# Instapaper vs Matter

Instapaper and Matter both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 64% of Instapaper's written reviews are positive against 54% of Matter's. Matter's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Instapaper sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Matter sells 20 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Instapaper against 4.6 for Matter. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.5K and 1.2K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 64% of Instapaper's written reviews are positive against 54% of Matter's.

Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, Matter weekly. Both last shipped on September 25, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Instapaper | Matter |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.6 (3.5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/instapaper/id288545208/reviews) | [4.6 (1.2K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/matter-reading-app/id1501592184/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **3.5K** | 1.2K |
| Positive reviews | **64.1% of reviews** | 53.8% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | **Weekly** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | #116 | **#99** |
| Size | 49 MB | 113 MB |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Instant Paper, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/284942716) | [Dig Wells, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1498971378) |

## What reviewers say

### Instapaper

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

**Currently charting:** #116 Top Grossing · News, #188 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


### Matter

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/matter-reading-app/id1501592184)

**Currently charting:** #99 Top Grossing · News, #183 Top Free · News (US App Store)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (20)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Matter Pro Weekly | $2.99 | per 7 days |
| Matter Premium (Monthly) | $7.99 | per month |
| Matter Premium (Monthly) | $9.99 | per month |
| Matter Pro (Monthly) | $12.99 | per month |
| Matter Premium (Monthly) | $13.99 | per month |
| Matter Premium (Monthly) | $14.99 | per month |
| Matter Premium (Monthly) | $15.99 | per month |
| Matter Premium (Monthly) | $19.99 | per month |
| Matter Pro (Annual) | $59.99 | per year |
| Matter Pro (Annual) | $59.99 | per year |
| Matter Pro (Annual) | $59.99 | per year |
| Matter Premium (Annual) | $69.99 | per year |
| Matter Premium (Annual) | $79.99 | per year |
| Matter Premium (Annual) | $79.99 | per year |
| Matter Premium | $79.99 | per year |
| Matter Pro (Annual) | $79.99 | per year |
| Matter Premium (Annual) | $99.99 | per year |
| Matter Premium | $99.99 | per year |
| Matter Patron Tier | $149.99 | one-time |
| Matter Premium (3 years) | $149.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Seamless reading experience
- 👍 Elegant and intuitive UI
- 🔊 Excellent text-to-speech functionality
- 💡 Unified inbox for newsletters and articles
- 🌟 Best read-it-later app on the market

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔒 Concerns over privacy and data collection
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 🐛 Inconsistent article parsing and formatting
- 🔍 Limited author/feed discovery options
- 🔇 Audio playback issues and bugs

**Reported bugs**

- Subscription issues and inability to cancel
- Delayed or missing newsletter delivery
- Syncing problems across devices
- Crashes and freezes on certain content

**Requested features**

- 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


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Instapaper free?

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

### Is Matter free?

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

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

Instapaper and Matter are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3.5K and 1.2K ratings respectively.

### Do Instapaper or Matter have ads?

Neither Instapaper nor Matter shows ads.

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

Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, and Matter weekly. Most recently, Instapaper was updated on September 25, 2026 and Matter on September 25, 2026.

### Which is more popular, Instapaper or Matter?

Instapaper currently peaks at #116 in the App Store charts, and Matter at #99. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

---

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