Comparison

Migaku vs Mango Reader

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Migaku

This app helps you learn languages by making content interactive. Click words in subtitles or text to get definitions, create flashcards, and personalize study sessions. It focuses on high-frequency words for efficient learning.

Highlights
  • Interactive subtitles for YouTube
  • One-click media-rich flashcard creation
  • Personalized study sessions
  • Data-driven courses for beginners
  • Word frequency-based vocabulary learning
  • AI sentence breakdown and explanations
Features
Read full description

Learning languages is actually pretty simple: if you consume content you enjoy, and you understand that content, you will make progress. Period. Migaku (and its Chrome browser extension) enables you to do that: 1. Our courses take you from zero to 80% comprehension in ~6 months (10 cards/day) 2. We make text interactive: click words in your phone's YouTube subtitles to see what they mean 3. We let you make media-rich flashcards out of those words with one click 4. We make personalized study sessions out of the flashcards you create 5. Repeat! Whether you're learning Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, Italian, German, Cantonese, Portuguese, English, French or Vietnamese, Migaku equips you with the tools you need to make real progress. Migaku requires a paid subscription to access its courses, features, and AI tools. Migaku – AI Language Learning Tool ■ How languages are really learned: If you want to watch movies in other languages, then you need to learn languages with movies. If you want to read books in other languages, then you need to learn languages by reading. As you spend more time doing the things you enjoy doing in the language you're learning, you'll build the unique skills you need to more easily do those things. Unfortunately, it's difficult to read books and watch movies in another language as a beginner. And that's where Migaku comes in ■ Data-driven courses for beginners The problem with most apps and textbooks is that they teach you what someone else thinks language learners need to know, and those things may not reflect what you actually need to learn to do the things that are important to you. This matters because not all words are used equally often: while a college-educated native speaker knows ~30,000 words, you only need to know ~1,500 words to recognize 80% of the words in modern media. Our flashcard-based courses teach you these ~1,500 words—the ones that are useful to everyone, no matter their goals—plus a few hundred basic grammar points. What makes our courses special is that every "next" flashcard contains only one new word, making Migaku's learning curve super smooth. You're always learning something new, but never overwhelmed. It's a fluent language learning approach. Migaku courses are currently available for Japanese, Mandarin, and Korean. ■ Turn subtitles and text into interactive language learning opportunities Migaku makes texts interactive: just click on words to see what they mean. You can also hear audio recordings from native speakers, reference images of the term, check example sentences, get an AI explanation of what the word means in context, have AI break sentences down for you word-by-word, or see a translation of the sentence that your word appears in. Basically, Migaku lets you consume content in another language as if you knew as many words as a native speaker. Our mobile app supports YouTube, manually pasted content, and physical content like books or street signs. Our Chrome extension supports web pages and several popular streaming websites. ■ Create custom study cards or import language flashcards Find a useful looking word while consuming content? Turn it into a high-quality flashcard with one button, and Migaku's spaced repetition language practice algorithm will create personalized study sessions for you. You'll be nudged to review these flashcards periodically, ensuring you remember them. Decks designed for the Anki flashcard app can be converted for use with Migaku, too. ■ Study anywhere, even offline Migaku's courses and any flashcards you make are available offline and automatically sync between all of your devices. ■ Learn multiple languages at once A single Migaku subscription gives you access to all of Migaku's languages and lets you use all of Migaku's features and AI language learning tools as much as you want. - - - Immerse → enjoy → improve

About

Mango Reader

This app helps intermediate language learners improve their skills by providing real-time translations and pronunciation for words on any website. Users can save new vocabulary, bookmark content, and enjoy an ad-free reading experience.

Highlights
  • Real-time website translation
  • Word and phrase pronunciation
  • Personalized vocabulary lists
  • Ad-free reader mode
  • Website and article bookmarking
  • Supports 14 languages
Read full description

With Mango Reader, you can go to any website on the internet and get translations for words you don’t know, in real time, while you’re reading. Designed with Intermediate-level language learners in mind, this powerful tool will help boost your language proficiency to an Advanced level. • Visit any website in the language you're learning and immerse yourself in content that interests you. • Highlight unfamiliar words and phrases to see their translation and hear them pronounced. • Save vocabulary you want to learn to personalized lists with the tap of a button. • Convert web pages into readable content without ads or distractions using "Reader Mode." • Bookmark your favorite websites and articles. • For the full experience, get the Mango Languages app to practice new vocabulary. Mango Reader supports 14 languages, including Modern Standard Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Latin American Spanish, and English.

Screenshots

Migaku4 screens
Mango Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Mango Reader at none against Migaku's 15. Migaku's advantage is ratings volume (369 vs 13) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). On price, rating, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Migaku sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $14.00 per month. Mango Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mango Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Migaku has 369 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 73% of Migaku's written reviews are positive against 63% of Mango Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Migaku ships an update weekly, Mango Reader monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Migaku versus Mango Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMigakuMango Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (369 ratings)4.6 (13 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.9% of reviews — better62.5% of reviews
Number of ratings369 — better13
Update frequencyWeekly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.416.4
Further details — not scored
Size1.9 GB10 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperMigaku Inc.Creative Empire, LLC

Customer experience

Migaku

All ratings369 ratings
Positive84.0%
Neutral1.6%
Negative14.4%
Written reviews236 reviews
Positive72.9%
Neutral3.0%
Negative24.2%

Mango Reader

All ratings13 ratings
Positive84.6%
Neutral7.7%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive62.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative25.0%

Bugs and requests

Migaku

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unable to create new accounts in the app
  • Broken kanji course with empty cards
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps

Requested features

4 requests
  • Offline mode for learning on the go
  • Expanded support for more languages
  • Better integration with Anki and other SRS apps
  • More customization options for flashcards and reviews

Mango Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

13 purchases

Migaku

Subscriptions8
  • Migaku Standard2 variants$14.001 Month
  • Migaku Standard7 Days trial$14.001 Month
  • Early Access2 variants$21.001 Month
Show 5 more
  • Early Access7 Days trial$21.001 Month
  • Migaku Standard$136.991 Year
  • Migaku Standard7 Days trial$136.991 Year
  • Early Access$179.991 Year
  • Early Access7 Days trial$179.991 Year
One-time5
  • Lifetime$214.99
  • Lifetime$289.00
  • Lifetime$344.99
Show 2 more
  • Lifetime$359.00
  • Lifetime$719.00
None

Mango Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Migaku free?
Migaku is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mango Reader free?
Mango Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Migaku or Mango Reader?
Mango Reader is rated higher. Migaku averages 4.4 out of 5 from 369 ratings, while Mango Reader averages 4.6 from 13 ratings.
Do Migaku or Mango Reader have ads?
Neither Migaku nor Mango Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Migaku or Mango Reader?
Migaku ships an update weekly, and Mango Reader monthly. Most recently, Migaku was updated on October 11, 2026 and Mango Reader on September 21, 2026.

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