Blinkist Vs Instaread 2020: Which One Is The Best? (Our Pick)

Who wins between Blinkist Vs Instaread? Is Blinkist a better deal than Instaread? Or does Instaread have better quality insights? Are book summarising apps worth your time? By answering these questions and some more, I'll try to settle the Blinkist Vs Instaread debate for you today.

Time is precious. And a book can take hours or even days to be read cover to cover. That's a commitment not many people are prepared to make or want to make in today's stressful times. This is where 'book summarizing' apps like Blinkist and Instaread come in. They help you not only for authentic summarised content but also for diving into different stories and gazing in their climaxes with minimal expense. Not only saving your invaluable time but also delivering the lessons you were looking for. So let's begin with an in-depth comparison between Blinkist Vs Instaread.

Blinkist Vs Instaread- An Overview

Blinkist and Instaread are book summarizing apps which sum up the major contents of the stories, articles for you to consume. These services or applications provide you with the most valuable information by eliminating unnecessary bits and details. This helps you obtain the most value in the shortest time possible. And in a time like that of the Coronavirus pandemic, books (or their summaries) can offer the solace you need to not only entertain you but to use your time productively. Blinkist and Instaread, both look to deliver the goods for you with thousands of bestselling books on their subscription service. They provide you summaries in written as well audio format and are available on mobile, web and tablet platforms

Blinkist Vs Instaread: The Features

In this section, I'll talk about the important features Blinkist and Instaread have to provide on their respective applications. This will help to understand what exactly is included in the package and what sets them apart. Let's get straight into it!

Text and Audio summaries enable you to choose your desired format for consuming the content. You can read when you have time to sit back and relax or just play the audio while driving or doing some other task. I enjoy this feature and the freedom it provides. Most of the 'blinks' are around the 15 mins mark to read or listen to.

of only the best non-fiction books, articles from top authors and publications. Read or Listen summariesInstaread follows a Quality > Quantity approach. You can seamlessly switch between audio and text whenever you wish to do both at the same time.
Exclusive articles from Harvard Business Review, New York Times and other top authors and publications. This makes Instaread unique as the articles are curated specially for the user base on the Instaread platform which is looking to constantly improve itself.
Instaread Originals include "Success Stories" and "Short Cuts". Both these are series of articles and audio which include more insight, knowledge about various topics relevant today.
Content curated by Professionals is the only type of content on Instaread. Subject experts extract the most important content out of the book to provide you with the absolute best insights in the least possible time.
Offline Reading allows you to download the content offline to consume on-the-go where you may not have data connectivity like while traveling or on flights.
Create a library of the books and articles of your choice. You can also avail of full-length audiobooks on the app. This is a very nifty feature in my opinion and makes accessing books you like easy and simple.

Your personal library can be created within the Blinkist app so you can easily make a collection of your favorite books. The books can be downloaded on your phone and accessed whenever you wish to read or listen to one of them, on-the-go.

Over 27 categories of top books and authors are available on the Blinkist app. The collection of books is vast and you'll have plenty of choices. Some of the top categories available on the Blinkist app are Creativity, Career & Success, Science, Sex & Relationships and more.

Original Shows and Podcasts by top authors are available on the Blinkist app for users to get more insightful wisdom straight from their favorite, bestselling authors

BASIC Plan - The BASIC plan of Blinkist is the FREE plan where you can only read One Pre-selected Title. I feel it's a good way to get a feel for the app and understand the UI and see if you like it before purchasing a subscription.

$8.99 per month plan gives you access to all the articles, books and exclusive content available on the Instaread app. It is charged monthly and cancellable anytime. It comes with a 7-day trial where you can test all the features and read all the titles you like. If you don't like the app or don't wish to commit to the monthly plan you can cancel for free before the trial expires.

The $89.99 per year plan is the plan for the serious and committed users who are sure to utilize the entire feature set for the whole year. This plan too offers a 7-day trial like the monthly plan with all the features and titles in the app.

Premium

$4.17 Premium monthly plan which is actually billed $49.99 annually. The unique thing about this plan is that it comes with a 7-day Free Trial. You can use all of the premium features, consume as much content as you want and cancel before the seven day period ends ALL FOR FREE! You will only be charged at the end of the 7 day trial period.

Integration with Amazon Kindle and Amazon Alexa allows you to send your favorite books to your Kindle device for easy reading. Integration with Alexa makes it very convenient to open up your book of choice and play it while you go about your day. I use the Alexa integration thoroughly because you don't even have to press a button. You just say "Alexa, play 7 Habits of Highly Effective People on Blinkist" and you are set. Love it.

Highlights allow you to save your favorite lines, quotes for referring to later. This can also be integrated with Evernote to save them on the cloud so they are ready when you need them.

To sum it up, both the apps are pretty similar in their make and build with almost equivalent features. The major differences arise in their selection of books, writers and some app-specific exclusive content. Both have a clean and user-friendly design which is easy to navigate and gorgeous to look at.

Although similar apps, they have their differences and unique features to set them apart and such a distinction is seen in their pricing too. Let me break down what it costs to purchase with Blinkist or Instaread and what exactly is offered in the different plans. There's not many but it'll certainly help us in our quest to find an answer to the Blinkist vs Instaread debate.

Blinkist vs Instaread: Pricing Review

As you can see, both Blinkist and Instaread are priced competitively, with almost similar prices except for the annual plan. The pricing is almost double on Instaread's annual plan when compared to Blinkist. That may tilt your answer to the Blinkist vs Instaread debate in Blinkist's favor but hold on.

