Compare Diigo and SetupVPN: Which Extension is the Best?

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.
SetupVPN offers a free VPN service with limited features. While it provides basic privacy protection, it has significant limitations and frequently ads.
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.
  • Free Version: Access to five different countries.
  • Ease of Use: Simple interface suitable for beginners.
  • Basic Privacy: Provides basic privacy protection.
Our Rating
7.8
6.3
Total users
200,000
1,738,957
Total ratings
2,319
53,375
Average rating
4.6 ⭐
4.4 ⭐
Entry Level PriceFreeFree
Chrome
Chrome Web Store logo
4.6
3.56
2.3K+ ratings
200.0K+Users
Chrome Web Store logo
4.7
1.47
47.3K+ ratings
1.0M+Users
Edge
-
Microsoft Edge Store logo
4.0
4.19
981 ratings
664.8K+Users
Firefox
-
Mozilla Firefox Add-ons Store logo
4.4
3.15
5.1K+ ratings
74.1K+Users
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:

Highlighter Popup with four colors

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.

Notes Editor: Adding notes to your highlight

The dashboard where your highlights are stored works well and gives you an overview of all your highlights.

Diigo Dashboard
7.0

SetupVPN offers basic VPN functions with limited free access. With free access, you have the choice of 5 countries to log in to for 30 minutes at a time. When using the premium version, these limitations do not apply, but here too there is a lack of advanced security features like those offered by competitors.

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.

4.5

SetupVPN offers basic performance for occasional use. The free version has limited server locations, but the premium version offers better speed and reliability.
Our tests included establishing a VPN connection to London and then using online services to try to localize the location. It turned out that in some cases the actual location was still localized and not London. From our point of view, a continuous secure connection is therefore not guaranteed.

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.

7.0

The design of SetupVPN is simple and intuitive. However, the layout in the free version is very dubious and annoying due to the excessive number of advertisements.

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.

6.0

In this category, the extension performs completely differently if you are looking for a free or premium extension.
The costs for the premium version are reasonable compared to the competition. However, it should be noted that many other providers have even more functions that can be used at the same time. Here you only get the VPN service.
With the free version, you have the option of selecting 5 different countries. Due to the presence of a lot of advertising and performance problems with the VPN, there are much better alternatives for free users.

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.

8.0

Setting up the extension is straightforward. A connection can be established immediately after installation and you can even test whether the connection works. Nobody should have any problems here.

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.

5.0

SetupVPN offers only basic privacy protection, with limited security features. However, the many advertisements in the free version raise concerns about data collection. Many who use a VPN want to use it precisely so that their data is not stored. From our point of view, a VPN service with such many advertisements is very dubious.

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.

SetupVPN is a good choice for users who are only rarely looking for a simple, free VPN service. While it offers privacy features, it has strong drawbacks, such as dubious frequent advertising and limited free access. For those who need more robust privacy and security features, the premium version might be worth considering, but there should be better alternatives. Overall, we agree with the current reviews from other users that there are much better alternatives.

Our Recommendation

In our comparison between Diigo and SetupVPN, Diigo came out on top, scoring 7.8.

SetupVPN is the most widely used, with over 2 million users and 53k+ reviews, but Diigo outperformed it in our review. We rate Diigo and SetupVPN 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, SetupVPN lags behind in this area with a rating of 7.
  • Need top performance? Diigo stands out with a rating of 8. On the other hand, SetupVPN lags behind in this area with a rating of 4.5.
  • Both look and feel great: Diigo and SetupVPN. In the Design category, Diigo has scored an average 7. The design is serviceable, though it may not be particularly attractive or innovative.
  • Want to get the most for your money? Diigo stands out with a rating of 8. On the other hand, SetupVPN lags behind in this area with a rating of 6.
  • If you hate complicated tools, SetupVPN stands out with a rating of 8. On the other hand, Diigo lags behind in this area with a rating of 7.8.
  • With privacy and security becoming ever more important, Diigo stands out with a rating of 7.5. On the other hand, SetupVPN lags behind in this area with a rating of 5.

If you want a quick recommendation, Diigo is our top pick. But as always, the best choice depends on what matters most to you.