LinkAce vs wallabag (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, wallabag grades higher than LinkAce: 3.2 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
wallabag grades higher on value for money, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
wallabag
Open-source read-it-later app you can self-host or use hosted
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 wallabag if
- Fits if you want a read-later archive on a server you control
- Works for readers who'll pay 11 € a year for a hosted service based in Europe
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a free hosted plan: wallabag.it has a 14-day trial, then 4 € for 3 months or 11 € a year
- Watch out: during the hosted trial, saving by email, RSS feeds and imports are switched off
- Skip it if you want an official iPhone app, as the iOS app went closed source with its own paid features from 7.6
- Tight if you go the free route, since that means installing it on your own server and doing backups and upgrades
- Not for you if you want to pay in dollars or want a desktop app: prices are in euros and there's no desktop app
How we grade them
| 2.0GPALinkAceFair | 3.2GPAwallabagVery 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. | Awallabag.it is 11 € a year, under a euro a month, where the lowest-priced quarter of reading tools here starts at $2.42 a month. Every feature is included and nothing renews automatically. The software itself is free on your own server, and a 30 € option is the same service with extra going to the project. |
| 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 full application is free under the MIT licence with nothing held back, as long as you have a server for it and don't mind doing the backups and upgrades. The hosted service is the part with no free plan: 14 days, no credit card, with saving by email, feeds and imports switched off during the trial. |
| 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 article pulled out of the page into a clean view, tags, filters, full-text search, highlights and notes, exports as PDF, ePUB and mobi, private RSS feeds of your list, and imports from Pocket, Instapaper, Pinboard and Omnivore with tags intact. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. It's installed with Docker, Kubernetes or PHP and kept up to date by you. | CNo store rating on record. On wallabag.it you sign up and save pages in one click from Chrome or Firefox, but the free route is installing it on your own server and handling backups and upgrades, and that's a different afternoon entirely. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with a bookmarklet for saving and no phone or desktop apps listed. | BWeb, Android and iOS apps with offline reading, Chrome and Firefox add-ons, an API, and feeds that plug into Miniflux, FreshRSS and other readers, with Kobo and PocketBook covered by community apps. No desktop app, and the iOS app went closed source from version 7.6. |
| Best for | a bookmark archive you host on your own server | an open-source read-later archive |
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 wallabag. 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. wallabag starts at about $1.02 a month and scores 2.7.
wallabag scores higher, and starts $1.02 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other read-later and bookmark apps on the chart, none scores higher than LinkAce for less, and none scores higher than wallabag 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
- LinkAce also covers bookmarks.
- wallabag also covers read later and highlights.
At a glance
| LinkAce | wallabag | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | 11 € per year, or 4 € for 3 months (wallabag.it hosted service) |
| Free plan | The whole application is free to run on your own server. | The open-source software is free to install on your own server under the MIT license. The hosted wallabag.it service has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. |
| Free trial | None listed | 14-day free trial of wallabag.it with no credit card; saving by email, feeds and imports are held back for subscribers |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | LinkAce (Kovah.de) | Nicolas Lœuillet and wallabag contributors |
| Price read from | linkace.org | wallabag.it |
| 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.
wallabag
- The hosted wallabag.it service has no free plan: after the 14-day trial it costs 4 € for 3 months or 11 € a year, and prices are in euros only.
- During the wallabag.it trial, saving by email, RSS and Atom feeds and imports from other services are switched off.
- Using wallabag at no cost means installing it on your own server and handling backups and upgrades yourself.
- The iOS app went closed source with its own paid features from version 7.6, and the project no longer presents it as the official iOS app.
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.
wallabag
- Article extraction and reading view
- wallabag pulls the article content out of a saved page and stores the readable text in your account, shown in a distraction-free view that adapts to phones and tablets.
- Tags, filters and full-text search
- Saved articles can be tagged, marked as favorites, filtered and found again through a search engine that covers their full text.
- Highlights and annotations
- An annotation system lets you highlight extracts in an article and write notes against them.
- Mobile apps and browser add-ons
- Android and iOS apps download saved articles for offline reading, and Chrome and Firefox add-ons save the page you are on in one click.
- Feeds, e-readers and export
- Unread, starred, archived or tagged articles can be published as private RSS or Atom feeds, sent to Kobo and PocketBook e-readers with community apps, and exported as PDF, ePUB, mobi, JSON, CSV, txt or HTML.
- Imports from other services
- Reading lists can be imported from Pocket, Instapaper, Pinboard, Omnivore, Shaarli, another wallabag instance or any RSS or Atom feed, keeping tags and read and favorite status.
Plans
LinkAce
Self-hosted$0
Free and open source; you install and host it yourself with Docker, Kubernetes or PHP.
wallabag
Self-hostedFree
The full open-source application on a server you install, back up and upgrade yourself.
3 months4 €
for 3 months, not renewed automatically
The complete hosted wallabag.it service for one quarter, with every feature included.
1 year11 €
per year, not renewed automatically
The complete hosted service for a year in a single payment; the vendor marks it as its most popular plan.
The ❤️ subscription30 €
per year
The same hosted service and features, priced higher to give extra funding to the open-source project and its maintenance.
Ways to pay less
LinkAce
No public discounts listed.
wallabag
- Annual discount
A year costs less than four 3-month terms
The pricing page lists 11 € for one year against 4 € for 3 months, so a year bought in one payment costs 5 € less than four consecutive 3-month subscriptions.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, LinkAce or wallabag?
As of Nov 12, 2026, LinkAce is cheaper to start with: it is free, against about $1.02 a month for wallabag. LinkAce is free, and wallabag starts at 11 € per year, or 4 € for 3 months (wallabag.it hosted service).
Which has a free plan, LinkAce or wallabag?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both LinkAce and wallabag have a free plan.
Which platforms do LinkAce and wallabag run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only wallabag lists 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.