Mozilla wound Pocket down in mid-2025, and the closure has kept quietly biting readers ever since. This month, XDA highlighted an open-source Chrome extension that finally rescued one writer’s abandoned read-later list, which is the kind of workaround people should not need. If you sent tomorrow’s articles to Pocket for years, you now need somewhere to send them next. We tested seven read-later apps on Android 15 with a mixed reading list of long news features, PDFs, and Substack posts, and we ranked them by how well they replace the actual Pocket workflow: save from the share sheet, read offline on the train, highlight, and get back to inbox zero.
The seven picks below cover free apps, paid subscriptions, self-hosted setups, and one open-source Chrome-extension route for anyone still holding an old Pocket export.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Starting price/mo | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instapaper | Long-form readers | Yes | $3 (Premium) | Typography-first reader, TTS |
| Readwise Reader | Highlight power users | Beta free | $8 | Kindle, Notion, Obsidian sync |
| Wallabag | Self-hosters | Yes (self-host) | €11/year (hosted) | Full export ownership |
| Omnivore | Open-source fans | Yes | Free | Clean mobile reader |
| Raindrop.io | Bookmark organizers | Yes | $3 (Pro) | Collections and tags |
| Matter | Highlight and summary | Yes | $8 (Premium) | AI summaries |
| Karakeep | Self-hosted successor to Hoarder | Yes (self-host) | Free | AI tagging, self-hosted |
Why people are leaving Pocket
Mozilla shut Pocket down in mid-2025, so the app on your phone is now on borrowed time. Exports are one-time, sync is dead, and the Firefox integration that made saves painless is gone. The subreddit r/pocket filled with the same complaints for months: highlights that will not migrate, tags that vanish on export, and a recommendation feed nobody asked for.
Hacker News threads pointed at the same three issues. The service felt neglected long before the shutdown, the recommendation surface pushed content instead of respecting the queue, and there was no clean path to move your saved list somewhere else. Readers who trusted Pocket with a decade of articles ended up scraping their own data with community tools.
The good news: the alternatives got much better while Pocket coasted. Some are open source, some are self-hosted, and one of them will happily import your Pocket CSV in a single tap.
Instapaper, the original read-later app
Instapaper predates Pocket and still nails the core job better than most. The reader strips ads, respects long-form typography, and gives you a font stack that actually reads well on a 6-inch screen. Text-to-speech is built in on Android, which turns any saved article into a commute podcast.
Where it falls short: the UI feels frozen in 2018, and the free tier caps you at limited highlights. Search is slower than Readwise or Raindrop, and there is no native web highlight sync.
Pricing: Free tier covers unlimited saves and basic reading. Instapaper Premium runs around $3/month or $30/year and unlocks full-text search, unlimited highlights, and speed-reading.
vs Pocket: Instapaper offers a one-click Pocket import that pulls in your saved URLs, tags, and archive status. Highlights do not migrate, but everything else does.
Bottom line: The safest landing spot for anyone who mostly reads long articles and does not need a highlight ecosystem.
Readwise Reader, for the highlight power user
Readwise Reader started as a companion to the Readwise review app and turned into the most feature-dense read-later on Android. It handles articles, RSS, PDFs, EPUBs, tweets, and YouTube transcripts in one inbox. Every highlight flows into your Readwise account and out to Kindle, Notion, Obsidian, Roam, or a plain Markdown export.
Where it falls short: the interface has a learning curve, and the pricing has crept up. The Android app is still catching up to the web version on a few features like advanced filters.
Pricing: Free during the ongoing beta window, then Readwise Reader is bundled with Readwise at around $8/month or $95/year. Students get a steep discount.
vs Pocket: Reader imports Pocket exports cleanly and preserves tags. Highlights from Pocket land in your Readwise library so the review cards still work.
Bottom line: The right pick for anyone who annotates as they read and wants highlights to feed a wider knowledge system.
Wallabag, for the self-hosted crowd
Wallabag has been the open-source answer to Pocket for years, and the closure gave it a fresh audience. You host the server yourself on a $5 VPS, or you subscribe to Wallabag.it if you want someone else to run it. The Android client handles saves from the share sheet, offline sync, tags, and full-text search.
Where it falls short: the reader looks utilitarian next to Instapaper, and setup requires basic Docker or PHP comfort. The mobile app releases move slowly, though the core is stable.
Pricing: Free if you self-host. Wallabag.it charges around €11/year for a hosted account with unlimited saves and no ads.
vs Pocket: Wallabag ingests Pocket JSON exports directly, tags and all. You own the database file, so migrating off later is trivial.
Bottom line: The choice for anyone who wants their reading queue to outlive whichever company owns it this decade.
Omnivore, the open-source dark horse
Omnivore built a genuinely pretty open-source read-later with a mobile app that most closed-source competitors would envy. Saves are quick, the reader is clean, and PDF support is native. The team leaned into highlights, labels, and a share-sheet flow that feels close to what Pocket used to do.
Where it falls short: development pace has been uneven, and some cloud features depend on the hosted instance staying online. If you self-host you get more control but you inherit the maintenance.
Pricing: Free on the hosted service and free to self-host. There is no paid tier, which is a rare thing to say.
vs Pocket: Omnivore accepts Pocket exports with tags preserved, and the mobile reader looks and feels closer to Pocket than most alternatives on this list.
