# Merlin AI vs ReadSmart

Merlin AI records 1,382,634 monthly visits with +13.1% month-over-month growth and Freemium pricing. ReadSmart records 0 monthly visits with — growth and Free pricing.

| Metric | [Merlin AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/merlin-ai-plugins) | [ReadSmart](https://openaitools.app/tool/readsmart) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Website URL | https://www.getmerlin.in | https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/readsmart/bkcaaaamfkchlkedibanlldbcmgeoieb |
| Categories | AI Assistant, AI Summarizer, AI Writing Assistants, AI Chatbot | AI Summarizer, AI Article Summarizer, Large Language Models (LLMs), AI Assistant |
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Free |
| Monthly Visits | 1,382,634 | 0 |
| MoM Growth Rate | +13.1% | — |
| Primary Market | United States | Global |
| Direct Visits | 695,322 | 0 |
| Review Score | 4.3 | 1.6 |
| Saved Count | 17 | 0 |
| Supported Platforms | Browser Extension | Browser Extension |

## Merlin AI

Merlin is built around a simple idea: instead of opening a separate chat tab for every task, you summon one assistant with a click while staying inside whatever you are reading or working on. The extension injects a sidebar on any web page, so it can read the article, the PDF, the YouTube transcript or the Gmail thread you currently have open and respond with that context already loaded. That makes summarization, rewriting, replying and research feel like part of the page rather than a separate tool.

Under the hood Merlin routes requests across a broad set of models — OpenAI's GPT family, Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, DeepSeek, Mistral, Meta's Llama and others — so you can pick the model that suits a task without holding separate subscriptions for each. Beyond chat there is an image generator with multiple models and aspect ratios, a search mode that answers questions from live web results, document and video summarization, and a library of saved prompts. Newer additions like Projects (reusable knowledge bases) and Crafts (generated diagrams, mind maps and charts) push it toward light research and prototyping work.

Merlin is available as a Chrome extension, a web app, an iOS app and an Android app with synced history, custom prompts and custom bots across devices. The vendor highlights GDPR, ISO 27001 and SOC 2 alignment for data handling, and positions itself as accessible in 200+ countries where some other assistants are restricted. It is squarely a productivity assistant rather than a developer platform.

**Pricing & Plans:** Freemium. A free tier covers everyday use, and Merlin Pro is promoted at $2/month as a special offer, with the standard plan advertised around $19/month billed annually and described as replacing roughly $130/month of separate AI subscriptions. Paid tiers add higher limits, more capable models and advanced features.

- **Multi-model access in one place:** Switch between GPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Mistral and Llama class models from a single interface instead of juggling separate subscriptions.
- **Universal page summarization:** Summarize articles, YouTube videos, PDFs and documents in place, then ask follow-up questions grounded in that content.
- **Writing and social drafts:** Draft and reply to emails in Gmail, compose posts and comments for X and LinkedIn, and repurpose web pages or videos into blogs and articles.
- **Image generation:** Generate images from prompts using more than 20 image models and multiple aspect ratios for web and social output.
- **Projects, Crafts and custom bots:** Build reusable knowledge bases, generate diagrams and charts from a prompt, and assemble custom chatbots from your own instructions and context.

**Strengths:** Replaces several separate AI subscriptions with one interface and one bill; Works inline on any page, so context is captured without copy-pasting; Covers a wide range of tasks: chat, summarization, writing, images, search and light research; Syncs across browser, web, iOS and Android with custom prompts and bots preserved

**Limitations:** The free tier is limited, and heavy use pushes you toward the paid plan; Covering so many features means individual tools may be less deep than dedicated apps; Requires trusting a third party with the pages and documents you send it, even with the stated compliance certifications

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/merlin-ai-plugins.md)

## ReadSmart

ReadSmart is a small Chrome extension whose single job is to make long web pages easier to get through. Once installed, it adds a button to the browser sidebar; click it on any page you are reading and ReadSmart sends the page text to a language model, then returns a condensed summary in place. The developer pitches it specifically at content-rich pages — news articles, blog posts, documentation — where the value is buried in a lot of prose.

The feature set is deliberately narrow. There is one-click summarization, page detection geared toward heavy text, and a history of summaries you have already generated so you can revisit something you skimmed earlier. The listing also notes that the extension works on top of your normal browsing rather than replacing it, which keeps the learning curve minimal.

ReadSmart is free to install, with the store listing indicating in-app purchases. It was last updated in November 2023 and has a small user base, so treat it as a simple utility rather than a full reading or research platform: there is no source collection, no writing assistance and no workspace. If you just want a quick AI summary of whatever page is open in front of you, that simplicity is the point.

