Glasp vs Matter

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

Matter

• iPhone and iPad readers who want articles and newsletters in one queue
• Listening to saved articles, newsletters and podcasts as audio
• Sending highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam or Readwise

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.

Matter

• No Android app is listed: Matter is offered for iPhone, iPad and the web.
• Newsletter sync, RSS feeds, HD text to speech, Send to Kindle and unlimited highlights need a paid plan.
• The website has no pricing page, and the App Store lists several different Premium and Pro prices.
• The API and CLI are limited to paying Matter Pro subscribers.

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.

Matter

Save articles, PDFs and threads

Save from the iPhone and iPad apps or from the Chrome, Safari and Firefox extensions. Saved pages are parsed into a clean reading view and are available offline.

Podcast and YouTube transcripts

Saved YouTube videos and podcast episodes are transcribed into text that stays in sync with playback, so they can be read or listened to.

Newsletters, writers and feeds

Paid subscribers can pull newsletters in through Gmail or a personal Matter email address, follow individual writers and add RSS feeds.

Text to speech

Articles and newsletters can be played as audio, with highlighting while listening. HD text to speech for all articles is a paid feature.

Highlights and exports

Highlight by long-pressing and dragging, or with Apple Pencil on iPad, and sync highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam and Readwise.

API and CLI

A REST API and a terminal client give read and write access to the library, tags and annotations. Both require a Matter Pro subscription.

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.

Matter

• Free$0

  Uncapped read-later library, saving from mobile and browser extensions, unlimited tags, full-text search, and custom themes and fonts.

• Premium$59.99 to $79.99

  per year; monthly items are listed at $7.99, $12.99 and $14.99

  HD text to speech, AI Co-Reader, newsletter sync, writer and RSS feeds, unlimited highlights, notes and integrations, and Send to Kindle. Also labelled Matter Pro.

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.

Matter

No public discounts listed.