Compare Recall, PDF & Web Highlighter, GPT Reader, and AI Blaze: Which Extension is the Best?

With Recall, you can capture, summarize, and organize articles, PDFs, and videos with AI, spaced repetition, browser extensions, and strong privacy controls.
With Web Highlights, you can easily highlight text on any website or PDF and create notes. It's free and easy to use without signing up. In our eyes the best online PDF and web highlighter extension.
Transform any text into natural-sounding speech with this free ChatGPT-powered text-to-speech tool. We've tested its capabilities on short articles and lengthy PDFs.
AI Blaze is a Chrome extension that enhances productivity with AI-powered templates, snippets, and dynamic commands, ensuring consistent messaging across platforms.
Key Features
  • 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.
  • Website Highlighting: Easily highlight text on any website.
  • PDF Highlighting: Mark up both online and local PDFs directly in your browser.
  • Multiple Colors: Use various colors to organize your highlights.
  • Note-Taking: Add notes to your highlights for better context.
  • Bookmarking: Save pages as bookmarks for quick access.
  • Tagging: Organize your highlights and notes with tags.
  • Cross-Device Sync: Sync highlights across devices via cloud.
  • Export Options: Export your highlights to Notion, Obsidian, HTML, Markdown, or as PDFs and HTML files.
  • Reminders: "Snooze" your bookmarks and get reminded about them by email
  • Flashcard learning: Begin a daily review session of your highlights to help move your research into long-term memory using a spaced repetition system.
  • Text-to-Speech Conversion: Natural-sounding AI voices powered by ChatGPT
  • Document Support: Handles PDFs, Google Docs, and web content
  • Audio Download: Option to save generated audio for offline listening
  • Playback Controls: Adjustable speed, pause, and rewind functionality
  • Multi-format Support: Works with pasted text, documents, and website content
  • AI Assistant: Instantly access AI help on any webpage with the sidebar feature for writing, editing, and more
  • Custom Templates: Create and save personalized templates with dynamic fields for quick access
  • Text Expansion: Type shortcuts to instantly expand into full messages, saving countless keystrokes
  • Brand Voice Customization: Train the AI to write in your unique style and tone
  • Dynamic Commands: Include variables like dates, form fields, and conditional logic in your snippets
  • Team Collaboration: Share and edit snippets with teammates for consistent messaging
  • Multiple AI Models: Choose between GPT-4o mini, GPT-4o, and Claude Sonnet depending on your needs
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility: Works across Chrome, Windows, and macOS
Our Rating
8.9
9.8
9.0
9.0
Total users
73,107
111,248
8,348
40,000
Total ratings
92
3,748
70
133
Average rating
4.0 ⭐
4.8 ⭐
4.5 ⭐
5.0 ⭐
Entry Level PriceFreeFreeFreeFree
Chrome
Chrome Web Store logo
4.3
4.18
76 ratings
70.0K+Users
Chrome Web Store logo
4.8
4.81
3.7K+ ratings
100.0K+Users
Chrome Web Store logo
4.8
4.64
55 ratings
7.0K+Users
Chrome Web Store logo
5.0
4.98
133 ratings
40.0K+Users
Edge
-
Microsoft Edge Store logo
4.7
4.67
62 ratings
10.9K+Users
-
-
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox Add-ons Store logo
3.8
3.88
16 ratings
3.1K+Users
Mozilla Firefox Add-ons Store logo
5.0
5.00
22 ratings
303Users
Mozilla Firefox Add-ons Store logo
4.3
3.92
15 ratings
1.3K+Users
-
Safari
-
-
-
-
Features
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.

9.8

Web Highlights offers a range of features. In addition to its main function of highlighting text on websites and PDFs, it provides much more, making it the ideal tool for learning and self-improvement.

Top Features of Web Highlights

1. Highlighting websites & PDFs:

Highlight text using Web Highlights

Web Highlights excels at one thing better than any other tool we tested—highlighting websites and PDFs.

You don't even need an account. Just visit any site, highlight the text, and a marker icon will appear, letting you choose from different highlight colors.

Once highlighted, your highlights are visible on the website. And the best thing: Your highlights will also be visible on the website if you reload the page.

