Diigo vs Glasp

Diigo

• Students and researchers who annotate web pages and PDFs
• Teachers running class groups with managed student accounts
• Teams building a shared, annotated library of sources

Glasp

• Students and researchers collecting quotes from articles and PDFs
• People who send their highlights to Notion, Obsidian or Readwise
• Viewers who want quick summaries of long YouTube videos

Diigo

• The Free plan shows ads and stops at 500 bookmarks and 100 highlights over the lifetime of the account.
• Cached pages and image storage start at Standard; unlimited PDF storage and outliners need Professional at $59 a year.
• Team library storage, collaborative annotation and the admin console are limited to Business at $10 per user a month.
• The tools page links to an Android app, but its Google Play listing returned a not-found page when checked.

Glasp

• Highlights are public by default; private highlights require the Pro or Unlimited plan.
• AI features are metered on every plan, and Free allows 3 basic YouTube summaries a day and 20 AI chat credits a month.
• The 40% student discount covers only the yearly Pro plan and needs a .edu or .ac email address.
• The pricing page marks the Pro and Unlimited subscriptions as recurring and non-refundable.

Diigo

Bookmarks, tags and a personal library

Saved pages go into a cloud library and are tagged for later retrieval. Each item can be set as private or public.

Highlights and sticky notes

Highlight text and add sticky notes directly on web pages and PDFs while browsing; the annotations are still on the page when you come back to it.

Outliner

Arrange links, references and your own notes into a structured outline for a piece of research. Unlimited outliners are part of the Professional plan.

Groups

A group builds a shared library for a class, team or company that members can add to, search and discuss through annotations on the page.

Archived web pages

Paid plans store cached copies of bookmarked pages with their annotations intact, so they stay readable if the original source goes offline.

Import, export and API

The tools page lists bookmark and Kindle highlight import, library and PDF export, saving by email, automatic publishing to a blog and the Diigo API.

Glasp

Web, PDF and YouTube highlighting

The browser extension highlights text on web pages, PDFs and YouTube transcripts in several colors, with notes and tags, and the highlights stay marked on the original page.

AI summaries

Summarizes YouTube videos, web articles and PDFs with models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Mistral AI and Gemini. Free accounts get 3 basic YouTube summaries a day.

Public profiles and following

Highlights are collected on a Glasp page that is public by default, and following other readers shows what they are saving. Private highlights need a paid plan.

Imports and exports

Imports highlights from Kindle, Readwise, Instapaper, Pocket, Medium and Hypothesis. Markdown, HTML, CSV and JSON exports and a daily sync to Notion are included on every plan.

Read later and mobile apps

The iOS and Android apps add a reader view and a read-later library for videos, articles and PDFs alongside highlighting and summaries.

Audio transcription and PDF chat

Uploaded audio files are transcribed and PDFs can be questioned in a chat, each within a monthly allowance: 30 minutes and 20 messages on the Free plan.

Diigo

• Free$0

  Ad-supported, with lifetime caps of 500 cloud bookmarks and 100 webpage and PDF highlights.

• Standard$40

  per year

  No ads, with unlimited bookmarks, highlights, image storage and cached pages, plus Kindle highlight import.

• Professional$59

  per year

  Everything in Standard, plus unlimited PDF storage and unlimited outliners.

• Business$10

  per user / month (billing basis not stated)

  Everything in Professional, plus an unlimited team library, collaborative web and PDF annotation in a team, and an admin console.

Glasp

• Free$0

  Unlimited public highlights, 3 basic YouTube summaries a day, 30 PDF uploads and 30 minutes of audio transcription a month.

• Pro$12.50

  per month, billed yearly at $150 ($15 billed monthly)

  Unlimited private highlights and basic YouTube summaries, 1,000 advanced summaries a month, 100 PDF uploads, 500 AI chat credits and all AI models.

• Unlimited$30

  per month, billed yearly at $360 ($36 billed monthly)

  5,000 advanced summaries every 30 days, 25 tracked YouTube channels, unlimited PDF uploads, 2,000 AI credits a month and priority support.

Diigo

• Education

  Free teacher and student accounts

  Teachers can apply for a free account with more capabilities than the normal free plan, including a Teacher Console for creating and managing student accounts. Schools can apply for an education domain.

Glasp

• Annual discount

  Two months off with yearly billing

  Pro costs $150 a year against $15 a month, and Unlimited costs $360 a year against $36 a month, which the pricing page labels as 2 months off.

• Education

  40% off Pro for students

  Students who verify a .edu or .ac email address get 40% off the yearly Pro plan, for example $90 instead of $150 a year. Glasp describes it as a limited-time offer.

• Other savings

  A free year of Pro for YouTube creators

  Creators with at least 5,000 subscribers and a video in the last 90 days can get 12 months of Pro free by keeping a Glasp link in a regular video's description.