Pocket Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Pocket alternatives: wallabag, Karakeep, Raindrop.io, Instapaper and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Notes & Knowledge
Verdict:Pocket no longer exists, so this is a migration, not a choice. Mozilla closed it on 8 July 2025 and set 8 October 2025 as the final export date, after which saves were deleted. If you exported a CSV, you can import it into most of the tools here; if you did not, the data is gone. Wallabag is the nearest like-for-like replacement and the safest long term, because it is MIT-licensed and you can host it yourself, or use wallabag.it with a 14-day trial. Karakeep suits people who also want to keep notes, images and PDFs next to their links, and it tags with AI. Raindrop.io is the friendliest free option for sorting links into collections, though it behaves more like a bookmark manager than a reading list. Instapaper is the one to pick if you just want the old save-and-read habit on your phone; Premium costs $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year and adds archive search. The trade-off is that the self-hosted options need a small server and updates from you. Choose a hosted tool if you want zero upkeep, and a self-hosted one if the shutdown taught you not to depend on a vendor.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| wallabag | Free (Free and open source to self-host; the hosted wallabag.it service has a 14-day free trial) | Web, Self-hosted | Self-hosting a read-it-later app | Docs only |
| Karakeep | Free (Free to self-host with Docker; the hosted cloud is free to try with prices on a separate page) | Web, Self-hosted, iOS, Android | Bookmarks plus notes in one place | Docs only |
| Raindrop.io | Free (Free: unlimited bookmarks, collections, highlights and devices; 100 MB of uploads a month) | Web, Browser extensions, Mobile apps | A tidy free bookmark manager | Docs only |
| Instapaper | Free (Free: unlimited saved articles, sync, folders and API; a monthly note limit applies); paid from $5.99 per month ($59.99 billed yearly; Premium) | Web, iOS, Android | A simple read-later queue | Docs only |
| Evernote | Free (50 notes, 1 notebook, 5 spaces, 20 tags, 200 attachments, 1 synced device, 1 GB storage) | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Clipping a few articles beside your notes | Docs only |
| Readwise Reader | Paid from $7.99 per month, billed yearly (Reader only) | Web browser | Read-it-later | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want to host it yourself so it cannot be shut down (wallabag is the pick)
- You also want to save notes, images and PDFs (Karakeep is the pick)
- You want to sort links into visual collections for free (Raindrop.io is the pick)
- You just want a phone-first read-later queue (Instapaper is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Pocket features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Pocket today: See pricing page (Pocket: what changed, checked 2026-10-23).
Why people look for Pocket alternatives
Mozilla is phasing out Pocket. Its farewell page says the read-it-later and content discovery app is being retired across the web, Android, iOS and macOS apps and the browser extensions, as Mozilla moves its resources to other projects. Anyone who still keeps a reading queue there needs a new home for saved articles, which is why people are comparing other read-later apps now.
What changed at Pocket
Mozilla shut Pocket down on 8 July 2025 and set 8 October 2025 as the last day to export saves, after which user data was deleted. (Pocket: what changed)
wallabag
Compared with Pocket: Free MIT-licensed read-it-later you can self-host, with apps, browser extensions and an API. Unlike Pocket it can never be shut down by a vendor, but you run the server, or pay for the hosted wallabag.it after a 14-day trial.
Price: Free (Free and open source to self-host; the hosted wallabag.it service has a 14-day free trial) (wallabag pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 13k GitHub stars · latest release 2.6.14 (Oct 7, 2025) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Self-hosting a read-it-later app.
Karakeep
Compared with Pocket: AGPL-3.0 bookmark app for links, notes, images and PDFs, with AI tagging and full-text search. It is broader than Pocket's article queue and free to self-host with Docker; the hosted version is free to try.
Price: Free (Free to self-host with Docker; the hosted cloud is free to try with prices on a separate page) (Karakeep pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted, iOS, Android. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 30.1k GitHub stars · latest release v0.34.1 (Oct 22, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Bookmarks plus notes in one place.
Raindrop.io
Compared with Pocket: Free plan has unlimited bookmarks, collections and devices, with 100 MB of uploads a month. It organizes pages visually rather than as a reading queue; Pro adds full-text search and a web archive.
Price: Free (Free: unlimited bookmarks, collections, highlights and devices; 100 MB of uploads a month) (Raindrop.io pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, Browser extensions, Mobile apps. Proprietary.
Best for: A tidy free bookmark manager.
Instapaper
Compared with Pocket: Closest to Pocket's reading flow: free unlimited saves and sync on web, iOS and Android. Premium is $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year for full-text search and a permanent archive.
Price: Free (Free: unlimited saved articles, sync, folders and API; a monthly note limit applies); paid from $5.99 per month ($59.99 billed yearly; Premium) (Instapaper pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: A simple read-later queue.
Worth knowing: Premium adds full-text search, permanent archive, unlimited notes, Kindle integration and text-to-speech.
Evernote
Compared with Pocket: Web clipping inside a general notes app. Its free plan is capped at 50 notes, 1 notebook and 1 synced device, so it is a poor bulk read-later store compared with what Pocket held.
Price: Free (50 notes, 1 notebook, 5 spaces, 20 tags, 200 attachments, 1 synced device, 1 GB storage) (Evernote pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Clipping a few articles beside your notes.
Other popular options (paid)
Readwise Reader
Compared with Pocket: Reader-only is $7.99 a month billed yearly, and full Readwise with Reader is $9.99, with a 30-day trial. Pocket is closed, so this is a paid replacement built around saving and highlighting articles.
Price: Paid from $7.99 per month, billed yearly (Reader only) (Readwise Reader pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You want to host it yourself so it cannot be shut down: wallabag
- You also want to save notes, images and PDFs: Karakeep
- You want to sort links into visual collections for free: Raindrop.io
- You just want a phone-first read-later queue: Instapaper
Limits of this review
Docs-only for wallabag, Karakeep, Raindrop.io, Instapaper, Evernote: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Pocket. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-23 and 2026-10-25: Pocket, wallabag, Karakeep, Raindrop.io, Instapaper, Evernote, Readwise Reader. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.