Compare Instapaper and Readwise Reader side by side on features, pricing, and the workflows each one is designed for.
A classic read-later app with clean text extraction and distraction-free reading.
Free, paid from $5.99/mo
A read-later app for articles, PDFs, emails, tweets, and YouTube, with deep highlights and AI features.
Free, paid from $9.99/mo
Here's how Instapaper and Readwise Reader compare across the features people actually look for. They share 15 core capabilities; the differences show up in what each tool focuses on.
| Feature | Instapaper | Readwise Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Capture and save | ||
| Browser extension | Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge | Chrome, Firefox, Safari |
| Mobile apps | iOS, Android | iOS, Android |
| Save from email | Unique save-by-email address | Per-user Reader address |
| Save tweets | Threads compiled as articles | |
| Save YouTube videos | URL only | With transcript highlighting |
| Save GitHub stars | ||
| Save PDFs | Premium | |
| Save files (docs, spreadsheets) | PDFs, EPUBs, HTML | |
| Save audio files | ||
| Save via API | ||
| Auto-sync sources | ||
| RSS auto-sync | ||
| YouTube channel sync | Via RSS | |
| X bookmarks sync | ||
| GitHub stars sync | ||
| Newsletter inbox sync | Forward-to-save, not a dedicated inbox | |
| Library and reading | ||
| Reader view | ||
| Offline reading | ||
| Full-text search | Premium | |
| Semantic / AI search | Ghostreader Q&A | |
| Highlights | ||
| Notes | ||
| Tags | ||
| Collections | Folders | Folders |
| Public sharing | ||
| Full-text RSS extraction | Partial | |
| AI and agents | ||
| Markdown export for AI agents | ||
| Bulk markdown export | ||
| MCP server | ||
| CLI tool | ||
| Claude Code skill | ||
| AI summaries | Ghostreader | |
| Public API | ||
| Import and export | ||
| OPML import / export | ||
| Pocket import | ||
| Instapaper import | ||
| CSV / JSON export | HTML + CSV | Via API |
| Send to Kindle | Premium |
Instapaper is free, paid from $5.99/mo and Readwise Reader is free, paid from $9.99/mo. The tier that fits best usually comes down to how many items you save each month.
Free
Unlimited saves, folders, tags, sync across web/iOS/Android, API access.
Premium
Full-text search, permanent archive, PDF reader, unlimited notes, Kindle send, AI voices, speed reading, ad-free.
Free
30-day trial of Readwise Full (includes Reader). No card required.
Readwise (Full)
$9.99/mo billed annually or $12.99/mo monthly. Includes Reader, highlights sync, and export to Notion/Obsidian.
Both tools do their category well, but the specifics differ. Here's what each one is good at and where it tends to fall short.
Instapaper is one of the original read-later apps, still going strong after Betaworks took it back from Pinterest in 2020. The product has always been sharp on one thing: save a web page, read it later in a clean typographic view. Free tier gets you unlimited saves, folders, tags, sync across iOS/Android/web, and a public API. Premium at $5.99/mo or $59.99/yr layers on full-text search, permanent archive, PDF reader, Kindle send, AI voices, and speed reading. Most of the product has shipped in a long tail of small updates rather than big reinventions. The recent wave added tags across every platform, highlights on the open web via the browser extensions, and send-to-Kindle right from the extension.
Readwise Reader is the reading companion to Readwise's highlight sync service. It handles articles, PDFs, EPUBs, emails, tweets, and YouTube transcripts in one inbox, with a Ghostreader AI copilot for summaries, definitions, and Q&A. Highlights sync to Notion, Obsidian, Logseq, Roam, Evernote, and Airtable. It ships as web, iOS, Android, and browser extensions, with a public REST API for scripting. Pricing is $9.99/mo billed annually (or $12.99/mo monthly) as part of the Readwise Full plan, which includes the highlight sync service. A 30-day free trial is available.