Comparison

GoodLinks vs Matter

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

Head to head
About

GoodLinks

Save articles and links for later reading, with a clean, ad-free experience. Organize, highlight, and take notes on your saved content across all your devices. Enjoy a private and customizable way to manage your reading list.

Highlights
  • Save links and articles
  • Ad-free reading experience
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Highlight and take notes
  • Organize with tags and stars
  • Customizable interface
  • Private and secure
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Save links effortlessly. View them later, from anywhere, on all your devices. Sync, organize, and share your links—privately, without ever creating an account. GoodLinks is a powerful bookmarking app with a sleek reading experience. Save the content of the link while eliminating the ads and other clutter. Adding and viewing links is super simple and lightning fast. If you want to dig deeper, GoodLinks can be fully customized. No account. No ads. No creepy spying. GoodLinks just works. KEY FEATURES • Universal App :: GoodLinks is a single app that works on all of your iOS and macOS devices, so you can access your articles anywhere. • No Account :: Sync links, tags, and reading position without needing another web service account. iCloud Sync means all you have to do is install the app. • Simple :: Save articles from anywhere with a powerful Share Sheet extension. GoodLinks is so easy it feels like part of the operating system. • Readability :: Put the emphasis where it belongs—on the article you want to read. GoodLinks extracts the article text and removes web advertisements and other distractions to provide a wonderful reading experience. Pick the perfect font, spacing, and size. • Highlight & Note :: Highlight important information within articles and add notes to them, making it easier for you to remember key passages. • Organize :: Tame a large list with tags and starred articles, so you can always find what you need. You can also search based on title, author, and description. • Actions :: Actions help you manage and share links. You can add article to Starred, share to other apps, export to PDF, plain text or Markdown... Build your own actions to export and share your saved links. • Customize :: Adjust how your links and lists look, change swipe behavior, and more. Tailor GoodLinks to fit your style. • Themes :: Switch between beautiful themes: Light and Sepia for light mode, Dark and Night for dark mode. • Siri Shortcuts :: Deep support of iOS Shortcuts. Save a new link, query links, open a specific view, and more. • Log in to Sites :: Log in to paywalled sites to get full access to their content. • Widgets :: Get quick access to a list, or open a random unread link from your home screen. • Summarization :: Get a summary of any article with Apple Intelligence or external LLM services using your own API keys. • Archive :: The full rich text of each article gets saved in GoodLinks, and your reading history provides a natural archive if you need it. Save as many links as you want. • Private :: Your reading history and favorite articles should only be private by default. GoodLinks doesn’t track you or your information, and nothing is shared online unless you choose to share it. • VoiceOver :: GoodLinks is fully accessible via VoiceOver. GOODLINKS PREMIUM When you purchase GoodLinks today, you will get *permanent* access to all the current features, including any new ones released one year from your date of purchase. After your one year of feature upgrades is up, any new features introduced will require the GoodLinks Premium subscription to unlock. Once unlocked, those features are yours to keep *forever*, even if you choose to unsubscribe right after subscribing. Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://goodlinks.app/privacy/

About

Matter

Consolidate articles, newsletters, and PDFs into a single, elegant reading experience. Enjoy features like natural text-to-speech, fluid highlighting, and offline access. Sync your highlights to popular knowledge management tools.

Highlights
  • Save articles, newsletters, PDFs, and YouTube
  • Natural text-to-speech for articles
  • Fluid highlighting and note-taking
  • Sync highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Readwise
  • Send articles to Kindle
  • Unified inbox for subscriptions
  • Offline reading
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Finally, a better reading app. The internet is full of things you want to read – articles, newsletters, Twitter threads, PDFs. Matter brings them together in one place and gives you modern tools, like natural text-to-speech and fluid highlighting, to help you read more comfortably and effectively. "Matter improves vastly on earlier read-later apps like Pocket and Instapaper" – The Wall Street Journal Save anything: - Save full articles if you're within the paywall (eg. Bloomberg, NYT, WSJ) - Podcast transcriptions & synced playback - Save PDFs and YouTube Read across devices, including Kindle: - iPhone, iPad, Web - Send any article to Kindle in 2-taps Unified inbox for your subscriptions: - Sync your newsletters by connecting Gmail - Follow individual writers for their latest posts - Add any RSS feed The most elegant reading experience: - Best-in-class article parsing + readability - Available offline by default - Gorgeous night mode - Human-like text-to-speech - Fluid highlighting and note-taking Export your knowledge: - Sync your highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Readwise, and others Matter offers a free service and a Premium service. The free version of Matter includes: - Uncapped read-later library - Mobile & web extensions to save all types of content - Best-in-class parsing and readability - Unlimited tags - Full-text search - Customizable themes and fonts In addition to the free features, Matter Premium offers: - HD text-to-speech for all your articles - Seamless AI Co-Reader - Sync your newsletters, subscribe to writers, and add RSS feeds - Unlimited highlighting, note-taking, and integrations - Send to Kindle Payment for Matter Premium will be charged to your iTunes Account when you subscribe. Annual and monthly subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. Manage your Matter Premium subscription by going to Matter's Settings page. Terms of Use: https://hq.getmatter.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://hq.getmatter.com/privacy

