Readwise vs wallabag
We give Readwise a 3.2 GPA and wallabag a 3.6, out of 4.0. Readwise grades higher on ease of use. wallabag grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Readwise
Highlight library with a daily review and a read-later app
wallabag
Open-source read-it-later app you can self-host or use hosted
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAReadwiseVery good | 3.6GPAwallabagExcellent | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CLite is $5.59 a month billed annually, already above the middle for reading apps, and it leaves out tags, notes, exports to note apps and Reader. The full plan is $9.99, or $12.99 monthly, which is past the dear end. It is two apps for that, to be fair. | 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 | CThere's no free plan. You get 30 days free with no credit card required, covering both Readwise and Reader, and then it's a paid subscription or nothing. | 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 | AHighlights from Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Instapaper and even photos of paper books, a Daily Review timed with spaced repetition, and exports to Notion, Obsidian and more. Reader handles articles, RSS, newsletters, PDFs, EPUBs and YouTube transcripts, with search and text to speech. | 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 | A4.8 from about 1,500 App Store ratings. Once your reading sources are connected, new highlights sync in and the Daily Review turns up by email without you doing anything. | 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 | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and a browser extension, with no Linux app mentioned. It syncs with Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo and Instapaper and exports to Notion, Obsidian, Evernote and Logseq. There's an API, a command-line tool and an MCP server for AI assistants. | 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 | keeping and revisiting everything you highlight | 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: Readwise and wallabag. How we grade
Where they differ
- Readwise starts at $5.59 per month, billed annually (Readwise Lite). wallabag starts at 11 € per year, or 4 € for 3 months (wallabag.it hosted service).
- wallabag has a free plan. Readwise does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Readwise lists macOS and Windows apps.
- wallabag is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Readwise also covers rSS reader.
At a glance
| Readwise | wallabag | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $5.59 per month, billed annually (Readwise Lite) | 11 € per year, or 4 € for 3 months (wallabag.it hosted service) |
| Free plan | None | 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 | 30-day free trial of Readwise and Reader, no credit card required | 14-day free trial of wallabag.it with no credit card; saving by email, feeds and imports are held back for subscribers |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Readwise, Inc. | Nicolas Lœuillet and wallabag contributors |
| Price read from | readwise.io | wallabag.it |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Readwise
- Kindle and ebook readers who want to see their highlights again
- People who send reading notes to Notion, Obsidian or a similar app
- Readers who want articles, RSS, newsletters and PDFs in one app
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
Readwise
- There is no free plan: a paid subscription is needed once the 30-day trial ends.
- Readwise Lite leaves out tags and notes, exports to note-taking apps, and the Reader app.
- Reader is not sold on its own; it comes with the full Readwise plan at $9.99 per month billed annually.
- Desktop apps are listed for Mac and Windows only, with no Linux app mentioned.
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
Readwise
- Daily Review
- A daily selection of past highlights, delivered by email and in the app and timed with spaced repetition so older passages come back around.
- Highlight import
- Syncs highlights from Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Instapaper and other listed sources, and captures passages from paper books by photographing the page.
- Export to note-taking apps
- Sends highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Evernote, Roam, Logseq and other listed apps, or to Markdown and CSV. Exports are part of the full plan.
- Reader
- A read-later app for web articles, RSS feeds, email newsletters, PDFs, EPUBs, YouTube transcripts and X threads, with highlighting, full-text search and text to speech.
- Ghostreader and chat with highlights
- Ghostreader answers questions about a document, defines terms and simplifies passages. Chat answers show the highlights they were drawn from.
- MCP server, CLI and API
- An MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another MCP-compatible assistant to the library, alongside a command-line tool and an API.
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
Readwise
Readwise Lite$5.59
per month, billed annually ($67.08), or $6.99 billed monthly
Daily Review by email and app, a searchable highlight library, and syncing of new highlights from all sources.
Readwise$9.99
per month, billed annually ($119.88), or $12.99 billed monthly
The full plan: everything in Lite, plus tags and notes, exports to Notion, Obsidian and other note apps, and the Reader app.
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
Readwise
- Annual discount
Save 21% to 24% with yearly billing
The pricing page shows a 21% saving on Readwise Lite ($5.59 instead of $6.99 a month) and 24% on the full plan ($9.99 instead of $12.99) when billed yearly.
- Education
50% off for students and academics
Students and other members of academia get 50% off by emailing Readwise before subscribing, then subscribing through the Readwise website.
- Nonprofit
50% off for nonprofits
The Reader page lists the same 50% discount for nonprofits, educators, military and first responders, requested by email.
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.
