LinkAce vs Readeck (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Readeck grades higher than LinkAce: 3.0 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Readeck grades higher on value for money, the free plan, features and platforms. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick LinkAce if
- Fits if you're comfortable running Docker on your own server and want bookmarks you control
- Works for people who want broken links flagged and pages archived
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't want to look after a server, because install and updates are yours to do
- Not for you if you want help from the maker: he says he offers no free personal support or installation help
- Too light for people who want a browser extension, as saving is through a bookmarklet
- Watch out: the hosted version is a beta on a waitlist with no price, and prioritized support is for Patreon or GitHub sponsors
Pick Readeck if
- Fits if you want a private read-later archive on a server you control
- Works for e-reader owners, since articles export as EPUB or come over OPDS
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you can't run a server, because for now self-hosting is the only way to get it
- Not for you if you share articles by link a lot, as a public share link only stays valid for 24 hours
- Not for you if you save a lot from behind logins, since that means the browser extension rather than stored sign-ins
- Watch out: saving several text selections from a page at once works only in the Firefox extension
- Skip it if you want a desktop app, as on a computer it's the web app
How we grade them
| 2.0GPALinkAceFair | 3.0GPAReadeckVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CFree only if you host it yourself, which needs a server, so the real cost isn't on record. The hosted version is a beta with a waitlist and no price shown. | AFree software with no paid plan at all, in a category where readers charge $3.33 a month in the middle. What you pay for is wherever you host it. A paid hosted service has been announced for 2026, but no price is published yet. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe whole application is free to run, with no paid tier to be pushed into. The catch is the server you need to run it on. | AThe complete application is free under the GNU AGPL v3.0, with no cap and nothing held back, because there's no paid tier to hold it for. The one condition is a server to put it on. |
| Features | CTags, lists, link monitoring, automatic archiving, SSO, a REST API and Zapier. Saving is through a bookmarklet rather than a browser extension. | BIt covers the whole read-later job: the text and images of a page kept on your own instance, labels, favourites, full-text search, saved searches as live collections, highlights and Markdown notes, video transcripts, and EPUB export or OPDS for an e-reader. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. It's installed with Docker, Kubernetes or PHP and kept up to date by you. | DYou host it yourself, and for now that's the only option, which puts it in the same bracket as any other server you run. It's a single binary or container image with SQLite recommended, but it's still yours to set up and keep going. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with a bookmarklet for saving and no phone or desktop apps listed. | BOfficial Android and iOS apps that read offline, a Firefox and Chrome extension that saves pages as your browser sees them, logins included, OPDS for e-readers and links to Obsidian and KOReader. On a computer it's the web app, with no desktop reader of its own, so an A is out. |
| Best for | a bookmark archive you host on your own server | a private read-later archive on your own server |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: LinkAce and Readeck. How we grade
Price against what you get
LinkAce has no paid plan and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Readeck has no paid plan and scores 2.3.
Readeck scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other read-later and bookmark apps on the chart, none scores higher than LinkAce for less, and none scores higher than Readeck for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Readeck also covers read later and highlights.
In commonFree planWebOpen sourceSelf-hostablePublic APIBookmarks
At a glance
| LinkAce | Readeck | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | The whole application is free to run on your own server. | Free, open-source software under the GNU AGPL v3.0 that you host yourself. A paid hosted service is announced for 2026, with no price published yet. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | LinkAce (Kovah.de) | Readeck |
| Price read from | linkace.org | readeck.org |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
LinkAce
- You run and maintain it yourself; the maker says he offers no free personal support or installation help.
- It uses a bookmarklet for saving rather than a browser extension.
- An official hosted version is listed as a beta with a waitlist, with no price shown.
- The maker offers prioritized support to people who become a Patreon or GitHub sponsor.
Readeck
- Readeck must be self-hosted for now; the hosted service announced for early 2026 is still listed as coming, with no price set.
- A public share link for a bookmark stays valid for only 24 hours.
- There is no store for paywall logins; pages behind a login are saved through the browser extension instead.
- Saving several text selections from a page at once works only in the Firefox extension.
Key features
LinkAce
- Tags and lists
- Tags categorize links without a fixed hierarchy, and lists bundle several links under one broader topic.
- Link monitoring
- Saved links are checked for availability on a schedule, and you are notified if a page moved or went offline.
- Automatic archiving
- After a link is saved, LinkAce notifies the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine so the page is backed up.
- Multiple users and SSO
- Several users can share links, lists and tags, with single sign-on through OAuth or OIDC.
- REST API and Zapier
- A REST API covers links, tags, lists and notes, and the app is available on Zapier for connecting other services.
- Guest mode and RSS
- Guests can view a collection with access set per link, tag or list, and latest links are published as RSS feeds.
Readeck
- Articles, pictures and videos
- Saves the readable content of a web page, keeping its text and images on your instance, and adapts when a link points to an image or a video.
- Labels, favorites and collections
- Bookmarks can be archived, marked as favorites and labelled. Full-text search finds them again, and a search query can be saved as a dynamic collection.
- Highlights and notes
- Highlight and annotate the important parts of saved text, browse the highlights from all your content, and add a Markdown note above a bookmark.
- Video transcripts
- When a saved video has a transcript, Readeck retrieves it so it can be read, highlighted, searched and exported like an article.
- E-book export and OPDS
- Any article, or a whole collection, exports as a single EPUB file, and e-readers that support OPDS can open the Readeck catalog directly.
- Apps and browser extension
- Official Android and iOS apps read saved content offline, and the Firefox and Chrome extension sends the page as your browser sees it, including sites you are logged in to.
Plans
LinkAce
Self-hosted$0
Free and open source; you install and host it yourself with Docker, Kubernetes or PHP.
Readeck
Self-hosted$0
The complete application as a single binary or container image for your own server, with SQLite as the recommended database.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, LinkAce or Readeck?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both LinkAce and Readeck are free to use.
Which has a free plan, LinkAce or Readeck?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both LinkAce and Readeck have a free plan.
Which platforms do LinkAce and Readeck run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Readeck lists macOS, iOS and Android apps and a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.