Comparison

Matter vs Headlines

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

Headlines

Follow your favorite websites and read their latest content in a clean, ad-free reader. Organize articles into collections, save them for later, and receive daily reminders. Discover new content and enhance your reading with summarization and note-taking tools.

Highlights
  • Ad-free reading experience
  • Chronological content feed
  • Organize content into collections
  • Save articles for later
  • Summarize and take notes on articles
  • Discover new content and sites
Features
Read full description

Headlines is an app that allows you to follow your favourite websites and read content in an ad-free reader that is designed to let you focus. It’s the best way to keep up with the content you love to read online, like news sites, blogs, newsletters, and more. Headlines gives you a chronological feed of the latest content from the sites you follow instead of an algorithm telling you what to read. FEATURES: - Follow sites and writers (just like you follow people on social media) - Beautiful ad-free reader designed to help you focus without distracting ads - News Flash: Receive a morning, afternoon and evening roundup of what’s going on in your world. - Detox Mode: Need to take a break from specific topics or sites? Detox mode makes it easy. - Set your reading time routine in the app and get reminded when it’s time to read - Add anything to your saved list to read later, including pages from around the web from the Safari extension - Organize your content into collections, including sites, articles, and links from around the web. Great for organizing content around a given topic! - Powerful reading tools: enhance your reading experience with summaries, notes, highlighting and more. - Discover: find new content by exploring tags, featured sites, and suggestions based on your interests - Available on the web and iOS! Experience the full-featured web app on your desktop or from anywhere. Headlines is free to use with reasonable limitations that are lifted with a subscription to Headlines Pro. Made in Toronto by a human! Terms of Service: https://headlines.fm/terms\ Privacy Policy: https://headlines.fm/terms

Screenshots

Matter4 screens
Headlines4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Headlines at 5.0 against Matter's 4.6. Matter's advantage is ratings volume (1.2K vs 1) and chart position (#120 vs unranked). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 and Headlines sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Headlines holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Matter has 1.2K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on October 1, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Matter versus Headlines: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMatterHeadlines
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (1.2K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews54.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.2K — better1
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
Best chart rank#120 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size113 MB43 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperDig Wells, Inc.Bradley Purchase

Customer experience

Matter

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

Headlines

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Headlines

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
2 purchases

Headlines

Subscriptions2
  • Headlines Pro (Monthly)$3.991 Month
  • Headlines Pro (Yearly)1 Year trial$44.991 Year

Questions

Is Matter free?
Matter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Headlines free?
Headlines is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Matter or Headlines?
Headlines is rated higher. Matter averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Headlines averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Matter or Headlines have ads?
Neither Matter nor Headlines shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Matter or Headlines?
Matter ships an update weekly, and Headlines weekly. Most recently, Matter was updated on October 1, 2026 and Headlines on October 1, 2026.

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