Follow
Productivity

What are the best read-it-later apps?

11
Options Considered
88
Recommendations
Last Updated
Related Questions
Activity
Have feedback or ideas?
Discord logoJoin our community
on Discord
Here’s the Deal
Slant is written by a community helping you be informed. Tell us what you’re passionate about to get an awesome personalized feed.

11 Options Considered

11 Options ConsideredPricePlatformsSoftware Type
Pocket
Android, iOS, Kobo, web, macOS, WindowsGoogle Chrome extension, desktop app
Instapaper
web, Android, iOS–
Wallabag
––
Raindrop.io
––
PaperSpan
iOS, Android, Web, Chrome–
Expand spec tableSee Full List

Pocket

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
Andris Pelcbergs
_
Top Pro

Saves progress

•••
Pocket lets you know where you left off reading an article. Great for long reads.
Ryan
Top Pro

Tag-based organizational system

•••
Chloe Montanez
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Allows listening to saved articles

•••
Pocket comes with a built-in text-to-speech feature that will read out loud saved articles.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Integrates with over 500 apps

•••
A key advantage of Pocket is that it is integrated in over 500 apps as a way to save the link, including Twitter, Flipboard, Pulse and Zite.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Can playback inline video

•••
Pocket will play videos from YouTube, Vimeo and other sources that are embedded in articles, but you have to be online for playback to work.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Allows setting offline storage limits

•••
If your device does not have enough space to store offline articles, Pocket allows users to set the maximum size for the app to store offline articles. Priority of the offline articles will be based on newest first or oldest first, based on the users preferences.
Porohnavec József
Top Pro

Allows reading saved content in offline mode

•••
Instead of only saving the link, the content is saved for offline use.
Daniel Naron
Top Pro

Suggests new reads

•••
Curates suggested reads based on usual read topics. Mostly through ads in-app and email subscription.
Porohnavec József
Top Pro

Available on the web and mobile devices

•••
Pocket is available on iOS, Android, Kobo eReader and on the web.
Porohnavec József
Top Pro

Well-finished GUI and UX

•••
Porohnavec József
Top Pro

Recommendations for friends

•••
If you've read an exceptional article you can share it to your followers or you can see what your friends are recommending to read.
Yoshiyuki
TheoMiller
Top Pro

Included in Firefox

•••
Pocket is now integrated into the Firefox web browser, and you can login using your Firefox/Mozilla login, instead of having to create a separate account. This login method can even be used natively on their website, regardless what browser is being used.
Daniel Naron
Top Pro

Ability to filter by content type

•••
Daniel Naron
Top Pro

Works well across Google Chrome on macOS and iOS

•••
Daniel Naron
Top Pro

Allows tagging bookmarks

•••
Bookmarks can be tagged for search accuracy later on.
Porohnavec József
Top Pro

The Pocket plugin for Google Chrome is very stable

•••
_
Top Pro

Code snippets display correctly

•••
Yoshiyuki
TheoMiller
Top Con

Correct and open export of bookmarks and tags are not possible

•••
This means that Pocket is (currently) a total lock-in. This is very sad, unfortunate and creates a no go decision for any seasoned user. Too many bookmarking and tagging companies have stopped or have gone bankrupt these last years (e.g. Kippt, Spingpad, Delicious (to some extent), etc.). So, if...
TheoMiller
Top Con

Can't rename the title of links

•••
If the page title isn't correct/good for a link, there is no way for you to fix it.
See 17 more Pros & ConsSee 17 more Pros & Cons

Instapaper

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Annotation tools

•••
Allows leaving notes attached to articles and highlighting certain part of the text. Free version of the app is limited to 5 highlights a month.
Drew Breunig
Top Pro

Pagination

•••
Allows for pagination, not just scrolling.
Ryan
Top Pro

Can be set to switch to dark mode based on time of day

•••
Instapaper includes a dark theme and allows switching to it after a set period in time or gradually over the course of the day.
Ryan
Top Pro

Has a font designed for readers with Dyslexia

•••
Instapaper includes Dyslexie a font that helps people with reading problems understand the text better.
Ryan
Top Pro

Excellent typography choices

•••
Instapaper allows you to choose from 14 different fonts, some of which have been designed specifically for the application. You can manually adjust spacing between lines, padding around text and font size to fit your preferences.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Includes optional social features

•••
If you set your Instapaper profile to be public, your friends will be able to see articles you've liked.
Ryan
Top Pro

Articles can be emailed to Instapaper

•••
You can add articles to Instapaper by sending them to a unique email address associated with your account.
Ryan
Top Pro

Rarely seen organization options

•••
In addition to allowing you to sort articles by when you saved them, you can also order articles by length or read progress and popularity.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Allows listening to articles

•••
Instapaper comes with a build in text-to-speech feature that will read out loud articles. Premium version of the app allows creating playlists.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Can playback inline video

•••
Instapaper will play videos from YouTube, Vimeo and other sources that are embedded in articles, but you have to be online for playback to work.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Can look up words in a dictionary and Wikipedia

•••
Chloe Montanez
Top Con

Only supports English

•••
It only supports English, and not Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages.
Chloe Montanez
Rex Tsai
Top Con

Search functions return random articles

•••
The search function is very slow and does not provide accurate results. The user can not filter or reorder the search results, or search the archive or annotated articles.
Ryan
Top Con

Embedded images and videos are sometimes ignored

•••
Instapaper sometimes saves articles without images or videos.
See 12 more Pros & ConsSee 12 more Pros & Cons

Wallabag

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
QuietParticle
Top Pro

Optional server self hosting

•••
thermoplastics
Felix
Top Pro

Open source

•••
QuietParticle
Top Pro

Firefox and Chrome extensions available

•••
QuietParticle
Top Pro

Tagging

•••
Know any negative aspects of this option?
See 3 more ProsSee 3 more Pros

Raindrop.io

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
thermoplastics
Jim McGuire
Top Pro

