Alternatives
Products that do what Ello (YC W20) – AI-reading tutor for kids that works with real books does
Hi HN, We’re Elizabeth, Catalin, and Tom - the founders of Ello (https://www.helloello.com). Ello is an AI-powered app that mimics the one-on-one interaction of a reading tutor by listening to, encouraging, and coaching kids grade K-3 as they read out loud from a real book. We posted on HN back in 2020 when we launched Trustle, a company designed to pair families with dedicated experts in child development. We learned from that experience that parents don’t want a consultant, but they do want actual help with specific challenges—one of the biggest being reading. Prior to COVID, 65%…
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8LC
Hey folks! I'm Callum, and I'm working on a way to practice a new language with an AI powered tutor. I've always found that the hardest part of learning a new language is finding someone to actually converse with. Even if a partner can be found, the pressure can mean that you are more focused on not making mistakes than on actually learning new grammar or vocabulary. The service that I have been working on allows you to practice with a language tutor via online chat messages, or you can have a turn-based voice conversation. I'm working on a number of other features that will be coming out…
2023 · learnlingo.dev
- 9
- 10
- 11RA
2021 · readow.ai
- 120A
I wanted to share a project that I've been working on designed to help young kids go from reading single words to reading whole books. My husband and I started spending a lot of time teaching our 5-year-old (Alex) to read because our school district is exclusively doing remote learning and I was skeptical that he could learn to read over Zoom. We used flashcards (which Alex found boring) and then combined them into sentences (which Alex found interesting). But the sentence approach requires a lot of arranging pieces of paper and remembering which words you are working on. So I developed…
2020
- 13
- 14AO
Hi HN! I've been working on BookWith, an open-source e-book reader that integrates AI as your reading companion. The problem: Traditional e-readers are passive. When you encounter something unclear, you have to context-switch to search for it. Your highlights and notes remain isolated, and you can't easily connect ideas across different books. My solution: BookWith embeds an AI that maintains full context of what you're reading. It features: - Context-aware AI chat: Ask questions about the current page/chapter and get instant answers - AI podcast generation: Automatically converts book…
2025 · github.com
- 15
- 16KL
2024 · kindllm.app
- 17
- 18
- 19IB
Hey HN! I’m Alex, and one of my favorite ways to learn languages is by reading novels. Currently I’m reading 三体 (3 body problem), but one problem I've always had is it takes ages to look up words, and add them to Anki flashcards so I can remember them. 三体 is especially brutal with so much sci-fi vocab. That’s why I built Readly. I snap a pic of the page I’m reading, it loads the text in-app and lets me lookup words, add to Anki-style flashcards, or ask AI questions about the text, all in a single tap. It's a huge time saver. My specific learning strategy, if anyone wants to replicate it: 1.…
2025 · readly.ink
- 20
- 21
- 22IB
Hey HN, I’m a dev and a dad to a 10-year-old. I built this because I caught my daughter using ChatGPT to do her history homework. She wasn't learning; she was just acting as a "middleware" between the AI and the paper. The Backstory: I realized the problem isn't the AI—it's the zero-friction answers. Most "AI for kids" apps are just "parrots"—they mimic intelligence by repeating patterns. What’s Different: Qurio is a "Bicycle" for the mind. It treats the child like a future "Architect" rather than a "Junior Executor." Technically, it wraps an LLM in a strict "Socratic Loop." It detects…
Feb 2026 · thinkqurio.com
- 23
- 24
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Refine with a description →