Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Medium VS Readwise

Compare Medium VS Readwise and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Medium logo Medium

Welcome to Medium, a place to read, write, and interact with the stories that matter most to you.

Readwise logo Readwise

Effortlessly rediscover and organize your Kindle highlights
  • Medium Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-08
  • Readwise Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-10

Medium features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Medium offers an easy-to-use interface that makes it simple for anyone to start writing and publishing content without any technical knowledge.
  • Built-in Audience
    The platform has a large and active user base, so new content has the potential to reach a wide audience quickly.
  • Publishing Tools
    Medium provides versatile publishing tools that support text, images, and various media formats, which helps in creating rich and engaging content.
  • SEO Benefits
    Articles posted on Medium tend to rank well in search engine results, thanks to the platform's high domain authority.
  • Community and Interaction
    Medium encourages reader engagement through comments, claps, and highlights, fostering a sense of community among writers and readers.

Possible disadvantages of Medium

  • Monetization
    While Medium has a Partner Program, it may not be as lucrative as other methods of monetization available on independent blogging platforms.
  • Control and Customization
    Medium offers limited customization options compared to dedicated blog platforms like WordPress, restricting how you can brand and personalize your blog.
  • Content Ownership
    By publishing on Medium, you agree to their terms and conditions, which may include giving up some control over how your content is used and distributed.
  • Paywall Issues
    Some articles are placed behind a paywall, which might limit the reach of your content if you want it to be freely accessible to everyone.
  • Dependency on Platform
    Relying solely on Medium means that any changes to the platform's policies or algorithms can directly impact your reach and engagement.

Readwise features and specs

  • Centralized System
    Readwise allows users to consolidate highlights and notes from various reading platforms, such as Kindle, Instapaper, and Pocket, into one place.
  • Ease of Use
    The platform is user-friendly, making it easy to import, organize, and review highlights.
  • Spaced Repetition
    Readwise uses spaced repetition algorithms to help users retain and recall information over time by regularly revisiting highlights.
  • Customizable Export Options
    Users can export their highlights and notes to other services like Evernote, Notion, or plain text files, allowing for flexible usage of the stored data.
  • Search Functionality
    Readwise offers robust search capabilities, making it simple to find specific highlights or notes across your library.

Possible disadvantages of Readwise

  • Subscription Cost
    Readwise operates on a subscription model, which may be considered expensive for some users relative to the features offered.
  • Limited Functionality Without Subscription
    While there is a free trial available, many features are gated behind a subscription, limiting the usability of the free version.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its overall user-friendliness, some users might find a learning curve when initially setting up and configuring the system to suit their needs.
  • Dependence on Third-Party Integrations
    Readwise’s value is largely dependent on its integrations with third-party services, meaning any changes or issues with those services can impact its effectiveness.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Since Readwise collects and stores data from multiple reading platforms, there may be privacy concerns regarding how this data is handled and stored.

Analysis of Medium

Overall verdict

  • Medium can be considered a good platform for those who enjoy a wide array of content and appreciate quality writing on diverse subjects. However, the value of Medium depends on individual preferences and whether the topics and writing styles align with what the reader is looking for.

Why this product is good

  • Medium offers a diverse range of articles from both professional and amateur writers, providing readers with numerous perspectives on various topics. Its clean user interface and ease of use make it an appealing platform for both writers and readers. The platform also supports monetization for writers, allowing them to earn from their content.

Recommended for

    Medium is recommended for avid readers seeking a variety of topics ranging from personal development to technology. It's also ideal for writers looking to publish their work to a broad audience and potentially earn revenue through the platform's Partner Program.

Analysis of Readwise

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Readwise is well-regarded for its utility in helping users actively engage with and digest their reading materials. It provides a streamlined way to revisit and reinforce key concepts, making it a valuable tool for those serious about boosting their information retention.

Why this product is good

  • Readwise is designed to help users retain information from their readings by organizing, highlighting, and revisiting key excerpts. It integrates with various platforms like Kindle, Instapaper, and Pocket to collate highlights in one place. The daily review feature encourages consistent engagement with past highlights, aiding in better recall and comprehension. The platform is beneficial for avid readers, students, and professionals who wish to maximize their learning retention and make the most out of their reading habits.

Recommended for

  • Avid readers looking to remember more from their books
  • Students who need to recall key concepts from academic materials
  • Professionals who want to maintain a repository of valuable insights from articles and reports for reference
  • Anyone interested in personal development and continuous learning through reading

Medium videos

Medium Review - with Tom Vasel

More videos:

  • Review - Starting a blog on Medium.com? Watch this FIRST.
  • Review - The Medium Review
  • Review - The Medium - Before You Buy
  • Review - I recommend: The Medium (Review)

Readwise videos

Readwise: How to use Spaced Repetition with your books

More videos:

  • Review - Keep track of Kindle highlights with Readwise [#49] Adam Franklin

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Medium and Readwise)
Blogging
100 100%
0% 0
Productivity
45 45%
55% 55
Blogging Platform
100 100%
0% 0
Bookmark Manager
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Medium and Readwise

