# Instapaper vs PaperSpan

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Instapaper at 64% against PaperSpan's 20%. Instapaper also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and rating (4.6 vs 4.3). PaperSpan's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Instapaper sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and PaperSpan sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $8.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Instapaper holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Instapaper has 3.5K ratings behind it against 75, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Instapaper's written reviews are positive against 20% of PaperSpan's.

Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, PaperSpan every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Instapaper | PaperSpan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.6 (3.5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/instapaper/id288545208/reviews)** | [4.3 (75 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperspan-save-web-for-later/id1167530069/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **3.5K** | 75 |
| Positive reviews | **64.1% of reviews** | 20.0% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 2 weeks** | Every 3 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | **#144** | — |
| Size | 49 MB | 35 MB |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | **13.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Instant Paper, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/284942716) | [Sravan Kumar](https://appshunter.io/developer/1167530068) |

## What reviewers say

### Instapaper

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/instapaper/id288545208)

**Currently charting:** #144 Top Grossing · News, #156 Top Free · News (US App Store)

Save articles from the web for later reading, with a clean, clutter-free experience. Access your saved content offline, anywhere, anytime. Features include text-to-speech narration and customizable reading options.

**Highlights:** Save web articles for offline reading, Clutter-free reading experience, Text-to-speech narration, Customizable fonts and themes, Highlighting and note-taking, Article organization with folders

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Instapaper Premium | $5.99 | per month |
| Instapaper Premium | $59.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Efficient reading experience
- 👍 Clean, minimalist design
- 💡 Useful features like highlighting and notes
- 🚀 Seamless integration with various platforms
- 👍 Reliable and stable app

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Bugs and crashes
- 🔒 Concerns about data privacy and GDPR compliance
- 💰 Subscription price increase
- 🔍 Unreliable search functionality
- 🚫 Inability to delete account

**Reported bugs**

- Speak feature freezes on most articles
- Pagination issues causing text to be cut off
- Folders and archives disappearing
- Inability to save articles from certain websites
- Subscription not unlocking premium features

**Requested features**

- Add support for tables and charts
- Improve text-to-speech quality
- Implement a 'go back to beginning of article' feature
- Add support for EPUB files
- Introduce a 'random article' feature


### PaperSpan

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperspan-save-web-for-later/id1167530069)

Save articles from the web to read or listen to later, even offline. Organize your content with smart filters and track your reading habits. Send articles to your Kindle for a seamless reading experience.

**Highlights:** Save articles from web, Offline reading and listening, Smart search and filters, Reading habit tracking, Send to Kindle, Text-to-speech functionality, Highlighting and notes

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

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PaperSpan Premium | $8.99 | per year |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Instapaper free?

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

### Is PaperSpan free?

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

### Which has better reviews, Instapaper or PaperSpan?

Instapaper is rated higher. Instapaper averages 4.6 out of 5 from 3.5K ratings, while PaperSpan averages 4.3 from 75 ratings.

### Do Instapaper or PaperSpan have ads?

Neither Instapaper nor PaperSpan shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Instapaper or PaperSpan?

Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, and PaperSpan every 3 months. Most recently, Instapaper was updated on October 17, 2026 and PaperSpan on October 13, 2026.

---

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