Pocket shut down. Where should your reading list live now?
Last updated: 2026-10-19 · A practical guide, not a sales pitch. Stow is our answer — but first, how to choose.
What to look for in a replacement
Before picking anything, check these five things. They decide whether you'll be migrating again in two years:
- Who holds your data? A cloud service can shut down, raise prices, or change terms. A library on your own device can't be taken away.
- Can you get your data out? Full export (not a partial CSV) is the difference between owning and renting your library.
- Does it work offline? Planes, basements, bad hotel wifi — reading lists earn their keep offline.
- What does it cost over 5 years? A $29 one-time purchase vs $45/year subscription is $29 vs $225.
- What does it track? Reading habits are intimate. Zero-telemetry tools exist — prefer them.
Your three kinds of options
| Subscription read-it-later apps | Single-file savers | Local-first library (Stow) |
|---|
| Data location | Their cloud | Scattered files | Your device |
| Pricing | $33–60 / year, forever | Free, no management | $29 once |
| Offline reading | Varies | Yes, file by file | Full library |
| Search across everything | Often paywalled | No | Free, instant |
| Export | Often limited | N/A | Free, full-library |
| Can it shut down on you? | Yes — like Pocket did | No | No server to shut down |
How to move (whatever you pick)
- If you still have Pocket export access, download it now and keep a copy — that file is your leverage.
- Pick the tool that fits the checklist above, install it, save 5 articles you care about.
- Test the worst case on day one: go offline, search, and export. If any of the three fails, reconsider.
- Stow note: one-click Pocket-export import lands in v1.1; until then, re-saving key articles takes seconds each — and everything stays readable, searchable and exportable whether or not you ever pay.
Try the local-first option free
Stow saves any article with one click into an offline library in your browser — clean reader, instant full-text search, HTML/JSON export. 30 saves free, forever. $29 once to unlock everything. No account, no cloud, no tracking.
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