Open source alternative to Readwise Reader, Instapaper, Pocket, Raindrop.io and Matter
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Run a self-hosted read-later app that archives web pages, images, and videos locally with full-text search, EPUB export, and no cloud dependency.
Researchers saving academic articles, blog posts, and reports need archives that survive link rot. Readeck stores the full page text and images at save time, so a source is accessible indefinitely. Full-text search across all archived content makes it easy to find a specific passage later.
You need to collaborate on a shared reading list with colleagues; Readeck does not have shared collections between multiple users.
Readers who prefer consuming articles on a Kindle or Kobo can export any saved article to EPUB, or browse the OPDS catalog directly from the e-reader. Articles saved during the week can be exported as a single collection book for a weekend reading session.
You want automatic daily article delivery to your e-reader without manual export steps; dedicated newsletter-to-e-reader services handle that specific workflow more directly.
Cloud read-later services like Instapaper and Raindrop.io store your reading list on their servers and can analyze reading habits. Readeck keeps everything on your own server, with no outbound requests from your browser when reading saved content.
You are not comfortable managing a Linux server or container host. The setup requires basic server knowledge, and there is no cloud-hosted option.
Developers who already self-host other services can add Readeck as a single Docker container. The API supports mobile sync and browser extensions. The SQLite-backed setup requires no separate database server.
Your read-later collection is small and you have no other self-hosted infrastructure. At that scale, the operational overhead is not worth the privacy benefit.
Web pages disappear. The article you saved three years ago may 404 today, or the images may be gone even if the text remains. Services like Pocket handled this for millions of readers, but Pocket ended on 2025-07-08, leaving users without their archives. Subscription-based read-later tools charge per month whether you read frequently or not, and your data lives on their servers, inaccessible if you cancel or if the company folds.
The deeper problem is permanence. A bookmark is a pointer; it breaks. A cloud archive is safer than a bookmark, but it still requires the service to stay alive and you to keep paying. When the service ends or raises prices, your reading history goes with it. Readers who treat saved articles as a long-term personal knowledge base need a durable archive that they own, stored where they control it, with no dependency on a third party's uptime or pricing decisions.
When you save a URL, Readeck fetches the page text and all images and stores them in a single immutable ZIP file on your server. No external requests leave your browser when reading saved content: everything is served from your instance. Articles remain readable even after the original page is taken down, changed, or moved behind a paywall.
Search runs over the archived text of every saved page, not just titles and labels. Find a half-remembered phrase from an article you saved months ago without knowing the title or source. Labels, favorites, and domain filters narrow results further.
Export any saved article as an EPUB for reading on a Kindle or Kobo, or export an entire collection into one book. The OPDS catalog endpoint makes Readeck's library directly accessible from compatible e-readers, so you can browse and download articles without visiting the web interface.
Save any page from your browser in one click without copying and pasting the URL. Extensions are available for Mozilla Firefox (via addons.mozilla.org) and Google Chrome (via the Chrome Web Store).
Mark up important passages in any saved article with highlights and add your own notes to them. Annotations are stored with the bookmark and are searchable alongside the article text.
Any search query can be saved as a named collection, giving you a persistent view of all bookmarks matching that query as new content is added. Useful for tracking all bookmarks from a specific site or with a specific label combination.
Readwise Reader is the dominant paid read-later tool for people who highlight and annotate. Readeck and Readwise Reader overlap on article archiving, full-text search, and highlights; they diverge on deployment model and pricing.
| Feature | Readeck | Readwise Reader |
|---|---|---|
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Self-hosting | Yes (required) | No |
| Pricing | Free | $7.99/mo (Reader only, billed yearly; readwise.io/pricing, Nov 2026) |
| Highlights | Yes | Yes |
| AI summarization | No | Yes |
| E-book export | Yes (EPUB) | No |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
Readeck is the better choice for readers who want complete data ownership, no subscription fee, and EPUB export for e-readers. Readwise Reader is worth considering when you need its AI-powered summarization, cross-device sync without a server, or its highlight export integrations with Obsidian and Notion.
Raindrop.io is a bookmark manager with a hosted web and mobile experience. Its focus is organizing links with tags and collections rather than archiving full page content for offline reading.
| Feature | Readeck | Raindrop.io |
|---|---|---|
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No |
| Full page archiving | Yes | Paid plan only |
| Full-text search | Yes | Yes |
| EPUB export | Yes | No |
| Pricing | Free | Free / Pro $30.48/year billed annually (raindrop.io/pro/buy, Nov 2026) |
Readeck gives full page archiving to every install at no cost, which Raindrop.io restricts to its paid Pro plan. For offline reading and long-term archival, Readeck is the stronger choice. Raindrop.io is better when you need a polished cross-device bookmark manager with shared collections and collaborative features.
Instapaper and Matter are cloud-based read-later services with polished mobile apps. Readeck is the right choice when data ownership and local archiving matter more than a managed experience. Instapaper remains a good option for users who want a simple app with direct Kindle send integration and no server to manage. Matter is worth keeping for users who rely on its social reading features and annotation sharing with other readers.
Pocket ended its service on 2025-07-08 and is no longer available.
Self-host Readeck using Docker with a persistent data volume.
```bash
docker run --rm -ti -p 8000:8000 -v readeck-data:/readeck codeberg.org/readeck/readeck:latest
```Readeck can be installed via Docker or as a precompiled binary. For Docker, run: docker run --rm -ti -p 8000:8000 -v readeck-data:/readeck codeberg.org/readeck/readeck:latest. For a binary install, download the file for your operating system from the releases page on Codeberg, make it executable, and run it with the serve argument. The server starts on port 8000 by default.
Readeck detects video pages and handles them differently from articles, but it does not download and store video files locally. The README notes that videos are the one exception to its full local archiving. For articles, images, and static pages, everything is saved locally to your server.
Yes. Readeck has dedicated smartphone applications that sync your bookmark collection from your self-hosted instance. Browser extensions for Firefox and Chrome are also available for saving pages from desktop browsers.
Readeck is licensed under AGPL-3.0. You can run it privately or commercially for internal use at no cost. If you distribute a modified version or run a modified version as a network service accessible to others, you must release your source modifications under the same license.
Pocket ended its service on 2025-07-08 and is no longer available. Readeck is a self-hosted alternative: you run it on your own server, your data stays on your infrastructure, and there is no subscription fee. Readeck also archives images alongside article text at save time, which Pocket's reader view did not always do.
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Self-host Readeck on a Hostinger VPS
Keep it running 24/7, even when your laptop is off. A Hostinger VPS gives it a server of its own.
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