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Gistly vs Glasp

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan
Both have one
Public API
Glasp has one; not confirmed by us for Gistly
Best fit
Gistly: Skimming long talks, lectures or podcasts before committing to watch · Glasp: Students and researchers collecting cited passages across the web and PDFs
Platforms
Gistly: Chrome extension, Web · Glasp: Web, Chrome extension, iOS, Android
Trust score
About even — Gistly 77, Glasp 76

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

GistlyBrowser extension that drops a TL;DR, key points and clickable timestamps beside any YouTube videoGlaspHighlighter for web pages, PDFs, YouTube and Kindle that collects your passages in one library and lets you chat with them.

Side by side

FactGistlyGlasp
CategoryYouTube ToolsNote-taking & Second Brain
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at—$12.50/mo
Public APINot confirmedYes
Trust score77 / 10076 / 100
PlatformsChrome extension, WebWeb, Chrome extension, iOS, Android, API
CompanyDumpling SoftwareGlasp Inc.
Launched—2021
Last verifiedOct 15, 2026Oct 29, 2026

What our research says

Gistly

It does one job well: the summary appears next to the player rather than in another tab, and the timestamps actually move the video. The problem is commercial opacity — you cannot see what the paid tier costs without entering a checkout flow, which is a poor way to ask for a card.

Pros

  • Summary widget renders inside the YouTube page, with no copy-pasting of URLs
  • Timestamped sections link back into the video at the right moment
  • Also generates full transcripts and blog-post drafts from the same video
  • Handles more than 40 languages

Cons

  • No published price list, and the only checkout link on the site sells a different product
  • Publisher is a bare name with no address, country or company registration
  • The extension has not been updated since August 2024 (version 0.0.4)
  • Entirely dependent on YouTube transcripts, so videos without them are out of scope

Glasp

Glasp fits students, researchers and writers who read a lot online and want every quote kept with its source and searchable later. People who want their reading private by default, or who mostly need a full note editor rather than a highlighter, should look elsewhere.

Pros

  • Free plan keeps unlimited highlighting plus exports and Notion sync
  • Works across Chrome, Safari, Edge, Brave, Firefox, Opera and mobile
  • Each highlight keeps its source metadata, so quotes stay cited
  • MCP connector and API make the library usable from other AI tools

Cons

  • Highlights are public by default; privacy is a paid feature
  • Free AI allowances are small, especially video summaries
  • Social feed is of limited use to people who read alone

Which one fits

Choose Gistly if you need

  • Skimming long talks, lectures or podcasts before committing to watch
  • Pulling a rough transcript or blog draft out of a video
  • Non-English viewers, with 40+ languages supported

Choose Glasp if you need

  • Students and researchers collecting cited passages across the web and PDFs
  • Writers keeping a swipe file of quotes for drafting with ChatGPT or Claude
  • Readers who want Kindle and web highlights in one library

Gistly vs Glasp: the questions people ask

Is Gistly cheaper than Glasp?

Glasp starts at $12.50/mo. Gistly has a free tier; what its paid plans cost is not confirmed by us yet.

Does Gistly or Glasp have a free tier?

Both: Gistly has a free tier, and Glasp has a free tier.

Which has a public API, Gistly or Glasp?

Glasp ships a public API, as of our last verification. A public API for Gistly is not confirmed by us — check its developer docs before you plan an integration.

More comparisons

All Gistly alternatives →Browse all YouTube Tools →