GoodLinks vs Readwise

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

Readwise

• Kindle and ebook readers who want to see their highlights again
• People who send reading notes to Notion, Obsidian or a similar app
• Readers who want articles, RSS, newsletters and PDFs in one app

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.

Readwise

• There is no free plan: a paid subscription is needed once the 30-day trial ends.
• Readwise Lite leaves out tags and notes, exports to note-taking apps, and the Reader app.
• Reader is not sold on its own; it comes with the full Readwise plan at $9.99 per month billed annually.
• Desktop apps are listed for Mac and Windows only, with no Linux app mentioned.

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.

Readwise

Daily Review

A daily selection of past highlights, delivered by email and in the app and timed with spaced repetition so older passages come back around.

Highlight import

Syncs highlights from Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Instapaper and other listed sources, and captures passages from paper books by photographing the page.

Export to note-taking apps

Sends highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Evernote, Roam, Logseq and other listed apps, or to Markdown and CSV. Exports are part of the full plan.

Reader

A read-later app for web articles, RSS feeds, email newsletters, PDFs, EPUBs, YouTube transcripts and X threads, with highlighting, full-text search and text to speech.

Ghostreader and chat with highlights

Ghostreader answers questions about a document, defines terms and simplifies passages. Chat answers show the highlights they were drawn from.

MCP server, CLI and API

An MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another MCP-compatible assistant to the library, alongside a command-line tool and an API.

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.

Readwise

• Readwise Lite$5.59

  per month, billed annually ($67.08), or $6.99 billed monthly

  Daily Review by email and app, a searchable highlight library, and syncing of new highlights from all sources.

• Readwise$9.99

  per month, billed annually ($119.88), or $12.99 billed monthly

  The full plan: everything in Lite, plus tags and notes, exports to Notion, Obsidian and other note apps, and the Reader app.

GoodLinks

No public discounts listed.

Readwise

• Annual discount

  Save 21% to 24% with yearly billing

  The pricing page shows a 21% saving on Readwise Lite ($5.59 instead of $6.99 a month) and 24% on the full plan ($9.99 instead of $12.99) when billed yearly.

• Education

  50% off for students and academics

  Students and other members of academia get 50% off by emailing Readwise before subscribing, then subscribing through the Readwise website.

• Nonprofit

  50% off for nonprofits

  The Reader page lists the same 50% discount for nonprofits, educators, military and first responders, requested by email.