Wikiwand

Wikiwand
Logo used since 2024
Screenshot depicting Wikipedia's page in Wikiwand
Company typePrivately held company
Available inEnglish
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California[citation needed]
Area servedWorldwide
FoundersLior Grossman, Ilan Lewin
ChairpersonSaar Wilf
CEOTomer Lener (2015 — present)
Lior Grossman (2013 — 2015)
Key peopleItay Cohen (COO)
Employees10+
Websitewikiwand.com Edit this at Wikidata
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Launched2013
Current statusActive

Wikiwand, formerly stylized as WikiWand, is a commercial proprietary interface developed by an Israeli company of the same name for viewing Wikipedia articles. 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. The interface is available on Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge as well as via Wikiwand's website.

History

Wikiwand was founded in 2013 by Lior Grossman and Ilan Lewin. It officially launched in August 2014. Currently, Ilan is the General Manager at Kineti B.V., a Netherlands-based company involved in military sensory applications, under the Cypriot parent company Cnext Solutions Ltd.

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."

In March 2015, Wikiwand released an iOS app for iPhone and iPad.

In February 2020, an Android app was under development.

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.

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. On March 1, a Q&A feature powered by GPT-3 was added to the top of all articles.

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 claimed that it would donate 30 percent of its profits to the Wikimedia Foundation,[citation needed] though as of 2024, it was only applying this policy to user donations, not to subscription or advertising revenue.[failed verification] Per the site's Donation page, donations to Wikiwand are made to the Israeli company Wikipele Ltd.

As of January 24, 2026, Wikiwand was 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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Wikiwand - Press". Archived from the original on 27 December 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Web App WikiWand Raises $600,000 to Give Wikipedia a New Interface". TechCrunch. 7 August 2014. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  3. ↑ Jillian Wong (21 August 2014). "'WikiWand' Gives Wikipedia Clean New Layout For A Better Reading Experience". Taxi. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Shontell, Alyson (11 August 2014). "Wikipedia Gets A New Look Thanks To Israeli Startup Wikiwand". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-08-01. Wikiwand, an interface for Wikipedia, aims to modernize the presentation of Wikipedia's content with significantly improved design, navigation, and usability.[dead link]
  5. ↑ Lee, Dave (12 August 2014). "Wikiwand: A Slick Redesign for the Wikipedia Addict". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2025-08-01. For those who find Wikipedia's layout clunky, Wikiwand is a well-executed alternative that maintains all the depth of the original, wrapped in a much more appealing package.[dead link]
  6. ↑ Martin Brinkmann (14 August 2014). "WikiWand is a modernized Wikipedia frontend". ghacks.net. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  7. ↑ Honan, Mat (11 August 2014). "Wikiwand Gives Wikipedia a New, Gorgeous Face-Lift". Fast Company. Retrieved 2025-08-01. Wikiwand's redesign addresses many of the criticisms about Wikipedia's usability, offering a cleaner, more modern experience for readers.
  8. ↑ "Wikiwand - About us". Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  9. ↑ Grossman, Lior. "WikiWand is a slick new interface for Wikipedia". Product Hunt: Launches. Archived from the original on 2023-07-01. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  10. ↑ "KINETI B.V. - Company.info". Archived from the original on 17 June 2026. Retrieved 5 Jun 2026.
  11. ↑ Zach Epstein (18 March 2015). "New free iPhone app transforms Wikipedia into a stunning interactive experience". Yahoo. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Wikiwand for Android". Wikiwand. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  13. ↑ "Wikiwand, oder wie sehen 600K Venturekapital nach acht Jahren aus?" (in German). 2021-04-08.
  14. ↑ "Wikiwand 2.0 is officially here!". Wikiwand. 12 January 2023. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  15. ↑ "#Wikipedia + #gpt3 = 💞📜!". Wikiwand. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  16. ↑ "About Wikiwand". Wikiwand. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  17. ↑ "Wikipele Ltd., Ra'ananna, Israel". www.northdata.com. Archived from the original on 15 September 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  18. ↑ "Benefactors". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on 2026-01-24. Retrieved 2026-01-24.