A Readwise Reader alternative for people who want something small
Readwise Reader is the most capable reading app around: articles, PDFs, ebooks, newsletters, RSS, YouTube transcripts, highlights that sync everywhere. It is also a lot. ceevo is the small thing at the other end of the scale.
If highlights are the centre of how you learn, Reader is worth every cent and ceevo will not replace it. If you tried Reader, admired it, and quietly stopped opening it because it felt like a second job, ceevo is the tool for what you actually do: keep links and send lists.
- What it takes
- Articles, PDFs, epubs, newsletters, RSS, video.
- Links and notes.
- Organising
- Inbox, later, archive, tags, views, filters.
- One level of folders you name yourself. Flat on purpose.
- Reading
- Best-in-class reader with highlights.
- No reader view. ceevo opens the original page.
- Sharing
- Export highlights to notes apps.
- Any folder becomes a public page under your name with one switch.
- Notes
- Notes on highlights, synced.
- Notes are first-class: a note lives next to the links in the same folder.
- Price
- Paid subscription.
- Free. If paid plans ever come, nothing you saved gets locked.
Different sizes for different people
Reader is built for people who read seriously and want every highlight to end up in Obsidian, Notion, or their own notes. That workflow is real and ceevo is not part of it.
A different, larger group saves links because they might want them again and occasionally wants to share a list with someone. For them, an inbox, a later pile, an archive, and a tagging system are four decisions per link that they did not ask for.
What ceevo asks of you
One decision: which folder. Then nothing. No unread count, no triage, no inbox zero. When you want to hand the folder to someone, one switch makes it a public page.
Where Reader is simply better
Reading, highlighting, and everything that follows from that. If that is you, keep Reader. Some people use ceevo alongside it for the links that are not reading material.
Questions
- Does ceevo sync highlights to Obsidian or Notion?
- No. ceevo has no highlights. Notes stay in ceevo, next to the links.
- Does ceevo handle PDFs or ebooks?
- No. A link to a PDF saves fine, and opens the original.
- Is there a free tier?
- ceevo is entirely free today.