Readwise Reader alternatives, including the free ones
Readwise Reader is the strongest read-and-highlight tool available, and the usual reason to look elsewhere is the price. If you wanted the reading, Instapaper does it for less. If you wanted the saving and organising, Raindrop.io does it free. If you wanted a collection you could publish rather than a private archive, Kyurations does that free and reads the articles in the app while you highlight them. Nothing else matches Reader's highlight review, so if that is why you came, pay for it.
Why people are looking
Reader bundles three products: a reader, a highlighter with review, and a save-everything inbox. Most people only use one of them heavily.
At around $10 a month it is the most expensive tool in this category, which makes the question of which part you use worth answering honestly.
The picks
If you came for the reading.
Best for: People who read long articles on a phone.
Strong at- Cleanest article view
- Real offline reading
Weak at- Highlights are basic
- No review system
If you came for the inbox.
Best for: People who save far more than they read.
Strong at- Unlimited free saves
- Fast search and tags
Weak at- No review, thin reading view
If the archive was supposed to become something.
Best for: People who want to publish what they collect.
Strong at- Reads articles and PDFs in the app, and highlighting happens while you read, in one of four pens
- Marks stay painted in the article, and clicking one in the panel jumps back to it
- Highlights and clipped regions attach to the item rather than becoming new entries, and each quote links back to the exact words on the source
- Any list publishes as a page under your handle, highlights included
Weak at- No spaced review of highlights
- No newsletter inbox, and no direct sync into Obsidian, Notion or Roam
Questions people ask
- Is there a free Readwise Reader alternative?
- Not one that replaces all of it. Raindrop.io covers the saving free, Instapaper covers the reading on a free tier, and Kyurations covers reading, highlighting and publishing free. The highlight review system has no free equivalent, and that is the part worth paying for.
- Do I need Readwise as well as Readwise Reader?
- Reader includes Readwise. The older Readwise product is the highlight review layer, and a Reader subscription covers both.
- Can I export my Readwise highlights?
- Yes, to Markdown, CSV and directly into Obsidian, Notion and Roam. Export quality is one of the genuinely good things about it.