Best Free Alternatives to Readwise Reader

A powerful read-it-later app for curious minds.

Why it stands out: Excellent text-to-speech functionality for listening to articles.

Compared with Readwise Reader: Focus: read it later, newsletter reader and text to speech. Shares highlights with Readwise Reader. A mobile app, not a web app. Free (Readwise Reader: Paid but Affordable). Same 4.7 rating.

Best for Students, Professionals, Writers · Mobile App

A long-running read-later app that saves unlimited articles for free.

Why it stands out: Unlimited saved articles on the free plan

Compared with Readwise Reader: Focus: articles and readwise reader alternative. Shares read later and highlights with Readwise Reader. Freemium (Readwise Reader: Paid but Affordable). Adds Firefox and Safari. Rated 4.4 (Readwise Reader: 4.7).

Best for Personal Use, Students, Writers · Web App

Highlight the web and keep everything you learned.

Why it stands out: Free and quick to start

Compared with Readwise Reader: Focus: annotations and export. Shares highlights and read later with Readwise Reader. A browser extension, not a web app. Free (Readwise Reader: Paid but Affordable). Adds Safari. Rated 4.4 (Readwise Reader: 4.7).

Best for Students, Writers, Creators · Browser Extension

An open-source bookmark and read-later app with AI tagging and highlights.

Why it stands out: Free to self-host with every feature

Compared with Readwise Reader: Focus: bookmarks, self-hosted and readwise reader alternative. Shares read later and highlights with Readwise Reader. Freemium (Readwise Reader: Paid but Affordable). Adds Firefox and Safari. Rated 4.5 (Readwise Reader: 4.7).

Best for Developers, Personal Use, Professionals · Web App

A bookmark manager that finally makes saved links useful.

Why it stands out: Genuinely fast search

Compared with Readwise Reader: Focus: bookmarks, collections and search. Shares read later with Readwise Reader. Freemium (Readwise Reader: Paid but Affordable). Adds Firefox, Safari and macOS. Rated 4.6 (Readwise Reader: 4.7).

Best for Students, Writers, Creators · Web App

A free, open-source read-it-later app you can host yourself.

Why it stands out: Free and open source (MIT)

Compared with Readwise Reader: Focus: self-hosted, open source and readwise reader alternative. Shares read later with Readwise Reader. Free (Readwise Reader: Paid but Affordable). Adds Firefox. Rated 4.2 (Readwise Reader: 4.7).

Best for Developers, Personal Use · Web App

Turn anything you read or watch into a knowledge base you remember.

Why it stands out: Summarises almost any content

Compared with Readwise Reader: Focus: summaries, spaced repetition and knowledge graph. Shares read later with Readwise Reader. A browser extension, not a web app. Freemium (Readwise Reader: Paid but Affordable). Rated 4.4 (Readwise Reader: 4.7).

Best for Students, Creators, Professionals · Browser Extension

Save any page straight into your notes.

Why it stands out: Clean markdown output

Compared with Readwise Reader: Focus: clipper, markdown and research. Also in Research and Knowledge Management, like Readwise Reader. A browser extension, not a web app. Free (Readwise Reader: Paid but Affordable). Adds Firefox and Safari. Rated 4.4 (Readwise Reader: 4.7).

Best for Writers, Students, Professionals · Browser Extension

A privacy-first, open-source knowledge base that works on local files.

Why it stands out: Excellent for building a personal knowledge graph with bidirectional links

Compared with Readwise Reader: Focus: Open Source, PKM and Note-Taking. Also in Knowledge Management and Personal Knowledge Management, like Readwise Reader. A desktop app, not a web app. Free (Readwise Reader: Paid but Affordable). Adds macOS, Windows and Linux. Rated 4.6 (Readwise Reader: 4.7).

Best for Students · Desktop App