Readwise vs Shortform Daily Book Summaries
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Readwise
This app helps you retain more of what you read by centralizing and revisiting your highlights from various reading platforms. It uses spaced repetition and active recall techniques to improve memory and offers features like tagging, note-taking, and OCR for physical books.
- Synchronize highlights from multiple platforms
- Daily review habit via app and email
- Spaced repetition and active recall
- Tag, note, and search highlights
- OCR for paper book highlights
- Convert highlights to flashcards
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Readwise helps you get the most out of what you read by making it fun & easy to revisit your highlights from all your favorite reading platforms in one place. Quickly synchronize your highlights from Kindle, Apple Books, Instapaper, Pocket, Medium, Goodreads, and even paper books. Then start building a daily review habit using the app and daily email. By reviewing your highlights every day, you'll retain dramatically more and you'll finally stop forgetting all the details from books you just finished! --- “Readwise is my favorite new service this year. Save highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, and now tweets... one of the best long-term personal learning tools I’ve come across.” — Caleb Hicks “Besides my Kindle, Readwise has been the most influential tech for improving my reading process.” — Blake Reichmann “If you use Kindle or Instapaper or just enjoy keeping and reading highlights, please sign up to Readwise. It will become one of your cherished services.” — Christopher Galtenberg --- ACTUALLY USE YOUR HIGHLIGHTS Highlighting is great, but why bother if you're never going to see any of your highlights again? Readwise makes it easy to quickly liberate all your highlights into one place, ensuring that you'll actually see and use them, including highlights from: • Amazon Kindle • Apple iBooks • Instapaper • Pocket • Medium • Goodreads • Twitter • Physical Books (using OCR) • Manual Input • CSV Upload STOP FORGETTING WHAT YOU READ How often do you finish a book, only to forget the key ideas two weeks later? We don't remember things by just reading them once. Readwise solves this problem using scientifically proven learning techniques called Spaced Repetition and Active Recall. Readwise resurfaces the right highlights at the right times using a daily email and an app. Readwise even makes it possible to convert your best highlights into flashcards for added retention. TAG, NOTE, SEARCH, AND ORGANIZE With your highlights all in one place, Readwise enables you to organize and connect these ideas in new ways. Use search to find a highlight instantly; use tag to organize highlights within your library; use notes to add your own annotations. HIGHLIGHT PAPER BOOKS Readwise also makes it possible to take highlights from your physical books and papers using your phone’s camera. Just snap a pic, highlight with your finger, and have your favorite highlights saved forever. --- If you are not already a Readwise subscriber, you can get started immediately with a 30-day free trial with no credit card upfront. At the end of the trial, you will not be charged unless you choose to subscribe to Readwise Full or Readwise Lite. Price may vary by location. Manage your subscription from your dashboard. --- Support: Check out readwise.io/faq or email us at hello@readwise.io Privacy Policy: https://readwise.io/tos Terms of Service: https://readwise.io/privacy
Shortform Daily Book Summaries
Access high-quality book summaries and analyses that go beyond key ideas, offering comparative insights and interactive exercises. Learn essential lessons from bestsellers and classics, reinforced through audio narration and offline reading.
