Grove vs Matter
Matter is a beautiful app. We've learned a lot from it. But we disagree on one fundamental question: who owns your reading?
Matter stores your highlights in their database.
Grove stores them in your vault.
When you highlight in Matter, that data lives on their servers. If they shut down, pivot, or raise prices — your reading history goes with them. Omnivore shut down in 2024. Pocket in 2025. It won't stop there.
Feature by feature
| | M Matter $60/year | |
|---|---|---|
| Save articles to read later | ✅ | ✅ |
| Beautiful reading experience | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile app (iOS + iPad) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Highlights & annotations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Newsletter sync | 🔜 Soon | ✅ |
| Text to speech | 🔜 Soon | ✅ |
| Your data as local markdown files | ✅ | ❌ |
| Works with Obsidian & Notion | ✅ | ❌ |
| AI agents can read your notes | ✅ | ❌ |
| Built-in MCP server for agents | ✅ | ❌ |
| Full articles as files, not just highlights | ✅ | ❌ |
| Survives startup shutdowns | ✅ | ❌ |
| Self-hostable (open source) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Bring your own storage | ✅ | ❌ |
Two different readers
Matter is great if you...
- → Want a polished out-of-the-box experience
- → Love text-to-speech for commutes
- → Want social recommendations from friends
- → Don't need your notes to live locally
- → Are happy paying a yearly subscription
Grove is for you if you...
- → Use Obsidian, Notion, or another PKM tool
- → Want highlights in your vault, not a silo
- → Use AI tools and want them to learn from your reading
- → Care about owning your data long-term
- → Would rather pay $29/yr than $60–96/yr
- → Want leaving to cost you nothing — files stay in your vault
Pocket shut down. Readwise could too.
Pocket was Mozilla-backed and free for over a decade — then gone. Instapaper went dark. Readwise Reader is VC-funded. We're not saying any specific service will shut down. We're saying it's happened before, and it will happen again. Grove's answer: your articles are just markdown files in your vault. No service required to read them.
Actually — use both if you want
Grove is free to try. If you're already on Matter Pro, clip a few articles in Grove and see which reading experience you prefer. No hard sell. We just think you should have the option to own your reading — and right now, you don't.