Comparison

Instapaper vs Inoreader

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

Inoreader

Take control of your news consumption by building a personalized feed. Follow websites, newsletters, and social media, filter out noise, and discover content. Read, listen, and organize articles with advanced automation and customization options.

Highlights
  • Personalized newsfeed creation
  • Follow websites, newsletters, and social media
  • Content discovery and collection
  • Automation tools for filtering
  • Read or listen to articles
  • Offline reading
  • Customizable layouts and themes
Currently charting
Read full description

Take back control of your newsfeed and filter out the noise! With Inoreader, information comes straight to you the minute it’s available. Follow your favorite websites, content creators, newsletters, and social media feeds. Discover and collect articles from across the web, share and collaborate with others. No more algorithms and editorial picks – you decide what’s important to you. Read or listen on the go, mark the essential bits and customize your view for the best experience. Use our advanced features to set up powerful automation and let Inoreader do the work! ----- “Inoreader offers a well-designed interface, good search and discovery options, and a nice set of features that are beginner-friendly and offer plenty of options for advanced users.” – WIRED “If you're feeling media burnout from overfed social feeds, Inoreader is a news tool that still sparks joy. It's a research tool, intelligence briefing portal, and social media filtration system.” – CNET “Inoreader is one of the most feature-packed free RSS readers. A great tool for power users, but it's very accessible for beginners as well.” – Zapier ----- DISCOVER AND SHARE GREAT CONTENT • Follow your favorite websites, blogs, and creators • Collect articles from across the web and save them for future reading • Subscribe to newsletters with custom emails and declutter your inbox • Explore collections curated by our team to feature the best sources • Monitor Facebook pages, Reddit feeds, and Telegram channels • Subscribe to YouTube channels and listen to podcasts • Easily distribute content across social media and messaging apps • Stay up to date with breaking news and create monitoring feeds BECOME A MINDFUL READER • Use automation tools to create rules and filter content • Enhance your reading experience with custom layouts and themes • Curate your own content with folders and tags • Annotate the essential bits and keep them forever • Highlight keywords to speed up your reading • Translate articles in your language without additional extensions • Load and keep the full content of articles without leaving the app • Listen to the news on the go with our text-to-speech feature • Download articles for offline reading • Save to Pocket, Evernote, OneNote, Google Drive, and Dropbox ----- Inoreader Pro is available with a monthly or annual subscription. You can subscribe and pay through your Apple account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renew may be turned off after purchase. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.inoreader.com/privacy_policy For questions, issues, or general feedback, you can reach us at support@inoreader.com.

Screenshots

Instapaper4 screens
Inoreader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Instapaper at every 2 weeks against Inoreader's monthly. Inoreader's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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 Inoreader sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Instapaper against 4.7 for Inoreader. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.5K and 4.4K respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 64% and 64% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, Inoreader monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Instapaper versus Inoreader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInstapaperInoreader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (3.5K ratings)4.7 (4.4K ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.1% of reviews64.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.5K4.4K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#127 — better#203
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size49 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperInstant Paper, Inc.Innologica

Customer experience

Instapaper

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

Inoreader

All ratings4,414 ratings
Positive93.1%
Neutral3.4%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews356 reviews
Positive64.3%
Neutral11.0%
Negative24.7%

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

Inoreader

From 4.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful filtering and rules
  • 🔒 Stable and reliable service
  • 👍 Customizable interface
  • 👍 Generous free tier
  • 🚀 Efficient article management

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🔍 Unintuitive search functionality
  • 👎 Accessibility issues
  • 👎 Expensive premium pricing
  • 🐛 Unreliable push notifications

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

Inoreader

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Inability to mark articles as unread after 'mark all as read'
  • Inconsistent behavior when opening articles from notifications
  • Rendering issues with embedded content (e.g., YouTube videos)
  • Sync issues between mobile app and web version
  • Frequent crashes and freezes on certain devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Improved article sharing capabilities
  • Customizable font and layout options
  • Seamless integration with other apps
  • Enhanced search and filtering tools
Show 1 more
  • Automatic article download for offline reading

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Instapaper

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

Inoreader

Subscriptions4
  • Pro plan (monthly)$8.991 Month
  • Pro plan (monthly)$9.991 Month
  • Pro plan (monthly)3 Months trial$9.991 Month
Show 1 more
  • Pro plan (annual)$89.991 Year

Questions

Is Instapaper free?
Instapaper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Inoreader free?
Inoreader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Instapaper or Inoreader?
Inoreader is rated higher. Instapaper averages 4.6 out of 5 from 3.5K ratings, while Inoreader averages 4.7 from 4.4K ratings.
Do Instapaper or Inoreader have ads?
Neither Instapaper nor Inoreader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Instapaper or Inoreader?
Instapaper ships an update every 2 weeks, and Inoreader monthly. Most recently, Instapaper was updated on September 25, 2026 and Inoreader on September 23, 2026.
Which is more popular, Instapaper or Inoreader?
Instapaper currently peaks at #127 in the App Store charts, and Inoreader at #203. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons