Wikiwand
Viewer interface for Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikiwand, formerly stylized as WikiWand,[2] is a commercial proprietary interface developed by an Israeli company for viewing Wikipedia articles.[3][4][5] Its interface includes a sidebar menu displaying the table of contents, a navigation bar, personalized links to other languages, new typography, access to previews of linked articles, display advertisements, and sponsored articles.[6][7] The interface is available on Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge as well as via Wikiwand's website.
Logo used since 2024 | |
 Screenshot depicting Wikipedia's page in Wikiwand | |
| Type of business | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California[citation needed] |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Lior Grossman, Ilan Lewin |
| Chairman | Saar Wilf |
| CEO | Tomer Lener (2015 — present) Lior Grossman (2013 — 2015) |
| Key people | Itay Cohen (COO) |
| Employees | 10+ |
| URL | wikiwand |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | 2013[1] |
| Current status | Active |
History
Wikiwand was founded in 2013[1] by Lior Grossman and Ilan Lewin.[8] It officially launched in August 2014.[9]
In 2014, Wikiwand was able to raise $600,000 to support the development of the interface. According to Grossman, "It didn't make sense to us that the fifth most popular website in the world, used by half a billion people, has an interface that hasn't been updated in over a decade. We found the Wikipedia interface cluttered, hard to read, hard to navigate, and lacking in terms of usability."[2]
In March 2015, Wikiwand released an iOS app for iPhone and iPad.[10]
In February 2020, an Android app was under development.[11]
In 2021, it was noted that visiting a Wikiwand page made the visitor's device exchange hundreds of requests and several megabytes of data with advertisers.[12]
On January 12, 2023, Wikiwand 2.0 was officially launched with an overhauled interface and new features like text-to-speech and AI-generated summaries collaborated with Wordtune Read.[13] On March 1, a Q&A feature powered by GPT-3 was added to the top of all articles.[14]
As of January 24, 2026, Wikiwand is still advertising itself as a 'leading donor' to the Wikimedia Foundation, but neither Wikiwand or Wikipele Ltd. are listed in the Wikimedia Foundation's 'Benefactors' list[15].
Business model
Unlike Wikipedia, Wikiwand is ad-supported. It employs a freemium model that charges for a premium, ad-free plan. A large number of tracking cookies are set. When it started, Wikiwand falsely[citation needed] claimed that it would donate 30 percent of its profits to the Wikimedia Foundation. As of 2024, this applies only for user donations, not to subscription or advertising revenue.[16] Per the site's Donation page, donations to Wikiwand are made to the Israeli company Wikipele Ltd.[17]
