Explain in context
Tap any word for a 2-sentence explanation tied to the book's domain — plus translation and pronunciation.
Finish the book you keep quitting.
Tap any word for a contextual explanation in — stay in flow, finish the book.
TextStack — a reader for developers, students, and curious minds.
1,314 books·185 authors·23 genres
Tools that keep you reading
Contextual explanations. Capped SRS. Offline. Across devices.
Capped weekly SRS
Saved words become flashcards with a capped weekly queue — not infinite. 5 stages from Recognition to Mastered.
Your own books
Upload EPUB or PDF. Read your books with the full TextStack Reader toolkit.
Reading stats
Track streaks, daily goals, and achievements. See your fluency grow.
Offline reading
Download books for offline reading. Sync progress when you're back online.
Natural voices
Built-in text-to-speech. Hear native pronunciation while you read.
Classic literature
Free, public-domain books — thousands ready to read.
The Georgics
Soldiers’ Pay
The Rise of Silas Lapham
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom
The House of the Wolfings
Notre-Dame de Paris
The Blacker the Berry
Antony and Cleopatra
The Comedy of Errors
No Name
The Aeneid
The Well at the World’s End
The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
O Pioneers!
The Woman in White
A Hazard of New Fortunes
The Tempest
The Moonstone
The Way of the World
Coriolanus
How TextStack compares
The features you need — without the price tag.
| Feature | TextStack | LingQ | Kindle | Speechify |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contextual explanations | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Tap-to-translate | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✗ |
| SRS flashcards | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Upload your books | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Text-to-speech | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Offline reading | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reading statistics | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free to use | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about TextStack.
TextStack is a reader for people who want to finish the book they keep quitting — dense tech books and papers, or classic literature. Every word you tap gets a contextual explanation tied to the book's domain. Save words to a capped weekly SRS queue. Works on web and mobile, online or offline.
Yes. The full catalog, reader, contextual explanations, translation, SRS flashcards, text-to-speech, and reading statistics are completely free. No credit card required, no hidden limits.
The catalog ships with thousands of public-domain classics. MIT/Apache/CC-BY licensed programming books are being added — priority given to Rust, Go, and systems titles. You can also upload your own EPUB or PDF at any time and read it with the full toolkit.
You can translate English text into 18+ languages including Spanish, French, German, Ukrainian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, and more. The interface is available in English and Ukrainian.
While reading, simply tap or click any word. You will instantly see the translation in your native language, a dictionary definition, and can hear the pronunciation. No switching apps or copying text.
Absolutely. Upload EPUB or PDF files and read them with the full TextStack toolkit — translation, flashcards, TTS, and progress tracking.
When you save a word, it becomes an SRS flashcard. The system uses 5 stages — from Recognition to Mastered — spacing reviews so you remember long-term. Smart distractors make each review meaningful.
Yes. Download books for offline reading. Your progress, bookmarks, and vocabulary sync automatically when you reconnect.
A mobile app for iOS and Android is in active development and coming soon. In the meantime, TextStack works great on mobile browsers.
TextStack combines the reading experience of Kindle with the language-learning tools of LingQ — and it is free. Tap-to-translate, SRS flashcards, built-in text-to-speech, offline reading, and detailed statistics, all in one clean reader.