Linus vs Counterpart: Two AI Scene Partner Apps Compared

You’ve got the sides, a quiet hour, and nobody to read the other part. Linus and Counterpart both promise to fix that. Each one reads the other characters, each one waits for your cue before it answers, and each one can run while you put the scene on tape.

Look closer and they’re built in different directions. Linus leans on AI voices and runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, and the web. Counterpart lives on Apple devices and lets the reader be your own voice, a friend’s, or text-to-speech. We judged both apps, and Offbook, on the same seven questions, with prices checked in November 2026. Our pick for most actors is Offbook, which reads every other role with realistic voices and listens for you to finish each line; the reasons are below.

How We Compared Them

A scene partner app earns its place when you still reach for it the night before the next audition. These seven questions decide that.

• Who reads the other parts? AI voices, your own recordings, a friend’s, or a mix.
• How does it know it’s your turn? Listening for your whole line, or for one cue word.
• How does your script get in? Which files it takes, and how many pages it handles at once.
• What memorization tools does it have? Hidden lines, first letters, flashcards, looping, a teleprompter.
• Can it help with the tape? Recording inside the app, or reading for you while you film.
• Where does it run? Phone, tablet, laptop, or a browser.
• What does it cost? What’s free, what a plan costs, and what it meters.

Offbook, Linus, and Counterpart at a Glance

Each App on the Same Seven Points

Offbook

Offbook starts from the script you already have. Upload a PDF, a photo of the pages (PNG or JPEG), or a text file, and it sorts the pages into roles and lines and writes a title and summary for the scene. Pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character. Free and Starter cast from 12 voices; Pro and Premium cast from a larger catalog.

When you rehearse, Offbook plays the other lines, listens through your microphone while you say yours, and plays the next cue when it hears you finish. You can also press Enter or say “next line” to move on. Strict matching holds you close to the script, Lenient has a 0-100 slider, and Manual never moves on by itself. You can set the speed of the voices for the whole scene or for one line, and add a pause where the scene needs a beat.

For memorizing, hide your own lines while everyone else’s stay visible, hide the whole script for a final test, or swap your lines for the first 1-8 letters of each word. The teleprompter shows your line large and highlights each word as you say it, and scene looping starts the scene again when it ends. When you film, Offbook is the reader off camera while you record on your phone or camera. You rehearse on your laptop with the full script on a big screen, and listen to your scenes on your phone anywhere.

Price: Starter is $9.99 a month, Pro $14.99, and Premium $29.99, with annual billing from $7.99 a month. Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial (it requires a card), paid plans have no monthly cap on the number of scripts, generated voice audio has a monthly allowance of 50,000 characters on Starter, 100,000 on Pro, and 200,000 on Premium, and students and educators get 50% off with a valid .edu email. Best for: actors who want a reader that hears them finish, for anything from two pages of sides to a full-length play.

Linus

Linus reads the other parts with AI voices and waits for your cue before the next character’s line comes in. Its App Store listing says it works in more than 32 languages, and that you can loop sections.

For the tape, Linus has a teleprompter and records your takes in the app. We could not verify which script file types it takes. It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Android, and as a web app in a browser.

Price: free for a 1-page scene with up to 10 lines. A 3-day pass is $1.99, Pro is $9.99 a month, and Premium is $19.99 a month on its pricing page. Pro lists Linus Cloud and shareable links; the page does not describe what a link lets a castmate do. Best for: actors on Android who want a short pass.

Counterpart

Counterpart is built around choosing who reads. The reader can be your own recording, a friend’s recording, or AI text-to-speech. A friend records their lines in a web browser with no account, and those recordings become the reader, according to its App Store listing.

It listens for a cue word, which is the last word of your line by default, as its support page describes. It imports PDFs, including scanned or watermarked sides, reads them with OCR up to 10 pages at a time, and sorts your dialogue, the other characters’ lines, and the stage directions. You can hide your lines, run a scene on repeat, drill flashcards, and record a self-tape while it reads.

Price: a free download with in-app purchases. Counterpart Studio is $6.99 a month or $58.99 a year in the US App Store. It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Best for: Apple users who want a friend’s real voice in the other chair.

Who Reads the Other Part

This is where the two apps differ most. Linus gives you AI voices for the other characters. Counterpart lets you choose: record the other lines yourself, have a friend record them in a browser with no account, or let text-to-speech do it. Offbook casts realistic voices for every role but yours, from 12 voices on Starter up to a larger catalog on Pro and Premium.

Whichever reader you choose, remember who has to do the talking. A University of Waterloo study of 95 people compared reading silently, hearing someone else read, hearing a recording of yourself, and reading aloud in real time. Reading aloud yourself was remembered best. The reader gives you cues; the learning happens when you say your own lines out loud.

Cue Words vs. Hearing Your Whole Line

How an app decides it’s your turn changes how a run feels. Counterpart listens for one word, the last word of your line unless you choose another. That’s fast and predictable when you’re word-perfect, so land the last word of each line clearly.

Linus waits for your cue before the next character’s line comes in.

Offbook listens to the whole line and plays the next cue when it detects you’ve finished. You choose how strict it is: Strict for word-perfect work, Lenient (with a slider) while you’re still finding the words, or Manual when you want to hold a long pause and then press Enter. It can also move on after 1 to 6 seconds of silence, so you don’t have to touch anything between lines.

Getting Your Script In

Counterpart takes a PDF, scanned pages included, and analyzes up to 10 pages at a time, which suits audition sides. For Linus, we could not verify which script file types it takes.

