Comparison

Speed Reading UpRead vs Readwise Reader

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Speed Reading UpRead

Enhance your reading speed and comprehension with a science-backed approach. Effortlessly process web articles, PDFs, and documents at an accelerated pace. Customize your reading experience with adjustable speed, fonts, and colors for improved productivity and time savings.

Highlights
  • Read faster without special training
  • Reduce reading effort
  • Read web articles and documents
  • Save content for offline reading
  • Customize reading speed, font, and color
Features
Read full description

Read faster. Without effort nor any special training. Sounds like a dream? It’s not, thanks to science: the approach we use has been tested by neuro-scientists and proved effective over a wide range of studies. We made it available on iOS and iPadOS with a sleek design and some nice advanced features that will make it a pleasure to use. With UpRead you will be able to: - Read faster, in a matter of minutes. No kidding - Reduce reading effort so that you can read longer - Read articles from the web, imported from Safari or other apps - Read PDF files and other text documents - Save your content and read it later, offline - Customise the reading experience by setting speed, font and color. You’ll be much more effective, process more information and save time. Your professional and personal life will both have a nice boost from using just one little app. There’s no price for this. Since we’re sure you’ll love the app, you can try UpRead for free for a limited time. If you’re still (slowly) reading this, it’s time to press that GET button and start the download. Try the app, it’s worth more than a thousand words. Here’s a few reviews about us: > Magnifique application qui accélère la lecture tout en améliorant l'attention. Indispensable. — Manitoo, Switzerland, Sep 2019 > This app is the one thing I never knew I needed so desperately. […] For my fellow columnist hounds, UpRead is absolutely essential. — dfe1998, USA, Sep 2019 > I have used every flash reader I could Get my hands on. […] The back end works somehow where the others fail. [… ] You will surprise yourself by how fast you can go over time. Now friends who see me reading something look at how fast the words go and tell me that they just see flashing gobbledygook. I thought the same thing but the learning curve is painless! […] Thank you to the UpRead team!!! Finally! An app worthy of my bottom bar! — eightyanthony, USA, Aug 2019 > It's not a free app but it's worth your money! Simple to use very intuitive, I am reading more than ever! Highly recommended. — dhernz1, Honduras, Jul 2019 We’re really happy to receive feedback from our users. We seriously try to make the app better and better based on what you tell us. Please, try the app and let us know your opinion too. Feel free to contact us by visiting https://crazyhorseapps.com/support. Terms of service: https://crazyhorseapps.com/apps/terms-of-service

About

Readwise Reader

This app consolidates all your reading content, including web articles, newsletters, and PDFs, into a single, organized platform. It offers advanced highlighting, text-to-speech, and AI-powered assistance to enhance your reading workflow and knowledge retention.

Highlights
  • Consolidate web articles, newsletters, RSS, Twitter threads, PDFs, EPUBs
  • Import from Pocket, Instapaper, and Feedly
  • Advanced highlighting and annotation tools
  • Text-to-speech narration
  • AI-powered reading assistant (Ghostreader)
  • Full-text search
  • Syncs across all devices, offline access
Features
Read full description

