- Both swap words on the sites you read and pick them for your level.
- NativeLingo matches word forms and reviews by typing, while Toucan offers more languages.
- Word swaps are free on both, and the paid plans cost about the same.
What they have in common
If you are looking for a Toucan alternative, start with what the two share. Both are Chrome extensions that work on ordinary websites, replace a few words with their translation and show the original when you hover.
Both also choose words for your level, so if all you want is foreign words appearing while you read, either will do it.
Word forms
Toucan mostly shows the dictionary form of a word, whereas NativeLingo matches the form to the sentence, with plurals, tenses and gender.
That sounds small, yet over months it decides whether you pick up “dos libros” or “dos libro”.
What happens after you see a word
Toucan keeps its quizzes in a separate part of the product. NativeLingo puts every word you met into a daily review where you type the translation.
The review runs on spaced repetition, the same kind of scheduler Anki uses, and on most days it takes a minute or two.
What leaves your browser
NativeLingo analyses the page inside your browser, so the text, the title and the address of the page are never sent anywhere.
It records only the word you were shown, its form, its translation and the time, because that is all the review needs.
Which one to pick
NativeLingo teaches eight languages, English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish, and you can read in any of them or in Russian or Ukrainian. Pro costs $6.99 a month, billed yearly.
Questions
Not directly yet, but you can add words by hand or let NativeLingo pick them up again as you read.
We don’t recommend it, because two extensions swapping words on one page make it hard to read.
Toucan. NativeLingo covers eight and adds a language only when it has form tables for it.