Compare Diigo and A Fine Start: Which Extension is the Best?

	Diigo	A Fine Start
	Diigo is a handy tool for bookmarking, highlighting, and annotating web pages. It has many features, but its old design and limited highlight colors might make it less appealing. Highlighter Bookmark Manager	A Fine Start is a minimalistic new tab page extension for Chrome, offering a clean list of links, customizable themes, and optional syncing for a streamlined browsing experience. New Tab Productivity
Key Features	Highlighting: Works well and highlights are recreated on refresh. Notes: You can add notes to your highlights. Link Creation: Create links to your highlights, although this feature is not very reliable. Sidebar Outliner: Simple design but requires time to understand. Syncing: Highlights are synced across devices.	Minimal Text Links: Presents links in a clean, simple list. Groups: Organize links into customizable groups. Drag-and-Drop Sorting: Easily rearrange links and groups. Group Folding: Collapse groups to save space. Dark Mode: Switch to a darker theme for low-light environments. Multiple Themes: Choose from various themes to suit your style. Restore Points: Save and restore your setup. Optional Syncing Account: Sync bookmarks across devices with a premium account.
Our Rating	7.8	8.7
Total users	200,000	1,602
Total ratings	2,319	52
Average rating	4.6 ⭐	4.3 ⭐
Entry Level Price	Free	Free
Chrome	4.6 2.3K+ ratings 200.0K+Users	4.9 19 ratings 1.0K+Users
Edge	-	3.4 5 ratings 368Users
Firefox	-	4.6 28 ratings 234Users
Safari	-	-
Features	8.5 Diigo offers basic features for a highlighter and bookmarking tool. It works well and we were able to highlight most websites and they were recreated when revisiting them. The highlighter popup makes it easy to highlight text offering 4 colors. It looks like this: We would have wished to have more color options. Also, note-taking and the tagging functionality are working, but its design does not look appealing. The dashboard where your highlights are stored works well and gives you an overview of all your highlights.	8.0 A Fine Start offers features for users looking for a minimalist approach to managing their new tab. Organizing links into groups and sorting them via drag-and-drop allows for a tidy and efficient workspace to stay focused. Some functions must first be activated in the settings. For example, groups can be collapsed to hide sections that are not needed at the moment. In addition, all pages from an entire group can be opened simultaneously with one click. The optional sync account, available with the premium subscription, is a valuable addition for users working with multiple devices and ensures that their bookmarks are always up to date. Overall, the feature set is designed for minimalism. However, we still see potential here for a few more minimalist functions, such as a simple note-taking option.
Performance	8.0 Diigo performs well in terms of highlighting and syncing across devices. The fact that highlights are always synchronized can cause some loading delays. It's not as fast as other highlighters that use an offline-first approach, but it works reasonably well. However, the unreliable link creation feature and the simple sidebar outliner design need improvement.	9.7 In terms of performance, we did not notice any problems during the test. No slow loading times or anything similar were detected, even when opening groups with a high number of bookmarks, these were always opened immediately. Overall, A Fine Start offered impressive performance here.
Design	7.0 The design fulfills its functionality. The design of Diigo is outdated and could use a modern refresh. The lack of a nice overview of all your highlights on the page itself means you have to open the dashboard on diigo.com instead. The dashboard on diigo.com is okay, but other highlighters like Web Highlights have a much nicer user interface.	8.2 The design of A Fine Start is characterized by a clean and minimalist aesthetic that emphasizes focused work. The design is very intuitive and you can choose from basic themes, including dark mode. From our point of view, even though the design is meant to be minimalistic, it could be a little more customizable for the user. For example, it would be handy if you could move the groups around the website flexibly, as they can currently only be moved to certain predefined positions. A very rarely seen and positive aspect is a function in the settings. The extension offers the option of hiding the button for premium advertising and the footer on the New Tab page.
Value for Money	8.0 The free version of Diigo offers basic features and is fine for most users. The paid plans are reasonably priced and similar to other highlighters. However, we think other highlighters offer more value for the same price.	8.7 A Fine Start offers all functions in the free version, only the cross-device synchronization is an added value of the premium subscription. For most users, the price-performance ratio of the free version is therefore perfect. However, users for whom synchronization is important may wonder whether just this one function is worth the cost of the premium model. There is still potential here to include other minimalist functions such as those offered by competitors to offer even more added value.
Ease of Use	7.8 Diigo is fairly easy to use, but the sidebar outliner takes some time to get used to. You can't see all your highlights on the page itself, so you have to go to the dashboard on diigo.com. We wish there was a sidebar to quickly access all our highlighted pages, like in the Web Highlights extension.	8.3 A Fine Start offers a straightforward setup process. The drag-and-drop functionality for organizing links is intuitive, allowing users to quickly rearrange their bookmarks to suit their needs. Setting up the required bookmarks initially takes a little time, and a function for transferring bookmarks already in the browser could simplify the whole process. The additional functions that are initially somewhat hidden in the settings may also not be found directly by all users. Overall, the existing functions and the setup are easy to use, but there is still room for improvement.
Security & Privacy	7.5 Diigo takes reasonable steps to protect user data. However, since you need an account and your data is stored in their database, absolute protection can't be guaranteed. We think a highlighter should work without needing to sign up, but this feature is missing in Diigo.	9.5 A Fine Start attaches great importance to security and data protection. The extension collects only minimal personal data and focuses only on what is necessary for the core functions. The privacy policy is transparent and makes it clear that data is not sold to third parties. The optional premium subscription requires an account, otherwise, not even an account is needed.
Conclusion	Diigo is a handy tool for collecting stuff from the web, like bookmarks, highlights, and notes. It’s a good deal with its premium plans, but the old-fashioned design and limited highlight colors might be a turn-off. If you want something that looks nicer and offers more customization, check out alternatives like Web Highlights.	A Fine Start is a well-designed tool for anyone who just wants to have their bookmarks sorted on their new tab page. Its focus on privacy and user-friendly features makes it a perfect choice in this area. While the free version offers a wealth of features, the premium subscription adds little value. Overall, A Fine Start is a good choice for users who want to stay focused and have a New Tab page without a lot of distractions.
	Install Diigo	Install A Fine Start
Our Recommendation	In our comparison between Diigo and A Fine Start, A Fine Start came out on top, scoring 8.7. Diigo is the most widely used, with over 200k users and 2k+ reviews, but A Fine Start outperformed it in our review. User reviews for A Fine Start reflect our findings, while we rate Diigo lower than users do. Notably, Diigo has the highest user rating in the Chrome Web Store at 4.60, which is even higher than our rating of 7.8. There are some noticeable differences between these extensions, so it's worth considering your priorities and the details below. Looking for the richest feature set? Diigo stands out with a rating of 8.5. On the other hand, A Fine Start lags behind in this area with a rating of 8. Need top performance? A Fine Start stands out with a rating of 9.7. On the other hand, Diigo lags behind in this area with a rating of 8. Design lovers, take note: A Fine Start stands out with a rating of 8.2. On the other hand, Diigo lags behind in this area with a rating of 7. Want to get the most for your money? A Fine Start stands out with a rating of 8.7. On the other hand, Diigo lags behind in this area with a rating of 8. If you hate complicated tools, A Fine Start stands out with a rating of 8.3. On the other hand, Diigo lags behind in this area with a rating of 7.8. With privacy and security becoming ever more important, A Fine Start stands out with a rating of 9.5. On the other hand, Diigo lags behind in this area with a rating of 7.5. If you want a quick recommendation, A Fine Start is our top pick. But as always, the best choice depends on what matters most to you.