Language Reactor vs LingQ: video layer or reading library?
Language Reactor and LingQ get compared constantly, and the comparison is slightly unfair to both. They aren't two versions of the same tool. One is a layer on top of video you already watch. The other is a library you go to and read.
The right question isn't which is better. It's which of those two things you'll actually do on a Tuesday night.
What each one is
Language Reactor is a Chrome extension. Open Netflix or YouTube and it adds a second subtitle line in your language, a popup dictionary on every word, and a saved-words list. The core is free. Pro ($5.95 a month or $39.95 a year, as of August 2026) adds machine translation of the subtitle track, Anki export and an AI dictionary. Reviews aren't built in.
LingQ is a reading platform, web and mobile. Thousands of lessons with audio in 40-plus languages, plus anything you import: articles, ebooks, YouTube videos with subtitles. Unknown words are blue, saved words are yellow, and the known-word count climbs as you read. The free plan stops at 20 saved words. Premium is about $14.99 a month, less on a yearly plan.
Side by side
| Language Reactor | LingQ | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Subtitle layer for Netflix and YouTube | Reading platform with a library |
| Price | Free core; Pro $5.95/mo or $39.95/yr | Free to 20 saved words; Premium about $14.99/mo |
| Main input | Shows and videos | Text, with audio |
| Content | Whatever you watch | Library plus imports |
| Saved words | A list; Anki export on Pro | Tracked in the reader, with stats |
| Reviews | None built in | Built-in flashcards and SRS |
| Reading web pages | Limited text mode | Import first, then read |
| Languages | Dozens | 40-plus |
| Reliability | Small team, several outages in 2026 | Mature, occasional app grumbles |
Choose Language Reactor if
Shows are your study material and you want to understand them, not turn them into homework. You don't need to plan anything: put on the episode, click the words you don't know, move on. The free tier does the whole job for most people.
The honest downside: nothing happens to the words afterwards unless you export them and run Anki yourself. And 2026 has been bumpy for uptime — the alternatives, if it's down again.
Choose LingQ if
Reading is the plan and you want it structured. LingQ's library means you never run out of level-appropriate text with audio, and the known-word counter is genuinely motivating in a way most tools aren't. The import feature turns the internet into lessons, and the review system means your saved words come back.
The honest downside: the price, and an interface that does a lot. If you mostly want to click words on pages you already read, you're paying for a library you won't use — the LingQ alternatives cover that case.
Language Reactor vs LingQ vs Migaku
The three-way version comes up on Reddit because Migaku sits between them: it's a video tool like Language Reactor, but with a built-in review system like LingQ, and a subscription like LingQ (about $10 a month).
- Free, video, no reviews → Language Reactor
- Paid, video, built-in reviews, deep for Japanese and Korean → Migaku
- Paid, reading, built-in reviews, biggest library → LingQ
Migaku against each of them: Migaku vs Language Reactor and LingQ vs Migaku.
Can you use both?
Yes, and plenty of people do: Language Reactor for shows, LingQ for reading. The problem is the seam. Words you clicked in a show live in one list, words you clicked in an article in another, and neither knows about the other. You end up with two half-vocabularies.
The gap both leave open
Neither is great at the open web. Language Reactor's text mode is an afterthought. LingQ makes you import a page before reading it, which is fine for a novel and tedious for the twelve tabs you open in a normal day.
Mossglen (full disclosure: ours) is built for that middle. It's a free Chrome extension: any article becomes a clean reading view, and so does any YouTube video. Tap a word for the meaning; it's saved with its sentence; reviews run on FSRS with no card-making step. One vocabulary across everything you read and watch. No account needed, 8 languages (EN, ES, FR, DE, IT, PT, JA, KO). It doesn't do Netflix, so for shows you'd still keep Language Reactor.
Deciding in one line
- Shows, free, understand and move on → Language Reactor
- Reading, structured, willing to pay for a library → LingQ
- Video plus serious reviews, Japanese or Korean → Migaku
- The open web and YouTube, one vocabulary → a reading extension
Whichever you pick, give it two weeks of your normal input before judging it. The tool that gets used beats the one with the better table — and the method underneath is in how learning a language by reading works.
Mossglen turns the pages you browse into reading practice.
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