A guide — by an ex-Pocket user

A Pocket alternative built
after the shutdown.

Pocket shut down on July 8, 2025. Millions of saved articles became exportable HTML at best, lost at worst. This page is for the person who landed here Googling "Pocket alternative" and just wants honest options, sorted by what matters.

What I lost (probably what you lost too)

I'd been a Pocket user since 2018. Roughly 2,400 saved articles. When the shutdown hit, the HTML export salvaged URLs and titles but not the annotations, not the AI tags, not the last few months since my final sync. Three years of reading habit, half-recovered.

The lesson was obvious in hindsight: I'd been treating someone else's database as my reading record. The next read-later had to write to files I own.

The shortlist of 7 read-later apps in 2026

I tested all of them as a paying user for at least two weeks. Ranked by fit-for-the-Pocket-refugee, not by hype.

1. Shelf — for file-ownership advocates

What it is: the one I built. Chrome extension (MV3) that saves articles, videos, and podcasts as Markdown files in a folder you choose. Optionally, the same save also writes to Notion, Obsidian, or Logseq.

Free tier: unlimited saves, all 4 destinations, collections with 1-level nesting, Pocket import (HTML + CSV), YouTube transcripts with timestamps, reading streak, Daily Pick.

Pro (€4.99/mo or €49.99/yr): AI auto-tag (Gemini Nano on-device first, Groq cloud fallback if opted in), AI summary, Smart Rules, multi-database Notion routing, library backup as ZIP, bulk operations. Founder Lifetime €99.99 once, capped at 200 buyers.

Best for: Pocket refugees who want files on disk as canonical and treat Notion/Obsidian/Logseq as views into those files. No account, no telemetry, library lives in chrome.storage.local.

Trade-off: Chromium-only (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi) at v0.1. No mobile yet.

2. Readwise Reader — for serious annotators willing to pay

What it is: the premium read-later experience. Web, iOS, Android. Strong highlighting, AI Ghostreader, spaced repetition of saved highlights.

Pricing: $9.99/mo or $99/yr. No free tier.

Best for: readers who actually annotate (highlight + note) and want the highlights to surface again over time.

Trade-off: subscription-only is the actual story — stop paying, you lose access (export is available but inertia is high). Not file-first.

3. Wallabag — for self-hosters

What it is: open-source PHP app you host yourself on a VPS (Docker image available). Web UI + browser extensions + mobile apps.

Pricing: free if you self-host (server cost ~$5/mo), $11/yr for the managed hosted version (wallabag.it).

Best for: developers comfortable with Docker who want a Pocket-style web UI plus a database they fully control.

Trade-off: the setup tax is real. You're now an admin. Backups, updates, SSL — all on you. Worth it for self-hosting enthusiasts, overhead for everyone else.

4. Instapaper — for iPhone minimalists

What it is: Pocket's sibling-rival since 2008. Acquired by Pinterest, then by Pinterest-spinoff, now indie again. Web + iOS. Text-mode reading is gorgeous.

Pricing: free basic; Premium $3/mo (no ads, unlimited highlights, search).

Best for: people who read mostly on iPhone and want a beautiful reader mode with minimal friction.

Trade-off: no native Markdown export, no integration with Notion/Obsidian directly. Closed ecosystem.

5. Raindrop.io — for visual readers

What it is: bookmark manager that doubles as read-later. Web + extensions + iOS + Android + Mac apps. Strong tagging UI, visual tile views.

Pricing: free generous; Pro $3/mo (unlimited collections, AI suggestions, permanent backup).

Best for: visual learners who navigate by thumbnails rather than text. Heavy bookmark-tree users.

Trade-off: bookmark-first not article-reader-first. Notion/Obsidian integrations are via Zapier, not native.

6. Notion + Web Clipper — for the Notion-deep

What it is: Notion's official browser extension that saves the current page to a Notion database of your choice. Free within Notion's free tier.

Best for: users already deep in Notion who don't want a second tool for "saved articles" — just route everything into a Reading database.

Trade-off: you're betting on Notion being the forever-app. No AI auto-tagging. No YouTube transcripts. No multi-destination (Notion only).

7. Omnivore — RIP (Q4 2024)

Omnivore was widely considered "the Pocket killer" before it shut down in late 2024 (acquired and absorbed). Mentioning here because its closure was the second shoe-drop in the space and explains why "free open-source read-later" is now a smaller field.

Comparison at a glance

Feature	Shelf	Readwise	Wallabag	Instapaper	Raindrop
Free tier (generous)	✓	×	self-host	basic	✓
Markdown export native	canonical	via API	via API	×	×
No account required	✓	×	self-host	×	×
Self-hosted option	n/a	×	✓	×	×
AI auto-tag	Pro	included	×	×	limited
Pocket import (HTML)	✓	✓	✓	×	✓
Notion native export	✓	×	×	×	via Zap
Obsidian native export	URL handler	via API	×	×	×
YouTube transcripts	✓	×	×	×	×
Mobile app (native)	not yet	iOS+Android	iOS+Android	iOS	iOS+Android+Mac

Migrating your Pocket archive

Whatever tool you pick, do step 1 first: download your Pocket archive from getpocket.com/export. Pick the HTML format — it includes tags, time_added, and read state. Save the .html file somewhere safe.

Then:

Migrate to Notion → step-by-step guide for the Notion database route.
Migrate to Obsidian → step-by-step for an Obsidian vault.
Import into Shelf → if you want Markdown files + optional Notion/Obsidian export.

Why I'd pick Shelf in 2026 (biased, transparent)

I built Shelf so I'm not the impartial reviewer. What I can offer is honesty about the trade-off: I bet on Markdown as canonical because plain text outlives apps. If Shelf shuts down in five years (it shouldn't — there's no investor forcing exit pressure), my library is still 2,400 .md files in an iCloud folder, opening cleanly in any text editor.

That's a different bet than Readwise (cloud subscription, beautiful while you pay), Wallabag (self-host, you're admin now), or Instapaper (beautiful iOS reader, locked to one ecosystem). All three are good tools. They make different bets.

Pick the one whose bet matches yours.

A Pocket alternative builtafter the shutdown.