Readwise
Readwise (Save, organise and revisit your highlights from books, articles and podcasts) **Readwise** is a subscription service that automatically collects highlights from books, articles, podcasts and tweets a user has saved across the internet, organises them in a single library, and resurfaces them on a spaced-repetition schedule via daily email digests and a mobile app.
The product line includes the original **Readwise** highlights engine and **Readwise Reader**, a separately-launched read-it-later app that competes with Pocket, Instapaper and Matter.
Founded in 2017 by Daniel Doyon and Tristan Homsi as a bootstrapped two-person startup, Readwise grew into one of the most-loved tools in the personal knowledge management (PKM) community. It integrates with Kindle, Apple Books, Audible, Pocket, Instapaper, Hypothesis, Twitter and Snipd on the input side, and pushes processed highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, Logseq, Capacities, Evernote and (via the public Readwise API) any custom destination on the output side. The integration with **reMarkable tablets** — sending articles from Reader to a reMarkable for distraction-free reading and pulling highlights back — is one of the most-cited reasons readers subscribe.
Overview
How Readwise works
Readwise sits between the apps where a user highlights things and the apps where they want to keep, review and use those highlights. On the input side it syncs with Kindle (via the Kindle highlights file), Apple Books, Audible, Snipd (podcast highlights), Hypothesis (web annotations), Pocket, Instapaper, Twitter, Readwise Reader and (with a browser extension) any web page. On the output side it pushes a unified library of highlights to spaced-repetition daily email digests, a mobile review app, and any of a dozen popular PKM tools — Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Logseq, Capacities, Evernote, Bear — or to a custom destination via the developer API.
Readwise Reader — the read-it-later app
Launched in 2022, Readwise Reader is the company's read-it-later product. It accepts articles, RSS, newsletters, YouTube transcripts, Twitter threads, PDFs and EPUBs, then surfaces them in a single reading inbox with extensive keyboard-driven highlighting and note-taking. Highlights inside Reader flow into the Readwise library automatically, and articles can be sent directly to a reMarkable tablet, Kindle device or Boox e-reader for distraction-free reading off-device.
The Readwise API
Readwise publishes a public REST API documented at readwise.io/api_deets. It supports listing and creating highlights, syncing books, exporting full libraries, and querying the Reader inbox. Many community-built integrations rely on the API — including the popular Capacities and Logseq plugins, Raycast extensions, and custom Obsidian sync scripts. Free-tier accounts have read access to the API; write access requires a paid subscription.
History
Readwise was founded in April 2017 in San Francisco, California, U.S. (remote-first team) by Daniel Doyon (Co-founder) and Tristan Homsi (Co-founder).
Readwise was founded in 2017 by Daniel Doyon and Tristan Homsi, both based in San Francisco at launch. The two had been frustrated that Kindle highlights — and later, web article highlights and podcast clips — lived in disconnected silos that were rarely revisited. The original Readwise product solved that by pulling highlights from every source into one place and emailing a daily review digest.
For its first five years Readwise remained a single product run by a tiny bootstrapped team, growing through word-of-mouth in the personal-knowledge-management (PKM) and "Building a Second Brain" communities. In 2022 the company launched **Readwise Reader** in private beta — a read-it-later app explicitly designed to compete with Pocket and Instapaper — and rolled it out to all paying subscribers through 2023. Reader added support for articles, RSS, newsletters, YouTube transcripts, Twitter threads, PDFs and EPUBs, and quickly became the second pillar of the Readwise product line.
Throughout 2024 and 2025 Readwise expanded its integration roster (Capacities, Logseq, Tana, Snipd), added AI-assisted summaries and tagging, deepened the reMarkable integration (send-to-device and highlights-back), and remained one of the few notable PKM SaaS companies that did not raise venture capital.
Features
Readwise offers the following capabilities:
- Auto-sync highlights from every source. One-click sync from Kindle, Apple Books, Audible, Pocket, Instapaper, Twitter, Snipd (podcasts) and Hypothesis (web annotations). Highlights land in a single unified library.
- Daily review email + mobile app. A spaced-repetition daily email surfaces a handful of past highlights every morning. The Readwise iOS and Android app provides a richer review interface with swipe interactions and tags.
