GoodReader vs Highlights
GoodReader
goodreader.com
Highlights
highlightsapp.netSide by side
| Figure | GoodReader | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $2.50/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 3 |
| Spec score · PDF Readers | 8.1 (#11) | 8.3 (#6) |
| Annotation tools | Yes | Yes |
| Privacy | The maker says it generally does not collect personal information or the files users read, but does collect app usage statistics, analytics, and telemetry that users can opt out of in settings. | The maker says it does not require personal information to use the app, stores the optional annotation username locally and collects no payment or licensing information. |
| Purpose | GoodReader is a file viewer and tool for creating, converting, editing, and annotating PDF files. | Highlights is a PDF reader for research that turns PDF annotations into notes. |
| Support | The maker offers email support at [email protected] for questions and suggestions. | For crash issues, the FAQ asks users to email [email protected] with details and helpful crash reports, screenshots or screen recordings. |
Plans
GoodReader
- GoodReaderPrice not published
- Pro Pack (monthly)Price not published
- Pro Pack (annual)Price not published
- Pro PackPrice not published
- GoodReader PDF Editor & Viewer$5.99, paid once
In their own words
GoodReader
GoodReader has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Highlights
Highlights is a PDF reader for research that turns PDF annotations into notes, available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Its free plan supports reading and annotating PDFs, merging annotations, editing PDF metadata, and Handoff. Notes can be exported as Markdown, TextBundle, HTML, WebArchive, or PDF, or sent directly to supported apps including Evernote, DEVONthink, Ulysses, Bear, and Keep It. For scientific articles, Highlights can find DOIs and retrieve metadata; it can link to a PDF on the device if the citation has already been read. Built-in multilingual OCR extracts text from PDFs without searchable text, with processing done on device. Smart Copy outputs copied images as PNG, tables as CSV, and citations as BibTeX. PDFs can be stored on device, in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, or another sync service, while annotations use standard PDF annotations. On macOS it integrates with Bookends and Papers. The free plan is available alongside Pro at $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year. The maker describes the app as intended for students and researchers.