LingQ alternatives in 2026 for learning a language by reading

LingQ made a simple idea popular: learn a language by reading and listening to things you actually want to read, and look up words as you go. It works, but it is a subscription, and its reader is built around lessons rather than books. If you are looking for something cheaper, simpler, or closer to an ordinary ebook reader, there are good options.

A disclosure first: we make Glosa, one of the apps below, and this blog is ours. Glosa is not on the App Store yet. Each app here does some things better than the others, ours included, and we say which.

If you are new to the method itself, Learning English by reading books explains how to pick a book at the right level and when to look a word up.

What LingQ gives you, for reference

LingQ runs on the web and in apps for iOS and Android, and covers more than 50 languages. It has a large library of lessons with matching text and audio, lets you import books, articles, YouTube and podcasts as lessons, tracks every word you meet, and reviews saved words with spaced repetition. Recent versions add AI transcription, AI voices and a chatbot tutor. At the time of writing (October 2026), the App Store lists Premium at $14.99 a month or $119.99 for twelve months, and Premium Plus at $29.99 a month.

When people leave, it is usually over price, or over the feeling that a novel turned into a lesson stops feeling like a novel. The apps below each answer one of those.

Readlang

Readlang is the closest in spirit and the lightest on cost. You read in a web page, click a word or phrase to translate it, and the words you look up become flashcards. You can upload your own texts, including DRM-free EPUBs, read its library of articles and fiction, or use its browser extension on other sites. On iPhone it runs as a web app you add to your Home Screen rather than an App Store app.

The free plan gives unlimited single-word translations and 10 phrase translations and AI explanations a day. Premium is $6 a month or $48 a year, and Premium Plus $15 a month or $120 a year. Best for you if you mostly study at a computer and want flashcards built from your own reading.

Beelinguapp

Beelinguapp takes a different approach: parallel texts. A story appears in your target language and your own language side by side, with audio by native narrators and karaoke-style highlighting as it plays. The library includes classics, news, cultural guides and children's books, with quizzes at the end of stories.

You read Beelinguapp's catalog rather than your own books. It is free to start, with subscriptions such as $7.99 a month or $49.90 a year listed on the App Store. Best for you if you are a beginner and like reading and listening at the same time.

Du Chinese

Du Chinese does one language thoroughly. Its stories and articles are written, recorded and translated for learners of Mandarin at every level, including HSK-aligned content. Tap a word for its definition, pinyin and audio, or a sentence for its translation, and save words to built-in flashcards. It offers Simplified and Traditional characters and links to Pleco, Skritter and Hack Chinese.

It is only for Mandarin, and you read its library rather than your own files. It is free to start, with Premium purchases listed from $14.99 on the App Store. Best for you if you are learning Mandarin and want graded material you can trust.

Migaku

Migaku is built around turning what you watch and read into flashcards. It makes subtitles and text interactive, creates cards with one tap, and schedules study sessions from them. It covers Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, Italian, German, Cantonese, Portuguese, English, French and Vietnamese, with beginner courses for Japanese, Mandarin and Korean, and works with a Chrome extension on a computer.

Migaku needs a paid subscription; the App Store lists Migaku Standard at $14.00. Its focus is video and flashcards more than long reading. Best for you if you learn from shows and YouTube and want serious spaced repetition.

Readest

Readest is not a language app at all, but an open-source ebook reader. It earns a place here because it can translate a sentence, a page or a whole book, look words up in a dictionary or Wikipedia without leaving the page, and read aloud with offline voices. It opens EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3 and more, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, other platforms and the web.

Its App Store listing mentions no vocabulary tracking or flashcards. It is free, with optional plans from $4.99 on the App Store. Best for you if you are past the beginner stage and just want to read real books with translation at hand.

Glosa

Glosa is our app, an ebook reader for iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo on iOS 17 or later. Like Readest it reads your own books: EPUB, PDF, DRM-free MOBI and AZW3, TXT, Markdown and HTML, or books from OPDS catalogs such as Project Gutenberg and Calibre. You can also follow RSS feeds and turn a web article into a book page.

What it adds for learners is the lookup. Double-tap a word and you get its meaning in that sentence, not a list of every sense in the dictionary, in any of sixteen languages, from English, Spanish and German to Vietnamese, Japanese, Hindi and Simplified or Traditional Chinese. You can translate the whole sentence, keep offline StarDict, MDict, DICT, Slob and Yomitan dictionaries next to it, or open Wiktionary and Apple Dictionary as tabs. On iOS 18 and later, bilingual reading puts an on-device translation under each paragraph. Read aloud uses Apple or downloadable natural voices from 0.5x to 3x.

What it lacks, compared with LingQ: there is no lesson library, no word tracking across books, and no built-in flashcard review. It is free today, with no ads and no in-app purchases; AI meanings have a free daily allowance. It is iOS only and not on the App Store yet. Best for you if you want to read whole books you chose yourself and keep the dictionary out of the way until you need it.

Side by side

App	Price (October 2026)	Platforms	Read your own books	Flashcards
LingQ	Free to start, Premium $14.99 a month	iPhone, iPad, Android, web	Yes, as lessons	Yes, spaced repetition
Readlang	Free, Premium $6 a month	Web, Chrome extension	Yes, EPUB and text	Yes
Beelinguapp	Free, plans from $7.99 a month	iPhone, iPad	No	Quizzes after stories
Du Chinese	Free, Premium from $14.99	iPhone, iPad, Mac	No	Yes
Migaku	Subscription, from $14.00	iPhone, iPad, Mac, Chrome	Text and subtitles	Yes, spaced repetition
Readest	Free, plans from $4.99	iPhone, iPad, Mac, web and more	Yes, many formats	Not in its listing
Glosa	Free, not on the App Store yet	iPhone, iPad, iPhone Duo	Yes, many formats	No

How to choose

If you want structure, graded content and a system that tells you what to review, stay close to LingQ: Readlang does it for less, and Du Chinese does it best for Mandarin. If you are starting from zero, Beelinguapp's parallel stories are the gentlest way in, and Migaku suits you if you learn mostly from video. If you can already follow a simple novel and want to read real books, a reader with good lookups, such as Readest or Glosa, keeps you reading instead of studying. Many learners use one of each: a study app for review, and a reader for the books themselves.