Screenshots

GoodLinks4 screens
Matter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Matter at Free against GoodLinks's $9.99. GoodLinks's advantage is review sentiment (80% vs 54%) and chart position (#1 vs #116). On rating, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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

Matter is free to download; GoodLinks costs $9.99 up front. GoodLinks sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year and Matter sells 20 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for GoodLinks against 4.6 for Matter. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 645 and 1.2K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of GoodLinks's written reviews are positive against 54% of Matter's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GoodLinks ships an update fortnightly, Matter weekly. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
GoodLinks versus Matter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoodLinksMatter
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (645 ratings) — better4.6 (1.2K ratings)
Positive reviews79.9% of reviews — better53.8% of reviews
Number of ratings6451.2K — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#1 — better#116
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size224 MB121 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperNgoc LuuDig Wells, Inc.

Customer experience

GoodLinks

All ratings643 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews527 reviews
Positive79.9%
Neutral8.0%
Negative12.1%

Matter

All ratings1,243 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral2.7%
Negative7.3%
Written reviews368 reviews
Positive53.8%
Neutral15.5%
Negative30.7%

User reviews

GoodLinks

From 645 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and responsive
  • 🔒 Respects privacy
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive UI
  • 💡 Useful tagging and organization features
  • 👍 Seamless sync across devices

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Syncing issues between devices
  • 🐛 Inconsistent article rendering
  • 🐛 Crashes and bugs reported
  • 💡 Lack of annotation/highlighting features
  • 💡 Missing folder organization option

Matter

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Seamless reading experience
  • 👍 Elegant and intuitive UI
  • 🔊 Excellent text-to-speech functionality
  • 💡 Unified inbox for newsletters and articles
  • 🌟 Best read-it-later app on the market

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Concerns over privacy and data collection
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🐛 Inconsistent article parsing and formatting
  • 🔍 Limited author/feed discovery options
  • 🔇 Audio playback issues and bugs

Bugs and requests

GoodLinks

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Syncing problems between devices
  • Crashes and freezes reported
  • Inconsistent article rendering

Requested features

5 requests
  • Annotation and highlighting support
  • Folder-based organization
  • Improved search and filtering
  • PDF export and annotation
  • RSS feed integration

Matter

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Subscription issues and inability to cancel
  • Delayed or missing newsletter delivery
  • Syncing problems across devices
  • Crashes and freezes on certain content

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to manually add blogs and RSS feeds
  • Customizable highlighter colors
  • Offline mode for audio playback
  • Integration with more note-taking apps
  • Improved search and filtering capabilities

In-app purchases

6 purchases

GoodLinks

Subscriptions1
  • Annual Feature Upgrade$4.991 Year
One-time5
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Nice Tip$2.99
  • Generous Tip$4.99
Show 2 more
  • Massive Tip$9.99
  • Amazing Tip$19.99
20 purchases

Matter

Subscriptions18
  • Matter Pro Weekly$2.997 Days
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$7.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$9.991 Month
Show 15 more
  • Matter Pro (Monthly)$12.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$13.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$14.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$15.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$19.991 Month
  • Matter Pro (Annual)1 Year trial$59.991 Year
  • Matter Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Matter Pro (Annual)$59.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)$69.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)$79.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Matter Premium1 Month trial2 variants$79.991 Year
  • Matter Pro (Annual)$79.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)$99.991 Year
  • Matter Premium7 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time2
  • Matter Patron Tier$149.99
  • Matter Premium (3 years)$149.99

Questions

Is GoodLinks free?
GoodLinks costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Matter free?
Matter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, GoodLinks or Matter?
GoodLinks is rated higher. GoodLinks averages 4.7 out of 5 from 645 ratings, while Matter averages 4.6 from 1.2K ratings.
Do GoodLinks or Matter have ads?
Neither GoodLinks nor Matter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GoodLinks or Matter?
GoodLinks ships an update fortnightly, and Matter weekly. Most recently, GoodLinks was updated on October 29, 2026 and Matter on October 29, 2026.
Which is more popular, GoodLinks or Matter?
GoodLinks currently peaks at #1 in the App Store charts, and Matter at #116. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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