Let's look at the pros and cons of each app individually to get a clearer picture of what it is you'll be getting and what it is you might miss.

Blinkist Vs Instaread- Pros & Cons

The strong points about Blinkist are it's 3000+ strong library and it's seamless UI experience. And I think those are the most important parts for an application like Blinkist. If you cannot find the books online you wish to read without getting lost, I think the app has failed but thankfully, that is not the case with Blinkist. The Blinkist audio quality is great and you should not be facing any problems in that regard.

However, like every coin has two sides, Blinkist has it's own set of drawbacks, as is evident from the list I've presented above. From my experience with Blinkist, I find the lack of a rating or review system detrimental to my experience. Knowing what people think about the book you are looking to read, is an important factor in my decision-making process and I feel it should be for you too. Why should it be important? Because you get to know the mindset you are supposed to approach the book with to enable it to help you the most.

Blinkist vs Instaread: My Honest Review- Which One is the Winner?

For me, the Blinkist vs Instaread debate comes down to this.

Book summarising apps inherently have one flaw common amongst all of them. And that is that they are 'Summary apps'. If you are expecting to get a 100% clear and crisp understanding of a particular book just by reading or listening to its summary, I am sorry I will have to clear your misunderstanding right now. No 15-20 mins summary can ever deliver what a 350-page book can. It can only give you a glimpse of the vast scenery the author painted in the original book. So, we must approach it with that mindset.

Make no mistake that summaries on their own are useless. No, absolutely not. That is not what I am saying. Summaries are actually amazing if you're looking to 'refresh' your memory of the important points in the book. To quickly go over the lessons and knowledge the book had to impart. When you approach it with a mindset like that, summaries are a powerful tool.

So, I hope you are clear about what it is you are looking for and what it is you are getting through these apps. Blinkist and Instaread are amazing tools that can give you a glimpse of amazing books online or refresh your memory of the books you've already read and save a lot of your time. You might find your next favorite book on these apps. They can help you retain the important lessons from the books.

The benefits are many for the right seeker.

Quick Links

Blinkist does a lot of things right especially with it's UI and selection of books. With over 27 categories ranging from success, motivation, education, economics, business to religion, mindfulness, creativity. Blinkist covers a lot of the user base with its categories and everyone will find something to read or listen to for sure.

Blinkist's Basic Plan which allows you to read 1 free random book every day will attract a lot of users who don't mind having their book chosen for them. If you think about it, it's 365 free books for the entire year and that's a good number of book summaries to be updated with it on its own. You, however, cannot download them or store them in their library, you'll require an internet connection each time.

The Premium plans provide a lot of value, no doubt. Freedom to listen and read whenever you wish to and the Evernote integration allows you to really engage with the content and make your own notes. My favorite as I said earlier, is Alexa integration. It's an absolute joy to be able to get in the house and just voice command for a book to start playing while you go about your chores. It allows you to be really efficient with your time.

The only thing that annoys me is the lack of more information about a book or user reviews within the app. In my opinion, they've excluded the feature to keep the app clean and minimalist as is the theme all over the app. Plus, you can always google the book to find more about it. So, maybe I am nitpicking here but I feel it would be more convenient to have some sort of rating or review within the app. It's much better for Blinkist if their users interact with their app constantly rather than having to leave their app for some reviews every time they check a new book.

Blinkist's competitor, Instaread packs a punch too, and a good one at that. They are thorough in their summaries and make sure you get all the key insights. That's their niche and they are laser-focused on it. With only non-fiction books available in their library, Instaread is for the group of people that are constantly looking to improve themselves, go through more books to pick up valuable lessons to make themselves better and consequently, their career.

Instaread follows the same minimalist UI design but with its own spice in the mix. Their iOS app is smooth and fluid. Their website, which is the go-to for the web as well as Android users, is well designed and sleek. A lack of an Android app will certainly annoy a lot of users that wanted to try to Instaread. They had an Android app earlier but they had to take it down due to a lot of users facing crashes and generally having an unstable experience. A new app is currently in development and we should see it soon on the Google Play Store.

Summaries on the Instaread app are written by subject experts and often go up to 25-30 mins. This goes a long way in ensuring that you are getting all the important insights out of the book or article. Instaread Originals are also a great addition that provides good opportunities to learn from imminent personalities themselves through short articles or talks. This feature on the Instaread app makes it very attractive for the crowd that is constantly looking to improve themselves and following advice from the people who've already made it.

Though Instaread focuses on a niche unlike its competitor, Blinkist, there's no dearth of content in its library with 1000+ books and articles available for selection with plenty more being added every day. But just like Blinkist, it also does not provide user reviews or ratings but makes up for it by providing valuable insight on the points being discussed in the book and also insight on the author and his perspective. This helps you form a mindset before getting into the book.

FAQs

Blinkist vs Instaread: The Conclusion

We've established how good both the apps are and what specific drawbacks they come with. Being in the 'book summary' business is no easy task especially when the competitors are so closely matched.

So, in conclusion, the Blinkist vs Instaread battle is won by Blinkist and the reasons are clear. It has a cheaper annual plan, more than thrice the amount of books, more categories, and FREE Basic Plan. Blinkist wins here naturally as it will be catering to a large audience with its large selection and cheaper plan.

But make no mistake, Instaread is a very strong package for those who value expert advice highly, only read non-fiction books and seriously work on bettering themselves every day.