Research reviewed October 2026. This is a research-based review — we analyzed published specs, pricing, and user feedback.

Glasp Review 2026: The Social Highlighter for Readers

Glasp is a social web highlighter that turns pages, PDFs, YouTube videos, and Kindle highlights into a shareable library you can chat with using AI. Its unusual bet is openness: highlights get their own URLs readable without a login, and exports flow to Notion, Obsidian, Roam, or plain Markdown, HTML, CSV, and JSON. The core highlighter is free, which makes Glasp one of the cheapest ways to build an AI-searchable memory of everything you read.

Bottom line: Best fit for readers who learn in public or want fully portable highlights. The free core is genuinely usable; pay for Pro only if you need private highlights and higher AI allowances.

Most highlighters lock your notes in a private vault. Glasp’s pitch, in its own words, is a highlighter that’s “social and AI-native”: you highlight anything on the web, PDFs, YouTube, and Kindle, keep it organized in one place, and turn it into a personal AI memory that summarizes and answers from your own saved ideas. Extensions cover Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox, Brave, and Opera, and the iOS and Android apps were rebuilt in 2026 with a native Reader, YouTube summaries, and home-screen widgets. The social layer means you can see what other readers highlighted on the same page — the sentences a crowd all stopped at surface on their own — and follow readers whose taste you trust.

Key features

Multi-source highlighting: Highlight web pages, PDFs (online and uploaded), YouTube videos at timestamps, images, and Kindle books.
Color-coded highlights and notes: Notes attach to the exact sentence, not just the page, with tagging and full-text search across years of reading.
AI summaries of your highlights: Turn a page’s highlights into a summary written from what you chose to keep.
Chat with your library: Ask questions about your accumulated reading and get answers grounded in your saved notes.
MCP connector: Exposes your highlights to Claude and other AI clients so they can answer from what you’ve saved.
Social layer: Every highlight has a shareable URL; profiles collect your public reading and others can follow you.
Import and export: Import from Kindle, Medium, Instapaper, Snipd, Pocket, and Hypothesis; export to Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, Readwise, or download as Markdown, HTML, CSV, plain text, or JSON.

Who it’s for

Glasp fits students building study libraries, researchers collecting evidence across papers, writers assembling quote banks, and lifelong learners who like discovering content through other readers’ highlights. The import tools make it attractive if you’re migrating from Kindle, Instapaper, or Hypothesis and don’t want to lose years of annotations. People who read mainly to think — and like their thinking to be searchable later — get the most from the AI-memory angle. If you read sensitive material or simply don’t want your reading public, the free tier’s public-by-default model is a dealbreaker unless you pay for private highlights.

What to watch out for

Highlights are public by default on the free tier — that’s the core design, not a bug, so think before highlighting anything sensitive. AI features (summaries, chat with highlights, transcription) are limited on free and expand on paid plans. The social discovery layer only pays off if you engage with it; used purely as a private tool, Glasp is a good highlighter but less distinctive. Glasp says more than 2 million researchers, students, and learners use it — that’s the vendor’s own figure, so treat it as marketing rather than an independent count.

Pricing

Highlighting, organizing, and exporting are free for everyone, per Glasp’s own FAQ. Glasp Pro ($15/month, or $150/year) adds unlimited private highlights, higher AI allowances, and transcription features. An Unlimited tier is listed at $36/month. Pricing verified on glasp.co — check current pricing there before subscribing, since AI allowances are the part most likely to change.

Pros and cons

Pros

Core highlighting and exporting are free with no login required to read shared highlights.
One-click copy of a page’s highlights with title, author, URL, and date metadata.
Your reading is never locked in — broad export options including open formats.
MCP connector lets Claude and other AI tools answer from your own notes.
Social discovery surfaces the passages other readers found most valuable.

Cons

Public-by-default highlights are a privacy consideration on the free tier.
AI summaries, chat, and transcription are limited without a paid plan.
Social features add little if you only want a private highlighter.
Multi-device sync and advanced features reward the paid tiers.
User-count claims are vendor marketing, not independently verified.

Frequently asked questions

Is Glasp free?

Yes. Glasp’s own FAQ says highlighting, organizing, and exporting are free for everyone. Glasp Pro ($15/month or $150/year) adds unlimited private highlights and higher AI allowances.

Can I export my highlights to Notion or Obsidian?

Yes. Glasp exports to Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research, and Readwise, or downloads as Markdown, HTML, CSV, plain text, or JSON.

Does Glasp summarize YouTube videos?

Yes. Glasp generates AI summaries and transcripts of YouTube videos and lets you highlight moments with timestamps, including in its rebuilt 2026 mobile apps.

Are my highlights private?

Not by default — Glasp is designed as a social highlighter, and highlights are shareable via URL without a login. Unlimited private highlights require a Pro subscription.

Can I use my highlights inside Claude?

Yes. The Glasp MCP connector exposes your highlights to Claude and other AI clients so they can answer using what you’ve saved.