Pocket Alternatives 2026: 11 Apps + the Kobo Replacement
On May 22, 2025, Mozilla announced that Pocket would shut down on July 8. Around thirty million users had to find a new home for their saved articles, and by October 8, 2025, even the data export tool was gone. More than a year later, this guide compares the apps people actually moved to.
We tried each one. There are no affiliate links.
Quick answer. For reading saved articles on a Kobo e-reader, use Instapaper, which Kobo built in to replace Pocket (how to set it up). Instapaper is also the closest direct Pocket replacement with a free tier. If you mostly save bookmarks and links, use Raindrop.io. For the best reading experience with long articles or newsletters, pick Matter or Readwise Reader. If you mostly save social posts from Instagram, Threads, X, or Reddit, try Picki. The decision table near the end sums it up.
How this guide is organized
“Read-it-later” was always a loose label. Pocket served three different groups of people in one app:
- Article readers, who saved long essays and read them on the commute, in bed, or on a plane.
- Researchers and curators, who collected links for work, study, or sharing. They used Pocket more like a bookmark manager than a reader.
- Casual savers, who hit “save” on tweets, recipes, YouTube videos, and Instagram posts, and rarely went back unless they remembered something specific.
No single app replaces Pocket for all three, so this guide is grouped by use case. For each tool we cover what it does well, where it falls short, who should pick it, and the price (re-checked in October 2026 where we list a number).
Kobo e-reader owners have a narrower question, so their section comes first. A section near the end covers what to do with your old Pocket export if you still have it, and what you can try if you don’t.
If you read Pocket articles on a Kobo e-reader
Kobo e-readers used to have Pocket built in. You saved an article on your phone or laptop, and it showed up on the Kobo so you could read it on E Ink without distractions. When Pocket shut down, that feature went with it. Kobo replaced it with Instapaper, which is now the only built-in option on a Kobo.
What happened. Kobo and Instapaper announced a partnership in July 2025 to put Instapaper where Pocket used to be. Kobo started rolling out the update in late August 2025: firmware 4.38.23429 for older models and 4.43.23418 for the Clara BW, Clara Colour, and Libra Colour. The release notes say Pocket is no longer available on Kobo eReaders, and saved articles now live under More → My Articles.
How to set it up (from Kobo’s own help page):
- Make sure your Kobo has the latest software update.
- Create an Instapaper account at instapaper.com.
- On the Kobo’s Home screen, tap More, then My Articles, then Link with Instapaper. The Kobo shows a code and a QR code.
- On a phone or computer, go to kobo.com/instapaper (or scan the QR code), enter the code, and approve access.
- Save articles with the Instapaper app, browser extension, or share sheet. They sync to the Kobo over Wi-Fi.
What to know before you rely on it. Kobo’s help page lists a few limits. Only articles in Instapaper’s main list sync, so anything you file into a folder won’t show up on the Kobo. The e-reader doesn’t support tags, highlights, notes, videos, or PDFs. Kobo’s guide only asks for an Instapaper account and doesn’t mention Premium, so start with the free tier.
Bringing your old Pocket saves. Instapaper imports Pocket exports. If you downloaded your Pocket CSV before the October 2025 cutoff, import it into Instapaper and keep the articles in the main list so they reach your Kobo.
If you don’t want Instapaper. Every other app on this list works fine on your phone or computer, but none of them sync to a Kobo the way Pocket did. If you want to read on the Kobo, use Instapaper.
If you want a direct Pocket replacement
Instapaper
Instapaper is the original read-it-later app and came out a year before Pocket. Pinterest bought it in 2016, and it went independent again in 2018. Since then, other apps have pivoted or been bought. Instapaper still just saves articles for you to read.
What it does well. It pulls articles out of web pages reliably. The reader is calm, with wide margins, well-chosen typefaces, and no AI summaries pushed at you. Highlights and notes sync everywhere. Speed reading and Kindle export are still there on Premium.
Where it falls short. The mobile apps look like they did in 2018. Search on the free tier is limited, since full-text search is a Premium feature. You can organize saves with folders and tags and nothing more. It doesn’t handle non-article content well: videos, Instagram posts, and tweets all show up as bare links.
Price. The free tier has unlimited article saves and basic reading. Premium is $5.99/month or $59.99/year and adds full-text search across your archive, speed reading, Kindle export, AI voices, PDF support, and unlimited notes (free is capped at five notes per month). For most ex-Pocket users the free tier is enough, and search is the main reason to pay.
Best for. Pocket users who mainly wanted to read an article later, on a different device, without ads. Also anyone with a Kobo e-reader, since Instapaper is the one service Kobo syncs with.
Raindrop.io
For the past year, Raindrop has been the most common answer when people say where they moved from Pocket. It is a bookmark manager first and a read-it-later app second, but its reader view is solid and the interface is nice to use.
What it does well. It has native apps for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and the web, plus browser extensions for everything. You can nest collections inside each other. Tags and search work well.
Where it falls short. For long articles, reading is less polished than in Instapaper or Matter. Raindrop is built for browsing and sorting links more than for long reading sessions. Highlights and annotations are Pro only.