You not necessarily need the highlighter popup to mark up some text. In general, there are three ways to create a highlight:

  • clicking the highlighter popup
  • right-clicking the selected text
  • using a keyboard shortcut (Mac: ⌥ + S, Windows: ALT + S)

In our tests, we could easily highlight several websites, and those highlights were effortlessly restored when revisiting them. It works seamlessly with both online and local PDFs.

Highlighted website with Web Highlights

All of your highlights are not only visible on the page but also accessible through the sidebar, which gives you a good overview of your highlights made.

This is much like the highlighter sidebar which is common in PDF tools like Acrobat.

Here is how it looks:

Web Highlights Sidebar

The sidebar gives you an outline of your highlights on the current page.

2. Create Notes & Tags:

Taking notes made easy

You can either create tags & notes by using the sidebar or by clicking on a highlight on the page. This will open up a popup allowing you to add tags and notes to a specific highlight.

Any changes you make on the pages are also directly visible in the sidebar. Making it a perfect research tool to work with large articles.

Inside the sidebar you can then find all your highlights and bookmarks listed for the given tag.

3. Web App:

Web Highlights Dashboard

The best thing about Web Highlights is, that it can synchronize all your research to the corresponding web app at app.web-highlights.com.

The web app can be opened in your browser but works perfetly on your phone. If you have opened the website before, you can even access your research when you are offline.

The dashboard of the app shows all of your research in one place in a beautiful overview. You can also filter for specific tags or websites.

4. Save Bookmarks:

How to save bookmarks using Web Highlights

Web Highlights isn't just for highlighting text—it’s also great for saving pages as bookmarks. This way, you can either come back later to continue highlighting or easily find the page again.

5. Email reminders

Setting email reminders with Web Highlights

A standout feature of Web Highlights is its email reminder, which works a lot like "snoozing" emails.

You can set a reminder for a specific date and time by clicking the clock icon on a highlighted page. Web Highlights will then email you the article so you don’t forget to revisit it.

This feature is unique among competitors, and we use it daily to get reminders for websites we need to return to later.

6. Export to Notion, Markdown, and more

Export to Notion

Web Highlights gives you plenty of export options. With the Markdown export, you can easily send your research to any Second Brain or PKM tool you prefer.

On top of that, it directly integrates with Notion and Capacities through full API connections.

For instance, if you're on a highlighted page, just click the three dots in the sidebar and choose "Export to Notion." In seconds, a Notion page will be created. The same process works for Capacities.

9.2

The functional scope of GPT Reader is designed for a wide range of users and demonstrated many useful functions in the test. The voice quality is surprisingly good and offers a natural-sounding output. We particularly liked the comprehensive format support, which seamlessly processes everything from PDFs to web content. The control of the playback is also well implemented, making it easy to adjust the speed directly and individually. However, the function for downloading audio files stood out the most in the test. In theory, entire books can be converted and then downloaded as audio books. However, this was the only area where we had to make deductions, as the free ChatGPT version had limitations when processing longer texts or documents.
We tried to convert a 300-page PDF and were able to process 22% of it, which corresponded to around 2 hours of audio. After this 22%, the free quota of requests on ChatGPT was reached, and the request was canceled.

8.8

The AI writing aid worked very well in the test with emails, customer responses, and short formats. We particularly liked the dynamic templates, which adapt according to user input. The extension can therefore be adapted for both commercial use, such as quickly replying to emails, and for everyday private use. From summaries to social media texts, this helped enormously in the test. In particular, learners such as students should have a special added value here, for example, through summaries that can be created quickly.

Summarize


Overall, AI Blaze already offers the possibility for almost endless possibilities; at most, there could be even more templates, as users may otherwise not exploit the full potential due to ignorance.

Performance
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.

10

The extension performs seamlessly, allowing you to highlight websites and PDFs without any lag or interruptions.

The full-text search functionality is quick and accurate, enabling you to find your highlights effortlessly. Additionally, the ability to sync your highlights across devices ensures that you can access your research from anywhere, enhancing your productivity.

The best part is that the web app works entirely offline. So, you can access your research from any device, even without an internet connection.

8.3

The performance tests showed a mixed picture. For shorter texts and paragraphs, GPT Reader processes content quickly and delivers a smooth rendering. The application is fast and reliable for typical use cases such as articles or short documents. Here we tested self-written summaries for learning purposes. However, we encountered significant limitations with larger files, as it is not possible to complete processing due to the limited number of requests. The option of pausing and then resuming would help here. In addition, the process takes a very long time for larger files; the extension needed around 40 minutes for around 75 pages of a PDF. The limitations of the ChatGPT API particularly affect the processing of longer documents such as entire books. This is currently only possible with a premium version of ChatGPT.

