Pinboard alternatives when you want more than a URL
Pinboard is fast, cheap and intentionally featureless, so people leave it for one of two reasons: they want to see what they saved, or they want more than one person maintaining it. Raindrop.io answers both and is free. Kyurations answers the first and adds publishing and an in-app reader. Karakeep answers the second by making you the maintainer. If neither reason is yours, stay: nothing here is faster.
Why people are looking
Pinboard is a one-person operation, which is both why it is still cheap and still fast, and why some people want a fallback.
The other reason is visual. A list of blue links is hard to scan once it runs into the thousands, and impossible to show anyone.
The picks
Pinboard with covers, and a team behind it.
Best for: People who want the same archive, legible.
Strong at- Unlimited free bookmarks
- Previews, nested collections and a fast search
- Imports a Pinboard export directly
Weak at- Heavier than Pinboard
- Page archiving is on the paid tier
For when the tag pile was supposed to be a collection.
Best for: People who want to show someone the good ones.
Strong at- Cards that look like their source instead of a row of URLs
- Tags reconciled automatically rather than typed by hand every time
- Saved articles read in the app, and the text survives the original page going down
- Publish a list as a page under your handle
Weak at- The article text is kept, not a full-page snapshot
- Newer, with less history behind it
Own the server, own the fallback.
Best for: People whose worry is bus factor.
Strong at- Open source
- Full-text archive and automatic tagging
Weak at- You are now the one-person operation
The closest thing to self-hosted Pinboard.
Best for: People who want Pinboard's exact shape, on their own box.
Strong at- Tiny and fast, same spirit as Pinboard
- Imports Pinboard and Netscape HTML
Weak at- Minimal by design, so no previews
- Small community
Questions people ask
- Is Pinboard still maintained?
- Yes, by its founder, as it has been since 2009. That longevity is the point of it, and the single-maintainer risk is the reason some users keep a mirror elsewhere.
- Can I export my Pinboard bookmarks?
- Yes, as JSON or Netscape HTML. Raindrop, linkding, Karakeep and Kyurations all take one or both.
- What is the best free Pinboard alternative?
- Raindrop.io if you want it hosted, linkding or Karakeep if you want to host it yourself. Pinboard itself is paid, at around $22 a year.