Pocket vs Instapaper
When comparing Pocket vs Instapaper, the Slant community recommends Pocket for most people. In the question“What are the best ways to organize bookmarks?” Pocket is ranked 2nd while Instapaper is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose Pocket is:
Pocket is available on iOS, Android, Kobo eReader and on the web.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Available on the web and mobile devices
Pocket is available on iOS, Android, Kobo eReader and on the web.
Pro Allows reading saved content in offline mode
Instead of only saving the link, the content is saved for offline use.
Pro Well-finished GUI and UX
Pro The Pocket plugin for Google Chrome is very stable
Pro Allows tagging bookmarks
Bookmarks can be tagged for search accuracy later on.
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.
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.
Pro Works well across Google Chrome on macOS and iOS
Pro Highlighting available on iOS
Pro Ability to filter by content type
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pro Pagination
Allows for pagination, not just scrolling.
Pro Awesome offline mode
Pro Can look up words in a dictionary and Wikipedia
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.
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.
Pro Free archiving of deleted webpages
In Pocket, this is a paid function - but Instapaper provides this for free! If a webpage is deleted, it remains in your Instapaper and they even archive pictures of the articles.
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.
Pro Has a font designed for readers with Dyslexia
Instapaper includes Dyslexie a font that helps people with reading problems understand the text better.
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.
Cons
Con Only the paid version allows to search by tag
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 you are going to invest a lot of your personal time and energy in curating your Internet findings (i.e. your bookmarks and tags), it is essential that a total, fair and open export (including all tags) functionality is provided. Personally tested the export "feature" and the resulting .html file that Pocket generates currently included only the URLs themselves, i.e. no save dates nor any of your personally curated tags, nor any other useful meta-data.
This is deplorable, because otherwise, Pocket is a very polished and well-functioning piece of multi-platform and multi-device software/app/web service, with a very easy and well-designed and implemented user interface...
Please fix this, Pocket !
These days of open and inter-operable web services, users are only attracted by valuable functionality, clean UX design and no lockins.
Con Search function in Pro version does not follow the proper date sequence
Although the pro version lets us search by tags, the search results unfortunately does not follow the time sequence of the saving of articles. Search results may show some old articles first, then a bunch of new articles, and then again old articles. It's so random and frustating.
I have been using Pocket pro for quite a long time primarily because it lets me have the permanent copy of a news (this feature is really useful in journalism). However, when I search tag wise for the old references, the absence of time-sequencing the search results really frustates me.
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.
Con Not really a bookmark tool but a tool to save webpages for later reading
A real bookmark tool has editable fields like title, url, folder, tags, notes. This saves webpages.
Con Deleted or edited tags do not go away from tag suggestions
For example, imagine you accidentally created a tag "US" instead of "USA," and saved some articles under "US." The unfortunate part is even if you edit the tag and rename it "USA" , the previous tag name will always appear in the suggested tags: so when saving an article, if you type US in the tag box, you will see two suggestions "US" and "USA."
Con Chrome addon doesn't let you open your library without saving current page first
Con Can't import Firefox bookmark tags
When importing bookmarks from Firefox, Pocket doesn't include the tags.
Con Chrome addon doesn't allow you to add tags with keyboard only (have to use mouse) while saving page
Con Became a paid service again
Most functions, like search, became premium.
Con Basic search not free
Basic search for link title or website too is part of the premium.
Con Embedded images and videos are sometimes ignored
Instapaper sometimes saves articles without images or videos.
Con Only supports English
It only supports English, and not Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages.
Con Tags not implemented
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.