Marqly vs Readwise: Which is better? (2026)
The short answer
- Choose Marqly — Anyone who saves more than they can organize — researchers, students, and heavy readers who want to find things again by describing them. It adds AI auto-tagging, semantic search (find by meaning), AI summaries, YouTube AI (summary, chat, transcript) that Readwise doesn't offer.
- Choose Readwise — Avid book readers and PKM enthusiasts who want spaced-repetition highlight review and automatic sync to Notion or Obsidian. It offers Android app, public API, which Marqly doesn't.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Marqly | Readwise |
|---|---|---|
| AI auto-tagging | ✓ | — |
| Semantic search (find by meaning) | ✓ | — |
| AI summaries | ✓ | — |
| YouTube AI (summary, chat, transcript) | ✓ | — |
| AI Q&A over your saves | ✓ | — |
| Web highlighter | ✓ | ✓ |
| Notes on highlights | ✓ | ✓ |
| Save page as PDF | ✓ | — |
| Full-text search | ✓ | ✓ |
| Save all open tabs | ✓ | — |
| Public sharing (boards/collections) | ✓ | — |
| Pocket import | ✓ | ✓ |
| Browser bookmarks import | ✓ | — |
| Offline reading | — | — |
| iOS app | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android app | — | ✓ |
| Browser extension | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free tier | ✓ | — |
| Public API | — | ✓ |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Price | Free · $72/year (≈$6/mo) or $9/month | Readwise Lite $4.49/mo billed annually ($53.88/yr) or $5.59/mo; Readwise Full $9.99/mo billed annually ($119.88/yr) or $12.99/mo |
- Marqly
- Free · $72/year (≈$6/mo) or $9/month
- Readwise
- Readwise Lite $4.49/mo billed annually ($53.88/yr) or $5.59/mo; Readwise Full $9.99/mo billed annually ($119.88/yr) or $12.99/mo
Pricing
- Marqly: Marqly has a free tier; paid plans are $72/year (≈$6/mo) or $9/month. 7-day free trial of Pro. Free tier needs no card and stores up to 2,000 bookmarks with search across your whole library; every AI feature is Pro — auto-tagging, summaries, semantic search, AI Q&A over saves and video chat.
- Readwise: Readwise costs Readwise Lite $4.49/mo billed annually ($53.88/yr) or $5.59/mo; Readwise Full $9.99/mo billed annually ($119.88/yr) or $12.99/mo. 30-day free trial. No permanent free tier — after 30 days you must subscribe. Readwise Lite syncs highlights; Readwise Full adds the Reader reading app. 50% student discount available.
About Readwise
Readwise is a highlight aggregator and spaced repetition resurfacing tool launched in 2017. It automatically collects highlights and reading notes from Kindle, Apple Books, Instapaper, Pocket, and Twitter, and organizes them in one searchable library. Its signature feature is the Daily Review — a daily spaced-repetition email and mobile session that brings past highlights back into memory. Readwise connects directly with Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, Logseq, and Evernote, keeping markdown notes in sync as you read. Readwise offers a 30-day free trial but no permanent free tier; the Lite plan costs $4.49/month billed annually ($53.88/year) or $5.59/month, while the Full plan costs $9.99/month billed annually ($119.88/year) or $12.99/month and bundles the Readwise Reader reading app. Readwise is not a bookmark manager and cannot store full web pages or links.
