The best read it later app for most people is Instapaper. It's the closest thing to Pocket, with a free plan that saves unlimited articles and syncs across web, iPhone and Android. Choose Readwise Reader if you highlight heavily and want AI help while you read. Matter suits iPhone readers who love newsletters and listening, Raindrop.io is the pick if you mainly need a free bookmark manager, and wallabag is the open-source choice.
Mozilla has shut down Pocket, including its apps and browser extensions, so many readers are choosing a new home for their reading list. This guide compares the main options on price, AI features, highlighting and platforms, then gives you a checklist for moving your library. Prices and features were checked on each vendor's site on October 5, 2026.
Read-it-later apps compared
| App | Free plan | Paid from | AI and audio | Platforms | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instapaper | Unlimited saves, folders, sync | $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year | AI voices and text-to-speech playlists on mobile (Premium) | Web, iOS, Android | A simple Pocket replacement |
| Readwise Reader | 30-day free trial | $9.99 a month billed annually, or $12.99 monthly | Ghostreader AI assistant | Web, mobile, browser extension | Heavy highlighters and researchers |
| Matter | Yes, free app | Matter Premium, sold in the app | HD text-to-speech and an AI Co-Reader (Premium) | iPhone, iPad, web | Newsletters and listening on Apple devices |
| Raindrop.io | Unlimited bookmarks and collections, unlimited devices | See the vendor's pricing page | Not a focus | Web, desktop, mobile | Organizing bookmarks |
| wallabag | Free if you host it yourself; wallabag.it has a 14-day trial | €11 a year for wallabag.it | Not a focus | Web, Android, iPhone, e-readers | Open source and privacy |
How to choose a read-it-later app
Ask yourself three questions.
- Do you just save and read, or do you highlight? If you only save articles to read later, a simple app is best. If you highlight and want those notes elsewhere, look at Readwise Reader.
- Do you want to listen? Several apps now read articles aloud with natural AI voices, which turns your queue into a podcast for commutes.
- Where do you read? Matter has no Android app. Instapaper and wallabag cover Android, and wallabag also supports e-readers.
The best read-it-later apps in detail
Instapaper: best overall Pocket replacement
Instapaper does the core job without fuss. Instapaper's Premium page lists a free plan that saves unlimited articles, videos and pages, syncs across web, iOS and Android, and lets you organize with folders. Premium costs $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year. It adds full-text search across everything you've saved, a permanent archive so articles stay available even if they vanish from the web, a PDF reader, unlimited notes (the free plan allows 5 a month), Kindle integration, and speed reading up to 3x. For listening, Premium includes AI voices and text-to-speech playlists on mobile.
- Pros: the most Pocket-like experience, a generous free plan, and a fair Premium price.
- Cons: full-text search and the permanent archive need Premium.
- Who it's for: most former Pocket users who want to save, read and move on.
Readwise Reader: best for highlighting and AI
Readwise Reader gathers far more than articles. Readwise's Reader page lists newsletters, RSS feeds, PDFs, EPUBs, YouTube videos with highlightable transcripts, and Twitter threads, all in one place. A browser extension lets you highlight the open web directly. Reader's AI assistant, Ghostreader, helps while you read, and your highlights sync into Readwise, which can export them to Notion, Obsidian and other tools.
Readwise's Reader pricing page lists the subscription at $9.99 a month billed annually, or $12.99 billed monthly, after a 30-day free trial. Students and academics can get 50% off by emailing Readwise before subscribing.
- Pros: one inbox for every kind of reading, the best highlighting here, and strong export to notes apps.
- Cons: no permanent free plan, and more features than a casual reader needs.
- Who it's for: researchers, students and writers who want their highlights to end up in their notes. Our guide to the best AI note-taking app covers where those notes can live.
Matter: best for newsletters and listening
Matter's website describes it as a read-later app for iPhone, iPad and the web, and it welcomes former Pocket readers on its homepage. You can save articles, threads and PDFs, and send newsletters to Matter by connecting Gmail or using a unique Matter email address. You can also follow writers and feeds. It can also save YouTube videos and podcast episodes and transcribe them into time-synced text. Matter's speech synthesis turns your queue into a playlist, and you can highlight while listening without looking at the screen.
The app is a free download. Its App Store listing says the free version includes clean article parsing, unlimited tags, full-text search and custom themes. Matter Premium, sold as an in-app purchase, adds HD text-to-speech for every article, an AI Co-Reader, newsletter syncing, writer subscriptions and RSS feeds, unlimited highlights, notes and integrations, and Send to Kindle.
