Hypothesis vs Web Highlights (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Hypothesis if

• Fits if you read and mark up web pages alone or in a small private group
• Works for teachers who want students annotating readings inside the LMS

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want paid prices on the page, as none are published for Bronze, Silver or Gold
• Tight if your school has more than 3,000 students, because the paid tiers cap seats at 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 and larger needs a sales call
• Pricey if you need LMS integration or analytics, which are not on the free plan
• Not for you if you want a phone app, as only a browser extension and a bookmarklet are listed

Pick Web Highlights if

• Fits if you mark up articles and PDFs for study
• Works for people who send highlights into Notion or Obsidian

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you want sync, since cloud sync, the web app and phone sync need a paid plan
• Watch out: Notion and Capacities exports are one a day on Free and Premium
• Watch out: PDF and HTML files and image highlighting need Ultimate
• Skip it if you want a price list, as none could be read

Hypothesis

• No prices are published for Bronze, Silver or Gold; the pricing page says per student per year and points to sales.
• The paid tiers cap user seats at 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000, with a sales contact for anything larger.
• LMS integration, partner workshops and analytics are not on the Free plan.

Web Highlights

• Cloud sync, the web app and phone sync need Premium or Ultimate; the site says sync needs a paid plan.
• Notion and Capacities exports are one a day each on Free and Premium; PDF and HTML export files need Ultimate or the trial.
• Highlighting images from websites is an Ultimate plan feature.
• Plan prices could not be read because the pricing page loads them with a script, so none are recorded.

Hypothesis

Annotate any page

Highlight and comment on online articles, websites, videos and PDFs, and turn annotations into threaded discussions.

LMS integration

Connects to Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, D2L Brightspace and Sakai through LTI so readings can be set inside a course.

Private groups

Annotation can be shared inside private groups, which the pricing page lists on the free plan.

Tagging other users

Mention classmates or colleagues in an annotation to notify them and draw them back into the reading.

Analytics and auto-grading

Silver and Gold add an LMS reporting dashboard and automatic grading of student annotations.

Chrome extension and bookmarklet

The web annotator works through a Chrome extension or bookmarklet in any modern browser released within the last 12 months.

Web Highlights

Highlight web pages and PDFs

Select text and pick a color, or use the Alt+S shortcut. PDFs can be downloaded with the highlights embedded as annotations.

Notes and tags

Attach a formatted note and tags to any highlight, or write a note about a whole page.

Bookmarks and collections

Save a page with one click and file it in a collection, so the extension doubles as a bookmark manager.

Export to Notion and Capacities

Send highlights and notes to a Notion database or Capacities, or copy Markdown for Obsidian.

Flashcards

Highlights can become flashcards, which the iPhone app schedules for review with spaced repetition.

Sync across devices

With a paid plan, highlights sync to a web app and to the Android and iPhone apps.

Hypothesis

• Free$0

  Core annotation and private groups, with self-service support.

• BronzeCustom

  Priced per student per year with no figure shown. LMS integration, up to 1,000 seats, partner workshops, email support.

• SilverCustom

  Priced per student per year with no figure shown. Up to 2,000 seats, advanced analytics, auto-grading, Hypothesis Academy.

• GoldCustom

  Priced per student per year with no figure shown. Up to 3,000 seats, unlimited training, dedicated CSM, premium support.

Web Highlights

Pricing could not be confirmed. See web-highlights.com.