# Readwise Highlights vs R Discovery

Readwise Highlights and R Discovery both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 69% of Readwise Highlights's written reviews are positive against 58% of R Discovery's. On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Readwise Highlights sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and R Discovery sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Readwise Highlights against 4.8 for R Discovery. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.5K and 926 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Readwise Highlights's written reviews are positive against 58% of R Discovery's.

Readwise Highlights ships an update every 2 weeks, R Discovery monthly. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Readwise Highlights | R Discovery |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (1.5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/readwise-highlights/id1476885528/reviews)** | [4.8 (926 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/r-discovery-academic-research/id1508182175/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **1.5K** | 926 |
| Positive reviews | **69.3% of reviews** | 57.8% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 2 weeks** | Monthly |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 112 MB | 56 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.5 | **15** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Readwise, Inc](https://appshunter.io/developer/1476885527) | [CACTUS COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES PTE. LTD](https://appshunter.io/developer/1817173784) |

## What reviewers say

### Readwise Highlights

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/readwise-highlights/id1476885528)

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.

**Highlights:** 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

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (8)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Readwise Lite Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Readwise Lite Monthly | $6.99 | per month |
| Readwise Full Monthly Plan | $8.99 | per month |
| Readwise Full Monthly | $12.99 | per month |
| Readwise Lite Yearly | $52.99 | per year |
| Readwise Lite Yearly | $66.99 | per year |
| Readwise Full Yearly | $94.99 | per year |
| Readwise Full Yearly | $119.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Powerful spaced repetition
- 📚 Seamless integration with reading apps
- 🔍 Helpful AI-powered features
- 🗓️ Useful daily review routine
- 🧠 Boosts knowledge retention

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🔌 Sync issues with some platforms
- 📱 Subpar mobile app experience
- 🕰️ Lack of flexibility in daily review
- 🔍 Limited search functionality

**Reported bugs**

- Frequent app crashes
- Sync failures with certain accounts
- Unreliable highlight capture

**Requested features**

- 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


### R Discovery

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/r-discovery-academic-research/id1508182175)

Access and discover over 300 million research papers with AI-powered tools. Understand findings, chat with PDFs, and organize your academic library. Stay current in your field with personalized feeds and alerts.

**Highlights:** Discover 300M+ research papers, AI-powered research workflows, Chat with PDFs, Listen to research papers, Personalized research feeds, Organize academic library, Translate research papers

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (6)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly | $11.99 | per month |
| Monthly | $24.99 | per month |
| Monthly | $25.00 | per month |
| Yearly | $69.00 | per year |
| Yearly | $139.99 | per year |
| Yearly | $143.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Wonderful site for research professionals
- 🚀 Fantastic app for researchers
- 💡 Provides relevant paper recommendations

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Slow and choppy performance
- 🐛 Buggy and unreliable features
- 🐛 Difficult to use certain core functions
- 🐛 Downloading PDFs doesn't work

**Reported bugs**

- Home screen takes a long time to load
- Audio translation feature doesn't work
- Buttons are extremely slow
- Switching between dark and light mode is glitchy

**Requested features**

- Add option to view author information in preview
- Enable screen rotation for iPad users
- Add more advanced search functionality
- Allow canceling of export in progress
- Improve integration with Zotero


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Readwise Highlights free?

Readwise Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is R Discovery free?

R Discovery is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Readwise Highlights or R Discovery?

Readwise Highlights is rated higher. Readwise Highlights averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while R Discovery averages 4.8 from 926 ratings.

### Do Readwise Highlights or R Discovery have ads?

Neither Readwise Highlights nor R Discovery shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Readwise Highlights or R Discovery?

Readwise Highlights ships an update every 2 weeks, and R Discovery monthly. Most recently, Readwise Highlights was updated on November 3, 2026 and R Discovery on November 3, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*