8.9

In our test, AI Blaze worked reliably on most websites and in various applications. The only thing that was immediately noticeable at the beginning was that the functions do not work in the Chrome Store, so websites may prevent access for the extension, but this did not otherwise occur in the test.

error

The text expansion works immediately, and the AI-controlled functions generally respond quickly, depending on the model selected. When using the most advanced AI models for complex tasks, there were occasional short delays, but these were minimal.

Design
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.

9.9

The design is clean and intuitive, making it easy to get started right away. We loved the customizable highlight colors and the overall look and feel of the sidebar.

What users love most is the intuitive sidebar and the well-organized web app. It’s super easy to navigate and quickly find what you need.

The web app also looks great on mobile devices, making it simple to access the articles you've read on your phone.

9.0

The design of GPT Reader is clean and professional, with an intuitive layout that makes navigation effortless. The fact that there is even a dark as well as a light mode shows that the different user preferences have been taken into account. The controls are logically arranged and easily accessible. Even though the extension is designed for functionality, the design is not forgotten.

8.8

The clear, intuitive user interface should also make AI Blaze possible for private users who are not so tech-savvy. The integration into the sidebar is very well done and offers a seamless integration into the design of the browser.
There is little that can be customized visually, but this should hardly be necessary. Overall, the design focuses on functionality while maintaining an appealing appearance.

Value for Money
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.

9.5

Web Highlights can be used for free without signing up, providing access to a wide range of offline features.

To fully enjoy the benefits of Web Highlights, including accessing your highlights and bookmarks from anywhere with automatic cloud-sync, you can upgrade to the PREMIUM or ULTIMATE version of the extension.

The pricing plans are affordable, making it a cost-effective solution for students, researchers, and avid online readers. No other tool gives you this much value for so little cost.

8.9

Currently, GPT Reader offers a very good price-performance ratio, as all functions are available completely free of charge. We found no hidden costs or unexpected limitations in the free version.
The features should be sufficient for most users; the only thing to note is the limited number of requests per hour that ChatGPT allows. If you need to convert entire books into one, you will need a premium version of ChatGPT.
It should also be mentioned that the extension already indicates that the download function may be offered in a paid version in the future, which could influence this rating in the future.

future premium function

At the moment, however, it is a very good offer in the text-to-speech sector.

9.0

In this area, a clear distinction must be made between private and commercial users. For the private user, AI Blaze already offers enough functionality for most people in the free plan. Here we also appreciate the Academic Edition, which offers students and teachers extended, free access. The Pro plan could be too high for private users at $20/month with annual billing.

For businesses, however, AI Blaze's Pro plan offers exceptional value compared to similar productivity tools. The time savings alone can justify the investment for most users.

For those who want to work in teams, AI Blaze offers the Business plan for $24/user/month. This includes additional comprehensive functions for collaboration and improved communication processes.

Compared to alternatives, AI Blaze offers a competitive feature set at a reasonable price for businesses. The ROI is clear after just a few days of regular use, especially for those who frequently write similar messages.

Ease of Use
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.

9.5

We can’t think of a simpler Chrome Extension to start with than this one. The best part? It works seamlessly right out of the box, no account needed.

Installing it is a breeze, and you can easily add the extension to both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

Once installed, a highlighter pop-up appears whenever you highlight text on any website. The process is intuitive and easy to grasp.

If you need help, Web Highlights offers plenty of blog posts that guide you through its features.

With so many powerful features, Web Highlights might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but everything falls into place quickly. The tagging system, in particular, is easy to use and much simpler than traditional folders.

That’s why we rate it 9.5 out of 10. It’s extremely user-friendly, though some features might take a little time to fully appreciate.

8.7

In terms of user-friendliness, GPT Reader scores very well. Users of all technical levels should have little problem simply converting text to audio. The user interface is self-explanatory, and all functions are displayed immediately.
The only negative point is that a separate ChatGPT registration is still required, and an error message appears if the ChatGPT requests are exceeded, which can lead to confusion.

9.0

For basic functions such as using templates and simple shortcuts, AI Blaze is extremely straightforward. New users can start using the ready-made templates within minutes, and they are well-explained. If you don't want to use the predefined shortcuts, you can create your own commands immediately, which makes it easier to remember the shortcuts in everyday life.

