Comparison

Instapaper vs Alerts for Reddit

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

Head to head
About

Instapaper

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
Read full description

Instapaper is the simplest way to save and store articles for reading: offline, on-the-go, anytime, anywhere, perfectly formatted. Instapaper for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch provides a mobile-optimized text view that makes reading Internet content a clean and uncluttered experience. Instapaper also enhances the standard reading experience with features like text-to-speech. Instapaper has been inducted into the iPhone and iPad Hall of Fame, received Macworld Editor's Choice Award, and has also been featured in publications including Wired, TIME, Daring Fireball, and The Verge, among others. Core Features: - Strip away all clutter and save the content of web pages into iOS-optimized formatting. - Read anywhere! No internet, no problem: access your articles on airplanes, subways, elevators, or Wi-Fi-only devices away from Internet connections. - Save to Instapaper from other iOS applications with one tap. Additional Features: - Control every aspect of your reading experience with a variety of font, color themes, and spacing options. - Find that great quote you want to remember and share? Instapaper makes it easy to highlight and add notes to text in any article. - Have your Instapaper articles narrated to you with text-to-speech. Just turn up the volume on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and relax! - Sort your list of articles by popularity, date, and article length. - Folders for easy organization. Instapaper also offers an optional Instapaper Premium subscription for $5.99/month or $59.99/year. With Instapaper Premium you receive: - Full-text search for articles in your account - Unlimited highlights and notes. - Text-to-speech Playlist to seamlessly listen to multiple articles. - Unlimited use of the speed reading feature to help you get through articles up to 3x faster. On sign up for Instapaper Premium, payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. The subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your App Store account settings after purchase. Terms of service: https://www.instapaper.com/terms Privacy policy: https://www.instapaper.com/privacy

About

Alerts for Reddit

Receive instant notifications for new Reddit posts and comments from specific subreddits or users. Customize alerts with keywords and notification frequencies to stay updated on the content you care about most. Easily manage your subscriptions and access notifications directly within your preferred Reddit app or browser.

Highlights
  • Custom subreddit and user notifications
  • Keyword filtering for alerts
  • Adjustable notification frequency
  • No Reddit account login required
  • Direct launch to Reddit app or browser
  • View recent notifications history
Features
Read full description

Never miss a Reddit post again - with Alerts for Reddit, you can get notifications within minutes for posts on your favorite subreddits, and posts/comments from your favorite users. Customize notifications by changing frequency and filtering with keywords. Features: - Add/remove/mute subreddits or users at any time to start/stop seeing notifications - No need to login or link your reddit account - you can set up alerts for any public subreddit or user. - Setup up to 3 alerts of your choosing for free; upgrade to Premium to receive notifications for more than 3 subreddits/users. - Set the notification frequency for each subreddit: "Trending: More" if you want notifications for all hot posts, "Trending: Fewer" if you only want breaking news, or "All" to get notified for all new posts. If you want "All" posts within 30 seconds of the post going live, you can upgrade to Premium Speed to enable the "All - Fast" frequency. - Set the notification frequency for each user: "Posts only" or "Posts and Comments" - Filter alerts by keyword. For example, if you want to receive notifications for /r/science where the title contains 'amphibian' or 'reptile' but not 'bird', you can! - Got a Reddit app on your phone? Notifications will launch you straight to the app of your choice. No app? Notifications will bring you to Reddit via the browser. - View recent notifications for your subreddits and users right in the app. - Never miss the posts you care about! This app offers subscriptions for premium features, including monthly and yearly subscriptions. Subscriptions renew within 24 hours of the subscription period ending, and a subscription purchase will be charged through your iTunes account. Manage at any time using Account Settings in iTunes. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use can be found at https://www.alertsforreddit.com/privacy.php

Screenshots

Instapaper4 screens
Alerts for Reddit4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Instapaper at every 2 weeks against Alerts for Reddit's every 5 months. Instapaper also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.2) and ratings volume (3.5K vs 178). Alerts for Reddit's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). On price, review sentiment, 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. Instapaper sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Alerts for Reddit sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Instapaper holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Instapaper has 3.5K ratings behind it against 178, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of Instapaper's written reviews are positive against 68% of Alerts for Reddit's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, Alerts for Reddit every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Instapaper versus Alerts for Reddit: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInstapaperAlerts for Reddit
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (3.5K ratings) — better4.2 (178 ratings)
Positive reviews64.1% of reviews67.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.5K — better178
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#108 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size49 MB41 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperInstant Paper, Inc.Amanda O'Neal

Customer experience

Instapaper

All ratings3,537 ratings
Positive89.8%
Neutral3.3%
Negative6.8%
Written reviews1,364 reviews
Positive64.1%
Neutral9.1%
Negative26.8%

Alerts for Reddit

All ratings178 ratings
Positive77.0%
Neutral7.3%
Negative15.7%
Written reviews105 reviews
Positive67.6%
Neutral10.5%
Negative21.9%

User reviews

Instapaper

From 3.5K App Store ratings

What we love

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

Room to improve

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

Alerts for Reddit

From 178 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast real-time alerts for Reddit posts
  • 👍 Simple and intuitive user interface
  • 💰 Generous free tier with no ads
  • 🎯 Highly customizable keyword and subreddit filtering
  • 📱 Works with multiple Reddit client apps

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Notifications fail to send or arrive late
  • 💾 Settings not saved to iCloud backup
  • 🔄 App crashes and freezes on startup
  • ⚠️ Inconsistent notification filtering behavior
  • 🔌 Duplicate notifications for single posts

Bugs and requests

Instapaper

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • 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

5 requests
  • 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

Alerts for Reddit

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • App won't open or stuck on loading screen
  • Settings don't persist after closing app
  • iCloud backup excludes app data
  • Notifications not appearing in Notification Center
  • Duplicate notifications for same post
Show 6 more
  • App randomly resets subscriptions
  • Restore purchase doesn't work after device transfer
  • Notifications open in browser instead of Reddit app
  • Filters not working - alerts for unsubscribed content
  • App hangs when accessing Notification Subscriptions multiple times
  • iOS 15+ compatibility issues with settings saving

Requested features

13 requests
  • iCloud sync for subscriptions and settings
  • Comment notifications and threaded conversation alerts
  • Advanced filtering with AND/OR/NOT operations
  • Search within post content, not just titles
  • Quiet hours or do-not-disturb scheduling
Show 8 more
  • Custom app icons or icon selection
  • In-app notification history and log
  • Post content search in addition to titles
  • Browser selection for notification links
  • Siri Shortcuts integration
  • Real-time notification frequency (faster than 30 minutes)
  • Per-subreddit notification limits
  • Widget support

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Instapaper

Subscriptions2
  • Instapaper Premium$5.991 Month
  • Instapaper Premium$59.991 Year
4 purchases

Alerts for Reddit

Subscriptions3
  • Premium Subscription$3.991 Year
  • Premium Speed: Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Premium Speed: Yearly$44.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$9.99

Questions

Is Instapaper free?
Instapaper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Alerts for Reddit free?
Alerts for Reddit is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Instapaper or Alerts for Reddit?
Instapaper is rated higher. Instapaper averages 4.6 out of 5 from 3.5K ratings, while Alerts for Reddit averages 4.2 from 178 ratings.
Do Instapaper or Alerts for Reddit have ads?
Neither Instapaper nor Alerts for Reddit shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Instapaper or Alerts for Reddit?
Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, and Alerts for Reddit every 5 months. Most recently, Instapaper was updated on September 26, 2026 and Alerts for Reddit on September 27, 2026.

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