Medium Reviews

19 Best WordPress Alternatives in 2025
Medium focuses on thoughtful content and community engagement. It offers a user-friendly interface, a large readership base, and various features for writers and readers.
Source: www.pixpa.com
25+ Medium Alternative Platforms for Publishing Articles
Medium is an online platform that was created in 2012 by Evan Williams. It is a place for people to share their thoughts and ideas on various topics. Medium has about 100 million monthly visitors, which makes it one of the most popular platforms for publishing articles.
Source: forgefusion.io
10 Best Medium Alternatives for Reading and Publishing
From thе simplicity of Ghost to thе vеrsatility of Substack, thеrе’s a homе for еvеryonе seeking great Medium alternatives. Thеsе altеrnativеs offеr a world of possibilitiеs for rеadеrs and authors alikе. Whеthеr you’rе in sеarch of a uniquе platform to sharе your thoughts or want to read frеsh contеnt, thеsе platforms havе somеthing spеcial to offеr. All in all, we...
9 Best Medium Alternatives for Making Money With Your Writing in 2023
Substack and Medium differ primarily in their monetization methods. Medium pays creators based on reader engagement, while Substack enables writers to monetize directly through paid subscriptions to their newsletters. This business model allows Substack users to build a direct relationship with their readers via their email inboxes, whereas Medium interactions primarily...
How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2021 (Compared)
Medium works much like a social networking site where you can create an account and start publishing your articles. After you sign up, you’ll have a profile address like this: https://medium.com/@yourname. But you cannot use your own domain.

Readwise Reviews

  1. Great help to review books

    I imported my kindle highlights, as many others. Now I daily review some highlights (thanks to a dashboard, I am motivated). And where I didn't create highlights, as I only listened to the audiobooks, I get the highlights from others. It also allows to create beautiful quotes. It adds the book cover and matches quote and background with colours found on the book title! Really nice!

    Pros:    Review books|Beautiful quotes|Dashboard motivates

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Medium seems to be a lot more popular than Readwise. While we know about 3122 links to Medium, we've tracked only 88 mentions of Readwise. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Medium mentions (3122)

  • Show HN: SlideOps, slides from a repo that flag when they drift from the code
    I kept generating documentation with an agent, and weeks or months later it would quietly go stale. Updating it was the costly part: either let an agent re-scan the whole repo, or sit there trying to remember what changed. So I made the deck carry its own provenance. SlideOps turns a repo into a slide deck, and every claim in that deck records the file it came from, the exact line range, and a hash of those lines.... - Source: Hacker News / about 22 hours ago
  • Vim's UserGettingBored Autocmd
    Maybe you could use something like this to make it real: > Building a Real-Time Concentration Tracker using MediaPipe and OpenCV > A simple AI project that measures focus and attention using your webcam — with Python, OpenCV, and MediaPipe. https://medium.com/@jiyasisdiya/building-a-real-time-concentration-tracker-using-mediapipe-and-opencv-2da7384ace24. - Source: Hacker News / 8 days ago
  • GLM-5.3-Flash
    Perhaps these are Huawei Ascend chips? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HiSilicon#Ascend_910 https://medium.com/@huaweiclouddevelper/a-brief-introduction-to-huawei-ascend-cloud-cbef8f25bc34. - Source: Hacker News / 6 days ago
  • Nebula Sans
    - Standard Broadcast "is owned by 44 total people, all of whom are creators" So it's fair to say there are creators with significant equity stakes in Nebula. It's NOT fair to assume that the 50% of revenue left after share is distributed evenly among all creators on the platform via an equity mechanism. Of course then there's Floatplane, which is entirely owned by LMG. At least a couple years ago they targeted "a... - Source: Hacker News / 6 days ago
  • How to Build a McKinsey-Style PowerPoint with AI: 8 Rules for Consulting Slides
    Yeah. But shouldn’t take long until someone shows up to notice how we AI- negative Nancy’s "don’t get it". This is the pinnacle of human creation https://medium.com/@2315610426. - Source: Hacker News / 6 days ago
View more

Readwise mentions (88)

  • Relego, a free, self-hostable alternative to Readwise
    Anyway, as I reached the end of the chapter, I wanted to read my Readwise's daily recap. However, my iPhone was in other room. I didn’t want to get up; I was tired. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Exporting Mac OSX Book Highlights into an Obsidian Vault or Markdown Files
    The only highlights that Readwise retrieves semi-automatically are from the books I buy from Kindle, by going into the Readwise app and clicking a button. If I upload them to Kindle or need highlights from the Apple Books app, I have to open the book, go to my highlights, select them all, and then email them to a Readwise email address. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Show HN: I combined spaced repetition with emails so you can remember anything
    Readwise also has this feature. I get a daily email with a random assortment of highlights that have been pulled in from multiple sources (Reader, Notion, Kindle, etc.) The product benefit in their case is that it's kind of like Zapier, but for notes. https://readwise.io/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Building a Code Snippet Library with Readwise, Obsidian, and Visual Studio Code
    Go to readwise.io and create an account if you don't already have one. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Mastering Knowledge Retention with Readwise and Obsidian
    Sign up for a Readwise account if you haven't already readwise.io. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Medium and Readwise, you can also consider the following products

Ghost - Ghost is a fully open source, adaptable platform for building and running a modern online publication. We power blogs, magazines and journalists from Zappos to Sky News.

Raindrop.io - All your articles, photos, video & content from web & apps in one place.

WordPress - WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

Instapaper - Instapaper is a simple tool to save web pages for reading later.

DEV.to - Where software engineers connect, build their resumes, and grow.

Obsidian.md - A second brain, for you, forever. Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.