do?

Readlang works in your browser, on the text you were already reading.

The Chrome extension and bookmarklets let you read or import almost any website: news, blogs, Wikipedia, whatever you open. Click a word to see its translation. You can also upload files, up to entire novels, as TXT or DRM-free EPUB. PDF import is not supported.

The words you translate become flashcards, and Readlang schedules them with a spaced-repetition algorithm.

At $6 a month (October 2026), Readlang Premium costs less than half of LingQ Premium. The free plan gives you unlimited single-word translations, 10 phrase translations a day and 10 context explanations a day, which is enough for many people.

What it does not have: a phone app. On a phone you add the website to your home screen from Safari or Chrome, and it does not work offline. In March 2026, an app was being considered, with no date. Its pricing, about and features pages describe translations, flashcards and spaced repetition, but none of them describe a status for every word or a known-word count like LingQ's. There is a longer comparison on the Readlang comparison page.

How much do LingQ and Readlang cost per year?

Over a year, at the October 2026 prices:

• Readlang Premium: $48
• LingQ Premium: $119.99 on the US App Store
• Readlang Premium Plus: $120
• LingQ Premium Plus: $269.99 on the US App Store

The extra money for LingQ pays for the vocabulary system. If you will use the statuses, the review and the known-word count, that is what you are buying. If you mostly want to read and look words up, you are paying for parts of the app you won't use.

Which one should you choose?

Choose Readlang if:

• You read in the browser, on a computer or with a connection
• You want the cheaper option
• The free plan's unlimited single-word translations already cover you

Choose LingQ if:

• You want a status kept on every word you read
• A known-word count that goes up motivates you
• You will use the review, not only plan to
• You want a phone app, and offline reading with Premium

Where does Simply Fluent fit?

If what you want is to read books on your phone, listen to them while you read, and keep reading without a connection, neither of these is built for it. That is what I built Simply Fluent for.

It reads to you. You can hear a single word, its translation, or the whole page, in Slow, Normal or Fast. Switch on the page-turn button on the audio bar and the reader moves to the next page when the audio reaches the end of one, so you can listen like an audiobook and follow along on the page. It uses your phone's own voice, so it reads any book, including the ones you add yourself, without a connection.

You see the meaning in that sentence. Select a word or phrase to see what it means in that sentence. Every translation you save is shown above that word or phrase in every book you open in that language, so you don't look the same word up twice, and it becomes a flashcard.

You can read your own books, or the library. Add EPUB, TXT or Markdown files, or paste in text; PDF needs Premium. The library has books and short stories in 45 languages, and translation works in 134, so you can read your own books in 89 more. It runs on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets, and you can read offline.

Everyone starts with a 30-day free trial of Premium; after that it's €7.99 a month or €59.99 a year (October 2026).

Where it is not the right answer: there is no web version, so if you want to read web pages, Readlang or LingQ's browser extension will do that and Simply Fluent won't. And it doesn't keep a status on every word you have ever seen, so if that record is what you want, use LingQ.

Related reading

• The best apps for reading books in another language, the full comparison
• LingQ alternatives
• Readlang alternatives
• Is a Kindle any good for language learning?

Sources

All checked on October 31, 2026.

• LingQ on the US App Store: apps.apple.com/us/app/lingq-learn-languages/id379385811
• LingQ plans and prices: lingq.com/en/signup
• About LingQ: lingq.com/en/about
• How LingQ statuses work: forum.lingq.com/t/how-lingq-statuses-work/6841
• LingQ statistics: forum.lingq.com/t/lingq-statistics/8184
• Readlang pricing: readlang.com/pricing
• About Readlang: readlang.com/about
• Readlang features: readlang.com/features
• Uploading novels to Readlang: forum.readlang.com/t/upload-novels-to-read-including-ones-with-drm/39
• PDF import in Readlang: forum.readlang.com/t/can-i-import-pdfs/43
• Readlang offline: forum.readlang.com/t/anyone-here-use-used-lingq-or-any-other-alternatives/123/24
• Installing Readlang on your home screen: forum.readlang.com/t/install-readlang-on-your-iphone-ipad-or-android-home-screen/45
• A Readlang app: forum.readlang.com/t/readlang-app-possibility/4960/2
• Simply Fluent: FAQ and home page