Looking for a Pocket Alternative?
Pocket shut down on July 8, 2025, after Mozilla discontinued the read-later service. Start Page HQ gives Pocket refugees a new home — save links, build collections, and keep your reading list right on every new tab.
What People Love About Pocket
Before we get into where Start Page HQ goes further, credit where it's due.
- A polished read-later workflow built up over nearly two decades — easily one of the original and most-loved save-for-later apps.
- A free tier that worked great for most casual users right up to the end.
- Deep Firefox integration that put one-click saving directly in the browser.
- Strong native iOS and Android apps with full offline reading and audio narration.
- A mature reading-list product that genuinely defined the read-later category.
Where Start Page HQ Goes Further
Specific differences, not vague claims.
A Live Product, Not a Sunset One
Pocket shut down on July 8, 2025. User exports closed October 8, 2025. Start Page HQ is actively developed, with new widgets shipping regularly and a long-term roadmap.
Saved Links Live on Your New Tab
Pocket made you open a separate app to see your saved articles. Start Page HQ's Collection and Links widgets sit right on every new tab — your reading list is one keystroke away, no app to launch.
Visual Collections, Not a Flat List
The Collection widget saves URLs and images side-by-side. Use it as a read-later list, a wish list, a research backlog, or a moodboard — Pocket only handled flat reading lists.
Saved Reading Plus 62+ Other Widgets
Pocket was one tool. Start Page HQ ships 63+ widgets — RSS, Hacker News, Substack, weather, calendar, tasks, AI tools, dev utilities. Drop the ones you want onto a single dashboard.
Multi-Page Dashboards by Context
Build a Reading page with your saved articles, RSS, and Substack newsletters. A separate Work page with tasks and calendars. Switch with one click.
Hosted Web App and Browser Extensions
Use startpagehq.com on any browser, or install extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Sync across every device is included on every plan, the free one included.
Side-by-Side Comparison
An honest line-by-line look at how the two stack up.
| Feature | Start Page HQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Discontinued (July 2025) | Actively developed |
| Pricing | N/A (shut down) | Free plan; $3.99/mo, $25/yr, $49 LTD |
| Free tier | N/A (shut down) | 1 page, 8 widgets |
| Lives on every new tab | No | Yes |
| Chrome | No | Yes |
| Firefox | No | Yes |
| Safari | No | Yes |
| Edge | No | Yes |
| Hosted web app | No | Yes |
| iOS / Android apps | No | No |
| Cross-device sync | N/A | Included |
| Save URLs | No | Yes |
| Save images | No | Paid plans |
| Visual collections widget | No | Yes |
| Quick-access Links widget | No | Yes |
| Multi-page dashboards | No | Yes |
| Other widgets (RSS, weather, tasks, etc.) | No | 63+ |
| Offline reading | No | No |
| Audio article narration | No | No |
Widgets That Replace Pocket
Drop these onto your dashboard and you've covered Pocket's core features — plus a lot more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Mozilla shut Pocket down on July 8, 2025. User-data exports remained available until October 8, 2025, after which accounts and data were deleted. There is no path to keep using Pocket itself.
There is no automated importer for Pocket exports today. The Collection widget lets you paste in URLs manually, and the Links widget is designed for fast bulk paste — most ex-Pocket users recreate their top reading queue in 10-15 minutes.
Start Page HQ is independently built and actively developed. The lifetime plan ($49 once) is designed for users who got burned when subscription tools shut down — pay once and the dashboard is yours.
Yes. Sign in once and your saved links, collections, pages, and widgets sync across every browser and device automatically.
No. Start Page HQ does not cache full article content for offline reading the way Pocket did on mobile. If offline reading was your main reason for using Pocket, you may want to pair Start Page HQ with a dedicated reader app like Readwise Reader or Matter.
Yes, there is a free plan, and it needs no credit card: 1 page with up to 8 widgets on it, 55 of the 63 widget types — Collection and Links included — cross-device sync, and 50 AI credits to start. Saved images in collections, extra pages, uploads and the 8 premium widgets need a paid plan: $3.99/month, $25/year, or $49 one-time. There is also a demo at startpagehq.com/demo with every widget unlocked and no signup.
Ready to Try Start Page HQ?
Start free — 1 page, 8 widgets, sync across devices, no credit card. Or open the live demo first, no signup needed.