Matter vs wallabag
We give Matter and wallabag the same GPA: 3.6 out of 4.0. Matter grades higher on the free plan and ease of use. wallabag grades higher on value for money 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.
Matter
Read-later app for iPhone, iPad and web with audio playback
Free plan · from $7.99/mo
wallabag
Open-source read-it-later app you can self-host or use hosted
Free plan · from €11/yr
How we grade them
| 3.6GPAMatterExcellent | 3.6GPAwallabagExcellent | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BOn the US App Store it's $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year, which is about typical by the year and the dear end by the month. But the App Store lists several Premium and Pro prices, up to $79.99 a year, and the website has no pricing page. Hard to know what you'll be shown. | AThe hosted wallabag.it service is 11 € a year, or 4 € for 3 months, with every feature included and no automatic renewal. That's far below what most read-later apps charge. There's also a 30 € a year option, which is the same service with extra going to the project. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe free version has an uncapped library, saving from the phone and browser extensions, unlimited tags, full-text search and custom themes and fonts. Most people could stay on that. Newsletter sync, RSS feeds, HD speech and unlimited highlights are the paid bits. | BFree only if you host it: the open-source software costs nothing on your own server, where backups and upgrades are your job. wallabag.it has no free plan, just a 14-day trial with no credit card, and saving by email, feeds and imports are switched off during it. |
| Features | AArticles, PDFs and threads in a clean view you can read offline. YouTube videos and podcast episodes get transcripts that stay in sync with playback. Text to speech, highlights that sync to Notion, Obsidian, Roam and Readwise, and on paid plans newsletters, RSS, an AI Co-Reader and Send to Kindle. | AIt pulls the article out of the page into a clean reading view, then gives you tags, filters, full-text search, highlights and notes. Articles export as PDF, ePUB, mobi and more, come out as private RSS feeds, and reading lists import from Pocket, Instapaper, Pinboard and Omnivore. |
| Ease of use | A4.61 from about 1,200 App Store ratings. Save from the app or a browser extension and it shows up parsed and ready. Highlighting is a long press and a drag. | BThere's no App Store rating on record for it, so a B is as high as we go. On wallabag.it you sign up and save the page you're on in one click from Chrome or Firefox. Installing it on your own server is the harder road. |
| Platforms and integrations | BiPhone, iPad and the web, with saving extensions for Chrome, Safari and Firefox. No Android app is listed, and there's no desktop app. It links to Gmail, Kindle, Notion, Obsidian, Roam and Readwise, and has a REST API and a terminal client for Matter Pro subscribers. | AWeb, Android and iOS apps with offline reading, Chrome and Firefox add-ons, and feeds that plug into Miniflux, FreshRSS and other readers. Kobo and PocketBook e-readers are covered by community apps. The iOS app went closed source from version 7.6, with paid features of its own. |
| Best for | reading and listening to saved articles on iPhone | a cheap, 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: Matter and wallabag. How we grade
Where they differ
- Matter starts at $7.99 per month or $59.99 per year on the US App Store; several prices are listed. wallabag starts at 11 € per year, or 4 € for 3 months (wallabag.it hosted service).
- Only wallabag lists an Android app.
- wallabag is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Matter also covers rSS reader.
In commonFree planWebiOSBrowser extensionWorks offlinePublic APIRead laterHighlights
At a glance
| Matter | wallabag | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $7.99 per month or $59.99 per year on the US App Store; several prices are listed | 11 € per year, or 4 € for 3 months (wallabag.it hosted service) |
| Free plan | Uncapped read-later library, mobile and web extensions for saving, article parsing, unlimited tags, full-text search, and custom themes and fonts. | 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 | 7-day free trial on the web sign-up paywall, after which a yearly subscription starts | 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 | Dig Wells, Inc. | Nicolas Lœuillet and wallabag contributors |
| Price read from | apps.apple.com | wallabag.it |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Matter
- iPhone and iPad readers who want articles and newsletters in one queue
- Listening to saved articles, newsletters and podcasts as audio
- Sending highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam or Readwise
wallabag
- People who want a read-later archive on a server they control
- Readers looking for a low-cost hosted service based in Europe
- Reading saved articles on a Kobo or PocketBook e-reader
- Former Pocket and Omnivore users moving an existing archive
Worth knowing
Matter
- No Android app is listed: Matter is offered for iPhone, iPad and the web.
- Newsletter sync, RSS feeds, HD text to speech, Send to Kindle and unlimited highlights need a paid plan.
- The website has no pricing page, and the App Store lists several different Premium and Pro prices.
- The API and CLI are limited to paying Matter Pro subscribers.
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
Matter
- Save articles, PDFs and threads
- Save from the iPhone and iPad apps or from the Chrome, Safari and Firefox extensions. Saved pages are parsed into a clean reading view and are available offline.
- Podcast and YouTube transcripts
- Saved YouTube videos and podcast episodes are transcribed into text that stays in sync with playback, so they can be read or listened to.
- Newsletters, writers and feeds
- Paid subscribers can pull newsletters in through Gmail or a personal Matter email address, follow individual writers and add RSS feeds.
- Text to speech
- Articles and newsletters can be played as audio, with highlighting while listening. HD text to speech for all articles is a paid feature.
- Highlights and exports
- Highlight by long-pressing and dragging, or with Apple Pencil on iPad, and sync highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam and Readwise.
- API and CLI
- A REST API and a terminal client give read and write access to the library, tags and annotations. Both require a Matter Pro subscription.
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
Matter
Free$0
Uncapped read-later library, saving from mobile and browser extensions, unlimited tags, full-text search, and custom themes and fonts.
Premium$59.99 to $79.99
per year; monthly items are listed at $7.99, $12.99 and $14.99
HD text to speech, AI Co-Reader, newsletter sync, writer and RSS feeds, unlimited highlights, notes and integrations, and Send to Kindle. Also labelled Matter Pro.
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
Matter
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.
