Pocket Alternative · 2026

Pocket is gone. Here's what to do with your saved links.

Pocket shut down on July 8, 2025. All user data was permanently deleted on October 8, 2025. If you exported your links before that date, Clibben can import them in about two minutes.

P
Pocket AppMozilla (2007 – 2025)
Discontinued
July 8, 2025Service Closed

Saved articles and apps disabled

October 8, 2025Data Deleted

All servers wiped permanently

Export file (`ril_export.html`) remains on disk
C
Clibben Import Engine
Ready to import
ril_export.htmlPocket HTML Export File
Upload
Recreating Collections & Links:
Reading List
Dev Docs
Auto-categorisation enabled~2 min setup

What happened, and what it means for your links

July 8, 2025

Service Discontinued

Pocket officially shut down after 18 years of read-later service. Annual subscriptions were refunded prorated automatically.

October 8, 2025

Permanent Data Deletion

All saved data was permanently removed from Mozilla servers. No online recovery is possible from Mozilla.

Pocket shut down on July 8, 2025, ending 18 years of read-later service that began as Read It Later in 2007. Mozilla gave users until October 8, 2025 to export their saved content - after which all data was permanently deleted from Mozilla's servers.

Mozilla cited changing web browsing habits as the reason, saying the team working on Pocket would move to other projects. Annual subscribers received prorated refunds automatically.

Pocket Export File Usable

If you exported your Pocket data before October 8, 2025, you have an HTML or CSV file on your computer containing everything you saved. That file is still usable - Clibben can read it and import your links, folder structure, and organisation into collections so you do not need to start from scratch.

If you did not export before the deadline, your Pocket data is gone. There is no way to recover it from Mozilla's servers. Since October 8, 2025, all remaining user data has been permanently deleted and there is no way to recover saves from Pocket's servers. What you can do is start fresh with a better system so this does not happen again.

Pocket and Clibben solved different problems. Here's where they overlap.

Pocket was a read-later app. Clibben is a link retrieval tool. They are not identical replacements - but they cover a lot of the same real-world use.

Pocket's primary purpose was saving articles to read later - stripping away ads and clutter and presenting a clean reading view. It had highlights, text-to-speech, Kobo integration, and a curated recommendations feed.

Clibben does not have a built-in reading mode. What Clibben does instead: it saves any link - article, GitHub repo, documentation page, tool, video, PDF - and makes it retrievable in seconds from any tab via a keyboard shortcut, without opening a new window.

The honest answer is that most people used Pocket to save links they planned to come back to - and most of the time, the reading mode was secondary to just having a reliable place to save and find things. That is what Clibben is built for.

FeaturePocket (before shutdown)Clibben
Save any webpage
Yes
Yes
Browser extension
Chrome, Firefox, Safari
Chrome, Edge, Brave
Mobile apps
iOS + Android
Web only currently
Search saved links
Basic (full-text on Premium)
Instant overlay on current tab
Auto-categorisation
Manual tags only
Automatic on save
Collections / Lists
Lists (added 2023, web only)
Collections across all views
Clean reading view
Core feature
Not available
Highlights
Unlimited (Premium)
Not available
Text-to-speech
Yes
Not available
Offline access
Yes
Not available
Kobo / Kindle integration
Kobo supported
Not available
Team shared library
Not available
Available in Pro plan
AI semantic search
Not available
Available on Pro plan
Import from Pocket
-
Yes (HTML & CSV export file)
Export your data
Ended Oct 8, 2025
Anytime (standard HTML)
Independent (not Mozilla-owned)
Was Mozilla-owned
Independent product
Free tier
Was free
Free to use

Clibben is a newer, independent product. It does not have reading mode, highlights, or mobile apps yet. If those features are essential to you, Instapaper is the closest equivalent. If you primarily used Pocket to save and find links - not for the reading experience - Clibben is built specifically for that.

Honest Perspective

What Pocket did well - and why people miss it

Pocket was genuinely good at two things. The reading experience was clean - it stripped away ads, menus, and clutter and left just the text and images. And it was reliable. Over 18 years, Pocket built a reputation as something you could trust with your saved links.

The thing that frustrates former Pocket users most is not the loss of reading mode. It is the loss of a place that felt permanent. You saved something to Pocket with the expectation it would be there when you needed it. Pocket's shutdown proved that even a service owned by a major non-profit can be discontinued when it no longer fits the organisation's priorities.

Clibben is an independent product. It is not part of a larger corporation. That means fewer resources, but also fewer priorities that might one day outweigh keeping your links available. The export feature is built in from day one for exactly this reason - your library is always downloadable as a standard HTML file.

If you exported your Pocket data, here's how to move it to Clibben

Takes about two minutes. Your Pocket folders and saved links come across automatically.

1

Find your Pocket export file

When you exported from Pocket, Mozilla sent you an HTML file (and optionally a CSV). Search your computer for ril_export or pocket with the .html extension.

ril_export.html(Pocket HTML Export)
2

Sign in to Clibben

Go to clibben.dev and create a free account, or sign in if you already have one. No credit card required.

3

Go to Settings → Import

In the Clibben web app, open Settings from the sidebar. Select Import. Choose the Pocket HTML file from your computer and upload it.

4

Clibben recreates your library

Clibben reads your Pocket export, recreates your folders as Collections, and imports every saved link. Auto-categorisation reviews the links and may suggest better groupings - you can accept or keep your original structure.

A better saving and retrieval system than Pocket was

Pocket required you to open the Pocket app or website to search for something you had saved. It was a separate destination - you saved there, you went there to find things. Every retrieval was a tab switch.

Clibben puts your saved library on whatever page you are already on. Press your keyboard shortcut from any tab. A search overlay appears. Type what you remember - a topic, a domain, a fragment of text. Your saved link appears. Click it. The overlay closes. You never switched tabs.

The auto-categorisation means you do not need to manually tag links when saving. Clibben reads the page behind every link you save and places it in the right collection automatically. The overhead of saving drops to near zero - which means you actually save things consistently, instead of only when the filing feels manageable.

Keyboard overlay search - find any saved link from any tab without leaving your current page
Auto-categorisation - paste a link, Clibben reads it and files it automatically
Collections as Workspaces - open all links in a collection as a Chrome Tab Group in one click. Your context is restored every time.

If Pocket's reading experience is what you're missing

Clibben does not have a reading mode. If distraction-free article reading, highlights, and offline access are the features you genuinely relied on in Pocket, Instapaper is the closest direct replacement - it has a clean reading interface, highlights, notes, and Kindle integration.

Clibben and Instapaper are not competitors for the same use case. If you want to build a searchable link library that works from any tab - Clibben. If you want a clean reading queue - Instapaper. Many people will find they want both, for different things.

Start with what's free

Import your Pocket links. Build a library that works from any tab. No credit card.