Readwise Reader is the first read-it-later app built specifically for power readers. If you’ve ever used Instapaper or Pocket, Reader is like those except it’s built for 2024 and brings all your reading into one place including: web articles, email newsletters, RSS feeds, Twitter threads, PDFs, EPUBs and more. ______________________ “Reader has completely redesigned the read-it-later app. It’s gorgeous and blazingly fast. In many ways, it’s the Superhuman of reading — you won’t want to read anywhere else.” Rahul Vohra (Founder of Superhuman) “I spend my entire day reading, researching, & writing and Readwise is the reading tool I’ve been waiting for. The perfect complement to my writing workflow. Absolute game changer.” Packy Mccormick (Author of Not Boring) “The Readwise reading app is the first read-it-later app that enables a true workflow for serious readers. As an ex-Pocket /Instapaper power user, it's hard to imagine ever going back.” Fitz Maro (Creative Technology Lead at Pinterest) ______________________ ALL YOUR READING IN ONE PLACE Stop juggling half a dozen reading apps. Reader brings all your content into one place including: • Web articles • Email newsletters • RSS feeds • Twitter threads • PDFs • EPUBs You can even import your existing library from Pocket and Instapaper and RSS feeds from Feedly, Inoreader, Feedbin, etc. POWERFUL HIGHLIGHTING FOR POWER READERS We believe that annotations are the key to getting more out of what you read. So we’ve developed highlighting as a first-class feature inside Reader. Highlight images, links, rich text, and more. On any device. READER WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU READ We’ve reinvented the digital reading experience to apply the power of software to the printed word. This includes TEXT-TO-SPEECH (listen to any document narrated with the lifelike voice of a real human), GHOSTREADER (your integrated copilot of reading enabling you to ask questions, define terms, simplify complex language, and more), and FULL-TEXT SEARCH (find whatever you’re looking for, even if you only remember a single word). FLEXIBLE SOFTWARE TO FIT YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS Your personal interests, your professional projects, your way of doing things — they’re unique. Reader is your home base for the varied documents in your life, customizable to match the way your brain works. PDFs for work, articles for your newsletter, and ebooks for pleasure all live comfortably side-by-side. No more juggling dozens of apps. INTEGRATED WITH YOUR FAVORITE TOOLS Your annotations should flow effortlessly from your reading app into your writing tool of choice. Instead you waste hours reformatting, reorganizing, and repeating. Reader eliminates this hassle. Reader seamlessly connects to Readwise which exports to Obsidian, Notion, Roam Research, Evernote, Logseq, and more READ ANYWHERE, ANYTIME Access all of your content from any of your devices with everything in sync. Even offline. Reader syncs across all platforms, including a powerful, local-first web app and iOS. You can even highlight the open web with the Reader browser extensions. ______________________ If you’re not already a Readwise subscriber, you can get a free 30-day trial with no credit card upfront. At the end of the trial, you will not be charged unless you choose to subscribe. Support: Check out readwise.io/faq or email us at hello@readwise.io Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://readwise.io/privacy

Screenshots

Speed Reading UpRead4 screens
Readwise Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Readwise Reader at weekly against Speed Reading UpRead's every 2 months. Readwise Reader also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.2) and review sentiment (72% vs 54%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Speed Reading UpRead sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days and Readwise Reader sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Readwise Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 116 and 579 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 54% of Speed Reading UpRead's written reviews are positive against 72% of Readwise Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Speed Reading UpRead ships an update every 2 months, Readwise Reader weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 12, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Speed Reading UpRead versus Readwise Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpeed Reading UpReadReadwise Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (116 ratings)4.6 (579 ratings) — better
Positive reviews53.7% of reviews72.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings116579 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.016.0
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB178 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperAlain caltieriReadwise, Inc

Customer experience

Speed Reading UpRead

All ratings116 ratings
Positive79.3%
Neutral4.3%
Negative16.4%
Written reviews41 reviews
Positive53.7%
Neutral12.2%
Negative34.1%

Readwise Reader

All ratings579 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral4.3%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews275 reviews
Positive72.0%
Neutral11.3%
Negative16.7%

Bugs and requests

Speed Reading UpRead

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Readwise Reader

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inconsistent sync between devices
  • Unreliable RSS feed updates
  • Frequent crashes on iPad
  • Issues with resuming reading position

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved PDF and ebook support
  • Customizable reading themes and layouts
  • Better integration with note-taking apps
  • Reading progress and statistics tracking
  • Bulk management of saved items

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Speed Reading UpRead

Subscriptions4
  • Speed reading, weekly7 Days trial$0.997 Days
  • Speed reading, monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • UpRead Speed Reading Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Speed reading, yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Speed reading, lifetime$54.99
4 purchases

Readwise Reader

Subscriptions4
  • Reader Monthly Plan$8.991 Month
  • Reader Monthly$12.991 Month
  • Reader Annual Plan$95.901 Year
Show 1 more
  • Reader Yearly$119.991 Year

Questions

Is Speed Reading UpRead free?
Speed Reading UpRead is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Readwise Reader free?
Readwise Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Speed Reading UpRead or Readwise Reader?
Readwise Reader is rated higher. Speed Reading UpRead averages 4.2 out of 5 from 116 ratings, while Readwise Reader averages 4.6 from 579 ratings.
Do Speed Reading UpRead or Readwise Reader have ads?
Neither Speed Reading UpRead nor Readwise Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Speed Reading UpRead or Readwise Reader?
Speed Reading UpRead ships an update every 2 months, and Readwise Reader weekly. Most recently, Speed Reading UpRead was updated on September 12, 2026 and Readwise Reader on September 24, 2026.

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