Readwise
Readwise is a bootstrapped subscription platform that syncs ebook and article highlights from multiple sources and resurfaces them via daily reviews using spaced repetition, serving nonfiction readers and knowledge workers. It also offers Reader, an integrated read-it-later app with AI-powered search.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersToronto, Canada
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Readwise does
Readwise is a privately held, bootstrapped SaaS company founded in 2018 by Daniel Doyon and Tristan Homsi, headquartered in Raleigh, NC and incorporated in Delaware. The company's core product is a highlight-management and knowledge-retention platform that ingests highlights from a wide range of reading sources—including Kindle, iBooks, Instapaper, Kobo, Libby, Pocket, RSS, and Twitter—and resurfaces them through a daily email and mobile app using a spaced-repetition algorithm. In 2022 it expanded into a vertically integrated read-it-later application called Reader (articles, newsletters, RSS, PDFs, EPUBs), and in 2025 added an AI-powered layer including Chat With Highlights (GPT-5.1 conversational search), AI Themed Reviews, Audio Reviews, and the Mastery active-recall flashcard module. The platform exposes a public REST API, Webhooks, and an MCP server, and integrates natively with 20+ downstream note-taking tools (Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Evernote, Tana, Reflect, Logseq, RemNote, Apple Notes) and automation platforms (Zapier).
Readwise generates revenue primarily through a two-tier subscription model—Readwise Lite at approximately $5.59/month (annual billing) and the full plan at $9.99/month (annual)—with an additional minor affiliate stream from the Amazon Associates Program on bonus book highlights. The business is distribution-light and customer-acquisition-light: growth runs through a product-led, self-serve motion with a 30-day free trial, a referral program (30 free days per referral), and organic presence in productivity/PKM communities on Twitter and Reddit. Founders publicly chose bootstrapping over VC funding, citing the small addressable market for ebook highlights and the impracticality of competing with Amazon.
Customer concentration is dispersed across individual readers and knowledge workers globally (no enterprise contracts disclosed), with the platform serving 36+ countries. The company is reported as profitable on subscription revenue with a 1–10 employee footprint, with core audience comprising nonfiction readers, knowledge workers using PKM systems, writers/content creators, and students. Latest product milestones—Reader full public beta and AI feature suite—were released in July 2025, indicating ongoing product investment funded entirely by subscription cash flow.
Readwise firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Readwise
- Legal name
- Readwise, Inc.
- Website
- https://readwise.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Readwise is a bootstrapped subscription platform that syncs ebook and article highlights from multiple sources and resurfaces them via daily reviews using spaced repetition, serving nonfiction readers and knowledge workers. It also offers Reader, an integrated read-it-later app with AI-powered search.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Readwise industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Reading and knowledge management software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210)
- SIC
- Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Content Curation & Bookmarking/Read-Later Platforms (MPACAKAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Newsletter & Email Digest Aggregators (MPACAKAG), RSS/Feed Readers & Subscription Aggregators (MPACAKAD), Digital Reading Content & eBooks (Leveled Readers, Libraries) (EDAFACAH)
Keywords
Where Readwise is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Toronto
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Readwise business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Subscription Revenue: Monthly and annual subscription fees for Readwise Lite and full Readwise plans. Primary revenue stream with recurring billing model.
- Amazon Associates Affiliate Revenue: Readwise participates in Amazon Associates Program, earning commissions when users purchase books via affiliate links in daily review bonus highlights.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Readwise Lite - Basic daily review at affordable price |
| Subscription | Annual | Full Readwise - Complete platform with Reader app |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Readwise product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Readwise syncs user highlights from multiple reading sources (Kindle, Instapaper, iBooks, Pocket, RSS, newsletters, and more) and resurfaces them through a daily review email and app using a spaced repetition algorithm, enabling long-term memory retention. The company also operates Reader, an integrated read-it-later application for articles, newsletters, RSS feeds, PDFs, and EPUBs, and exposes its highlight library via a public REST API and MCP server for AI clients.
Product overview
Readwise is a reading and knowledge retention platform consisting of a core highlight management product and its own integrated reading app called Reader. The core Readwise platform syncs highlights from multiple reading sources (Kindle, Instapaper, iBooks, and more) and delivers them via Daily Review emails using spaced repetition for memory retention. Readwise offers AI-powered features including Chat With Highlights (semantic search and AI conversation with your library via OpenAI GPT-5.1), Themed Reviews, and Mastery (flashcard-based active recall). Reader is the company's own all-in-one read-later app for articles, newsletters, RSS, PDFs, and EPUBs. The platform also provides developer access through a public REST API, Webhooks, and MCP Server for AI integrations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Reader: A more powerful, more flexible version of the classic read-it-later app. Reader is Readwise's own integrated reading application that allows users to save articles, newsletters, and various digital content for later reading.