- Pros: beautiful design, excellent audio, and newsletters kept out of your inbox.
- Cons: no Android app, the best features need Premium, and pricing isn't published on its website, so check the in-app options before you commit.
- Who it's for: iPhone and iPad readers who subscribe to lots of newsletters.
Raindrop.io: best free bookmark manager
Raindrop.io is a bookmark manager more than a reading app, but many Pocket users really used Pocket as a bookmark list. Raindrop.io's Pro page says the free plan has no time limit and allows unlimited bookmarks and collections on unlimited devices, with collaboration included. Pro adds full-text search, including spoken words in YouTube videos, permanent copies of your bookmarks, more upload space, cloud backup and tools to clean up broken links. Yearly billing is usually about 20% cheaper than monthly, and there's a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Pros: a genuinely useful free plan and good organization with collections and tags.
- Cons: reading is not its focus, and there's no built-in text-to-speech.
- Who it's for: people who save links to come back to, rather than long reads.
wallabag: best open-source option
wallabag is open-source software that has existed since 2013, released under the MIT licence. According to wallabag's website, you can install it on your own server for full control of your data, or use wallabag.it, the project's official hosted service. The site also explains how to import a Pocket CSV export or an Omnivore export. wallabag.it's pricing page lists a one-year plan at €11, a three-month plan at €4, and a €30 supporter plan, all with the same features and a 14-day free trial that needs no credit card. It's hosted in Europe, funded by subscriptions rather than ads, and lets you import and export your articles, tags and annotations at any time. Apps cover the web, Android, iPhone, tablets and e-readers, with offline reading.
- Pros: very low price, open source, data export, and e-reader support.
- Cons: a plainer interface, and no AI features.
- Who it's for: privacy-minded readers, and anyone who reads on an e-ink device.
Add AI listening to any reading list
If you'd rather hear articles than read them, you don't have to pick an app for its voices. A dedicated text-to-speech reader works with whatever you save. ElevenLabs makes ElevenReader, which reads web links and files with natural voices and includes 10 free hours a month, and Speechify reads pages through its browser extensions and apps. We compare them in Speechify vs ElevenReader.
How to move your reading list
- Find your export. If you saved a Pocket export before the shutdown, keep that file safe. Pocket's farewell page explains the shutdown.
- Import it into the new app. Instapaper, Readwise Reader and wallabag all support importing a reading list from another service. Check the import option in each app's settings.
- Install the browser extension and mobile share option, so saving stays one tap.
- Clear the backlog. Archive anything older than six months that you haven't opened. You won't miss it.
- Set up one output. Send highlights to your notes app, such as Notion, so your reading leads somewhere.
Which read-it-later app should you pick?
- You want Pocket back, simply: Instapaper.
- You highlight everything: Readwise Reader.
- You read newsletters on an iPhone: Matter.
- You mostly save links: Raindrop.io.
- You care about open source or use an e-reader: wallabag.
- You're a student: Readwise Reader with the 50% discount, plus Gemini Notebook for course readings. See how to use NotebookLM for studying.
FAQ
What is the best read-it-later app?
Instapaper is the best read-it-later app for most people, thanks to its free plan with unlimited saves and its fair Premium price. Readwise Reader is the best choice for heavy highlighters who want AI help and export to notes apps.
What is the best Pocket alternative?
Instapaper is the closest Pocket alternative, with unlimited free saves and apps for web, iOS and Android. Readwise Reader, Matter, Raindrop.io and wallabag are good alternatives depending on whether you highlight, listen, bookmark or want open source.
Is there a free read-it-later app?
Yes. Instapaper's free plan saves unlimited articles with sync across devices, and Raindrop.io is free indefinitely for unlimited bookmarks. Readwise Reader and wallabag.it offer free trials rather than free plans, and the open-source wallabag is free if you host it yourself.
Which read-it-later app has AI?
Readwise Reader has Ghostreader, an AI reading assistant. Instapaper Premium includes AI voices and text-to-speech playlists on mobile, and Matter Premium adds HD text-to-speech and an AI Co-Reader.
Why did Pocket shut down?
Mozilla says the way people save and consume content on the web has changed, so it's putting its resources into other projects. It points Firefox users to features like Tab Groups and enhanced bookmarks for managing reading lists.