Where Readwise wins
- Syncs highlights automatically from Kindle, Apple Books, Pocket, Instapaper, and Twitter/X
- Exports formatted markdown directly to Obsidian, Notion, Logseq, and Roam Research
- Daily review email and mobile app use proven spaced repetition to resurface key ideas
- Supports custom tags, inline notes, and flashcards generated from reading quotes
- Well-maintained official API and active developer community
Where Readwise falls short
- No permanent free tier — $54 to $120 per year is a high price if you only need link saving
- Not a bookmark manager: cannot save web pages, links, videos, or full articles for later
- No semantic search across web content
- Overkill if you do not actively take and review book highlights
About Marqly
Marqly is an AI bookmark manager built around a browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, plus a web app and an iOS app. On Pro, every save is tagged and summarized automatically and semantic search retrieves a bookmark by describing what you remember instead of matching exact keywords; the free tier is the manual half — saving, boards, highlights and keyword search. On YouTube, an AI card next to the player adds a streaming summary, a playback-synced transcript, and transcript-grounded chat. A built-in highlighter marks up any website in six colors with notes that persist across visits, boards collect links and highlights into shareable public pages, and any page can be captured as a clean PDF locally in the browser. Imports from Pocket, Raindrop, and standard browser bookmark exports make switching quick. A free tier requires no card and stores up to 2,000 bookmarks with search across your whole library; Pro lifts that cap to unlimited and adds full AI capabilities for $72/year (with $39 first-year offer) or $9/month with a 7-day trial.
Where Marqly wins
- Semantic search finds saves by meaning — describe what you remember, no exact titles needed
- AI tags and summarizes every save automatically, so nothing needs manual filing
- YouTube AI card puts summaries, transcript, and Q&A right on the watch page
- Highlights in 6 colors persist on the page itself and sync to your library
- Screen-faithful save-as-PDF handled locally in the browser
- One-click imports from Pocket, Raindrop, and browser bookmark files
Where Marqly falls short
- Free tier stores up to 2,000 bookmarks (without AI); unlimited bookmarks and all AI capabilities require Pro
- No AI at all on the free tier — auto-tagging, summaries, semantic search and chat are all Pro
- Lifetime plans (AppSumo, 2022-24) save, browse and search without limit, but include no AI
- No Android app yet (the web app works in Android browsers)
- No offline reading mode
- No public API or self-hosting option
The core difference: Finding saves when you forgot the exact title
The most frequent pain point with traditional bookmark tools like Readwise is search failure. When you save hundreds of links and later only remember the concept—not the exact title or tag—keyword matching comes up empty. Marqly indexes the actual meaning of your bookmarks, articles, highlights, and YouTube transcripts with semantic embeddings.
Keyword & Tag Matching
Matches titles, tags, and exact strings. If you paraphrase or forget the exact wording, the save stays hidden.
"study about sleep cycles and focus"Semantic AI Search
Understands natural-language concepts. Find any bookmark by describing what you remember, just like asking a human colleague.
"study about sleep cycles and focus"Switching from Readwise to Marqly
Yes. Export your data from Readwise (most tools export standard bookmark HTML or CSV), then import the file into Marqly — AI tags everything automatically and semantic search works across all of it.
Marqly vs Readwise FAQ
Which is better, Marqly or Readwise?
It depends on the job. Readwise is a better fit if you need Android app, public API. Marqly wins when finding saves again matters most: it adds AI auto-tagging, semantic search (find by meaning), AI summaries on top of standard bookmarking, so you can retrieve any save by describing it.
Is Readwise free?
Readwise costs Readwise Lite $4.49/mo billed annually ($53.88/yr) or $5.59/mo; Readwise Full $9.99/mo billed annually ($119.88/yr) or $12.99/mo. 30-day free trial. No permanent free tier — after 30 days you must subscribe. Readwise Lite syncs highlights; Readwise Full adds the Reader reading app. 50% student discount available.
Can I switch from Readwise to Marqly?
Yes. Export your data from Readwise (most tools export standard bookmark HTML or CSV), then import the file into Marqly — AI tags everything automatically and semantic search works across all of it.
Does Readwise have AI search?
Readwise does not offer AI organization features — saving, tagging, and finding content is manual. That gap is exactly what AI-first tools like Marqly automate.
Is Marqly free?
Yes — Marqly has a free tier with no card required: up to 2,000 bookmarks, all of them readable and keyword-searchable. Pro is $72/year (about $6/month billed annually) or $9/month, with a 7-day free trial, and unlocks the AI layer — semantic search, auto-tagging and summaries, AI Q&A over your saves, and chat with YouTube videos.