- 1-page summaries
- Chapter-by-chapter analysis
- Audio narrations
- Interactive exercises
- Highlighting and note-taking
- Offline mode
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Join thousands of curious Shortform readers to get smarter, faster. Get the highest quality book summaries and analyses available in the world. Shortform summaries contain the book's key ideas, plus analysis comparing those ideas to other books. Remember the key lessons from books you’ve read, and discover new books you need to read. Reinforce the key lessons with interactive exercises that challenge you to reflect on your past and improve your life. Trust in writer quality. Shortform summaries are written by professional authors, PhD’s, and Ivy League graduates. Check out Shortform summaries of this week’s NY Times bestsellers: • Sapiens, by Yuval Harari • Educated, by Tara Westover • Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah • Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker • 12 Rules for Life, by Jordan Peterson Check out Shortform summaries of these all-time classics: • How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie • Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman • The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey ===================================== KEY FEATURES • Quick 1-page summaries to understand the book at a glance • Chapter-by-chapter comprehensive summaries and analysis • 550% more ideas covered than other services • Audio narrations so you can learn on the go • #1 Bestsellers and all-time classic books • Interactive exercises to apply the key lessons to your life • Highlight your favorite passages and take notes • Share key points with friends and co-workers • 18 book categories, including Business, Health, Self-Improvement, History, and more • Printable PDF downloads for your reading convenience • Offline mode to read without Internet • Features coming soon: publishing feed, reading tracker, and more... ===================================== WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY "Shortform has by far the best book guides available anywhere. They cover key points and have much more original analysis and content than other summaries.” -- Andy T. "You guys really hit it out of the park with this summary! I’ve never seen such a complete yet concise summary of this book. The exercises are perfect – not overwhelming or meager, but just right. Thanks for making me smarter every day." -- Stacey M. “If real books are like fine wine, and book summaries are box wine, Shortform is 100-proof vodka.” -- Gregg P. ===================================== CONTACT US Have questions or feedback? Email us at help@shortform.com any time. Terms of Service: https://www.shortform.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.shortform.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Readwise at 72% against Shortform Daily Book Summaries's 31%. Readwise also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Readwise sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Shortform Daily Book Summaries sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $23.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Readwise holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.5K and 1.4K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Readwise's written reviews are positive against 31% of Shortform Daily Book Summaries's.
Readwise ships an update every 2 weeks, Shortform Daily Book Summaries every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Readwise | Shortform Daily Book Summaries |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (1.5K ratings) — better | 4.6 (1.4K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 72.2% of reviews — better | 31.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.5K — better | 1.4K |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 110 MB | 48 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Readwise, Inc | Shortform Inc. |
Customer experience
Readwise
Shortform Daily Book Summaries
User reviews
Readwise
From 1.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Powerful spaced repetition
- 📚 Seamless integration with reading apps
- 🔍 Helpful AI-powered features
- 🗓️ Useful daily review routine
- 🧠 Boosts knowledge retention
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🔌 Sync issues with some platforms
- 📱 Subpar mobile app experience
- 🕰️ Lack of flexibility in daily review
- 🔍 Limited search functionality
Shortform Daily Book Summaries
From 1.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Excellent summaries with depth
- 👍 Great content and customer service
- 🚀 Fastest way to learn from books
- 🤓 Best book summaries on the market
- 👍 Helpful and balanced commentary
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy app with poor UI/UX
- 💰 Extremely expensive subscription
- 🤖 Poor audio quality and narration
- 🔒 Deceptive billing practices
- 🤬 Terrible customer service
Bugs and requests
Readwise
Reported bugs
3 issues- Frequent app crashes
- Sync failures with certain accounts
- Unreliable highlight capture
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for more reading apps
- Improve sync and import capabilities
- Introduce more customization options
- Enhance search and organization tools
- Develop a more intuitive mobile interface
Shortform Daily Book Summaries
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes and freezes frequently
- Highlighting and bookmarking issues
- Inconsistent behavior when exiting app
- Search function is slow and unreliable
- App doesn't remember user's last position
Requested features
6 requests- Offline reading mode
- Ability to download summaries as PDFs
- Sync audio progress with text
- Improved search and navigation
- Highlight words being read in audio
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- Reading list/queue functionality
In-app purchases
Readwise
- Readwise Lite Monthly$4.991 Month
- Readwise Lite Monthly$6.991 Month
- Readwise Full Monthly Plan$8.991 Month
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Readwise Full Monthly$12.991 Month
- Readwise Lite Yearly$52.991 Year
- Readwise Lite Yearly$66.991 Year
- Readwise Full Yearly$94.991 Year
- Readwise Full Yearly$119.991 Year
Shortform Daily Book Summaries
- Monthly7 Days trial$23.991 Month
- Monthly$23.991 Month
- Annual7 Days trial$194.991 Year
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Annual14 Days trial$194.991 Year
Questions
Is Readwise free?
Is Shortform Daily Book Summaries free?
Which has better reviews, Readwise or Shortform Daily Book Summaries?
Do Readwise or Shortform Daily Book Summaries have ads?
Which is updated more often, Readwise or Shortform Daily Book Summaries?
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