Savr

Savr is a free progressive web app that builds an offline reading library from articles, documents, and pasted text. It suits readers who want local storage, broad capture options, and the choice to host the app themselves. The trade-off is a beta product whose saving pipeline can rely on a CORS proxy, with a less direct workflow on iOS.

Overview

Savr keeps saved material on the device and does not require an account or a server-side content repository. Articles remain available offline with their images, and readers can switch between a decluttered reader view and the original page when layout or embedded context matters. The hosted version reports anonymous usage events by default, while saying that URLs, titles, and article content are excluded and offering an opt-out. Self-hosted installations turn telemetry off, making them the clearer choice for readers who want maximum control.

Cross-device continuity is optional rather than built in: synchronization can use the reader's own Dropbox or Google Drive account. That approach avoids making Savr's service the custodian of a reading history, but requires configuring an external account if several devices must share a queue.

Key features

Capture and reading

A URL can be entered in Savr, sent through a bookmarklet, or saved by prepending the Savr address. The browser extension is convenient but not mandatory. On Android, the installed PWA accepts pages shared from a mobile browser. Savr also ingests pasted HTML, Markdown, and plain text, along with PDFs and images, so it is useful for more than conventional web articles.

Favorites, light, dark, and system themes provide practical organization and presentation choices. Adaptive reading-time estimates help prioritize a queue, while read-only public copies let a collection be shared without opening it for editing.

Summaries and synchronization

Optional AI summaries can run through OpenAI-compatible services such as Groq, OpenAI, Gemini, or a local or custom model server. This flexibility benefits readers who already have a provider or prefer local inference, but summary behavior and any provider costs depend on that service rather than Savr's free plan. Dropbox and Google Drive sync are similarly optional integrations rather than Savr-hosted synchronization.

Saving reliability

Fetching some pages uses a CORS proxy. Savr supplies a default and allows a user-configured proxy for greater reliability, speed, control, or privacy. Readers who need every site to save consistently should be prepared to manage that dependency instead of treating capture as entirely self-contained.

Pricing

Free — free, billed Free. The hosted or self-hosted app includes the available reading, capture, organization, offline, and optional integration features, with no published usage limits. There is no paid tier to unlock higher quotas or additional seats. That makes Savr straightforward for individual readers, while organizations seeking formal support or guaranteed service levels will find no separate commercial plan described.

Platforms

Savr runs on Android, iOS, the web, a browser extension, and self-hosted deployments. As a progressive web app it can be installed on a phone, and a self-hosted frontend can be placed on static hosting such as GitHub Pages. Android sharing is direct; iOS does not support bookmarklets or sharing to PWAs, so the documented workaround uses an iOS Shortcut to open Savr in a browser. That extra step makes iPhone capture less seamless than Android capture.

Who it's for

Savr is a strong match for privacy-conscious readers who want offline articles without mandatory accounts, and for technically comfortable users who value self-hosting, custom proxies, or local AI providers. Its support for PDFs, images, and pasted formats also suits people building a mixed research archive. It is less suitable for anyone who expects a polished, stable service with frictionless iOS saving or guaranteed capture from every website; the maker still describes the project as beta, with its features, API contract, and database schema changing.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Offline pages retain images and offer both reader and original views, useful for reliable travel reading and layout-sensitive content.
• Pros: Local device storage, no required account, self-hosting, and opt-out or disabled telemetry provide meaningful privacy control.
• Pros: URLs, bookmarklets, extension, Android sharing, pasted markup, PDFs, and images cover varied capture habits.
• Pros: Open-source GPL-3.0 licensing and support for custom or local summary providers appeal to users who want inspectable infrastructure.
• Cons: A CORS proxy sits in the saving path, so dependable capture may require configuring and maintaining your own.
• Cons: iOS saving needs a Shortcut workaround, adding friction for Apple users.
• Cons: Beta status means behavior and underlying interfaces may still change.
• Cons: Sync depends on the reader's Dropbox or Google Drive account rather than an integrated Savr account system.

Alternatives

Choose wallabag instead if you want a free, account-based read-later ecosystem spanning Android, iOS, web, extensions, API, Linux, and self-hosting, with service plans sold in three-month and one-year terms.

Burn 451 is a better fit when a freemium service with explicit daily and storage caps, plus API and macOS support, suits your queue.

Pick Omnivore if self-hosting is your priority and you want a broader platform list, accepting that its cloud application was deprecated in November 2024.

PaperSpan suits readers who specifically want mobile offline reading, highlights, and one-at-a-time Kindle delivery.

Consider Readspace, Reminde, Couch, or Freezetab when their respective platform and feature approaches better match your reading workflow.

The Read-It-Later Apps list is useful for comparing more options.

Verdict

Choose Savr if you want a no-cost, local-first reading archive with self-hosting, multiple input formats, and optional offline AI summaries. Look elsewhere if stable production behavior, effortless iOS capture, or a fully managed sync and fetching service matters more than control.