Disclosure. Signelo, the company behind this site, makes Tenoa, which is on this list. We put it where we think it honestly lands and wrote down where it loses. If that bothers you, read the other entries and skip ours.
Recall is genuinely good at what it does. The summaries are excellent and the automatic connections are clever. If the hosted model and the plan suit you, keep it and close this tab.
This page is for the other situation. You have months of cards in there, you want them out as something you own, or the 10-summaries-a-month free tier stopped being enough and $10 a month is not where you want to be. The good news is that Recall exports to markdown, so leaving is easier than with most tools. The list below is sorted by what each alternative is actually for, because "AI summaries" describes six different products.
Prices and platform facts were checked on September 8, 2026, against each product's own pricing or help pages. They drift. Check before you commit.
Pick by situation
| If you want | Look at |
|---|
| Summaries and transcripts as files you keep, in a visual library | Tenoa |
| The best read-later and highlights pipeline | Readwise Reader |
| YouTube and PDF summaries plus highlights, with a social layer | Glasp |
| Self-hosted, with Ollama summaries and tags | Karakeep |
| Free clipping into markdown, with optional local AI | Obsidian Web Clipper |
| Cheap bookmarking with transcript search | Raindrop.io |
At a glance
| Tenoa | Recall | Readwise Reader | Glasp | Karakeep | Web Clipper | Raindrop |
|---|
| AI summaries | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓1 | · |
| Summaries run on your own computer | ✓ | · | · | · | ✓2 | ✓1 | · |
| Video transcripts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | · | ✓3 |
| Related items by meaning | ✓ | ✓ | · | · | ✓ | · | · |
| Quizzes and spaced repetition | · | ✓ | · | · | · | · | · |
| Highlighting | · | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | · |
| Visual grid library | ✓ | · | · | · | · | · | · |
| Files stay on your own disk | ✓ | · | · | · | ✓2 | ✓ | · |
| Markdown export or markdown files | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | · |
| Free tier or free | · | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| One-time purchase | ✓ | · | · | · | · | · | · |
| iPhone | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
1 Through Interpreter with a local model. 2 Self-hosted with your own Ollama; you hold the database, not plain files. 3 Transcript search on Pro.
1. Tenoa
Visual library, local AI, files on your own disk, $49 once
A visual library where every item is a markdown file on your own computer with the original beside it. A saved video carries its summary, key points, chapters and full transcript in that one file. Summaries and "more like this" run on a local model or through an AI service with your own key. Search reads inside transcripts, PDFs and screenshots.
Where it wins
- The transcript stops being a card in a separate app and becomes text sitting next to everything else you save, readable by any editor and any AI tool you point at the folder
- A Recall importer that runs on your own computer. The first library moved through it was 101 cards, 63 of them YouTube videos, and the transcripts came through as text
- No account, no subscription. $49 once for up to three desktop computers with a year of updates, free iPhone and iPad apps. Optional $29 a year for hosted sync and new features
Where it falls short
- No quizzes, no spaced repetition, no knowledge graph. If those are your workflow, stay on Recall
- Summaries depend on a local model you set up, or an API key you bring. Recall's are ready on day one
- Mac today, Windows installer targeted for October 1, no Android. One developer
Pick it if what you mostly do is save, search and reread, and you want the summaries as files.
The honest Recall comparison table on tenoa.app
2. Readwise Reader
Read-later and highlights, $9.99 a month billed annually
The mature read-later app for people who actually finish what they save. Articles, PDFs, EPUBs, newsletters, YouTube transcripts, all in one inbox with highlighting, offline mobile apps, and the best export to Obsidian and Notion in the category.
Where it wins
- The reading and highlighting workflow is the best there is
- Exports to markdown, CSV, OPML, PDF and text, plus automatic sync to Obsidian, Notion and Logseq
- Handles PDFs, EPUBs and YouTube transcripts well
Where it falls short
- The most expensive tool here. $119.88 a year on the annual plan, no permanent free tier, no standalone Reader plan
- Text-first. It is not a visual library and does not try to be
- The inbox is a second job for some people
Pick it if reading and annotating is the point, and summaries are a bonus.
3. Glasp
Highlighter with AI summaries, free tier then $12.50 a month
A social highlighter with AI summaries for YouTube and PDFs. Every browser, iOS and Android. Exports to markdown, HTML, CSV and JSON, and syncs to Notion, Obsidian and Roam.
Where it wins
- YouTube and PDF summaries on the free tier, three a day
- Export in every format on every plan
- Syncs highlights into your notes app of choice
Where it falls short
- Free-tier highlights are public. Private research effectively needs Pro at $150 a year
- It is a highlights tool, not a library. Images barely feature
- Social by design, which is a feature or a problem depending on you
Pick it if you highlight a lot and like seeing what other people highlighted.
4. Karakeep
Open source, self-hosted or $4 a month cloud
Open-source bookmark-everything with Ollama for summaries and tags, OCR on images, semantic search, full-page archives, mobile apps and extensions.
Where it wins
- Local AI summaries and tags with your own Ollama, no per-summary cap
- Self-host for free with unlimited everything
- JSON or HTML export any time
Where it falls short
- You run it. Docker, upgrades, and it is still pre-1.0
- Summary quality depends entirely on the model you configure
- The database is the source of truth; markdown is a mirror via a community plugin
Pick it if you already self-host and want AI summaries without a monthly bill.
5. Obsidian Web Clipper
Free, markdown into your vault, optional local AI
Obsidian's free clipper with Interpreter, which can run a local Ollama model over the page before it saves. Per-site templates, a highlighter, every major browser.
Where it wins
- Free and open source, and the file is yours from the first click
- Interpreter can summarize or extract with a local model as part of the clip
- Templates let you shape the note exactly
Where it falls short
- It clips pages. No library, no visual grid, no search over images or transcripts
- Images stay as remote links unless you download them afterwards
- You design the templates and prompts yourself
Pick it if you live in Obsidian and want summaries without another app.
6. Raindrop.io
Bookmark manager, free tier, Pro adds transcript search
The cheap, polished bookmark manager. Pro adds permanent copies of pages and full-text search that reaches into YouTube transcripts.
Where it wins
- Unlimited free bookmarks; Pro is a few dollars a month
- Transcript search on Pro is a quiet, useful feature
- Apps and extensions everywhere
Where it falls short
- No summaries. It stores and finds; it does not read for you
- Keyword search only
- Cloud, with export as the ownership story
Pick it if you want your saves findable and cheap, and you do not need summaries.
How to get out of Recall
Use the web app, not the phone app. Open the main menu, choose Settings, click Export. A zip downloads with every card as a markdown file. A single card can also be exported from its own menu, which is handy for a test run before you do the whole library.
Open a few files before you cancel anything. Summaries and transcripts should be there. Automatic connections, the graph and quizzes will not be; they do not export. Whatever you move to, this check is the step people skip and regret. An export you never opened is not a backup.
The full step-by-step guide is at tenoa.app/import. It works whichever tool you pick.
Want the transcripts as files?
Tenoa imports a Recall export on your own computer. 14-day trial, no card.