# Hypothesis review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Social annotation for web pages and PDFs, built for courses Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Hypothesis lets people highlight and comment directly on web pages, PDFs and other online content, and reply to each other's annotations. It is sold mainly to colleges and universities through LMS integrations, and a free web annotator remains available. - **Category:** Read Later & Bookmarks - **Made by:** Hypothesis (since 2011) - **Website:** https://web.hypothes.is - **Runs on:** Web, Browser extension - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want paid prices on the page, as none are published for Bronze, Silver or Gold. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, Hypothesis has a free plan. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Free: core annotation and private groups, with self-service support. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | Core annotation and private groups, with self-service support. | | Bronze | Custom | Priced per student per year with no figure shown. LMS integration, up to 1,000 seats, partner workshops, email support. | | Silver | Custom | Priced per student per year with no figure shown. Up to 2,000 seats, advanced analytics, auto-grading, Hypothesis Academy. | | Gold | Custom | Priced per student per year with no figure shown. Up to 3,000 seats, unlimited training, dedicated CSM, premium support. | Read from https://web.hypothes.is/pricing-page/ on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Hypothesis before buying. ## Key features - **Annotate any page:** Highlight and comment on online articles, websites, videos and PDFs, and turn annotations into threaded discussions. - **LMS integration:** Connects to Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, D2L Brightspace and Sakai through LTI so readings can be set inside a course. - **Private groups:** Annotation can be shared inside private groups, which the pricing page lists on the free plan. - **Tagging other users:** Mention classmates or colleagues in an annotation to notify them and draw them back into the reading. - **Analytics and auto-grading:** Silver and Gold add an LMS reporting dashboard and automatic grading of student annotations. - **Chrome extension and bookmarklet:** The web annotator works through a Chrome extension or bookmarklet in any modern browser released within the last 12 months. ## Good for - Instructors who want students to discuss a reading in the text itself - Researchers and journal clubs annotating papers and open reviews - Institutions that need annotation inside their LMS ## Worth knowing - No prices are published for Bronze, Silver or Gold; the pricing page says per student per year and points to sales. - The paid tiers cap user seats at 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000, with a sales contact for anything larger. - LMS integration, partner workshops and analytics are not on the Free plan. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 3.0 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Hypothesis lets you highlight and comment on almost any web page, and the free plan covers core annotation and private groups. The paid plans are built for schools and priced per student per year with no figure published, and LMS integration and analytics sit behind them. Individuals will find the free plan enough; institutions have to talk to sales. - **Value for money: B.** The free plan covers core annotation and private groups. Bronze, Silver and Gold are priced per student per year and no figure is shown, so a school can't compare the cost without asking. - **Free plan and trial: A.** Free plan with annotation and private groups, and the listing shows no cap an individual would reach. - **Features: C.** Page annotation, groups, tagging and a Chrome extension. But LMS integration, partner workshops, analytics and auto-grading are not on the free plan. - **Ease of use: B.** No rating on record. Add the extension or bookmarklet, sign up and start highlighting, with nothing else to set up. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, a Chrome extension and a bookmarklet, with LMS links to Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, D2L Brightspace and Sakai. No phone or desktop apps are listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Hypothesis's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among read-later and bookmark apps - Hypothesis's GPA of 3.0 is higher than 35 of the 52 other read-later and bookmark apps we grade, and level with 12. - It stands best on free plan and trial (A, above 38 of 52) and worst on features (C, above 0). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/reading ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Hypothesis you would be making a library of papers and sources to search. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 3.0 is higher than 35 of the 52 other read-later and bookmark apps we grade. - You could make: Highlights: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: A library of papers and sources to search. - You could not: Several people working in it at the same moment. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Canvas, Blackboard and Moodle among them. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, D2L Brightspace, Sakai, JSTOR, VitalSource **Tags:** Highlights, Research, Real-time collaboration ## Alternatives - [Glasp](https://toolgpa.com/tools/glasp): Social web highlighter with AI summaries of videos and articles. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/glasp-vs-hypothesis) - [Diigo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/diigo): Bookmarking with highlights and sticky notes on web pages and PDFs. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/diigo-vs-hypothesis) - [Readwise](https://toolgpa.com/tools/readwise): Highlight library with a daily review and a read-later app. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hypothesis-vs-readwise) - [Raindrop.io](https://toolgpa.com/tools/raindrop-io): Bookmark manager with collections, tags and highlights. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hypothesis-vs-raindrop-io) - [Pinboard](https://toolgpa.com/tools/pinboard): Paid bookmarking site with tags, privacy and page archiving. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hypothesis-vs-pinboard) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://web.hypothes.is/pricing-page/ - https://web.hypothes.is/ - https://web.hypothes.is/about-us/ - https://web.hypothes.is/help/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/hypothesis Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).