Vs subscriptions
Reading List vs the monthly bill
On Reading List:
The knowledge surface aisle is stacked with subscriptions: Notion at $120 a year, or $12 a month, and Obsidian Sync at $48 a year, or $5 a month. The Reading List is one HTML file that does the honest working core of what those tools sell, once, for the price of a Swiss Knife.
The bill you were quietly paying
Name the actual products and the arithmetic stops being abstract: Notion ($120 a year, or $12 a month: per member, per month), Obsidian Sync ($48 a year, or $5 a month: the notes are free; the sync is not), Evernote ($99 a year, or $14.99 a month: sold twice, repriced often). An average knowledge stack lands at $4 to $10 a month, forever.
Run that out five years and Obsidian Sync costs $240, Notion costs $600. A Swiss Knife, with the Reading List folded in beside up to eleven other tools, is $95, once.
24 months of Obsidian Sync at $48 a year come to the price of a Swiss Knife at $95. Every year after that is pure savings on this category.
What the Reading List replaces cleanly
The pile on the nightstand has become architecture, and the recommendations keep arriving. That is the working shape most subscriptions in this category are wrapped around; the Reading List delivers it without the wrapper.
Concretely: Notion would keep book, status, and notes on its own servers, behind its own login, on its own pricing schedule. The Reading List keeps the same fields in a file on your disk — same shape of work, no monthly line on the card.
You keep the workflow. You lose the login, the sync outage, the price hike email, and the export deadline.
What you honestly give up
Team collaboration in real time. Auto-import from third-party APIs. A mobile app that pings you. Notion does those things and does them properly; if any of them are load-bearing for how you work today, keep paying Notion — the Reading List is not trying to compete on those fronts.
Most people, honestly, were paying for features they did not use. The Reading List is what remains when you strip that back to the tool.
What you stop renting
- Notion: $120 a year, or $12 a monthPer member, per month. $120 a year, every year.
- Obsidian Sync: $48 a year, or $5 a monthThe notes are free; the sync is not. $48 a year, every year.
- Evernote: $99 a year, or $14.99 a monthSold twice, repriced often. $99 a year, every year.
Questions people ask
How does the cost compare to Notion?
Obsidian Sync runs about $240 over five years and Notion about $600. 24 months of Obsidian Sync at $48 a year come to the price of a Swiss Knife at $95. A Swiss Knife folds the Reading List in with up to eleven other tools for $95, once, and there is no year two.
Is the Reading List a like-for-like replacement for Notion?
For the working core — book, status, and notes — yes. For per member, per month, no. We would rather say that plainly than sell you a switch you'll regret in a fortnight.
What if my needs grow past a single file?
Excellent problem. Keep the Reading List for what it does well; add a specialised SaaS on top only when you have a specialised need. Nothing here locks you in — it is a file.
Can I import my current data?
The Reading List is deliberately hand-entered. Two minutes of typing on Monday keeps you closer to your own knowledge surface than an integration ever will.
The subscription was renting the arithmetic. Buy the arithmetic instead.