Readwise Reader vs Kindle
Which is better in 2026? Five scores, side by side.
Readwise Reader is the better app overall, scoring 8.7 to 8.3. Readwise Reader wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Kindle on 2.
Researchers, students and heavy readers who highlight and take notes
Readers who already buy ebooks from Amazon or own a Kindle
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Readwise Reader | Kindle |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reading & News | Reading & News |
| Category rank | #3 of 7 | #6 of 7 |
| Developer | Readwise | Amazon |
| Pricing | Subscription | Free |
| Usable for free | No | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Readwise Reader better than Kindle?
Readwise Reader is the better app overall, scoring 8.7 to 8.3. Readwise Reader wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Kindle on 2.
Which is cheaper, Readwise Reader or Kindle?
Readwise Reader: 30-day free trial, then $9.99 a month billed yearly, or $12.99 monthly. Kindle: Free app; you buy books one at a time, and Kindle Unlimited is optional. On value for money, Kindle scores higher.
Do Readwise Reader and Kindle work on the same devices?
Yes, both run on Web, iPhone & iPad, Android, Mac, Windows.
Which is more private, Readwise Reader or Kindle?
Readwise Reader scores higher on privacy (8.2/10). App Store label: no tracking. Email, name, user ID, usage and diagnostics are linked to you for analytics and app functions. Google Play says no data is shared with third parties.
Strengths and weaknesses
Readwise Reader
- Handles nearly every format you read
- Highlights sync to your notes apps
- Apps for phones and desktops, plus the web
- No free plan after the 30-day trial
- Not included in the cheaper Readwise Lite plan
Readwise Reader pulls everything you mean to read into one library: saved articles, PDFs, EPUBs, newsletters, RSS feeds, YouTube transcripts and threads. Highlight anything and it flows to Obsidian, Notion or Logseq. Ghostreader, the built-in AI, summarizes, looks things up and answers questions across your library. It's the most capable reader here. It's also subscription-only after a 30-day trial, and not cheap.
Full Readwise Reader review
Kindle
- Huge store with over six million titles
- Syncs your place, highlights and notes
- Free to read on almost any device
- Can't buy books inside the iPhone app
- Books are locked to Amazon's ecosystem
- Ties lots of data to you, including for marketing
If you buy ebooks from Amazon, the Kindle app is how you read them anywhere. It syncs your place, highlights and notes across phone, tablet, computer and the web, and adds X-Ray, dictionary and Wikipedia lookups, translation, real page numbers and a switch to the Audible version if you own both. The store has over six million titles. The trade-offs are Amazon's lock-in and a privacy label that ties a lot of data to you.
Full Kindle review
