The Best Spreeder Alternatives, Free and Paid
Facts checked October 9, 2026 by the Read Fast team. How we compared
Spreeder is the name everyone hears first, and for good reason: it has been around longer than almost any other speed reading app. But a lot of people try it and go looking elsewhere, usually because the free reader is limited, the apps want an account, or they wanted a simple reader and got a course with upsells. We compared seven Spreeder alternatives on the same features and prices, and say plainly where each one beats the others, including where competitors beat us.
The alternatives compared are Read Fast, Speeedy, SwiftRead, Outread, AccelaReader, Readlax and AceReader, each set against Spreeder itself in the table.
The short answer
The best Spreeder alternative for most people is a free browser RSVP reader that needs no account, such as Read Fast or Speeedy; choose SwiftRead if you want Spreeder's file support inside Chrome, Outread for a native iPhone and Mac app, and Readlax or AceReader if what you liked about Spreeder was the training.
- For a free reader with no account: the best option is Read Fast, because you can paste text or a URL and read at up to 400 WPM, 5,000 words a day, without signing up.
- For free PDF and EPUB reading: the best option is Speeedy, because it opens PDF, EPUB and DOCX files in the browser at no cost, with nothing to install.
- For keeping Spreeder-style file support inside Chrome: the best option is SwiftRead, because its extension reads web pages, PDFs, EPUBs and Kindle Cloud Reader books where you already are.
- For iPhone and Mac: the best option is Outread, because it is a native Apple app with a Flash (RSVP) mode, imports and a 4.7-star App Store rating.
- For replacing Spreeder's training: the best option is Readlax, because it is built around daily exercises, games and comprehension checks rather than a document reader.
At a glance
| Feature | Spreeder | Read Fast | Speeedy | SwiftRead | Outread | AccelaReader | Readlax | AceReader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free basic tier; VIP lifetime reported at $67 | Free (5,000 words/day, up to 400 WPM); Premium $19/yr or $49 lifetime | Free (open source) | Free with a daily quota; PRO monthly, annual or lifetime (price varies by region) | Free download; Outread+ from $4.99/mo, $29.99/yr or $119.99 lifetime (App Store) | Free; premium tier (URL import, AI passages) with no published price | Free basic; Pro $8.99/mo, $44.99/yr or $199.99 lifetime (Google Play, US) | No free plan; Personal $39/yr, Family from $59/yr |
| Free plan | Yes, limited (reported 200 words at a time) | Yes, no signup | Yes, fully free | Yes, daily quota | Yes, limited (imports and higher speeds need Outread+) | Yes, paste text | Yes, basic | No |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web | Web | Chrome extension, Web, iOS, Android | iOS, Mac | Web, Chrome extension | Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension | Web, Windows |
| Account needed | Yes | No | No | Not stated | Not stated | No | Not stated | Yes |
| RSVP (one word at a time) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not stated | Yes |
| Multi-word chunks | Yes | Yes, 1-3 words | Not stated | Yes | Yes | Yes | Phrase highlighting | Not stated |
| PDF import | Yes | Premium | Yes | Yes | Outread+ | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| EPUB import | Yes | Premium | Yes | Yes | Outread+ (DRM-free) | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Web article import | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Premium (reported) | Via browser extension | Not stated |
| Training / exercises | Yes | No | No | Not stated | Not stated | No | Yes | Yes |
| Comprehension check | Not stated | Speed test only | No | Not stated | Not stated | No | Yes | Yes |
Read the full feature and pricing notes for each app below. “Not stated” means the vendor doesn't say and we couldn't confirm it.
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The alternatives, ranked
1. Read FastOur app
Web · Free (5,000 words/day, up to 400 WPM); Premium $19/yr or $49 lifetime
Read Fast is our app. It covers the part of Spreeder most people actually use, the RSVP reader, and drops the account: paste text or import a URL and start. The free tier allows 5,000 words and 3 documents a day at up to 400 WPM. Premium raises the ceiling to 1,000 WPM and adds file upload and focus music, at a lower lifetime price than Spreeder's reported $67.
