LinkHut vs Pinboard (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Pinboard grades higher than LinkHut: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
LinkHut grades higher on the free plan. Pinboard grades higher on value for money, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Pinboard
Paid bookmarking site with tags, privacy and page archiving
Which one is for you
Pick LinkHut if
- Fits if you like Pinboard-style tagged bookmarks and open source
- Works for someone happy to bookmark in public
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need to know the cost: no pricing page was found
- Not for you if you want private-by-default bookmarks: bookmarks on the home page are public
- Too light for heavy use, with version 0.1.8 in the footer and no apps
- Watch out: any limits are unconfirmed, since the site does not list them
Pick Pinboard if
- Fits if you want a text-based bookmark list with no ads or trackers, private by default if you like
- Works for people who want an API and an RSS feed for everything they save
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to try before paying, as there's no free plan or trial, only a seven-day refund
- Skip it if you want a native phone app, because it's a mobile website plus third-party apps
- Pricey if saved page copies are the point, as those and full-text search need the $39 account, not the $22 one
- Watch out: the archive crawler can't save paywalled pages, and the FAQ says YouTube and Twitter links aren't saved properly
- Watch out: the sign-up page says paying for several years is discounted but doesn't say by how much
How we grade them
| 2.0GPALinkHutFair | 2.2GPAPinboardFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo pricing page was found, so there is no price to grade, and it sits at the ordinary C. | B$22 a year is $1.83 a month, inside the cheapest quarter for reading tools here, below the $2.42 line. The archival account, with a stored copy of every page and full-text search, is $39 a year. The sign-up page says paying for several years is steeply discounted, but won't say by how much. |
| Free plan and trial | CSign-up is open, but with no pricing page we can't say what is free or what it costs later. | FNothing is free. There's no free plan and no free trial. You pay first, and the fee is refundable within seven days of signing up, which is a money-back window and not a trial. |
| Features | CTagged bookmarks, public discovery, an RSS feed and open source. It does the bookmarking job at a basic level, and little else is documented on the pages read. | CIt does one smaller job, bookmarking, and does the basics of it: tags, private bookmarks, read later, notes, tab sets and tag bundles. The gaps are in the listing: stored copies and full-text search need the $39 account, and even then the crawler skips paywalled pages, YouTube and Twitter. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and little documentation on the pages read, so some learning is likely. | BNo store rating on record, since there's no app of its own. The listing shows a site with nothing to set up: sign up, add the bookmarklet or a browser extension, and save links. It's plain text and a tag box, so there's not much to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA website only, with no apps or integrations listed. | BA website with extensions for Safari, Chrome and Firefox, a full API modelled on Delicious and an RSS feed for every bookmark page, which third-party clients like Reeder use. No native mobile apps, though, so on a phone it's the mobile site or somebody else's app. |
| Best for | an open-source social bookmarking site | plain, private bookmarks with no ads |
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: LinkHut and Pinboard. How we grade
Price against what you get
LinkHut has no paid plan and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Pinboard starts at $1.83 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7.
Pinboard scores higher, and starts $1.83 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 LinkHut for less, and none scores higher than Pinboard 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
- LinkHut is open source, according to its own site.
- LinkHut also covers rSS reader.
- Pinboard also covers read later.
At a glance
| LinkHut | Pinboard | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| Starts at | Free | $22 per year |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | LinkHut | Nine Fives Software |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | pinboard.in |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
LinkHut
- No pricing page was found on the site, so any cost or limit is unconfirmed.
- Bookmarks on the home page are public, visible to every visitor.
- The footer shows version v0.1.8.
Pinboard
- There is no free plan and no free trial; a payment is refundable within seven days of signup.
- Stored page copies and full-text search require the $39 archival account.
- There are no native mobile apps: Pinboard offers a mobile website and relies on third-party apps.
- The archive crawler cannot save paywalled pages, and the FAQ says YouTube and Twitter links are not saved properly.
Key features
LinkHut
- Tagged bookmarks
- Save links with tags and browse them by tag.
- Public discovery
- The home page lists recent bookmarks from all users and can sort them by recency or popularity.
- RSS feed
- A site-wide RSS feed of bookmarks is linked from the home page.
- Open source
- The software is open source, with code and issues on SourceHut.
Pinboard
- Bookmarks, tags and privacy
- Each bookmark has a title, URL, a description of any length and optional tags. Any bookmark can be private, and an account can default to private.
- Read later
- A read-later bookmarklet adds a page to an unread list without asking for details. Unread bookmarks are visible only to you until marked as read.
- Archiving and full-text search
- Archival accounts get a crawled copy of every bookmarked page that stays viewable if the original goes offline, plus search across page text.
- Bookmarklets, extensions and email
- Save with a bookmarklet, with browser extensions for Safari, Chrome and Firefox, or by emailing a URL to a personal Pinboard address.
- API and RSS feeds
- A full API modeled on version 1 of the Delicious API supports third-party clients, and every bookmark page has a matching RSS feed.
- Notes, tab sets and tag bundles
- Notes save snippets of text as bookmarks, tab sets store all open browser tabs for later, and tag bundles group related tags on one page.
Plans
LinkHut
Pricing could not be confirmed. See ln.ht.
Pinboard
Regular account$22
per year
Bookmarks with tags, private bookmarks, read later, notes, tab sets, the API and RSS feeds. Refundable within seven days of signup.
Archival account$39
per year
Everything in a regular account, plus a stored copy of every bookmarked page, full-text search and dead-link checks.
Ways to pay less
LinkHut
No public discounts listed.
Pinboard
- Other savings
Discounts for paying for several years
The sign-up page says there are steep discounts for signing up for multiple years, chosen on the payment page. The amounts are not shown publicly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, LinkHut or Pinboard?
As of Nov 13, 2026, LinkHut has no price we could confirm, and Pinboard starts at $22 per year.
Which has a free plan, LinkHut or Pinboard?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only LinkHut has a free plan. Pinboard does not.
Which platforms do LinkHut and Pinboard run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Pinboard lists 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.