Products and services
- Readwise Core reading management platform that syncs highlights from Kindle, Instapaper, iBooks, and other reading sources, then delivers them through a daily review email and app using spaced repetition to support memory retention. Includes export integrations to note-taking apps such as Notion, Evernote, Obsidian, Roam, and others.
- Reader All-in-one read-it-later application supporting articles, newsletters, RSS feeds, PDFs, and EPUBs, with full highlight capture that integrates with Readwise's review and recall features. Positioned as a more powerful and flexible alternative to classic read-it-later apps such as Instapaper and Pocket.
- Readwise API Public REST API enabling developers and power users to programmatically create, fetch, update, and delete highlights and books, with token-based authentication, webhook notifications, and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for connecting AI clients such as Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor to the user's highlight library.
Companies that use Readwise
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Readwise technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration15 records
AI capability6 records
Feature8 records
Readwise partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- OpenAIcoreOpenAI provides AI technology powering Chat With Highlights feature. Uses GPT-5.1 model for semantic search across user's highlight library and idea synthesis. Per OpenAI's API data usage policies, they do not use customer data for training.
- StripecoreThird-party payment processor handling all subscription payments. Stripe's privacy policy governs credit card data; Readwise does not store payment information.
- AmazonminorAmazon Associates Program partnership: Readwise earns commission when users purchase books via affiliate links in bonus highlights. Also provides 'Sign in with Amazon' authentication option.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Readwise competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Reflect: Reflect is an AI-powered networked note-taking app with daily review and bidirectional linking, serving the same PKM/professional reader persona as Readwise.
- Glasp: Glasp is a web and PDF highlighter with social sharing and AI summaries—competing in the highlight capture layer that Readwise aggregates from.
Broad incumbents
- Notion: Notion is a broad productivity and knowledge management platform with native AI features that increasingly overlap Readwise's highlight export and review use cases.
- Obsidian: Obsidian is a leading personal knowledge management app with a robust plugin ecosystem; it is both a deep Readwise integration partner and a broad incumbent whose users overlap significantly with Readwise's persona.
Direct peers
- Pocket (Mozilla): Pocket is a read-it-later service for saving articles, newsletters, and videos, directly competing with Readwise Reader in the same primary use case.
- RemNote: RemNote is a note-taking app with built-in spaced repetition flashcards and daily review, directly overlapping Readwise's Mastery and Daily Review features for learners and knowledge workers.
- Instapaper: Instapaper is a pioneering read-it-later app offering article saving, highlighting, and offline reading—the most direct legacy competitor to Readwise Reader.
- Matter: Matter is a modern read-it-later and read-listen app with highlighting and AI features, positioning itself as a premium Pocket/Instapaper replacement—directly adjacent to Readwise Reader.
- Feedly: Feedly is an RSS feed reader and content aggregator that competes with Readwise Reader's RSS/newsletter subscription and article capture capabilities.
- Anki: Anki is the most widely used spaced repetition flashcard application, sharing Readwise's underlying learning science and competing for users who want retention through active recall.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Readwise social profiles
Digital presenceReadwise financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Readwise leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Readwise funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Readwise M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Readwise
What does Readwise do?
Readwise syncs user highlights from multiple reading sources (Kindle, Instapaper, iBooks, Pocket, RSS, newsletters, and more) and resurfaces them through a daily review email and app using a spaced repetition algorithm, enabling long-term memory retention. The company also operates Reader, an integrated read-it-later application for articles, newsletters, RSS feeds, PDFs, and EPUBs, and exposes its highlight library via a public REST API and MCP server for AI clients.
Is Readwise a public or private company?
Readwise is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Readwise founded?
Readwise was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Readwise based?
Readwise is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, in the North America region.
How does Readwise make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Subscription Revenue is the primary driver. The others are amazon Associates Affiliate Revenue.
Who are Readwise's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Reflect and Glasp. Broad incumbents are Notion and Obsidian. Direct peers are Pocket (Mozilla), RemNote, Instapaper, Matter, Feedly and Anki.
Does Readwise have an API?
Yes. Readwise offers a public REST API supporting create, fetch, update, and delete operations for highlights and books. The API uses token-based authentication (Authorization header with Token). Rate limits: 240 requests per minute base rate; Highlight LIST and Book LIST endpoints restricted to 20 per minute. Supports webhooks for real-time notifications on highlight and document events. Also offers MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for connecting AI clients to Readwise highlights and Reader documents. Developer documentation is at readwise.io/api_deets.
What industry is Readwise in?
Readwise's product category is Reading and knowledge management software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAKAH, Content Curation & Bookmarking/Read-Later Platforms, with a secondary code of MPACAKAG, Newsletter & Email Digest Aggregators. Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 2731.