Readable vs textstat
Readable
readable.comtextstat
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Readable | textstat |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $12/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · AI Readability Checkers | 8.4 (#2) | 7.7 (#17) |
| Integrations | Official pages list Dropbox and Slack applications as integrations. | For syllable calculation, it uses Pyphen in most languages and defaults to nltk.corpus.cmudict for en_US. |
| Purpose | Readable is an online toolkit for analyzing and improving writing readability and quality. | Textstat is a Python library for calculating text statistics to assess readability, complexity, and grade level. |
| Readability formulas | The service includes formulas such as Flesch, Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, SMOG, Coleman-Liau, ARI, FORCAST, Fry, Raygor, CEFR and IELTS. | It includes measures such as Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, SMOG, Coleman-Liau, ARI, Dale-Chall, and Gunning Fog. |
| Support | Readable advertises an extensive knowledge base plus in-app and email support. | The project asks users to report problems by opening a GitHub issue. |
Plans
In their own words
textstat
textstat is a free, open-source Python library for measuring readability, text complexity, and grade level. It calculates Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade, SMOG, Coleman-Liau, ARI, Dale-Chall, and Gunning Fog scores. Its text_standard function combines multiple tests to estimate the school grade needed to understand a passage. Other functions count words, sentences, characters, letters, syllables, polysyllabic words, and monosyllabic words, while reading-time estimates use character counts. English is the default language, with listed variants and measures for Spanish, Arabic, Italian, and German. Installation is documented through pip, Poetry, Pipenv, pipx, or GitHub source; pipx can provide a command-line tool. Python 3.6 or later is required, and the package uses the MIT license. Documentation says SMOG is statistically invalid below 30 sentences, despite returning results from three sentences. Two Spanish formulas also have stated reliability limits. The project requests GitHub issues for problems and email reports for vulnerabilities.