Feedly Aggregates Headlines. ReadMonkey Pro Helps You Actually Read Them.
Feedly is a powerful RSS aggregator — great for monitoring 100+ sources at once. But aggregation isn't reading. ReadMonkey Pro is built for the reading experience: save any article (RSS source or not), open it in a distraction-free reader, highlight in 5 colors, attach inline notes, and sync everything through Chrome — no Feedly account, no vendor cloud. $6.99/mo or $49.99 lifetime.
TL;DR
Feedly ($8-12/month) is the leading RSS feed aggregator — strong for monitoring news sources, blogs, and research feeds at scale. But it's optimized for skimming headlines, not for the actual reading and annotation experience. ReadMonkey Pro is a Chrome extension focused on what happens after you decide to read: distraction-free reader with theme options, AI-powered summaries, 5-color highlighting with inline notes, and Chrome Sync across browsers. No PlugMonkey servers in the loop. If you use Feedly to find articles but then save them elsewhere to actually read them, ReadMonkey Pro is the elsewhere. Free tier: 25 saves/month. Pro: $6.99/month or $49.99 lifetime.
- Feedly's strength is RSS aggregation at scale — great for daily news/feed monitoring across many sources.
- ReadMonkey Pro's strength is the post-save reading experience — distraction-free reader, highlights, annotations, AI summaries.
- Most serious readers use both: Feedly for source monitoring, ReadMonkey Pro for the articles they actually save and read.
- Pricing: ReadMonkey Pro at $49.99 lifetime is less than 5 months of Feedly Pro+. The annual plan ($29.99/yr) is roughly half of Feedly's annual cost.
Why Feedly Users Want a Reading Companion
Feedly is built for monitoring, not reading
Feedly excels at aggregating feeds and surfacing what's new across hundreds of sources. But when you open an article inside Feedly, you get a stripped-down preview — and when you click through to the full article, you get the original page with all its ads, popups, and clutter. There's no clean reader view designed for sustained reading. Feedly's UX optimizes for fast triage; ReadMonkey Pro optimizes for the moment you've decided this article deserves your full attention.
No in-article highlighting or annotation
Feedly's Pro+ tier added 'Notes & Highlights' as a beta feature, but it's limited — single-color highlights, basic notes, and the workflow only works inside Feedly's own reader. ReadMonkey Pro supports 5 highlight colors with inline notes, attached to specific passages. The annotations are exportable as Markdown so you can pull them into Obsidian, Notion, or your research database — useful for serious research workflows that Feedly can't replicate.
Feedly costs $8-12/month with no lifetime option
Feedly Pro is $8/month billed annually. Pro+ (with AI features and Notes) is $12/month billed annually. There's no lifetime license. Over 5 years, that's $480-720. ReadMonkey Pro's $49.99 lifetime is roughly one year of Feedly Pro+ — and you own it.
Vendor cloud dependency for saved content
Feedly stores your reading queue, highlights, and read history on their servers. If Feedly shuts down (Pocket did in July 2025, Omnivore in November 2024), you'd be racing the export window. ReadMonkey Pro syncs through Chrome's built-in sync infrastructure — no PlugMonkey server in the loop. Even if PlugMonkey disappeared, your articles persist locally in Chrome storage.
ReadMonkey Pro vs Feedly
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | Feedly | ReadMonkey Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | RSS aggregation + feed monitoring | Article saving + reading + annotation |
| RSS feed support | Core feature — hundreds of feeds | Not an RSS reader (save any URL) |
| Reading experience | Stripped preview in feed; opens original page on click-through | Distraction-free reader with light/dark/sepia themes |
| Highlighting | Pro+ only: single color, basic | 5 colors with inline notes (all tiers) |
| AI summaries | Pro+ only ($12/mo) | Included |
| Export annotations | Limited (Pro+ only) | JSON / Markdown / HTML / CSV — all tiers |
| Data storage | Feedly cloud servers | Chrome Sync — no PlugMonkey servers |
| Cost (annual) | $96-144/year (Pro / Pro+) | $29.99/year |
| Lifetime option | Not available | $49.99 one-time |
| Team collaboration | Teams plan for shared boards | Individual use only |
Pricing: ReadMonkey Pro vs Feedly
Feedly
Feedly Pro is $96/year. Pro+ (AI features + Notes & Highlights) is $144/year. No lifetime option. Free tier limited to 100 sources and 3 feeds with no search, AI, or notes.
- Subscription-only pricing
- Lose access when you cancel
ReadMonkey Pro
ReadMonkey Pro at $49.99 lifetime costs roughly 5 months of Feedly Pro+. The annual plan at $29.99/year is ~70% cheaper than Feedly Pro+ ($144/yr). And you keep your reading library if the company ever shuts down.
30-day money-back guarantee
Still Deciding?
Get an independent AI perspective on which tool is the better fit for you.
AI responses are generated independently and may vary
Is ReadMonkey Pro Right for You?
Switch If You...
- You currently save Feedly articles elsewhere to actually read them — ReadMonkey Pro becomes the 'elsewhere'
- You want serious highlighting (5 colors with notes) and exportable annotations for research
- You prefer paying $49.99 once over $96-144/year forever
- You're concerned about vendor cloud risk after Pocket's 2025 shutdown
- You read articles deeply rather than scanning feeds — Feedly's workflow optimizes for the opposite
- You want AI summaries without paying for Feedly's $12/mo Pro+ tier
Consider Other Options If You...
- RSS feed aggregation is your core need — Feedly is purpose-built for monitoring 100+ sources at scale
- You rely on Feedly's AI Leo to filter and tag thousands of articles automatically
- You work in a team with shared boards and collaborative tagging
- You read primarily on iOS/Android via mobile apps — Feedly has native apps; ReadMonkey Pro is Chrome-only desktop
- You need Feedly's source-discovery features (Industry, Topic searches across millions of sources)
Aggregate with Feedly. Read with ReadMonkey Pro.
Distraction-free reader, AI summaries, 5-color highlighting, Chrome Sync. The reading layer Feedly was never built to be. $49.99 lifetime.