How to Migrate from Instapaper to Matter
By Taha Baalla··5 min read
Instapaper to Matter migration: Export your Instapaper library, then import it into Matter. Steps: (1) In Instapaper, go to Settings > Export > Export Library. This creates a CSV file with all your saved articles. (2) In Matter, tap Profile > Import > Instapaper > select your CSV export file.
Matter supports Instapaper CSV format. Your saved articles and archived articles import separately. Instapaper highlights and notes do not transfer to Matter.
Why Switch from Instapaper to Matter
Instapaper has been running since 2008 with minimal feature updates. Matter is the newer read-later app with AI summaries, newsletter subscriptions, audio playback, and a social following feature. If you want active development and modern AI features in a read-later app, Matter is the current choice.
Why stay with Instapaper: it is free (with a generous feature set), has been stable for 18 years, has excellent text rendering, and does not add AI features you may not want. If the read-later workflow is working, there is no urgent reason to switch.
What Changes in Matter
Matter organizes content as a feed rather than a queue. Reading is more discovery-oriented. If you preferred Instapaper because it was distraction-free with no social elements, Matter adds more features that some users find noisy.
Key difference: Matter has audio playback (text-to-speech) for all articles, which Instapaper does not have without third-party integrations.
Alternatives to Consider
If you are switching from Instapaper because you want a reading workflow with deeper integration, Readwise Reader ($7.99/month) is worth evaluating before committing to Matter. Readwise handles articles, newsletters, PDFs, and ebooks, with highlights syncing to Readwise for spaced repetition review.
What Survives the Migration
Instapaper stores articles as cleaned HTML with your highlights. Matter exports are limited. The practical reality: most users have highlights in Instapaper they've never revisited. Migration is an opportunity to be selective.
Export from Instapaper, import the CSV into Matter's import tool. Highlights may not transfer — check Matter's current import documentation for what transfers.
More important than migration: changing your capture and review habit. Both Instapaper and Matter suffer from the save-never-read problem. The habit change that matters: when you save an article, add a one-sentence note about why it's worth reading. This note appears in Nemos if you route through there, or as a comment in Matter.
The annotation at save-time is what separates curation from hoarding. Saves without context are usually never returned to.
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