Comparison

Matter vs Last48

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
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

Last48

Features
Read full description

Last48 is a fast, customizable RSS news reader that shows only the latest articles from the past 48 hours. Stay focused on what is happening now, discover new sources and build your own news experience without outdated stories or unnecessary clutter. READ ONLY WHAT MATTERS Last48 automatically filters your feeds so you only see articles published in the last 48 hours. No more endless scrolling through old content. BUILD AND FOLLOW YOUR OWN FEEDS Follow popular news channels or add your own RSS feeds to create a personalized news lineup. DISCOVER NEW CHANNELS Explore new sources and topics across categories and expand your reading beyond your usual feeds. FOCUS ON READING Use Focus Mode to read articles without distractions. Save articles to read later, even when you are offline. UNDERSTAND ARTICLES FASTER Get short summaries generated on your device to quickly grasp the main points of any article. TRACK YOUR READING AND EARN REWARDS See insights about your reading habits and earn points and achievements as you stay informed. SEARCH ACROSS THE NEWS Find articles from channels you do not follow and explore stories across all available sources. DESIGNED FOR iPHONE AND iPAD Enjoy Dark and Light themes, multi-window support and a clean, fast interface across all your devices.

Screenshots

Matter4 screens
Last484 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Last48 at 17.0 against Matter's 26.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Last48 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Matter versus Last48: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMatterLast48
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (1.2K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews53.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.2K — better—
Update frequencyWeekly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size121 MB5 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperDig Wells, Inc.Alex Codrington

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

Last48

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Matter

Subscriptions9
  • Matter Pro Weekly$2.997 Days
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$7.991 Month
  • Matter Pro (Monthly)$12.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$14.991 Month
  • Matter Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)$79.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Matter Pro (Annual)$79.991 Year
  • Matter Premium7 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time1
  • Matter Patron Tier$149.99
2 purchases

Last48

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Matter free?
Matter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Last48 free?
Last48 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Matter or Last48 have ads?
Neither Matter nor Last48 shows ads.

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