**Pricing & Plans:** ReadSmart is free to install from the Chrome Web Store. The listing states that the extension offers in-app purchases, so optional paid features may exist.

- **One-click page summaries:** Press the sidebar button on any page and ReadSmart returns a condensed summary of the page's text without you scrolling through everything.
- **Built for text-heavy pages:** Rather than dumping the whole page into a summary box, the extension detects the main textual content, which works best on news sites and long-form blogs.
- **Summary history:** Summaries you have already generated are kept, so you can return to a page you read earlier and jump straight back into the gist.
- **Sidebar workflow:** The extension lives in the Chrome sidebar, so generating a summary never pulls you out of your current tab or workflow.

**Strengths:** Free and quick to install from the Chrome Web Store; One-click summaries keep you inside your current tab; Summary history lets you revisit pages you skimmed earlier; Very low learning curve — one button, one output

**Limitations:** Narrow scope: summarization only, with no writing or research features; Small user base and last update in late 2023; Handles personal data and website content, so review the privacy policy before use

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/readsmart.md)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do Merlin AI and ReadSmart compare in monthly traffic?

Merlin AI has 1,382,634 monthly visits, while ReadSmart has 0. Traffic estimates describe audience size, not product quality.

### How do their growth rates compare?

Merlin AI has a month-over-month growth rate of +13.1%; ReadSmart has —.

### How does pricing compare?

Merlin AI: Freemium. Freemium. A free tier covers everyday use, and Merlin Pro is promoted at $2/month as a special offer, with the standard plan advertised around $19/month billed annually and described as replacing roughly $130/month of separate AI subscriptions. Paid tiers add higher limits, more capable models and advanced features. ReadSmart: Free. ReadSmart is free to install from the Chrome Web Store. The listing states that the extension offers in-app purchases, so optional paid features may exist.

## Alternatives

| # | Tool Name | Monthly Visits | MoM Growth Rate | Pricing Model | Summary | Profile (Markdown) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 | [ChatGPT](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatgpt-4) | 6,048,022,723 | +2.2% | Freemium | Provides superior core reasoning and advanced coding agents, but lacks Merlin's seamless one-click browser tab integration and sidebar shortcuts. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/chatgpt-4.md) |
| 2 | [Google Gemini](https://openaitools.app/tool/gemini-gemini-advanced) | 2,637,398,242 | -0.1% | Freemium | Offers massive context windows and Google Workspace integration, but functions as a standalone web app rather than an inline sidebar. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/gemini-gemini-advanced.md) |
| 3 | [Claude](https://openaitools.app/tool/claude-2) | 1,253,439,413 | +23.8% | Freemium | Excels at nuanced document analysis and writing, but operates as a dedicated web workspace rather than a browser extension. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/claude-2.md) |
| 4 | [Perplexity](https://openaitools.app/tool/perplexity-ai) | 88,310,223 | -3.7% | Freemium | Delivers superior citation-backed web research and real-time search, but lacks Merlin's multi-purpose browser writing tools and sidebar utilities. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/perplexity-ai.md) |
| 5 | [Poe](https://openaitools.app/tool/poe) | 5,894,702 | +9.1% | Freemium | Aggregates diverse frontier models into one conversational interface, but operates primarily as a web/app client rather than a native extension. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/poe.md) |
| 6 | [Monica](https://openaitools.app/tool/monica-ai) | 4,512,775 | -11.3% | Freemium | Provides comparable all-in-one browser assistance and multi-model chat, but includes more robust built-in painting and drawing suites. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/monica-ai.md) |
| 7 | [Sider](https://openaitools.app/tool/sider) | 2,644,740 | -10.6% | Freemium | AI sidebar and browser agent for reading, writing and research | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/sider.md) |
| 8 | [Merlin AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/merlin-ai) | 1,382,634 | +13.1% | Freemium | One-click AI assistant for browsing, writing and research | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/merlin-ai.md) |
| 9 | [Glasp](https://openaitools.app/tool/glasp) | 889,564 | -14.1% | Freemium | Highlight the web, learn in public, and build your AI clone | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/glasp.md) |
| 10 | [Tabbit Browser](https://openaitools.app/tool/tabbit-ai) | 670,981 | -30.2% | Freemium | Integrates AI directly into an independent browser environment, whereas Merlin runs as an extension across existing browsers. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/tabbit-ai.md) |

---
Source: https://openaitools.app/compare/merlin-ai-plugins-vs-readsmart

More Markdown: [Categories](https://openaitools.app/categories.md) · [Traffic rankings](https://openaitools.app/rankings.md) · [llms.txt](https://openaitools.app/llms.txt)