# Instapaper vs Mara FM

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Mara FM at none against Instapaper's 2. Mara FM also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.0). Instapaper's advantage is chart position (#171 vs unranked) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Instapaper sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Mara FM asks for nothing beyond the download.

Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, Mara FM every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Instapaper | Mara FM |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.6 (3.5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/instapaper/id288545208/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **3.5K** | — |
| Positive reviews | 64.1% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | **Every 10 days** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | **#171** | — |
| Size | 49 MB | 47 MB |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | **16.4** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** | iPhone |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | [Instant Paper, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/284942716) | [Sergey Malyutin](https://appshunter.io/developer/6796662502) |

## What reviewers say

### Instapaper

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

**Currently charting:** #171 Top Grossing · News, #190 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


### Mara FM

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mara-fm/id6796662500)

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Instapaper free?

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

### Is Mara FM free?

Mara FM is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Instapaper or Mara FM have ads?

Neither Instapaper nor Mara FM shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Instapaper or Mara FM?

Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, and Mara FM every 10 days. Most recently, Instapaper was updated on October 18, 2026 and Mara FM on October 16, 2026.

---

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