Raindrop.io review

Raindrop.io is the most complete general bookmark manager for research work. The free plan has no caps on bookmarks, collections, tags, devices or collaborators per collection, and highlights on web pages, PDFs and EPUBs are free too, with up to 100 per bookmark. Collections are private by default, and you can invite members with full or read-only roles, which suits a lab or a writing team. Pro is where the research features sit: every bookmarked page is archived automatically with unlimited storage, full-text search reaches inside those archived pages, PDFs, EPUBs and YouTube transcripts, and a broken link checker and duplicate finder keep a large library clean. Pro also raises file uploads from 100 MB to 10 GB a month and adds daily backups and annotations. The weak points are that annotations are Pro only, archived copies are deleted about a month after Pro lapses, and the web checkout showed local currency from our location, so we could not confirm the USD Pro price.

Who it is for

researchers who want one library for links, PDFs and highlights

Price

Free plan with unlimited bookmarks; Pro: see vendor pricing (USD check pending).

US price check pending. See the vendor pricing page.

Key features

• Free plan has unlimited bookmarks, collections, tags, collaborators and devices
• Pro web archive saves a copy of every bookmarked page with unlimited storage
• Pro full-text search covers web archive copies, PDF and EPUB files and YouTube transcripts
• Unlimited highlights on web pages, PDFs and EPUBs, up to 100 per bookmark
• Pro uploads of 10 GB a month against 100 MB on Free

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Free plan already covers shared collections with unlimited collaborators
• Strength: When a collection owner has Pro, every member gets full-text search on that collection
• Strength: Pro adds a broken link checker, duplicate finder and automatic daily backups
• Weakness: Annotations on highlights require Pro
• Weakness: Archived copies are deleted about a month after a Pro subscription expires
• Weakness: Web checkout showed local currency from our location, so the USD Pro price is pending

Key facts

• Free plan: Yes, unlimited bookmarks and devices
• Free uploads: 100 MB a month
• Pro uploads: 10 GB a month, 300 MB per file
• Apps: Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge

Where it ranks

Raindrop.io is No. 1 in our Best Bookmark Managers verdict and No. 5 in Best Read It Later Apps.