Lexpad
Readlang and LingQ turn reading into vocabulary: click a word, see what it means, keep it for review. If their limits or prices do not suit you, the usual alternatives are Language Reactor (for video), Lute (free, on your own computer), Yomitan (a free pop-up dictionary that sends words to Anki) and Lexpad (our own app), which saves words from any page, app or e-book into one notebook but is not a reader.
By Reza Pirighadim, who makes Lexpad. Checked against the app on 13 October 2026.
Readlang works on the texts you already read: click a word or a phrase on a web page and it translates it, and every word you translate is saved for flashcards. The free plan has unlimited single-word translations and 10 phrase translations a day; Premium is $6 a month (readlang.com, 13 October 2026).
LingQ is a whole course built from content: lessons with text and audio, where each new word you click becomes a “LingQ” to review. The free account allows 20 LingQs and 5 imported lessons in total; Premium is $14.99 a month, or $10 a month yearly (LingQ blog, 4 Aug 2026).
People look for alternatives because of those limits and prices, because they read outside the app (e-books, PDFs, work documents), or because they want the saved words to keep coming back for months.
Alphabetical, not a ranking. Prices in US dollars as each site showed them on the day.
| Tool | Where you read | Saves words | Review | Price model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language Reactor | Netflix, YouTube, imported texts | Yes | A saved-items list on its site | Free; in-app purchases |
| Lexpad (ours) | Anywhere: browser, YouTube subtitles, any app on a computer, pasted text, Kindle | Yes; from the browser and computer apps, with the sentence | Leitner boxes, or Smart (FSRS, Beta) | Free plan; Pro optional |
| LingQ | LingQ lessons, imported pages | Yes (20 on Free) | LingQ review | Free account; Premium $10–14.99/month |
| Lute | Texts you add, on your computer | Yes | Status levels per word | Free (MIT) |
| Readlang | Web pages and texts | Yes | Flashcards | Free plan; Premium $6/month |
| Yomitan | Any web page | Sends to Anki | In Anki | Free (GPL-3.0) |
Readlang and LingQ are included so you can compare. Every fact links to the page we read it on.
A browser extension for learning from video: two sets of subtitles, a pop-up dictionary and playback controls on Netflix and YouTube, and imported texts with machine translation and text-to-speech. Words and phrases you save go to a saved-items list on its site.
Checked on 13 October 2026: Chrome Web Store listing (version 5.1.8, updated 1 July 2026); saved items as described on its own forum.
A vocabulary notebook with spaced repetition, made by the author of this page (who makes Lexpad). It is not a reader: you read wherever you like, and save the word with its sentence into one notebook that brings it back.
Our product. Facts from the extension and desktop pages.
Lessons made from real content: you read and listen, click new words to make “LingQs”, and review them over time. An importer extension turns web pages into lessons.
Checked on 13 October 2026: lingq.com, LingQ free vs Premium (4 Aug 2026).
Learning Using Texts: a free, open-source reader you run on your own computer. Read texts, click words to define them and set how well you know each one.
Checked on 13 October 2026: GitHub, Lute manual, install.
Read web pages and texts and click a word or phrase to translate it; every word you translate is saved for flashcard practice.
Checked on 13 October 2026: readlang.com.
A free pop-up dictionary extension: hover over a word and press a key to see definitions, frequencies and audio, then send the word to Anki with one key.
Checked on 13 October 2026: yomitan.wiki, GitHub.
Readers like Readlang, LingQ and Lute work best inside their own reading screen. If you read in many places, the other approach is to keep reading where you are and send each word to one notebook. This is how Lexpad works:
What it does not do, honestly: Lexpad has no library of lessons, does not translate whole pages, and does not colour the words you know on a page.
Good to know
Lute is free and open source, and works in a similar way, on your own computer. Readlang has a free plan for web pages. Lexpad’s free plan saves unlimited words from any page with the browser extension, but it is not a reader.
Yes. Lexpad’s and Yomitan’s extensions run in Firefox, and LingQ’s importer extension does too.
No. LingQ is a reading and listening course. Lexpad is a vocabulary notebook: you read anywhere and save words into it, and it brings them back on a schedule.
If the tool can export a file with the word and its meaning in two columns, yes. See moving words into Lexpad for the steps.
Because saving words while you read is what it is for. It is marked as ours, the list is alphabetical, and the page says what it does not do.
Lexpad
Lexpad is free to start, on the web and on Android. Bring the words you meet.