Readwise

Readwise (readwise.io) is a knowledge retention platform built around one core insight: most readers highlight dozens of passages in books, articles, and PDFs, then never encounter those highlights again. Readwise solves this by pulling highlights from every source you read — Kindle, Instapaper, Pocket, iBooks, Kobo, Twitter, Feedly, and more — into a single library, then using a spaced-repetition algorithm to surface five to ten of your best highlights each morning for a two-to-three minute daily review session. Over weeks and months, this compounds into genuine retention of the ideas, arguments, and quotes that matter most to you, turning a passive highlight archive into an active knowledge system.

The full Readwise subscription also includes Readwise Reader — a first-class read-later and document management app that handles articles, newsletters, PDFs, EPUBs, and YouTube transcripts in a single queue. Reader is widely considered the best read-later experience available in 2026, particularly after Pocket's shutdown in July 2025 left a large gap in the market. Every highlight made inside Reader automatically feeds into the Readwise spaced-repetition review system. Reader also includes Ghostreader, an AI assistant trained on the documents you're reading, which can summarise articles, explain paragraphs in context, generate flashcards from highlights, answer questions about the document with citation links back to the source text, and read content aloud using AI text-to-speech.

How Readwise Works

Users connect their reading sources to Readwise — Kindle, Instapaper, Pocket, iBooks, Kobo, Feedly, Twitter, and others — and Readwise automatically imports all existing and new highlights into a unified library. Each morning, a daily review email and in-app session presents five to ten highlights chosen by the spaced-repetition algorithm, prioritising highlights you haven't reviewed recently or are likely to forget. Users can add personal notes to highlights, tag them, and export everything to Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, Evernote, and Logseq with automatic sync. On the full plan, Readwise Reader provides a dedicated reading environment for saving web articles, newsletters (via a custom Reader email address), PDFs, and EPUBs, where highlights and annotations feed automatically back into the daily review cycle.

Key Features

• Spaced-repetition daily review — resurfaces five to ten of your highlights every morning using a spaced-repetition algorithm that prioritises what you're likely to forget
• Universal highlight sync — imports and consolidates highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, Pocket, iBooks, Kobo, Feedly, Twitter, PDFs, and more
• Readwise Reader — a full-featured read-later and document management app for articles, newsletters, PDFs, EPUBs, and YouTube transcripts (Full plan)
• Ghostreader AI — an AI assistant that summarises articles, explains paragraphs in context, generates flashcards, answers document questions with citation links, and reads content aloud using AI TTS (Full plan via Reader)
• Tags and notes on highlights — organise and annotate your highlight library with personal notes, tags, and context across all sources
• Export and sync to PKM apps — automatic bidirectional sync with Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, Evernote, and Logseq for building a connected second brain
• Daily review email and mobile app — morning highlight review delivered by email and through the iOS and Android app for on-the-go retention
• Reader email address for newsletters — a dedicated inbox address that routes newsletters directly into the Reader reading queue
• Highlight library search and browse — search across your entire highlight library and browse by book, source, tag, or date (Full plan)
• Early access and price lock — Full plan subscribers receive early access to beta features and lock in their current price for the lifetime of the subscription

Readwise Pricing

• Readwise Lite — $5.59/month (billed annually) — Daily review by email and app, sync new highlights from all connected sources, and basic library search. Does not include Readwise Reader, Ghostreader AI, library organisation with tags and notes, or export to PKM apps.
• Readwise Full — $9.99/month (billed annually) — Everything in Lite plus: full highlight library search and browse, organise highlights with tags and notes, export and auto-sync to Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Evernote, and Logseq, Readwise Reader (read-later + document management app), Ghostreader AI assistant, early access to beta features, and lifetime price lock.

Readwise does not offer a permanent free plan but provides a generous 30-day free trial with full access to all features — no credit card required. Both plans are billed annually only. Always verify current rates at readwise.io/pricing.

Who Should Use Readwise?

Readwise is purpose-built for dedicated, high-volume readers — researchers, writers, students, and knowledge workers — who highlight frequently and want those highlights to compound into lasting knowledge rather than being forgotten. If you highlight five or more articles per week, regularly revisit past notes, and export to a knowledge tool like Obsidian or Notion, the Full plan at $9.99/month pays for itself in retention value. The 30-day free trial with full features is an unusually generous evaluation window. Users who primarily skim newsletters without deep annotation, or who want AI briefings rather than active retention work, may not get full value from the subscription. Readwise does not replace a writing tool, note-taking app, or task manager — it is a complementary layer that makes reading and highlighting compound over time.

Frequently Asked Questions