Glasp vs Instapaper

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

Instapaper

• Saving long articles to read later without ads or page clutter
• Reading saved articles on a Kindle, Kobo or Boox eReader
• Commuters and travelers who read or listen offline

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.

Instapaper

• Full-text search, the PDF reader and the permanent archive all require Premium.
• Free accounts get 5 notes a month, and 10 summaries and 10 speed-read articles a month.
• AI summaries are not yet available on Android, according to Instapaper's docs.
• Free accounts see ads on the Instapaper website; Premium removes them.

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.

Instapaper

Decluttered reading view

Removes ads, navigation and other page clutter from a saved article and reformats it for reading, with adjustable fonts, margins, line spacing and text size.

Offline reading and sync

The iOS and Android apps download unread articles so they can be read without a connection, and reading lists stay in sync across devices.

Highlights and notes

Highlight passages and attach notes, then export them as plain text, Markdown or HTML or send them to Obsidian, Evernote or Notion.

Kindle, Kobo and Boox delivery

Kobo eReaders link directly to an Instapaper account, free accounts included. Scheduled and manual Kindle digests require Premium.

Text to speech

The iOS and Android apps read saved articles aloud at 0.5x to 2x speed. AI Voices and multi-article playlists come with Premium.

Summaries and speed reading

Generates an AI summary with the key sentences of an article, and can flash text one word at a time. Each is free for 10 articles a month.

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.

Instapaper

• Free$0

  Unlimited saved articles, videos and pages, sync across web, iOS and Android, folders and API access. Notes are limited to 5 a month.

• Premium$5.99

  per month, or $59.99 per year

  Full-text search, PDF reader, permanent archive, unlimited notes, Kindle digests, AI Voices and text-to-speech playlists, and an ad-free website.

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.

Instapaper

• Annual discount

  Save over 15% with the yearly plan

  Instapaper's Premium page says the yearly plan saves over 15%: $59.99 a year instead of $5.99 a month.