We found the shortcuts intuitive and time-saving once you have memorized them. The search function makes it easy to find the right snippet quickly, even as the library grows. The advanced functions do require a certain amount of learning, but the basic functions are easily accessible straight away.

Security & Privacy
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.

9.9

In the Security & Privacy category, we give Web Highlights a solid 10/10. The fact that you can use this tool offline without needing an account sets it apart from its competitors.

Even if you opt for cloud sync by creating an account, Web Highlights puts data privacy first. Your highlights, notes, and tags are visible only to you by default unless you decide to share them.

Your data isn’t sold to third parties, nor is it used or transferred for anything beyond the extension's core functionality. This dedication to data privacy ensures your information stays secure and confidential.

9.7

In our security analysis, GPT Reader showed a strong commitment to protecting user privacy. The extension only collects data from user-reported bugs and feedback. We appreciated the transparent privacy policy, where the user can read specific points.

9.7

AI Blaze takes security very seriously and holds a SOC 2 certification, which confirms that a company has implemented appropriate controls and procedures for IT systems, data protection, and data security. The company's privacy policies are transparent from the user's perspective in terms of how data is handled, and no user data is sold to third parties.

The Business and Enterprise plans offer additional security features such as SAML SSO integration and audit logs.

Choosing between different AI models gives users more control over their data. The company is transparent about its use of cookies and analytics and provides clear options for managing settings. There is also the option to allow the extension only to use marked areas for answers, normally, the AI uses the entire website content to have a better data basis.

privacy
Conclusion

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!

We have been using Web Highlights - PDF & Web Highlighter for years and can confidently say it’s a top-notch tool for anyone who spends a lot of time reading online.

Its user-friendly design and powerful features make it a must-have for students, researchers, and professionals alike. The free version is fantastic, but if you need more advanced features, the premium options are well worth the price.

If you’re serious about staying organized while reading online, we highly recommend giving Web Highlights a try.

GPT Reader is a promising text-to-speech extension based on ChatGPT voices. The easy-to-understand voices, combined with the fact that it is completely free, set it apart from conventional TTS tools.

The extension can process various document formats. Both PDFs and copied web articles can be converted, but it has its limitations with longer texts. For example, a 300-page PDF was only partially converted in the text due to ChatGPT's limitations, which still resulted in about 2 hours of audio.

The tool is very user-friendly and supports multiple languages. This extension is a must for anyone who wants to listen to texts.

AI Blaze shows that it is an impressive productivity tool that delivers on its promise of saving time and optimizing communication. The user interface is intuitive and well-designed, making it accessible even for those without experience with AI tools.

You can tell that companies in particular are also a target group. The ability to customize templates and train the AI to match your brand's voice is particularly valuable here.

While the free version is somewhat limited, the affordable pricing of the paid plans makes it accessible to businesses of all sizes. The time savings alone justify the investment for teams that frequently send similar messages or create repetitive content. Individuals, however, may find it too expensive.

Our Recommendation

In our comparison between Recall, PDF & Web Highlighter, GPT Reader, and AI Blaze, PDF & Web Highlighter came out on top, scoring 9.8.

PDF & Web Highlighter is the most widely used, with over 111k users and 4k+ reviews—and it also delivered the strongest performance in our tests. User reviews reflect our findings.

Notably, AI Blaze has the highest user rating in the Chrome Web Store at 4.98, which supports its strong performance in our review.

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? PDF & Web Highlighter stands out with a rating of 9.8. On the other hand, AI Blaze lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.8.
  • Need top performance? PDF & Web Highlighter stands out with a rating of 10. On the other hand, GPT Reader lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.3.
  • Design lovers, take note: PDF & Web Highlighter stands out with a rating of 9.9. On the other hand, AI Blaze lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.8.
  • Want to get the most for your money? PDF & Web Highlighter stands out with a rating of 9.5. On the other hand, Recall lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.1.
  • If you hate complicated tools, PDF & Web Highlighter stands out with a rating of 9.5. On the other hand, Recall lags behind in this area with a rating of 8.
  • For privacy, it's a tie: Recall and PDF & Web Highlighter. In the Security & Privacy category, Recall has scored an outstanding 9.9. It provides top-tier security and privacy features, ensuring user data is exceptionally well protected.

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