Read your way into a new language.
Cloud is in beta · self-hosting is free forever
Turn any book into a lesson.
Drill the words that matter first.
Mine vocabulary. Close the loop with Anki.
A tutor on call, and an editor for your writing.
A library that stays tidy.
Everything else, without the sprawl.
Text-to-speech
Optional Google Cloud TTS to hear words and sentences pronounced correctly.
Web & paste import
Pull an article from any URL via Readability, or paste text directly.
Offline-first storage
SQLite server-side, IndexedDB client-side. No cloud accounts, no sync.
Statistics dashboard
CEFR fluency, vocabulary growth, reading streaks, activity heatmaps, cloze mastery.
AI translation with a fallback
Claude or a local LLM on demand, dropping to a 2,000-word offline dictionary.
Any language reads
The reader works with any language; packs add cloze banks and dictionaries.
Languages, ready to read.
Afrikaans → English
Afrikaans
Spanish → English
Español
German → English
Deutsch
French → English
Français
Dutch → English
Nederlands
Italian → English
Italiano
Portuguese → English
Português
On the roadmap.
Mandarin → English
中文
Russian → English
Русский
Japanese → English
日本語
Hindi → English
हिन्दी
Arabic → English
العربية
Koine Greek → English
Κοινή
Biblical Hebrew → English
עברית מקראית
Latin → English
Latina
Indonesian → English
Bahasa Indonesia
Korean → English
한국어
Esperanto → English
Esperanto
Adding a new language is relatively simple
Check out the Github repo to contribute
Open source. Your way.
Self-host
FreeLector Cloud
Beta · from $5/moWe host it, back it up, and keep it updated. No Docker, no setup — just sign in and start reading. For when you'd rather not run a server.
Start on the cloudYour course shouldn't rent your progress back to you.
Your data, your server
Reading history, vocabulary, and progress live in a SQLite file on your hardware. No third parties, no telemetry.
No subscriptions
Deploy once, learn forever. No monthly fees, no premium tiers, no feature gates.
Works offline
Reading, cloze, and vocabulary all run without a connection. Only AI features need the internet.
Simple backup
One SQLite file, one Docker volume. rsync it, borg it, or copy it to a USB drive.
Running in about a minute.
docker-compose.yml
and bring it up.
# Create a directory for Lector
mkdir lector && cd lector
# Create a docker-compose.yml
cat <<EOF > docker-compose.yml
services:
lector:
image: ghcr.io/heuwels/lector:latest
container_name: lector
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- "3400:3000"
environment:
- NODE_ENV=production
volumes:
- ./data:/app/data
EOF
# Start it up
docker compose up -dGood to know.
Lector is free and open-source for those who want to self-host. Deploy it on your own machine with optional auth and use it with no subscription or feature gates (your only optional cost is your own LLM API usage if you don't run a local model). Prefer not to run a server? Lector Cloud starts at $5/mo and we host it for you. For comparison, LingQ runs about $15/mo and Clozemaster Pro about $13/mo.
If you're comfortable running a Docker container, self-host: it's free, your data never leaves your hardware, and you bring your own LLM keys. If you'd rather just read and let someone else handle servers, backups, and updates, Lector Cloud does exactly that from $5/mo. You can move between them — export any time, no lock-in.
It depends how you run it. Self-hosted, everything lives on your hardware inside a Docker volume, with no third-party databases, analytics, or telemetry (though you may opt-in to send a ping so we can track how many self-host installs are active), and backups are one file copy. On Lector Cloud, we host it for you in AWS (us-east-1); you can export your data any time, with no lock-in.
No. The reader, cloze practice, and vocabulary tracking all work offline against a built-in dictionary. AI translation, the tutor, and writing correction are the only features that call out — and you can point those at a local model (Ollama, Llama, Gemma) or any OpenAI-compatible API.
The reader works with any language. Language packs — which add frequency-banded cloze banks and on-device dictionaries — currently cover Afrikaans, Español, Deutsch, Français, Nederlands, Italiano, Português, with more on the way. Adding a pair is a straightforward pull request.
It packages the LingQ and Clozemaster offering, but enables a single-point of tracking your known words, rather than having them spread across different services. Lector will keep track of your known words, but you get to continue owning your vocab in Anki. Lector features LingQ-style reading with click-to-translate, Clozemaster-style frequency cloze, and two-way Anki sync — plus an LLM tutor and a writing journal. One app, your server, your data. See the full breakdowns: Lector vs LingQ and Lector vs Clozemaster.
Learn alongside other readers.
Start reading in your target language today.
Open source to self-host for free, or on our cloud in a click.