Price. The free tier is generous: unlimited bookmarks, collections, and devices, with no time limit. Pro adds highlights, full-text search of saved pages, and permanent copies. It also lifts a few small limits. Current Pro pricing is on Raindrop’s pricing page.
Best for. Pocket users who spent 80% of their time saving links and 20% reading. It also takes videos and social posts, but saves them as plain links, so the preview depends on the site.
If you want a better reading experience than Pocket
Matter
Matter looks like a magazine and is designed for sitting down to read. Its best feature is newsletter handling: you forward newsletters to a personal Matter email address, and they show up in your reader looking like articles instead of cluttered emails.
What it does well. The typography and layout are the best in the category. Voice readback is excellent, and pleasant to listen to on walks or commutes. Highlights flow to Readwise, Notion, and Obsidian.
Where it falls short. It runs on iPhone, iPad, and the web, with no native Mac app and no Android or Windows version. The Recommended feed shows articles you didn’t save, which some people like and others find distracting.
Price. Current pricing is on getmatter.com. The free version is limited and works mostly as a trial.
Best for. Pocket users who mainly read newsletters and long articles, and who do most of their reading on an iPhone or iPad.
Readwise Reader
Reader has more features than any other read-it-later app, and the steepest learning curve. It connects to Readwise’s highlights system, so every highlight you make goes into your spaced-repetition review and your notes app, and syncs to every device.
What it does well. It handles every type of content cleanly: articles, PDFs, EPUBs, YouTube (with transcripts), Twitter/X threads, and emails. The AI features (summaries, asking questions about an article) are built in but stay out of your way. Power users get a lot: keyboard shortcuts, custom filters, and search across everything.
Where it falls short. The interface is harder to learn than Pocket’s, and casual savers will find the full feature set overwhelming.
Price. It comes with a Readwise subscription, with current pricing on readwise.io/read. There is a free trial, but ongoing access requires the paid plan. If Readwise raises prices later, you keep the rate you signed up with.
Best for. Pocket users who underline as they read, take notes from articles, or want their highlights to go into Obsidian, Notion, or another note system.
If you save mostly bookmarks and links
GoodLinks
GoodLinks is a native bookmark manager for Mac and iOS that shows articles cleanly.
What it does well. You pay once, with no subscription. iCloud syncs your links, articles, highlights, tags, and reading position. You organize with tags. Reader mode is good, the share extension is fast, and it exports to Markdown. Shortcuts support goes deep.
Where it falls short. It is Apple only, with no Android, Windows, or web version. It has slightly fewer features than the subscription apps.
Price. One App Store purchase covers both iOS and macOS, since it is a universal app. The purchase includes one year of feature upgrades.
Best for. Apple-only users who want to pay once instead of subscribing.
Anybox
Anybox is a more visual take on GoodLinks. It suits people who think of their bookmarks as a visual collection, like recipes, design references, or articles with images. It also has more advanced organization: smart folders, link previews, and custom fields.
What it does well. The interface is visual, smart folder rules work well, the browser extension is solid, and it syncs through iCloud.
Where it falls short. It is Apple only (macOS and iOS/iPadOS). The free tier is capped at 50 links, and past that you need Pro.
Price. The free tier has a 50-link limit. Pro is $1.99/month, $14.99/year, or $39.99 lifetime, and unlocks unlimited links and the advanced features.
Best for. Designers, recipe collectors, and anyone whose saved content is mostly visual.
Pinboard
Pinboard has been running since 2009. One person writes it, and it has never raised funding. It is deliberately plain and does one thing: store tagged bookmarks, quickly.
What it does well. It is fast and reliable, and search is good. It imports easily from anywhere, including the Pocket archive format. The API is solid. Pins, a third-party iOS app, is excellent.
Where it falls short. There is no reading mode and no native mobile app from the developer. The interface is text heavy and dated, with no images or previews, which some users prefer.
Price. $22/year for the basic account. Archiving is an optional add-on for a few dollars more per year (see pinboard.in for the current rate). It saves a copy of every page you bookmark, adds full-text search across that archive, and flags dead links, which is useful insurance against future shutdowns.
Best for. Pocket users who only used Pocket to save URLs with tags and never used the reader.
If you want notes integration
Notion Web Clipper
If you already keep everything in Notion, the web clipper turns it into your bookmark manager. It saves the page content (clean or full), captures highlights through the mobile share sheet, and puts everything in your existing workspace.
What it does well. It is free if you have Notion, and there’s no new tool to learn. Saved pages are easy to query and link across your notes. The mobile share extension works well.
Where it falls short. It isn’t a reader. Sync can be slow on large databases. Search is Notion’s own, which is fine for small libraries and weaker for big ones.
Price. Free on personal Notion plans.
Best for. People who already use Notion as their second brain.
Obsidian with Web Clipper
Obsidian’s official web clipper launched in late 2024 and saves pages as Markdown files in your vault. Because Obsidian works offline first, you don’t need an account.
What it does well. Your files are plain Markdown on your own disk, so you can move them anywhere. Highlights become normal Obsidian notes and link into your notes graph. It is free for personal use.
