Readwise vs Readwise Reader: Which is better? (2026)
The short answer
Two tools from the same team solving different jobs: Readwise syncs and resurfaces highlights via spaced repetition; Readwise Reader is an all-in-one inbox for reading articles, PDFs, newsletters, and RSS with Ghostreader AI.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Readwise | Readwise Reader | Marqly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 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 | $9.99/month billed annually ($119.88/year) or $12.99/month billed monthly (Full plan) | 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
- Readwise Reader
- $9.99/month billed annually ($119.88/year) or $12.99/month billed monthly (Full plan)
- Marqly
- Free · $72/year (≈$6/mo) or $9/month
Pricing
- 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.
- Readwise Reader: Readwise Reader costs $9.99/month billed annually ($119.88/year) or $12.99/month billed monthly (Full plan). 30-day free trial. No permanent free tier — after the 30-day trial you must subscribe. Reader is only included in the Full plan; the cheaper Lite plan ($5.59/month billed annually) covers classic Readwise highlight syncing without the Reader app.
- 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.
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.
About Readwise Reader
Readwise Reader is the read-it-later app from the team behind Readwise, the popular highlight-syncing service. Launched in public beta in 2022, Reader combines saved articles, RSS feeds, email newsletters, PDFs, ePubs, Twitter threads, and YouTube videos into a single triage-oriented inbox available on the web, iOS, Android, and via browser extensions. Its Ghostreader assistant uses AI to summarize documents, define terms, and answer questions against the text, and YouTube videos come with synced transcripts you can highlight like an article. Everything feeds the core Readwise loop: highlights and notes sync to Notion, Obsidian, Evernote, and other tools, with spaced-repetition review built in. Reader is bundled exclusively with the Readwise Full plan at $9.99/month billed annually ($119.88/year) or $12.99/month billed monthly, after a 30-day free trial; there is no permanent free tier. A documented API and active development round out a distinctly power-user product.
Which should you choose?
While built by the same company and bundled together on the Full subscription plan, Readwise and Readwise Reader address distinct phases of the knowledge workflow. Readwise is a retention and resurfacing tool: it ingests highlights from Kindle, Apple Books, Pocket, and articles, sending you a daily spaced-repetition review email and syncing notes to Notion, Obsidian, and Roam. Readwise Reader is an ingestion and reading tool: it provides a keyboard-driven triage inbox for RSS feeds, newsletters, saved articles, PDFs, and EPUBs, with Ghostreader AI to summarize and query documents.
Choose Readwise (Lite plan) if:
- Your primary reading happens on Kindle, Kobo, or physical books and you want your highlights automatically synced into an Obsidian vault or Notion workspace.
- You want the daily spaced repetition review habit to remember key insights from books you’ve read.
- You already have an article reading tool you love and don’t need another reading inbox.
- You want the lower price tier ($4.49/mo billed annually) without paying for Reader.
Choose Readwise Reader (Full plan) if:
- You read heavy volumes of digital content: long-form web articles, Substack newsletters, academic PDFs, EPUBs, and YouTube video transcripts.
- You want a fast, keyboard-first reading environment with vim-style shortcuts and triage queues (Inbox, Later, Archive).
- You want Ghostreader AI assistance inside documents: term definitions, instant summaries, and section Q&A.
- You want all highlights made while reading to feed directly into your note-taking ecosystem.
The missing piece: neither product functions as an effortless AI bookmark organizer for general web resources, videos, or quick references. If you want your bookmarks automatically organized and searchable by meaning without maintaining an inbox queue, explore an AI-native bookmark manager like Marqly.
The option both sides overlook
If the real problem is finding things again, neither Readwise nor Readwise Reader fully solves it. Marqly auto-tags and summarizes every save with AI and lets you retrieve any of them by describing what you remember — plus a highlighter, YouTube summaries with transcripts, and save-as-PDF. There's a free tier with no card required.
Readwise vs Readwise Reader FAQ
Are Readwise and Reader two separate subscriptions?
No. Reader is bundled exclusively inside the Readwise Full plan ($9.99/month billed annually or $12.99/month). If you only want highlight syncing and daily review without the reading app, the cheaper Readwise Lite plan costs $4.49/month billed annually or $5.59/month.
Can I use Readwise Reader without classic Readwise?
You cannot subscribe to Reader as a standalone product. When you subscribe to Readwise Full, you receive both Reader and classic Readwise highlight syncing together. Highlights you make in Reader flow automatically into your Readwise library and onto Notion/Obsidian.
Which tool is better for managing saved bookmarks?
Neither is designed as a classic bookmark manager. Readwise only stores highlights and quotes, while Reader is an inbox designed for reading and triaging content rather than organizing permanent reference links. If you want a dedicated bookmark manager that uses AI to tag, summarize, and semantically search your saves, Marqly is a purpose-built alternative.
