Compare New Tab Draft and Recall: Which Extension is the Best?

	New Tab Draft	Recall
	New Tab Draft transforms your new tab into a distraction-free writing space, perfect for quick notes and to-dos. It's simple, effective, and completely free, but lacks advanced features. New Tab Writing	With Recall, you can capture, summarize, and organize articles, PDFs, and videos with AI, spaced repetition, browser extensions, and strong privacy controls. AI Productivity
Key Features	Simple Note-Taking: Create, pin, and lock multiple notes directly on your new tab page. Local Storage: Ensures privacy by saving notes locally, not on the cloud. Customization: Options to customize font and background. Additional Tools: Includes calculations, auto-backup, and more. Privacy Protection: No data is uploaded to any server.	AI Summarization: Instantly summarizes articles, PDFs, YouTube videos, and more. Personal Knowledge Base: Saves and organizes your summaries for easy retrieval. Spaced Repetition & Active Recall: Helps you actually remember what you save, not just store it. Augmented Browsing: Highlights related content as you browse, surfacing connections in your knowledge. Browser Extensions: One-click saving and summarizing directly from Chrome or Firefox. Editable Notebook: Add notes, highlights, and customize your saved content. Tagging & Organization: Automatic and manual tagging, with support for nested tags. Cross-Platform Sync: Works on desktop and mobile, keeping your knowledge base up to date.
Our Rating	8.2	8.9
Total users	13,006	73,229
Total ratings	1,176	95
Average rating	4.7 ⭐	4.1 ⭐
Entry Level Price	Free	Free
Chrome	4.8 1.2K+ ratings 9.0K+Users	4.2 78 ratings 70.0K+Users
Edge	4.6 16 ratings 4.0K+Users	-
Firefox	-	3.9 17 ratings 3.2K+Users
Safari	-	-
Features	6.0 New Tab Draft offers basic note-taking functionality, local storage for privacy, and some customization options. However, it lacks advanced features like rich text formatting and cloud sync.	9.2 Recall's range of functions is impressive for a relatively new tool. The AI summary works on a wide range of content, from articles to YouTube videos with a running time of several hours. We particularly liked the personal knowledge base and the way Recall automatically links related content. Spaced Repetition and Active Recall are outstanding features for students. However, some features are still in beta or will be available soon. The functions in the free version are severely limited in the number of users per day, and there is an upper limit for free use.
Performance	8.5 The extension is fast and efficient, with minimal lag or performance issues.	9.0 Retrieval is fast and reliable in most cases. The summary is fast, even with very extreme examples such as a 9-hour news show that we had summarized in our test. Occasionally, we encountered errors or slowdowns, especially when asking further questions about the summarized content via the wizard. The team is actively working on performance improvements and there are regular updates. Overall, the tool feels stable and is suitable for everyday use.
Design	7.5 The design is simple and clean, with options for customization. However, it's not particularly aesthetic or modern.	9.0 The user interface has a clear and modern design. The focus is on user-friendliness. We found the browser extension intuitive and easy to navigate. The tagging and organization system can be used flexibly, and some users mentioned minor bugs in the user interface, but these were only minimally noticeable in the test.
Value for Money	8.5 As a completely free tool, it offers good value for those who need basic note-taking features. However, even though it's free, we don't see too much value in this tool. As there are similar free New Tab extensions out there, we can not give the highest rating.	8.1 The free tariff is suitable for infrequent users who do not need all the functions, as you will quickly reach the map limit. However, if you want to use the extension on a day-to-day basis, you cannot avoid the extension. The paid plan is competitively priced, especially with the student discount. We appreciate that some features will remain free forever, and the team is open to feedback on pricing. Compared to alternatives, Recall offers good value for money for those who need advanced knowledge management features, but casual users may find the limitations too restrictive and stop using the extension.
Ease of Use	9.0 The tool is very straightforward with a minimal learning curve. Its simplicity is both a strength and a limitation.	8.0 An account is required to use Recall. However, due to the integration with a Google and Apple login, this should be easy for everyone. Saving and summarizing content is a one-click process that is well explained at the beginning. However, mastering all functions (e.g., nested tags, links, and spatial repetitions) requires some time and some searching, which can lead to many users not being able to exploit the full potential.
Security & Privacy	9.5 All notes are stored locally, ensuring high privacy. There are no concerns about data being uploaded to the cloud.	9.9 Recall is characterized by its privacy-friendly approach. User data is not used by the extension for advertising, profiling, or AI training. All content is stored securely, and users retain full control over their data. Data can be exported for inspection or deleted at any time. The data protection guidelines are transparent, and support is always available to answer questions about data protection. We were unable to identify any uncertainties during our review.
Conclusion	New Tab Draft is great for those who prefer a simple, no-frills note-taking tool. While it may not offer much beyond basic note-taking, its privacy features and ease of use make it a solid choice, especially since it's free. User reviews are very good with an average of 4.8 stars in the Chrome Web Store. Many users love its simplicity and effectiveness. However, it might not provide enough value for those looking for more advanced features. In our tests, we weren't fully convinced and found ourselves leaning toward more aesthetically pleasing New Tab Extensions that offer a few basic features.	Recall impressed us with its useful intelligent use of AI and its focus on helping users in their everyday lives, especially when learning. The browser extension makes it easy to capture content, and the revision features with auto-generated questions are a real bonus for learners. For occasional users, the free version may be enough, but if you want to use the extension, you can't avoid the paid version. The extension is not yet perfect and has small bugs, but the team reacts quickly to these and feedback, and many new functions are currently being introduced. Overall, Recall is a good choice for anyone looking to do more than just bookmark cards and build a personal knowledge base. If you're tired of forgetting what you've read online and want to save time, it's a must!
	Install New Tab Draft	Install Recall
Our Recommendation	In our comparison between New Tab Draft and Recall, Recall came out on top, scoring 8.9. Recall is the most widely used, with over 73k users and 95+ reviews—and it also delivered the strongest performance in our tests. User reviews for Recall reflect our findings, while we rate New Tab Draft lower than users do. Notably, New Tab Draft has the highest user rating in the Chrome Web Store at 4.68, which is even higher than our rating of 8.2. 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? Recall stands out with a rating of 9.2. On the other hand, New Tab Draft lags behind in this area with a rating of 6. Need top performance? Recall stands out with a rating of 9. On the other hand, New Tab Draft lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.5. Design lovers, take note: Recall stands out with a rating of 9. On the other hand, New Tab Draft lags behind in this area with a rating of 7.5. Want to get the most for your money? New Tab Draft stands out with a rating of 8.5. On the other hand, Recall lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.1. If you hate complicated tools, New Tab Draft stands out with a rating of 9. On the other hand, Recall lags behind in this area with a rating of 8. With privacy and security becoming ever more important, Recall stands out with a rating of 9.9. On the other hand, New Tab Draft lags behind in this area with a rating of 9.5. If you want a quick recommendation, Recall is our top pick. But as always, the best choice depends on what matters most to you.