Offbook takes a PDF, a photo of the pages, or a text file. One scene holds up to 50 pages or about 10,000 words, and the page picker splits up to 150 pages into 10 scenes, so a full-length play fits. You can edit the dialogue afterward, move a line to the right character, or add a pause. Before you start a long role, our free script line counter shows how many lines you have to learn.

Memorization Tools That Make You Recall

The useful tools make you pull the line out of memory instead of reading it again. Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke showed why in a study summarized by the APS. Students who tested themselves read the passages about 3.4 times and recalled 61% a week later. Students who kept rereading read them about 14.2 times and recalled 40%, and they felt more confident.

Counterpart hides your lines, runs a scene on repeat, and makes flashcards for silent drilling. Linus loops the sections you choose and has a teleprompter. Offbook hides your lines or the whole script, and its first-letter cues show the first 1-8 letters of each word or only the first word of each line. You can try first-letter cues on any text with our free first-letter memorizer.

Don’t learn the words as a string of sounds, though. Helga and Tony Noice found that actors learn lines by working out what the words mean and what the character is after, which the APS Observer described as active experiencing. Lines learned while making a movement were also remembered better. Walk the blocking while the reader gives you your cues.

Laptops, Phones, and Self-Tapes

Linus runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, and as a web app, so you can use it on a laptop in a browser. Counterpart’s App Store listing covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac; neither the listing nor its website lists an Android or web version. On a Mac, it’s an app from the App Store rather than a page in your browser.

With Offbook, you rehearse in a laptop or desktop browser, on Mac or Windows, with the full script on a big screen. On your phone you listen to your scenes, with your own lines spoken, skipped, or left as silent gaps, and playback keeps going with the screen locked. A scene can also be saved as an MP3 for the commute.

Linus records your takes in the app, and Counterpart records a self-tape while it reads. Offbook reads off camera while you film on your phone or camera. For the whole setup, see how to self-tape alone.

What Your Situation Calls For

• You want a reader that hears you finish your whole line: Offbook, which listens and cues the next line, with Strict, Lenient, or Manual matching.
• You get new sides most weeks: Offbook, whose paid plans have no monthly cap on the number of scripts.
• You’re learning a full-length play: Offbook, where the page picker splits up to 150 pages into scenes.
• You want to run a scene with a castmate: Offbook shares a scene by email invitation on every paid plan, or by public link on Pro and Premium, and free accounts can practice scenes shared with them.
• You want to go over a scene on a walk: Offbook’s listen mode plays the whole scene on your phone.
• You want to ask about the character, not just drill: Offbook’s Genie answers questions about motivation, scene context, and line interpretation.
• You want to try before you pay: Offbook’s free run lines online tool and first-letter memorizer need no account, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.

Need a scene to practice on first? Pick one from our library of public-domain plays or a speech from the monologue collection. Our free run lines online tool rehearses classic scenes and waits for your line. If you’re weighing a switch, our Linus comparison and Counterpart comparison go into more detail, and Linus vs ScenePartner puts Linus next to another reader app.

Questions Actors Ask

What is the difference between Linus and Counterpart?

Linus reads the other parts with AI voices, runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, and the web, and sells a 3-day pass as well as monthly plans. Counterpart runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, listens for a cue word, and lets the reader be your recording, a friend’s, or text-to-speech. Our pick for most actors is Offbook, which reads every other role with realistic voices and listens for your whole line.

Can I use Linus or Counterpart on a laptop?

Linus has a web app, so it runs in a laptop browser. Counterpart has a Mac app in the App Store; its listing names no Windows or web version. Offbook runs in a laptop or desktop browser on Mac or Windows. On a phone, Offbook plays your scenes for listening, with the screen locked if you like, and the iPhone app is coming soon.

Can a friend read the other part in Linus or Counterpart?

In Counterpart, yes: a friend records their lines in a browser with no account, and those recordings become the reader. Linus’s Pro plan lists shareable links, but its pricing page does not describe what a link lets a castmate do. Offbook shares a whole scene by email invitation on every paid plan, and the people you invite can practice it even on a free account.

How much do Linus and Counterpart cost?

Linus is free for a 1-page scene with up to 10 lines, then $1.99 for a 3-day pass, $9.99 a month for Pro, or $19.99 a month for Premium. Counterpart is a free download, and Counterpart Studio costs $6.99 a month or $58.99 a year. Offbook’s Starter plan is $9.99 a month, annual billing starts at $7.99 a month, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.

Which AI scene partner app is best?

Our pick is Offbook. It reads every role but yours with realistic voices, listens for you to finish each line, takes PDFs, photos, and text files up to a full-length play, and lets you try its free tools with no account. For more apps judged the same way, see our guide to the best AI scene partner apps.

The Verdict

Our pick for most actors is Offbook. Realistic voices read every role but yours, so there is no recording session before you can run a scene. It listens for you to finish the whole line, not one cue word, and Strict, Lenient, or Manual matching fits how word-perfect you need to be. And its paid plans have no monthly cap on the number of scripts, from two pages of sides to a full-length play split into scenes.

Between the two apps compared here, the split is in the reader and the devices. Linus uses AI voices, runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, and the web, and sells a 3-day pass. Counterpart runs on Apple devices, listens for a cue word, and lets a friend record the other part from a browser. For the wider field, see our best AI scene partner apps guide.

Offbook is made by the team behind this blog. Prices as of November 2026.