Readwise
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 5 read-it-later apps
Recommended for saving articles, reviewing highlights and reading RSS feeds in one place; the main caveat is its monthly price, which some find steep.
Recommended for saving articles, reviewing highlights and reading RSS feeds in one place; the main caveat is its monthly price, which some find steep.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Consistently happy long-term users
“has been my go to for quite some time now”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Why I love my Boox Palma e-reader” “I am pretty happy with Readwise’s Reader”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “The Death of Social Media Is the Renaissance of RSS” “Readwise does this pretty well.”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook” - Comment from 4 Feb 2026 in “Ask HN: Does a good "read it later" app exist?”
Helps retain highlights and quotes
“Great way to retain info from non-fiction books, and to retain the feeling of special parts of fiction ones.”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “How to Read More Books” “I do use it daily for quotes and tidbits of text that I want to remember and retain”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: Trailward – Learn anything in 90-second micro-sessions” “enables me to review highlighted passages and ideas from things I read”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “Is it time for a Luddite Renaissance?” Read-later and RSS reader in one
“I have Readwise's Reader on it, which doubles as "read later" and RSS feed reader, and works offline.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “TikTok unlawfully tracks shopping habits and use of dating apps?” “its one system to quickly just add articles like these to an inbox and read them another time”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “If AI Writes Your Code, Why Use Python?” “They are crushing it on the “power user feed reader”.”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “The Sideprocalypse” Worth paying for
“$10/mo is currently cheap enough to prevent me from building my own”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “I turned my Kindle into my own personal newspaper” “Turns out if you want good software, it can help to pay for it.”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “The Death of Social Media Is the Renaissance of RSS”
Other read-it-later apps people recommend
The four most recommended other read-it-later apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ReadwiseThis page | 13 | 3 | 81% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Instapaper | 10 | 1 | 91% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Readeck | 10 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Wallabag | 6 | 1 | 86% | 5 | — | — |
| Readit | 6 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
16 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“you didn't get me an advance notice for username grabs and I couldn't get mine”
“enables me to review highlighted passages and ideas from things I read”
“I like the Readwise integration via plugin”
“Readwise does this pretty well.”
“Great way to retain info from non-fiction books, and to retain the feeling of special parts of fiction ones.”
“its one system to quickly just add articles like these to an inbox and read them another time”
“Notion and Readwise just store what you read, they don't connect it.”
“$10/mo is currently cheap enough to prevent me from building my own”
“Turns out if you want good software, it can help to pay for it.”
“I am pretty happy with Readwise’s Reader”
“I wouldn't want to spend $13 a month for it.”
“They are crushing it on the “power user feed reader”.”
“I've been really happy with it.”
“I do use it daily for quotes and tidbits of text that I want to remember and retain”
“I have Readwise's Reader on it, which doubles as "read later" and RSS feed reader, and works offline.”
“has been my go to for quite some time now”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.