Compare Dewey and Instapaper side by side on features, pricing, and the workflows each one is designed for.
Save and search X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, TikTok, Threads, Reddit, and Mastodon bookmarks in one place.
Free, paid from $10/mo
A classic read-later app with clean text extraction and distraction-free reading.
Free, paid from $5.99/mo
Here's how Dewey and Instapaper compare across the features people actually look for. They share 5 core capabilities; the differences show up in what each tool focuses on.
| Feature | Dewey | Instapaper |
|---|---|---|
| Capture and save | ||
| Browser extension | Chrome | Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge |
| Mobile apps | iOS, Android | |
| Save from email | Unique save-by-email address | |
| Save tweets | Native X bookmarks sync | |
| Save YouTube videos | URL only | |
| Save GitHub stars | ||
| Save PDFs | Premium | |
| Save files (docs, spreadsheets) | ||
| Save audio files | ||
| Save via API | ||
| Auto-sync sources | ||
| RSS auto-sync | Outputs RSS of your bookmarks | |
| YouTube channel sync | ||
| X bookmarks sync | Auto sync on Pro | |
| GitHub stars sync | ||
| Newsletter inbox sync | Forward-to-save, not a dedicated inbox | |
| Library and reading | ||
| Reader view | ||
| Offline reading | ||
| Full-text search | Premium | |
| Semantic / AI search | ||
| Highlights | ||
| Notes | ||
| Tags | ||
| Collections | Nested folders | Folders |
| Public sharing | Public folders (Pro) | |
| Full-text RSS extraction | ||
| AI and agents | ||
| Markdown export for AI agents | ||
| Bulk markdown export | ||
| MCP server | ||
| CLI tool | ||
| Claude Code skill | ||
| AI summaries | AI auto-tagging | |
| Public API | ||
| Import and export | ||
| OPML import / export | ||
| Pocket import | ||
| Instapaper import | ||
| CSV / JSON export | CSV, PDF, Google Sheets | HTML + CSV |
| Send to Kindle | Premium |
Dewey is free, paid from $10/mo and Instapaper is free, paid from $5.99/mo. The tier that fits best usually comes down to how many items you save each month.
Free
Manual sync, one connected account, search, filters, folders, tags, AI assistant.
Pro
$10/mo monthly or $7.50/mo annual. Automatic sync, unlimited accounts, public folders, Notion + Google Sheets sync.
Lifetime
$225 one-time. Matches Pro features.
Export Pass
$50 for 48-hour export access without a Pro subscription.
Free
Unlimited saves, folders, tags, sync across web/iOS/Android, API access.
Premium
Full-text search, permanent archive, PDF reader, unlimited notes, Kindle send, AI voices, speed reading, ad-free.
Both tools do their category well, but the specifics differ. Here's what each one is good at and where it tends to fall short.
Dewey is a niche tool aimed at one specific problem: saving and organising bookmarks from social platforms. It ingests from X, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, Mastodon, Substack, and Truth Social, and puts them in a unified library with AI auto-tagging and nested folders. Browser extension (Chrome) and web app only, no native mobile. Pricing: Free (manual sync, one account), Pro at $10/mo monthly or $7.50/mo annually, Lifetime at $225, and an $8.50 one-off 'Export Pass' that unlocks the export feature for 48 hours without a full subscription.
Instapaper is one of the original read-later apps, still going strong after Betaworks took it back from Pinterest in 2020. The product has always been sharp on one thing: save a web page, read it later in a clean typographic view. Free tier gets you unlimited saves, folders, tags, sync across iOS/Android/web, and a public API. Premium at $5.99/mo or $59.99/yr layers on full-text search, permanent archive, PDF reader, Kindle send, AI voices, and speed reading. Most of the product has shipped in a long tail of small updates rather than big reinventions. The recent wave added tags across every platform, highlights on the open web via the browser extensions, and send-to-Kindle right from the extension.