- Readwise Reader (read-it-later). A separate read-it-later app bundled in the same subscription. Accepts articles, RSS, newsletters, YouTube transcripts, Twitter threads, PDFs and EPUBs with keyboard-driven highlighting.
- Send-to-reMarkable / Kindle / Boox. Push articles from Reader directly to a reMarkable tablet, Kindle device or Boox e-reader for distraction-free reading. Highlights you make on the device sync back to Readwise automatically.
- PKM sync — Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Logseq, Capacities. First-party integrations push highlights into the major personal-knowledge-management tools. The Capacities integration in particular has become one of Readwise's most-cited reasons to subscribe in the PKM community.
- Public Readwise API. REST API documented at readwise.io/api_deets. Supports listing and creating highlights, syncing books, exporting libraries and querying the Reader inbox. Powers community plugins for Capacities, Logseq, Raycast and many more.
- AI-assisted summaries + tagging. AI-generated chapter summaries, automatic tag suggestions and a Q&A interface that lets users ask questions across their own library of highlights.
- Browser extension. Highlight any web page from Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge with a keyboard shortcut. Highlights flow into the same Readwise library as everything else.
Use cases
- Build a second brain (Knowledge workers). Centralise every highlight from every reading surface — books, articles, podcasts — in one searchable library that syncs into Notion / Obsidian / Capacities for note-making.
- Spaced-repetition learning (Lifelong learners). The daily review email resurfaces past highlights on a spaced-repetition cadence so the most-valuable ideas stay top-of-mind weeks and months after the original read.
- Research workflow (Researchers, writers, students). Collect quotes, citations and references in one library; tag them; export the relevant subset into a writing tool via the Readwise API or a first-party PKM integration.
- Distraction-free reading (reMarkable / Kindle / Boox owners). Use Reader as the inbox for articles, RSS and newsletters; send the long ones to a reMarkable, Kindle or Boox for focused reading off-device; highlights sync back automatically.
- PKM tool migration (PKM enthusiasts). Readwise acts as a stable highlight backbone independent of any specific note-taking app. Users who switch from Notion to Obsidian to Capacities keep the same highlight library across tools.
Pricing
Readwise uses a freemium pricing model, starting at Free tier available. The product offers a free version and a 30-day free trial.
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 /forever | Read-only access to Readwise highlights from a limited set of sources, daily review email and the Reader app with basic features. No card required.
|
| Monthly | $7.99 /month | Full Readwise + Reader subscription billed monthly. Unlocks every integration including Notion, Obsidian, Capacities and reMarkable.
|
| Annual | $59.88 /year | Best value — works out to $4.99 per month. Same feature set as Monthly; billed once per year.
|
| Student / Education | $3.99 /month | 50% education discount for students, educators and academics with a valid .edu (or equivalent) email address.
|
Readwise vs Matter
The table below contrasts Readwise with Matter (hq.getmatter.com) on a few key dimensions.
| Dimension | Readwise | Matter |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $7.99 / month ($4.99 effective on annual) | $7.99 / month ($4.99 on annual) |
| Free tier | Yes — limited but useable | Yes — limited |
| Highlights from books / Kindle | Yes — best-in-class Kindle sync | Yes — Kindle, Pocket, Instapaper |
| Read-it-later (articles, RSS, YouTube) | Yes — Readwise Reader (bundled) | Yes — Matter is read-it-later first |
| PKM integrations | Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Logseq, Capacities, Evernote | Notion, Obsidian, Readwise (yes — exports to Readwise) |
| Public API | Yes — documented REST API at readwise.io/api_deets | No public API |
| Send to reMarkable / Kindle / Boox | Yes — first-party send-to-device | Send to Kindle only |
| AI features | Summaries, tagging, Q&A across your library | Summaries, key-takeaways extraction |
| Best for | Serious readers who want a portable highlight backbone independent of any specific PKM tool | Readers who want a polished read-it-later app first, with highlights as a secondary feature |
Platforms & tech
- Supported platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge).
- Deployment: cloud, ios, android, browser extension.
- Built with: Python, Django, React, TypeScript, Swift, Kotlin.