Bottom line: The closest free replacement for the Pocket experience, with source code you can inspect.
Raindrop.io, if you also save more than articles
Raindrop.io is a bookmark manager first, but its read-later features have grown up. Collections, nested tags, and permanent copies of pages make it a fine home for articles alongside videos, PDFs, and product pages. The Android app has a proper reader mode and a solid share-sheet flow.
Where it falls short: the free tier caps permanent copies and full-text search, and highlights sit behind Pro. If you only read articles, some of the bookmark features feel like clutter.
Pricing: Free tier is generous for casual saves. Raindrop.io Pro runs around $3/month or $28/year and unlocks permanent copies, unlimited nested tags, and full-text search.
vs Pocket: Raindrop.io imports Pocket exports, keeps tags, and separates archived vs unread cleanly. The organization model is stronger than Pocket ever offered.
Bottom line: The best pick if your read-later list also carries videos, receipts, and product links you want to revisit.
Matter, for AI summaries and highlights
Matter went hard on the reading-plus-highlighting model and shipped one of the more polished Android apps on this list. The reader is clean, the highlight tools are quick, and the AI summary feature turns a long piece into a short brief when time is tight. Newsletter forwarding via a personal email address is a nice touch.
Where it falls short: the free tier is generous but the discovery feed can feel busy, and export options are thinner than Readwise. Some users report occasional sync hiccups after long offline sessions.
Pricing: Free tier covers saves and reading. Matter Premium sits around $8/month or $60/year and unlocks AI summaries, unlimited highlights, and integrations with Readwise, Notion, and Roam.
vs Pocket: Matter imports Pocket exports and preserves tags. The reader feels newer than Pocket’s, and the highlight surface is far richer.
Bottom line: The pick for people who want AI to help condense long pieces without giving up highlights.
Karakeep, the self-hosted successor to Hoarder
Karakeep is the rebranded, actively developed continuation of Hoarder, a self-hosted bookmark and read-later app that quietly built one of the best mobile clients in the open-source world. It saves articles, images, and PDFs, then uses local or provider-hosted AI to auto-tag them. The Android client is fast, offline-friendly, and does not feel like a hobby project.
Where it falls short: like Wallabag, you need to be comfortable running a container and pointing a domain. The AI tagging depends on a model of your choice, which adds another moving part.
Pricing: Free to self-host. There is no first-party hosted plan yet, though community-run hosts exist.
vs Pocket: Karakeep accepts Pocket JSON exports, and the AI tagging can retro-organize a decade of unsorted saves in one pass.
Bottom line: The best forward-looking self-hosted pick if you also want AI-assisted tagging without shipping your data to a third party.
How to choose
If you mostly read long articles and want the least friction, pick Instapaper. It handles Pocket imports, the reader looks great, and the free tier is enough for casual use. Add Premium later if you fall in love with speed-reading or search.
If you highlight as you read and want those notes to flow into Obsidian, Notion, or a Kindle review workflow, Readwise Reader is the strongest pick on this list. It costs the most, and it earns it. RSS, PDFs, EPUBs, and YouTube transcripts share one inbox with your saved articles.
If you have been burned by Pocket’s shutdown and want to own your data, choose Wallabag or Karakeep. Wallabag is the boring stable option that has quietly worked for a decade. Karakeep is newer, faster on mobile, and better organized around modern AI tagging. Both accept Pocket exports and both run on a cheap VPS.
If your saved list is more than articles, Raindrop.io is the sanest home for a mixed pile of bookmarks, PDFs, and product links. If you want an open-source hosted service without setup, Omnivore stays the closest free stand-in for how Pocket used to feel. If your bottleneck is that you never finish long pieces, Matter’s AI summaries will earn their subscription within a week.
FAQ
Is Pocket really shutting down?
Yes. Mozilla wound Pocket down in mid-2025, announcing the closure and providing an export tool for existing users. The apps continued to function for a transition window, but new saves and sync are no longer supported, and integrations with Firefox have been removed.
Can we import our Pocket library into Instapaper?
Yes. Instapaper has a one-click Pocket import that pulls in your saved URLs, tags, and archive status from the Pocket CSV export. Highlights do not transfer, but the article list, folders, and read state come across cleanly.
What is the best free Pocket alternative?
Omnivore is the strongest fully free option. It is open source, has a clean Android app, supports offline reading and highlights, and imports Pocket exports. Instapaper’s free tier is a close second if you prefer a more mature app and do not need highlights.
Is there a self-hosted Pocket alternative?
Two, and both are worth trying. Wallabag is the veteran, with a stable Docker image, an Android client, and native Pocket import. Karakeep, the continuation of Hoarder, is newer, faster on mobile, and adds AI tagging on top of the same self-hosted model.
Which Pocket alternative works offline?
Instapaper, Readwise Reader, Wallabag, Omnivore, Raindrop.io Pro, Matter, and Karakeep all cache articles for offline reading on Android. Instapaper and Wallabag have the longest track record for reliable offline sync on flaky networks.
Do these apps support highlights and export?
Readwise Reader is the clear leader for highlight portability, with exports to Kindle, Notion, Obsidian, Roam, and Markdown. Matter and Raindrop.io Pro support highlights with fewer downstream integrations. Wallabag and Karakeep let you export the whole database because you own the server.
