Instapaper vs SingleFile
Instapaper and SingleFile are both bookmark manager software. Instapaper is a commercial product from Instant Paper. SingleFile is open source under AGPL-3.0, with 23k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick Instapaper when
- You want a simple, distraction-free read-it-later app and do not need note-app integration.
- Pick SingleFile when
- You need faithful offline copies of web pages for reference, evidence or archiving.
Side by side
Saves web articles for later reading in a clean text view, with highlights and Kindle delivery.
A browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and others that saves a complete web page, including images and styles, into a single HTML file, with a CLI version too.
A small company with slow development, and some features require Premium.
Pages with heavy dynamic content can save imperfectly, and the AGPL applies if you build on the code.
Production-ready (both)
Cloud service, mobile app and browser extension
Browser extension and command line
Not published
JavaScript
Closed source, sold by Instant Paper
Open source, AGPL-3.0 (network copyleft)
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
Use inside your business is unrestricted. If you change it and let customers use it over the internet, you must publish your changes.
402 Wikipedia readers a month on phones
23k GitHub stars
Not known
Established: started 16 years ago, latest release v1.34.0.
Other comparisons
More bookmark managers
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from makers' descriptions, Wikipedia, READMEs and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.