Where it falls short. You need to know Obsidian already. You read inside Obsidian, which is an editor, so it is less calm than a dedicated reader. Clipping on mobile takes extra setup.
Price. Free for personal use. Cross-device sync and publishing are optional paid add-ons; see obsidian.md.
Best for. Power users who already use Obsidian and want everything in one Markdown vault.
If you want open source or self-hosted
Wallabag
Wallabag is one of the oldest self-hosted read-it-later apps. It is open source and runs on your own server, or you can pay for a hosted version. After Omnivore was acquired and shut down in late 2024, many people who want to own their data moved to Wallabag.
What it does well. You own everything. There are browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome and mobile apps for iOS and Android. Article extraction is solid, and it has tags, archives, and full-text search.
Where it falls short. Hosting it yourself is real work. The hosted option (wallabag.it) is cheap, but the interface looks old. Updates are infrequent.
Price. Free to self-host. The wallabag.it hosted plan costs a small annual fee; see wallabag.it for the current rate.
Best for. People with a homelab, or anyone who wants their reading list to outlive the next acquisition.
If you save social media posts more than articles
Pocket was worst at this, and it’s how more and more people save. A lot of what gets saved now is Instagram posts, X threads, TikTok videos, and Reddit comments, not 3,000-word essays.
Most read-it-later apps handle these badly. An Instagram link in Instapaper shows a broken preview. A Threads post in Raindrop is a URL with no thumbnail. Tweets show up inconsistently. Six months later, a list of saved social posts is usually a wall of link titles that tell you nothing.
Picki
Disclosure: Picki is made by Orca Kobo, the studio that publishes this guide.
Picki is an iOS app built for saving social posts. You save from X, Threads, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, or Dcard through the iOS share sheet, and it keeps the post’s text, a preview image, and the author in a grid you can search later. It has been on the App Store since early 2026.
What it does well. It shows real previews for social posts, which most read-it-later apps can’t. Saving is unlimited on the free version (it shows an occasional sponsored card, and Pro removes them). Full-text search covers your saved posts. It records the author and platform, so you can filter for “everything I saved from Threads” or “posts by this creator.”
Where it falls short. It is iOS only, with no Android or web version yet. It is newer than everything else on this list, so it does fewer things. It isn’t built for reading long articles; pair it with Instapaper or Matter for those.
Price. Free to download, with unlimited saving. An optional Picki Pro subscription ($4.99/month or $29.99/year) removes the sponsored cards and raises the limits on categories and shared categories.
Best for. People who mostly save social posts, especially Instagram posts that Pocket never showed properly.
How to export your Pocket data (if you still can)
Pocket’s official export tool was available until October 8, 2025. If you used it, you got a CSV with the URL, title, time added, tags, and status (unread or archived) for each save. It did not include the article text.
If you missed the window:
- Check your email. Pocket sent several export reminders in summer 2025, and the download link in those emails may still work.
- Check the Wayback Machine. For specific articles you remember saving, web.archive.org may have a copy, especially of popular pieces.
- Check getpocket.com. As of early 2026, the domain still redirects to a farewell page. It won’t give your data back, but it sometimes links to community-built recovery tools that scrape email confirmations.
Once you have the CSV, these apps can take it:
| App | Import method |
|---|---|
| Instapaper | Settings → Import → Pocket CSV |
| Raindrop.io | Settings → Import → Pocket (CSV) |
| Readwise Reader | Settings → Import → Pocket |
| Pinboard | Bookmarks → Import → Generic CSV |
| Wallabag | Import → Pocket |
| Notion / Obsidian | Manual: convert CSV to Markdown, then import |
Matter, GoodLinks, Anybox, and Picki have no direct importer, so you would start fresh.
A decision matrix
| Use case | First pick | Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Reading saved articles on a Kobo | Instapaper (built in) | None |
| Pocket replacement, articles, free | Instapaper | Raindrop.io |
| Pocket replacement, articles, premium | Matter | Readwise Reader |
| Bookmark manager, mixed content | Raindrop.io | GoodLinks |
| Power user with annotations | Readwise Reader | Obsidian + Clipper |
| Apple-only, one-time purchase | GoodLinks | Anybox |
| Self-hosted | Wallabag | None |
| Notes-integrated | Notion or Obsidian | Readwise Reader |
| Social media posts | Picki | None |
What to actually do this week
If you have been putting this off:
- Pick one from the list above based on what you really saved in Pocket. Was it articles, or mostly bookmarks?
- Install it. Don’t keep comparing. The next app you look at won’t be much better than this one.
- Migrate what you have. If you have a Pocket CSV, import it. If you don’t, let it go. Most people never go back to old saves anyway.
- Set up the share extension. For daily use, this is the only step that matters. If saving a link is hard, you won’t do it, so the app that is fastest to save into usually beats the one with the prettiest reading mode.
First published May 12, 2026. Last updated October 17, 2026. In October 2026 we added the Kobo section and re-checked the Instapaper, Anybox, Pinboard, and Picki prices. Prices and features change, so check each app’s website before subscribing. We build Picki ourselves, but we picked each recommendation for its use case, and Picki shows up only where it fits. If we got something wrong, email us and we will fix it.