looking for
an alternative
to Readwise?

focus and vibe

Readwise
Readwise is a reader app designed for power readers, allowing you to do all of your reading (including connecting to newsletters and RSS feeds) in one place. Because it is meant for power readers, the app has a steep learning curve and some users find the UI overwhelming.

Sublime
Sublime is not designed to be a read-it-later tool. Read it later apps are good as an inbox of all the things you want to read but very poor at creating a repository of connected ideas that you want to return to, or share. Instead, Sublime helps you build a curated library of ideas and inspiration that you want to draw from in your life and work. It's designed for knowledge-driven creative professionals who value simplicity and design.

That said, Readwise and Sublime can work very well together. Many use Readwise for their core reading functions and automatically sync their Readwise highlights to Sublime to benefit from Sublime's communal discovery, rich search capabilities, and features to help you create with what you save.

social factor

Readwise
Readwise is a solitary experience, without built-in discovery or social sharing features. It's a personal space for reading and highlighting.

Sublime
Offers both private and public modes. While you can keep everything private, the secret sauce is the communal experience.

• Put in a thought or idea and get instant related inspiration from other people's libraries. (everyone's favorite!)
• Follow other people's libraries and let others peek into yours.
• Create collections, collaborate, and share with others.

actually do something with your highlights

Readwise
While Readwise excels at gathering highlights from a range of sources (books, articles, and more), its features are more focused on recall rather than deep exploration or creative synthesis.

Sublime
One of the biggest pain points with tools like Readwise is the accumulation of highlights and ideas that never get used. Sublime is built to solve that. Once your highlights are in Sublime, the focus shifts from collecting to creating.

Whether you're using Sublime's Canvas feature to play with your ideas or relying on smart connections to surface related inspiration, Sublime encourages you to actually do something with the knowledge you've captured. It's not just about saving information—it's about thinking, connecting, retrieving, and actively working with your ideas.

bottom line

If you're someone who primarily wants a tool to read and highlight without needing to connect, discover, and actively work with your highlights, then Readwise might be all you need.

On the other hand, if you're overwhelmed by Readwise's interface and are looking for a simple way to build a multimedia library of connected ideas, you'll love Sublime.

The cool part is that if you already use and love Readwise, you can get the benefits of Sublime by using both: Readwise for reading and highlighting, Sublime for connecting, retrieving, discovering and actually creating with your knowledge.