Are.na vs Pinboard (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Are.na and Pinboard share a 2.2 GPA, and only Are.na has a free plan.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Are.na grades higher on the free plan. Pinboard grades higher on value for money and ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Are.na
Save and connect images, links and notes in shared channels
Pinboard
Paid bookmarking site with tags, privacy and page archiving
Which one is for you
Pick Are.na if
- Fits if you collect images and links for research or design
- Works for a small group that shares channels
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 200 blocks, and one block in several channels counts for each
- Pricey if you want table view or presentation mode, which are Premium at $7 a month
- Watch out: import from other services and bulk operations are Supporter only, at $120 a year
- Skip it if you want priority support, as that is a Premium feature
Pick Pinboard if
- Fits if you want a text-based bookmark list with no ads or trackers, private by default if you like
- Works for people who want an API and an RSS feed for everything they save
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to try before paying, as there's no free plan or trial, only a seven-day refund
- Skip it if you want a native phone app, because it's a mobile website plus third-party apps
- Pricey if saved page copies are the point, as those and full-text search need the $39 account, not the $22 one
- Watch out: the archive crawler can't save paywalled pages, and the FAQ says YouTube and Twitter links aren't saved properly
- Watch out: the sign-up page says paying for several years is discounted but doesn't say by how much
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAre.naFair | 2.2GPAPinboardFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPremium is $7 a month or $70 a year, around $5.83 a month, between the middle of $3.99 and the dearer quarter at $7. | B$22 a year is $1.83 a month, inside the cheapest quarter for reading tools here, below the $2.42 line. The archival account, with a stored copy of every page and full-text search, is $39 a year. The sign-up page says paying for several years is steeply discounted, but won't say by how much. |
| Free plan and trial | CGuest plan allows up to 200 blocks, and saving a block to several channels counts once per channel. | FNothing is free. There's no free plan and no free trial. You pay first, and the fee is refundable within seven days of signing up, which is a money-back window and not a trial. |
| Features | CBlocks, channels, browser extensions, collaboration, an open API and no ads. Table view, presentation mode and full-text extraction are Premium. | CIt does one smaller job, bookmarking, and does the basics of it: tags, private bookmarks, read later, notes, tab sets and tag bundles. The gaps are in the listing: stored copies and full-text search need the $39 account, and even then the crawler skips paywalled pages, YouTube and Twitter. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Channels and connections take learning before they feel natural. | BNo store rating on record, since there's no app of its own. The listing shows a site with nothing to set up: sign up, add the bookmarklet or a browser extension, and save links. It's plain text and a tag box, so there's not much to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, a browser extension, iOS and Android, with an open API. No desktop app. | BA website with extensions for Safari, Chrome and Firefox, a full API modelled on Delicious and an RSS feed for every bookmark page, which third-party clients like Reeder use. No native mobile apps, though, so on a phone it's the mobile site or somebody else's app. |
| Best for | saving images, links and notes in shared collections | plain, private bookmarks with no ads |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Are.na and Pinboard. How we grade
Price against what you get
Are.na starts at $5.83 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Pinboard starts at $1.83 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7.
Pinboard scores higher and starts $4 a month lower. Of the other read-later and bookmark apps on the chart, 20 score higher than Are.na for less, and none scores higher than Pinboard for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Are.na also covers web clipper and research.
- Pinboard also covers read later.
At a glance
| Are.na | Pinboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $7 per month, or $70 per year | $22 per year |
| Free plan | Guest plan: up to 200 blocks, open, closed or private channels, and collaborators on channels. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Are.na | Nine Fives Software |
| Price read from | are.na | pinboard.in |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Are.na
- The free Guest plan stops at 200 blocks, and saving one block to several channels counts once per channel.
- Table view, presentation mode and full-text extraction of saved articles need Premium.
- Import from other services and bulk operations are Supporter-only.
- Priority support is a Premium feature; the free plan has no priority line.
Pinboard
- There is no free plan and no free trial; a payment is refundable within seven days of signup.
- Stored page copies and full-text search require the $39 archival account.
- There are no native mobile apps: Pinboard offers a mobile website and relies on third-party apps.
- The archive crawler cannot save paywalled pages, and the FAQ says YouTube and Twitter links are not saved properly.
Key features
Are.na
- Blocks and channels
- Anything saved is a block, and blocks live in channels you can edit, rearrange and search. One block can be reused in many channels.
- Browser extensions
- Chrome, Firefox and Safari extensions save pages, selected text and images to a channel; screenshots work on Chrome and Firefox.
- Channel privacy and collaboration
- Channels can be open to anyone, closed to collaborators only, or private. Inviting collaborators is included on every plan.
- Open API
- A public API and developer library are available on all plans; Supporter raises the rate limits.
- Table view and presentation mode
- Premium adds a table view of a channel and a presentation mode, along with advanced search filters.
- No ads
- The site says there are no ads and no personalized recommendations; what you see comes from the network you follow.
Pinboard
- Bookmarks, tags and privacy
- Each bookmark has a title, URL, a description of any length and optional tags. Any bookmark can be private, and an account can default to private.
- Read later
- A read-later bookmarklet adds a page to an unread list without asking for details. Unread bookmarks are visible only to you until marked as read.
- Archiving and full-text search
- Archival accounts get a crawled copy of every bookmarked page that stays viewable if the original goes offline, plus search across page text.
- Bookmarklets, extensions and email
- Save with a bookmarklet, with browser extensions for Safari, Chrome and Firefox, or by emailing a URL to a personal Pinboard address.
- API and RSS feeds
- A full API modeled on version 1 of the Delicious API supports third-party clients, and every bookmark page has a matching RSS feed.
- Notes, tab sets and tag bundles
- Notes save snippets of text as bookmarks, tab sets store all open browser tabs for later, and tag bundles group related tags on one page.
Plans
Are.na
Guest$0
Up to 200 blocks, with channels that are open, closed or private and collaborators invited to channels.
Premium$7
per month, billed monthly ($70 billed yearly)
Unlimited blocks, table view, presentation mode, advanced search filters, full-text extraction and priority support.
Supporter$120
per year
Everything in Premium plus higher API rate limits, bulk operations, import from other services and a custom profile URL.
Pinboard
Regular account$22
per year
Bookmarks with tags, private bookmarks, read later, notes, tab sets, the API and RSS feeds. Refundable within seven days of signup.
Archival account$39
per year
Everything in a regular account, plus a stored copy of every bookmarked page, full-text search and dead-link checks.
Ways to pay less
Are.na
- Education
50% off Premium for students
The about page says students get 50% off any Premium plan for two years; teachers can ask for custom discounts for a class.
- Annual discount
Save 17% on Premium with yearly billing
The pricing section shows Premium at $7 a month or $70 a year and labels the yearly option a 17% saving.
Pinboard
- Other savings
Discounts for paying for several years
The sign-up page says there are steep discounts for signing up for multiple years, chosen on the payment page. The amounts are not shown publicly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Are.na or Pinboard?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Pinboard is cheaper to start with: $1.83 a month when paid by the year, against $5.83 a month when paid by the year for Are.na. Are.na starts at $7 per month, or $70 per year, and Pinboard starts at $22 per year.
Which has a free plan, Are.na or Pinboard?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Are.na has a free plan. Pinboard does not.
Which platforms do Are.na and Pinboard run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Are.na lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app and a browser extension. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.