Glossa vs Readlang
An honest comparison.
Readlang is a lightweight click-to-translate layer for web articles, with vocabulary export to Anki for review. Glossa is a full reader for PDFs and EPUBs, with built-in audio narration, CEFR-adaptive translation, and in-app vocabulary practice. Choose Readlang if your reading lives on the open web and Anki is already your review tool. Choose Glossa if you read full books and want the whole experience — translate, listen, review — in one place.
At a glance
| Glossa | Readlang | |
|---|---|---|
| Upload PDFs and EPUBs | Yes | No |
| Browser extension for web pages | No | Yes |
| Click-to-translate | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in audio narration | Yes (native-voice TTS) | No built-in narration |
| CEFR-adaptive interlinear translation | Yes (difficulty slider) | No |
| Vocabulary review | In-app games (matching, cloze, scramble, more) | Anki export |
| Project Gutenberg import | Yes (built-in browser) | Manual |
When to choose Readlang
Readlang is the right call if most of your reading happens on the open web — news sites, blogs, Wikipedia in your target language. The browser extension translates words inline on any page you visit, and the vocabulary export plays well with Anki, which many learners already use for review. It's a lighter-weight tool than Glossa, and if you don't need audio narration or full-book handling, it may be all you need.
When to choose Glossa
Glossa is the right call if the bulk of your reading is full books rather than scattered web articles. PDF and EPUB import are first-class, the reader is built for long-form, and Project Gutenberg titles import in seconds from inside the app. Audio narration on any sentence — handy for tricky pronunciation or for listening while you read — is not something Readlang offers. Vocabulary review lives inside the app, so you don't have to maintain a separate Anki workflow if you don't want to.
CEFR-adaptive translation adjusts the density of inline glosses as you improve, which is meaningful over the months of reading a single long book takes. Readlang translates per click, which is fine for short articles but adds friction across hundreds of pages.
Try Glossa
The free tier covers two books and 10 pages of reading — enough to compare it directly against your current Readlang workflow on something book-sized.