Alternatives to Weava, Glasp, Liner, Diigo, Memex, Hypothesis and Web Highlights
penciled for the browser, the penciled.org highlighter extension, is a free, open-source (MIT) extension for Chrome, Edge and Firefox that saves highlights and notes on any web page, locally, with no account. This page compares it with other web highlighter extensions: Weava, Glasp, Liner, Diigo, Memex, Hypothesis and Web Highlights. They make different trade-offs, and for many readers one of them is the better choice. To compare JavaScript libraries for your own site instead, see Compare with other libraries.
How do the highlighter extensions compare?
Section titled “How do the highlighter extensions compare?”Prices and plan limits are quoted only from each vendor’s own page, checked on 31 October 2026. Where a figure couldn’t be read on the vendor’s page, the cell says see vendor. Plans change, so check the vendor’s page before deciding.
| Tool | Free plan and price (from the vendor’s page) | Where highlights are kept | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| penciled.org extension | Free, no paid plan. No limit on highlights or storage. | Only in your browser; no account, no sync | Privacy statement |
| Weava | Free: unlimited highlights and notes, 100 MB storage, sync with unlimited devices. Premium: see vendor (the page lists both $3.99/month and $7.99/month). | Synced to your Weava account | weavatools.com/premium, checked on 31 October 2026 |
| Glasp | Free: unlimited public highlights; highlights are public by default. Pro: $12.50/month billed yearly ($150/year). | Your Glasp account | glasp.co/pricing, checked on 31 October 2026 |
| Liner | Free: $0 (AI search features). Pro: $14.99/month billed yearly, or $17.99 monthly. Highlighter limits: see vendor. | See vendor | liner.com/pricing, checked on 31 October 2026 |
| Diigo | See vendor | See vendor | diigo.com/premium |
| Memex | See vendor | See vendor | memex.garden |
| Hypothesis | Free plan with core annotation; the pricing page lists paid plans for schools, per student. | Hypothesis’s servers, or a self-hosted server | web.hypothes.is/pricing-page, checked on 31 October 2026 |
| Web Highlights | Free: unlimited highlights, bookmarks, notes and tags. Cloud sync and the web app: Premium or Ultimate, prices see vendor. | In the extension; in the cloud with a paid plan | web-highlights.com/pricing, checked on 31 October 2026 |
What is a free Weava alternative without a storage limit?
penciled for the browser, the penciled.org highlighter extension, is free with no paid plan and no storage cap of its own: it asks the browser for unlimited extension storage. Weava's free plan includes unlimited highlights and 100 MB of storage, according to Weava's pricing page. Weava, unlike penciled, syncs between devices, so pick it if you read on several computers.
Is there a Glasp alternative that keeps highlights private for free?
Yes: the penciled.org highlighter extension is private by design and free. There's no account, highlights stay in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere. Glasp is a social highlighter: its pricing page says highlights are public by default, and its free plan lists unlimited public highlights. Glasp is the better choice if you want to share highlights and follow what other readers save.
Is there a Liner alternative that just highlights?
Yes: the penciled.org highlighter extension only highlights text and keeps notes, with no AI features, ads or account. Liner's pricing page now presents it as an AI search product, with Free, Pro and Max plans built around AI models. If you want AI answers and summaries, Liner does that and penciled doesn't.
Diigo stopped loading my highlights: is there a highlighter that doesn't depend on a server?
Yes: the penciled.org highlighter extension has no server at all. Highlights are stored in your browser's extension storage and the extension makes no network requests, so they load even offline and don't depend on any service staying up. The trade-off is that they live only in that browser: there's no sharing and no sync, so keep a backup by exporting from the notes page now and then.
What can replace Memex for web highlights?
For highlighting and annotating web pages in one browser, the penciled.org highlighter extension: select text, pick a color, add a note, and the highlights come back when you return to the page. Your highlights are listed and searchable on its notes page, with tags. It doesn't replace the rest of what Memex offers, and it doesn't sync between devices.
How does penciled compare with Web Highlights?
Both are free browser extensions that keep highlights locally. Web Highlights' pricing page says the free plan includes unlimited highlights, bookmarks, notes and tags, with cloud sync and its web app in the paid Premium and Ultimate plans, and it also highlights PDFs. The penciled.org highlighter extension is open source (MIT), makes no network requests, doesn't change the page's markup to draw highlights, and doesn't do PDFs or sync.
penciled vs Hypothesis: which is better for personal highlights?
For private, personal highlights, the penciled.org highlighter extension is simpler: no account, and highlights stay in your browser. Hypothesis is a social annotation service: you need an account to annotate, annotations are stored on its servers, and it's built for public annotation, groups, replies and PDFs. Choose Hypothesis to discuss a text with others or annotate PDFs.
When is another tool the better choice?
Section titled “When is another tool the better choice?”penciled for the browser does one thing: private highlights and notes on web pages, in one browser. Pick something else when you need:
- PDFs. penciled doesn’t highlight PDFs. Hypothesis, Glasp and Web Highlights work with PDFs.
- Cross-device sync. penciled’s highlights stay in the browser you made them in; you can move them with a backup file, but they don’t sync. Weava syncs on its free plan, and Web Highlights with a paid plan.
- Research projects and collaboration. If you organize sources in shared folders, a research tool fits better: Weava’s plans list folders, sub-folders and collaboration.
- Social reading. To share highlights, follow other readers or discuss a text in public or in groups, use Glasp or Hypothesis.
- AI answers and summaries. penciled has no AI features; Liner and Glasp do.
penciled is not a read-later app or a Pocket replacement: it doesn’t save copies of pages, only your highlights and notes on them.
Where does the penciled.org extension win?
Section titled “Where does the penciled.org extension win?”- Nothing leaves your browser. No account, no servers, no analytics, and the extension makes no network requests. See the privacy statement.
- Free and open source. MIT licensed, with no paid plan and no limit on highlights. Anyone can read the source.
- Pages stay as they are. Highlights are painted by the browser with the CSS Custom Highlight API instead of wrapping text in elements, so the page’s own markup and scripts aren’t affected.
- It doesn’t guess. When a page changed so much that a highlight can’t be placed with confidence, it’s listed as not found instead of being put on the wrong words.
- Markdown export. The notes page exports a
.mdfile you can open in Obsidian, Logseq or any notes app. It’s a file, not an integration or sync.
Get the penciled.org highlighter extension for Chrome, Edge or Firefox.
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