- Best for
- Spreeder reader users who want the same one-word-at-a-time reading without an account, in any browser, plus a free reading speed test.
- Trade-off
- No training course or drills, and PDF/EPUB upload is a Premium feature ($19/year or $49 lifetime).
2. Speeedy
Web · Free (open source)
Speeedy is a free, open-source RSVP web app that opens PDF, EPUB, DOCX, text files and URLs locally in your browser. On free file support it is the strongest alternative here, including ours.
- Best for
- Anyone who wants Spreeder's file support for free, with no account.
- Trade-off
- Newer and less proven, with no training, tests or progress plans.
3. SwiftRead
Chrome extension, Web, iOS, Android · Free with a daily quota; PRO monthly, annual or lifetime (price varies by region)
SwiftRead (formerly Spreed) speed-reads any page, PDF, EPUB or Kindle Cloud Reader book from a browser extension, with apps for iOS and Android. It is the most capable reader in the group, which is why its tightened free tier has drawn complaints.
- Best for
- Chrome users who used Spreeder's save-to-Spreeder extension and want reading in place instead.
- Trade-off
- The free tier now has a daily quota, PRO has no free trial (14-day refund instead), and recent reviews are much lower than its all-time rating.
“The Swiftread Chrome extension was updated to put basic features behind a subscription.”
“the free version works quite well”
4. Outread
iOS, Mac · Free download; Outread+ from $4.99/mo, $29.99/yr or $119.99 lifetime (App Store)
Outread has a one-word Flash mode and a guided-highlight mode, imports DRM-free EPUB and PDF files and read-later articles, and is rated 4.7 from about 1,400 App Store ratings.
- Best for
- iPhone, iPad and Mac users who want a native app rather than a website.
- Trade-off
- Apple only, and file imports need Outread+ (from $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $119.99 lifetime).
“the flashing mode was what did it”
“it's been awful after version 2.4”
5. AccelaReader
Web, Chrome extension · Free; premium tier (URL import, AI passages) with no published price
AccelaReader is a single free web page from Iris Reading with speed and chunk-size settings. It is the simplest Spreeder alternative and does not ask for anything.
- Best for
- The fastest possible paste-and-go session with zero setup.
- Trade-off
- Bare-bones: no files on the free page, URL import reportedly moved to premium, and the extension looks unmaintained.
6. Readlax
Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension · Free basic; Pro $8.99/mo, $44.99/yr or $199.99 lifetime (Google Play, US)
Readlax combines speed reading exercises, brain games and comprehension checks with a habit tracker and a browser extension that highlights phrases on web pages.
- Best for
- Former Spreeder course users who want structured daily practice.
- Trade-off
- Pro costs $8.99 a month or $44.99 a year on Google Play; it is a trainer, not a reader for your own documents.
7. AceReader
Web, Windows · No free plan; Personal $39/yr, Family from $59/yr
AceReader is long-running training software with adaptive courses and over a thousand levelled comprehension tests, sold per year in Personal and Family editions.
- Best for
- Families, schools and serious learners who want levelled courses and tests.
- Trade-off
- No free plan (Personal is $39 a year) and an interface reviewers call old-fashioned.
“My reading speed got noticeably faster from the start but it took some time for my comprehension to catch up.”
First, which part of Spreeder are you replacing?
Spreeder is really two products sold together, and the right alternative depends on which one you used:
| If you used Spreeder for | What to look for | Best alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| The RSVP reader (paste text, read fast) | A reader with no signup and a decent free tier | Read Fast, Speeedy, AccelaReader |
| Reading PDFs and e-books | Free or cheap file import | Speeedy (free), SwiftRead, Outread+, Read Fast Premium |
| The training courses and drills | Structured exercises and progress tracking | Readlax, AceReader |
| Reading on your phone | A native app or a reader that works in mobile browsers | Outread (iOS), Read Fast (any browser) |
If it was the reader, you will lose nothing by switching. The core technique, RSVP, is the same in every app here; our RSVP explainer covers how it works and its limits. If it was the training, be aware that the evidence for speed reading courses is modest. The 2016 review by Rayner and colleagues found that comprehension, not eye movement, sets the ceiling, so treat any course promising several times your current speed with skepticism.
