Buyer’s guide
The best read-later apps and Pocket alternatives in 2026
Pocket shut down on 8 July 2025 and its export page stopped working in November 2025, so there is no library left to migrate — the only question is which app you pick next, and whether it will still be here in five years. We weighed that last part heavily: who owns each of these, whether the product is their whole business or a side asset, and how cleanly you can get your data back out. Offline reading is the other dividing line, and it is the most misdescribed fact in the category, so we checked it against each vendor’s own documentation rather than against the review sites.
Rankings as of July 2026
The Grid
Positioning is appsappsapps.app’s editorial view: the horizontal axis is our ranking; the vertical axis is relative search demand within this category. Not user-review data.
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InstapaperLeaderReadwise ReaderLeaderAt a glance
| # | Tool | Best for | Pricing | Free tier | Open source | Platforms | RatingApp Store |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Instapaper | Best overall | Freemium | iOS · Android · Web | 4.6(3.5K) | ||
| 2 | Readwise Reader | Best for serious readers | Paid | iOS · Android · Web · Ext | 4.6(567) | ||
| 3 | Matter | Best free (Apple only) | Freemium | iOS · Web | 4.6(1.2K) | ||
| 4 | GoodLinks | Best one-time purchase | Paid | iOS · macOS | 4.7(630) | ||
| 5 | Readeck | Best self-hosted | Open Source | iOS · Web | 4.6(9) | ||
| 6 | wallabag | Best hosted open source | Open Source | iOS · Android · Web | 3.3(37) | ||
| 7 | Raindrop.io | Best bookmark manager | Freemium | iOS · Android · Web · Ext | 4.5(405) | ||
| 8 | Karakeep | Best for archiving | Open Source | iOS · Android · Web | 4.6(42) |
App Store ratings checked July 30, 2026
The ranked list
The closest functional match to Pocket and the most actively developed product here — version 10 shipped on 28 July 2026 with the first website redesign since 2008, and it won Pocket’s slot as Kobo’s built-in read-later integration. The free tier is real: unlimited saves, sync, folders, and 500 articles cached for offline reading. It is also the right ownership answer, independent since a 2018 management buyout and, in its owner’s words, "profitable, independent, and this is our only focus". Three honest flaws: the current release needs iOS 26.0 or later, the free web version carries ads, and its export is the weakest of any pick — download bundles cap at the first 19 articles.
The most capable reader in the category: text-to-speech, best-in-class highlighting, Ghostreader AI, spaced repetition, RSS, PDF and EPUB, YouTube and podcast transcripts, native desktop apps, no ads — and an export that actually includes the full content of saved articles. The cost is that there is no free tier at all, only a 30-day trial with no card, then $9.99 a month billed annually or $12.99 monthly. Watch the pricing page: the cheaper $5.59 Lite plan does not include Reader, and the Chrome extension is listed under "Readwise Highlighter".
The strongest free option: a basic tier described as free forever with an unlimited library, every save method and unlimited tags, plus HD text-to-speech, gesture highlighting and an AI Co-Reader. Premium is $8 a month or $60 a year if you want it. The limit is reach — iPhone, iPad and web only, with no Android app at all — so this is an Apple-household pick. Still shipping, with an iOS update on 27 July 2026.
The privacy pick, and the only one that never asks you to make an account — it syncs through your own iCloud, with no ads and no tracking. Universal across iPhone, iPad and Mac, offline reading, Markdown highlight export, and the highest App Store rating of any pick here at 4.72 from 630 ratings. Read the $9.99 as hybrid rather than pure one-time: "buy once, use forever with one year of feature upgrades", after which new features need Premium, though anything you unlocked stays yours and bug fixes are always free.
The strongest export story in the category, which is the whole point of a list like this: EPUB per article or collection, an OPDS catalogue, CSV, bookmarks HTML, and a full-profile ZIP you can re-import into any other instance. Also the easiest of the self-hosted options to stand up — one Docker line or a single static binary, no separate database server. Colour-coded annotations, collections exported as e-books, KOReader and Obsidian plugins, and a flat refusal to add AI: "Inside Readeck itself, you’ll never find a chatbot." Two limits: there is no hosted option yet, and the official Android app is still listed as coming soon.
The open-source option a non-technical reader can actually use, because you do not have to host it: wallabag.it, run by the project founder, is 11 EUR a year with a 14-day trial that takes no card and does not auto-renew. Offline reading, highlights, private RSS feeds, save-by-email, EU hosting, and export to ePUB, PDF, XML, JSON and CSV. The weak spot is mobile — the iOS app is published by a third party and rated 3.32 from 37 ratings.
Ranked here as a bookmark manager, not a read-later app, because its own help documentation says an internet connection is required and there is no offline reading — the single most misrepeated claim in this category. On its own terms it is excellent: a genuinely usable free tier with unlimited bookmarks, collections and highlights, free HTML/CSV/TXT export, 2,600+ integrations, a public API, no ads, and 13 years under one sole proprietor. Pro is $3 a month. Pick it if you are filing links, not reading them.
An archiver rather than a reader: it grabs and indexes everything you save, but mobile offline reading is still marked planned and its own docs warn the app is under heavy development. It is the heaviest self-host here too, needing Docker Compose and around seven steps across the app, workers, Meilisearch and a headless Chrome. Free to run yourself; the managed Cloud free tier stops at 10 bookmarks, with Cloud Pro at $4/mo in public beta. Renamed from Hoarder in April 2025.