The best LingQ alternatives for Chinese (2026)

The list at a glance

1. Mandarin The Wild

We make it, so judge this one hardest. LingQ asks you to import a page or a video’s captions into its reader first.² Mandarin The Wild works where the Chinese already is: point at a word on a web page or in a YouTube caption and its card shows the one meaning it has in that sentence, its pinyin as it is read there, its parts and its sound.

我想看懂这篇文章。

文wén章zhāng

Noun

article; essay

Your own EPUB, PDF and Word files and recordings go into Immersion, and the words you keep come back in Review, by sight and by sound.

• Every page and every video. The same card on any web page and in YouTube captions, in Chrome or Edge. The video keeps playing, and Previous, Replay and Next sit in the player.
• Captions when a video has none. On a Chinese YouTube video with no captions, sign in and press Make captions: we make them from its sound.
• Backpack and Review. Press M and the word is kept with its sentence and the page or video moment it came from. Review brings it back by sight and by sound, on every device you sign in on.
• The Library. More than 250 graded stories and articles from HSK 1 to 6, each with a recording in two voices, free.
• Look a word up here. How to say it in Chinese for an English word and What does it mean in Chinese? for a Chinese word or its pinyin, each with toned pinyin, its characters and a real sentence, free with no sign-up.
• Immersion for your own Chinese. Links, Google Docs, EPUB, PDF and Word files, and recordings with their subtitles or a transcript made from their sound, every word ready to explain.
• Your phone, offline. Add the site to your home screen: Review, the reader, and the chapters and sources you keep work with no signal.
• Your words, in and out. Bring in a Pleco or Anki list, and download your words for Anki whenever you like.

2. Readlang

Click a word or drag across a phrase on a page to translate it, and it goes to your flashcards. It covers many languages, Chinese among them, through its Web Reader extension.⁴ The free plan has unlimited single-word translations and 10 phrase translations a day; Premium is $6 a month or $48 a year.⁵

3. Migaku

A Chrome extension with phone apps for ten languages. You click a word on a streaming site or a web page for its dictionary entry, and make a flashcard from it.⁶ It starts with a 10-day free trial, then needs a paid plan.⁷ See how the two compare.

4. Language Reactor

Puts an English line under the Chinese on YouTube and Netflix. Saving words outside its practice mode needs its paid Pro plan.^{8, 9} See how the two compare.

5. Du Chinese

An app for iPhone, Android and the web with lessons in six levels, each with native-speaker audio, a tap-for-definition dictionary and flashcards.¹⁰ Some lessons are free; premium is $14.99 a month, $79.99 for six months or $119.99 a year.¹¹ It works inside its own lessons only. See how the two compare.

How to choose

• Real Chinese, where it already is: Mandarin The Wild works on the page and the video itself, so there is nothing to import.
• Many languages in one place: Readlang and Migaku cover Chinese among others.
• Lessons written for your level: Du Chinese’s graded lessons, or Mandarin The Wild’s free Library.

Read the same page in two of them for a week, and keep the one you still open without being told to. See how Mandarin The Wild compares with LingQ.

Questions

What is the best alternative to LingQ for Chinese?

Mandarin The Wild: it works on any web page and YouTube caption with nothing to import, shows the one meaning a word has in its sentence, and keeps the words you choose for a free Review, with more than 250 free graded stories.

Is there a free alternative to LingQ?

Yes. Mandarin The Wild is free to look up, read its Library and review. Readlang has a free plan. LingQ’s free plan saves 20 words; Premium is $14.99 a month or $119.99 a year.

Do I have to import web pages to read them?

In LingQ, yes: its extension imports a page or a video’s captions into its own reader. Mandarin The Wild, Readlang and Migaku work on the page itself.

Is Mandarin The Wild free?

Looking words up, the Library with its recordings, and Review are free. Looking up needs no account; a free account keeps your words.

Sources

Checked on 22 October 2026. Prices and features change; tell us if one has.

1. Mandarin The Wild: Chrome Web Store listing
2. LingQ: import with the browser extension
3. LingQ: plans on its sign-up page
4. Readlang Web Reader: Chrome Web Store listing
5. Readlang: plans on its home page
6. Migaku: Chrome Web Store listing
7. Migaku
8. Language Reactor: Chrome Web Store listing
9. Language Reactor: Pro Mode
10. Du Chinese
11. Du Chinese: pricing