What Spreeder users say
Spreeder's apps rate well overall (4.7 on the App Store from about 400 ratings, 4.5 on Google Play from about 3,500), so this is not a story about a bad product. The complaints that send people looking are specific and repeated:
- Being asked to sign in again on every launch of the Android app.
- The app hanging after importing an EPUB.
- A free reader that is fine for a paragraph but limiting for a full article.
If none of those bother you, Spreeder may still be the right tool, especially if you want its courses. If they do, start with the free option that matches how you read, and check your baseline first with the reading speed test so you can tell whether the switch is actually helping.
How to switch without losing momentum
- Take a baseline. Measure your current WPM with a comprehension check. The reading speed test takes about two minutes.
- Start at that speed, not your Spreeder speed. Different apps time words differently (pauses at punctuation, longer words held longer), so your old setting may feel faster or slower.
- Increase in steps of 25 to 50 WPM once a speed feels easy, and stop increasing when you can no longer summarise what you just read.
- Use the reading time calculator to see what your new speed means for the books and reports on your list.
How we compared, and our bias
We make Read Fast, so treat our placement of it with appropriate suspicion. To keep this page useful anyway, every app is scored on the same attributes, using facts taken from each vendor's own website, pricing page or app store listing on the date shown above, and we say plainly where a competitor is the better choice. User quotes are verbatim from public reviews and forums, linked to their source. Prices are in US dollars and change often, so check the vendor's site before you buy.
Spotted something out of date? Tell us at hello@readfastapp.xyz and we'll re-check it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free alternative to Spreeder?
For pasted text and web articles, Read Fast is free with no account (5,000 words a day at up to 400 WPM). For PDFs and EPUBs, Speeedy is fully free and open source. For reading selected text inside Chrome, Sprint Reader is a free, open-source extension.
Is there an app like Spreeder for iPhone?
Outread is the closest native iPhone and Mac alternative, with a Flash (RSVP) mode and a 4.7-star App Store rating. SwiftRead also has an iOS app, and browser readers like Read Fast work in Safari without installing anything.
Why do people look for Spreeder alternatives?
The common reasons in reviews are the free reader's limits, needing an account and being signed out of the app, stability issues when importing EPUBs, and wanting a simpler reader without courses and upgrade prompts.
Is Spreeder free?
Spreeder has a free basic version, reportedly limited to 200 words at a time, plus a paid VIP upgrade that third-party reviews list at $67 lifetime. Check spreeder.com for the current price, which changes with eReflect's promotions.
What happened to 7 Speed Reading?
7 Speed Reading was eReflect's desktop training software. eReflect's store now says it has joined Spreeder, so it is no longer sold as a separate product.
Is Spreeder better than SwiftRead?
Spreeder is better if you want training and courses; SwiftRead is better if you want to speed-read pages, PDFs and Kindle Cloud Reader books inside your browser. Both have limited free tiers. Our Spreeder vs SwiftRead page compares them feature by feature.
Do I need an account to use a Spreeder alternative?
Not for all of them. Read Fast, Speeedy, AccelaReader and Sprint Reader all work without an account. Spreeder, AceReader and most training apps need one.
Which Spreeder alternative is best for PDFs?
SwiftRead reads PDFs in its extension and apps, Speeedy opens them free in the browser, Outread imports them with Outread+, and Read Fast reads uploaded PDFs on Premium. Scanned PDFs without selectable text will not work in any of them.
Can I move my Spreeder library to another app?
There is no shared format for speed reading libraries, so in practice you re-open the original files or web pages in the new app. RSVP readers work on the text itself, so nothing about your reading speed or settings is lost beyond the WPM you choose.