Integrations
Readwise integrates with 20 third-party tools:
Awards & recognition
- Frequent Product Hunt — App of the Day (2022)
References
- "Readwise — official site & pricing". readwise.io.
- "Readwise API documentation". readwise.io/api_deets.
- "Readwise Blog (Reader launch + product updates)". blog.readwise.io.
- "Readwise Help Center (integration setup guides)". help.readwise.io.
- "Capacities — notes app with Readwise integration". capacities.io.
External links
Frequently asked questions
- What is Readwise?
- Readwise is a subscription service that automatically collects highlights from books, articles, podcasts and tweets a user has saved across the internet, organises them in a single library, and resurfaces them on a spaced-repetition schedule via daily email digests and a mobile app. The product line includes the original Readwise highlights engine and Readwise Reader, a bundled read-it-later app that competes with Pocket, Instapaper and Matter.
- How much does Readwise cost? What is the Readwise price?
- Readwise costs $7.99 per month billed monthly, or $59.88 per year billed annually — which works out to $4.99 per month effective. A 50% education discount is available for students and educators with a valid .edu email ($3.99 per month). There is a 30-day free trial. The subscription bundles both Readwise (highlights) and Readwise Reader (read-it-later) in a single price.
- Is Readwise free?
- Readwise has a free tier with limited features — up to three connected highlight sources, the daily review email, the Reader app in basic mode, and read-only API access. Most of Readwise's value-driving integrations (Notion, Obsidian, Capacities, reMarkable, AI summaries, the full Reader feature set) require a paid subscription at $7.99 per month or $59.88 per year. A 30-day free trial of the full paid product is also available without a credit card.
- Does the Readwise app work on iOS and Android?
- Yes — the Readwise app is available on iOS (iPhone, iPad) and Android. There is also a Readwise Reader app, a separate iOS/Android app for the read-it-later side of the product. Both apps are included in the same subscription. The web app at readwise.io covers every feature in a browser, and there is a first-party browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge.
- Does Readwise have an API?
- Yes — Readwise publishes a documented REST API at readwise.io/api_deets. The API supports listing and creating highlights, syncing books, exporting full libraries, and querying the Readwise Reader inbox. Free-tier accounts have read access; paid subscribers get full read + write access. Many popular community plugins for Capacities, Logseq, Raycast and Obsidian are built on top of the Readwise API.
- How does Readwise integrate with Capacities?
- Capacities (capacities.io) is a popular object-based notes app with a first-party Readwise integration. Once connected via OAuth, every new highlight you make in Readwise — whether from Kindle, Apple Books, Reader, the browser extension or a podcast in Snipd — is automatically pushed into Capacities as a new highlight object, linked to its parent book / article / podcast object. Setup takes about two minutes and the integration is included with any paid Readwise subscription. Documentation: docs.capacities.io/integrations/readwise.
- How do I send articles from Readwise to my reMarkable?
- Inside Readwise Reader, open any article and choose "Send to → reMarkable" from the action menu (keyboard shortcut: S then R). The article is delivered to your reMarkable's "Read on reMarkable" folder via the reMarkable Cloud API. Any highlights or notes you make on the reMarkable sync back to your Readwise library automatically. First-time setup requires connecting your reMarkable Cloud account in Readwise settings (one-tap OAuth). Reader supports the same send-to-device flow for Kindle, Kindle Scribe and Boox e-readers.
- Can I cancel my Readwise subscription at any time?
- Yes. Readwise bills monthly or annually with no contract or commitment. Cancel any time from the billing page; you retain paid access through the end of the current period. After cancellation your library remains intact on the free tier (read-only) — Readwise does not delete a paying customer's data on downgrade.
- How does Readwise compare to Matter?
- Readwise and Matter are the two most-compared products in this category — both bundle a read-it-later app with a highlights engine, both sit at $7.99/month, and both offer free tiers. Readwise has the broader integration roster (Capacities, Logseq, Roam, Obsidian, Notion, Evernote, Bear plus a public API) and best-in-class Kindle sync; Matter has a more polished read-it-later UI and is read-it-later-first in identity. The comparison table above breaks the differences down row-by-row.