Web clipper

•••
Works well with Chrome browser.
thermoplastics
Jim McGuire
Top Pro

Available on many platforms

•••
Including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, as well as extensions for the Crome browser, Firefox, Safari and Opera.
Know any negative aspects of this option?
See 1 more ProSee 1 more Pro

PaperSpan

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
ElatedGalene
Top Pro

Highlighting

•••
ElatedGalene
Top Pro

Text to speech and Playlist

•••
ElatedGalene
Top Pro

Offline availability on Android and iOS

•••
ElatedGalene
Top Pro

Send to Kindle

•••
Monika
Timo Dinkler
Top Pro

Reading statistics

•••
Gives details about how many articles have been read, unread, and time spent reading. Word cloud of all articles saved. More statistics available on iOS, but for premium.
Monika
Timo Dinkler
Top Pro

Automatic categorization

•••
Articles are auto-categorized when you save them. So you can read them later by picking by categories.
ElatedGalene
Top Pro

Notes for article

•••
Know any negative aspects of this option?
See 6 more ProsSee 6 more Pros

Zholink

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
Chloe Montanez
Robert Seaborn
Top Pro

Offline reading is available

•••
Chloe Montanez
Robert Seaborn
Top Pro

Save thousands of links and find them easily

•••
Chloe Montanez
Robert Seaborn
Top Con

It could use some work on the design

•••
Chloe Montanez
Robert Seaborn
Top Con

Not available on iPhone or iPad

•••
See 2 more Pros & ConsSee 2 more Pros & Cons

Tagpacker

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
thermoplastics
Daniel “Zimmer” Mann
Top Pro

Shareable

•••
i\Individual or public setting.
thermoplastics
Daniel “Zimmer” Mann
Top Pro

Fast UX in browser plugin

•••
When the plugin is installed, you cannot beat the usability with tagging.
thermoplastics
Daniel “Zimmer” Mann
Top Pro

Made in Germany

•••
Laura Kyle
ImmaculateAkhushtal
Top Con

No android app

•••
See 2 more ProsSee 2 more Pros

Stash.ai

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
Paolo
G R
Top Pro

Public collections

•••
You can create and share collections of links that are organized by custom categories.
Paolo
G R
Top Pro

Cross device support

•••
Available for all extensions (Chrome, Safari, Firefox) and has extensions for iOS and Android. You can also push between devices.
G R
Top Con

No pictures

•••
Unlike other bookmarking tools (like Pocket), the interface does not show thumbnails or pictures. Stash shows category icons instead.
See 1 more ProSee 1 more Pro

Readability

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
Ryan
Top Pro

Allows seeing what other people are reading

•••
You can follow friend's feeds to find out what they are interested in.
Ryan
Top Con

No longer updated since 2013

•••
Readability is no longer updated. The last update for this app is on January 7, 2013, which means no app redesigns, bug fixes or new features will be available.

Basket

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
Kristaps
RespectableTitias
Top Pro

Minimal design

•••
Kristaps
RespectableTitias
Top Pro

No ads

•••
Kristaps
RespectableTitias
Top Pro

Best UX

•••
Kristaps
RespectableTitias
Top Con

Not on iOS yet

•••
See 2 more ProsSee 2 more Pros

Flashbackr

•••
Add Media iconAdd Video or Image
thermoplastics
Jason
Top Pro

Simple and beautiful

•••
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Free

•••
Know any negative aspects of this option?
See 1 more ProSee 1 more Pro

88 Community Recommendations

Rex Tsai
xyzz
Robert Seaborn
Luca Melandri
Robert Orzanna
Nicole Hennig
Porohnavec József
QuietParticle
Snapshot
Peter J. Mello
Vaibhaw Singh Chandel
+67
Community Icon
Request recommendations from the communityInfo IconInfo Icon
Daniel Naron
Daniel
Contributor for 10 months
10
Total Rec's
1.2K
Total Karma
Pocket
Recommended a month ago by Daniel
Although I haven't tried anything else, Pocket is well polished and very comfortable to use 👍
Pro
 Allows listening to saved articles
Pro
 Can playback inline video
Pro
 Saves progress
Pro
 Tag-based organizational system
Pro
 Integrates with over 500 apps
Pro
 Allows setting offline storage limits
Pro
 Allows reading saved content in offline mode
Pro
 Available on the web and mobile devices
Pro
 Well-finished GUI and UX
Pro
 Recommendations for friends
Pro
 Allows tagging bookmarks
Pro
 Works well across Google Chrome on macOS and iOS
Pro
 Ability to filter by content type
Pro
 Suggests new reads
Comment IconSee full recommendationSee full
Robert Seaborn
Robert
Contributor for 4 months
1
Total Rec's
105
Total Karma
Zholink
Recommended 4 months ago by Robert
It functions like a newsreader with the Public Links, and as a read it later app with My Links. The different buttons provides direct lists of link to make it easy to find the links you're looking for.
Pro
 Save thousands of links and find them easily
Con
 Not available on iPhone or iPad
Con
 It could use some work on the design
Pro
 Offline reading is available
Comment IconSee full recommendationSee full
Tom Barron
Tom
Contributor for 4 months
4
Total Rec's
0
Total Karma
Instapaper
Recommended 4 months ago by Tom
Instapaper is the one I've used and I've been happy with it.
Comment IconSee full recommendationSee full
Currently displaying 3 out of 88 total recommendations.
Welcome to the Slant Community
Stop spending hours researching
Slant is written by a community helping you be informed. Let us know what you’re passionate about to get an awesome personalized feed.