Pinboard vs Raindrop.io
We give Pinboard a 2.6 GPA and Raindrop.io a 3.8, out of 4.0. Raindrop.io grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and ease of use.
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
Raindrop.io
Bookmark manager with collections, tags and highlights
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAPinboardGood | 3.8GPARaindrop.ioExcellent | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A$22 a year for a regular account, which is less than half what a typical reading app costs. 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 doesn't show by how much. | APro is $28 a year, or $3 a month. For that you get full-text search, a saved copy of every page, reminders, daily backups, the AI assistant and 10 GB of uploads a month. That's cheaper than most paid reading apps. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | AUnlimited bookmarks, collections, highlights and devices, with sharing and collaboration thrown in. The main limit is 100 MB of file uploads a month. Most people never need to pay. |
| Features | BSolid, plain bookmarking: tags, private bookmarks, a read-later list, notes, tab sets and tag bundles. Stored copies and full-text search need the archival account. Even then the crawler can't save paywalled pages, and the FAQ says YouTube and Twitter links aren't saved properly. | ACollections, tags and filters, highlights in web pages, PDFs and EPUBs, shared collections and public pages. Pro adds search through the full text of what you saved, YouTube transcripts included, plus a web archive and an AI assistant that's still in beta. |
| Ease of use | BIt has no app of its own, so there's no App Store rating on record and a B is as high as we go. Saving is a bookmarklet, a browser extension or emailing a link to your own Pinboard address. It's a plain, text-based site, so there's not much to learn. | B4.49 from 416 App Store ratings. You sort links into collections and tags and pick how they look: grid, headlines, masonry or a plain list. A public collection needs no sign-up from the people you send it to. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA website with extensions for Safari, Chrome and Firefox, a full API and an RSS feed for every bookmark page. There are no native mobile apps. On a phone it's the mobile website or a third-party app. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and browser extensions, with an API and hooks into Zapier, IFTTT, Make, Notion, Readwise and more. The one gap is Linux, as the desktop apps are macOS and Windows only. |
| Best for | plain, private bookmarks with no ads | all-round bookmarking on every device |
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: Pinboard and Raindrop.io. How we grade
Where they differ
- Pinboard starts at $22 per year. Raindrop.io starts at $28 per year, or $3 per month.
- Raindrop.io has a free plan. Pinboard does not.
- Only Raindrop.io lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps.
- Raindrop.io also covers highlights.
At a glance
| Pinboard | Raindrop.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $22 per year | $28 per year, or $3 per month |
| Free plan | None | Unlimited bookmarks, collections, highlights and devices, with sharing and collaboration included. File uploads are limited to 100 MB a month. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Nine Fives Software | Rustem Mussabekov |
| Price read from | pinboard.in | raindrop.io |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Pinboard
- People who want a fast, text-based bookmark archive without ads or trackers
- Users who keep most or all of their bookmarks private
- Developers who want an API and RSS feeds for their bookmarks
Raindrop.io
- Keeping a large bookmark library organized across browsers and devices
- Sharing link collections with collaborators or on a public page
- People who highlight passages in web pages, PDFs and EPUBs
Worth knowing
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.
Raindrop.io
- Full-text search, the web archive, reminders and the AI assistant are limited to Pro.
- Free accounts can upload 100 MB of files a month; Pro raises the limit to 10 GB.
- Notes on highlights require Pro, and each bookmark holds at most 100 highlights.
- The download page lists desktop apps for macOS and Windows only.
Key features
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.
Raindrop.io
- Collections, tags and filters
- Bookmarks are grouped into collections and classified with tags, then narrowed by type, tag or domain. Grid, headlines, masonry and list views are available.
- Highlights
- Save passages from web pages, PDFs and EPUBs in several colors, up to 100 per bookmark on any plan. Adding notes to highlights requires Pro.
- Full-text search
- On Pro, search covers the full content of saved pages, PDFs, EPUBs and YouTube transcripts instead of only titles and tags.
- Web archive and backups
- Pro keeps a saved copy of each bookmarked page in case the original changes or disappears, and runs automatic backups of the whole library.
- Sharing and public pages
- Invite members to a collection with per-collection permissions, or publish a collection as a public page that needs no sign-up. Both work on the free plan.
- Stella AI assistant
- A chat assistant, in beta for Pro users, that answers questions about saved content, summarizes it and helps organize collections.
Plans
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.
Raindrop.io
Free$0
Unlimited bookmarks, collections, highlights and devices, sharing and collaboration, and 100 MB of file uploads a month.
Pro$3
per month, or $28 per year (before tax)
AI assistant, full-text search, web archive, reminders, annotations, duplicate and broken-link finder, daily backups and 10 GB of uploads a month.
Ways to pay less
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.
Raindrop.io
- Annual discount
About 20% off with yearly billing
The pricing page marks yearly billing as 20% off, and the US prices it loads are $28 a year against $3 a month.
