Comparison

Matter vs Longform Reader

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

Head to head
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

About

Longform Reader

Access curated long-form articles from top publications. Enjoy a clean reading experience with features like dark mode and automatic reader view for linked content.

Highlights
  • Access Longform.org articles
  • Fast load times
  • Dark Mode support
  • Automatic Reader View
  • Curated from top publications
Features
Read full description

Longform Reader is an app for reading articles published on the official Longform.org website. Longform.org curates long-form articles (over 2000 words) from various publications such as The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, ESPN Magazine, etc. Features: * Fast load time * Dark Mode support * Automatic ‘Reader View’ for linked articles Because this is an unofficial app for Longform.org, we are not able to include certain features such as viewing past articles, browsing by category, podcast support, etc. If you enjoy using Longform Reader, please consider taking a moment to rate it. Thanks for your support! *We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with Longform.org. The official Longform.org website can be found at: https://www.longform.org.

Screenshots

Matter4 screens
Longform Reader2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Matter at 4.6 against Longform Reader's 3.8. Matter also leads on ratings volume (1.2K vs 4) and chart position (#123 vs unranked). Longform Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 21) and review sentiment (67% vs 54%). On price, ads and device support 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. Matter sells 20 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Longform Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Matter holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Matter has 1.2K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 54% of Matter's written reviews are positive against 67% of Longform Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Matter versus Longform Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMatterLongform Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (1.2K ratings) — better3.8 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews54.0% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.2K — better4
Update frequencyWeekly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank#123 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size113 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDig Wells, Inc.Stand Up Apps, Inc.

Customer experience

Matter

All ratings1,233 ratings
Positive89.9%
Neutral2.7%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews367 reviews
Positive54.0%
Neutral15.3%
Negative30.8%

Longform Reader

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

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

Longform Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

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
None

Longform Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Matter free?
Matter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Longform Reader free?
Longform Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Matter or Longform Reader?
Matter is rated higher. Matter averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Longform Reader averages 3.8 from 4 ratings.
Do Matter or Longform Reader have ads?
Neither Matter nor Longform Reader shows ads.

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