GoodLinks vs Instapaper
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
GoodLinks
Read-later and link-saving app for iPhone, iPad and Mac
Instapaper
Read-later app that strips articles down to clean text
Where they differ
- GoodLinks starts at $9.99 one-time purchase on the US App Store, covering iPhone, iPad and Mac. Instapaper starts at $5.99 per month, or $59.99 per year.
- Instapaper has a free plan. GoodLinks does not.
- Only Instapaper lists a web app.
- Only Instapaper lists an Android app.
- GoodLinks can be bought with a one-time purchase.
At a glance
| GoodLinks | Instapaper | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $9.99 one-time purchase on the US App Store, covering iPhone, iPad and Mac | $5.99 per month, or $59.99 per year |
| Free plan | None | Unlimited saves, sync across web, iOS and Android, folders and API access. Notes are capped at 5 a month, and AI summaries and speed reading at 10 a month each. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Ngoc Luu | Instant Paper, Inc. |
| Price read from | apps.apple.com | instapaper.com |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
GoodLinks
- iPhone, iPad and Mac users who want a read-later app bought once
- Readers who highlight articles and export the notes as Markdown
- People who prefer iCloud sync to signing up for another account
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
Worth knowing
GoodLinks
- Apple platforms only: the FAQ lists iPhone, iPad and Mac, with no web, Windows or Android version.
- There is no free version or trial; the app costs $9.99 up front on the US App Store.
- Features released more than a year after purchase need the optional Annual Feature Upgrade, listed at $4.99.
- Sync runs through iCloud only, and the API works just on the computer where the app is running.
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.
Key features
GoodLinks
- Clean article view
- GoodLinks extracts the article text and removes adverts and other distractions, with a choice of font, spacing and size and Light, Sepia, Dark and Night themes.
- Highlights, notes and Notebook
- Highlight passages in a choice of colors, attach notes to them, review an article's highlights in the Notebook and export them as Markdown in a customizable format.
- Saving from other apps and browsers
- A Share Extension saves links on iOS and macOS, and browser extensions cover Safari, Chrome and Firefox. The Chrome extension also installs in Arc, Edge, Opera and Brave.
- iCloud sync without an account
- Links, articles, highlights, tags and reading position sync through iCloud, so there is no separate web service account to create.
- Tags, search and summaries
- Tags and starred articles organize the list, search covers title, author, description and content, and articles can be summarized with Apple Intelligence or an external LLM service using your own API key.
- Shortcuts, AppleScript and local API
- Shortcuts actions, widgets, a URL scheme and AppleScript on the Mac support automation, and from version 3.2 a REST API served on localhost lets other apps on the same computer read and modify the library.
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.
Plans
GoodLinks
GoodLinks$9.99
one-time purchase, universal for iPhone, iPad and Mac
Permanent access to every current feature, plus any new features released within one year of the purchase date.
Annual Feature Upgrade$4.99
in-app purchase; annual by name, no period shown on the listing
Optional GoodLinks Premium subscription that unlocks features added after the first year. Features unlocked while subscribed are kept for good.
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.
Ways to pay less
GoodLinks
No public discounts listed.
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.
