Hello! Relatively new to all this and I’m curious about bookmark managers. I realize that what one does will depend on their own needs and desires, but generally speaking,
For instance, browser-based vs apps like Raindrop, etc. Cross-platform availability. Etc.
Is there such a thing as a “zero-knowledge” bookmarking service? Something similar? (I may be using the wrong terminology, but hopefully that makes sense).
I really don’t know yet any more specific questions because I’m trying to figure out the basics and initial considerations. I’d love to hear your own use cases and recommendations. FWIW, I’m don’t have any state secrets or anything and I’m not any special kind of target, but I’d generally like to believe that what I save is most likely only known to me.
A good starting point for the community is to know what operating systems you use, as this can actually depend a bit on the devices you use and the ecosystems you’re a part of.
Personally I enjoy the combination of Goodlinks + iCloud Advanced Data Protection, but obviously that’ll only work for the Apple ecosystem. One time purchase, and Goodlinks doesn’t do the syncing at all and allows you to lean into iCloud protection
Thanks for your reply. I currently use a Windows 11 laptop, a MacBook, and an iPhone. If there is a solution that will allow me to save and access bookmarks across these platforms privately/securely, then great. If not, then I’m open and flexible. I am most interested in privacy and security for particular projects I work on, and so I’m happy to limit my devices when I’m working on those things if that’s best.
And thanks for the recommendation. I’ll check that out!
No, but in this space there really aren’t many great open source options. Also again, open source depends on the context, and with something like GoodLinks it shouldn’t actually connect to any first-party domains given there’s no syncing done on their end. So from a privacy POV I don’t see a massive value in it being open source (though I’d still love to see it!)
Thanks! I do keep certain bookmarks listed in something like a notes app, but I’m hoping for something more traditionally convenient–though, as is often the case, that might mean less privacy.
Regarding xbrowsersync, I’ll definitely check that out. I will have to see if I can get it working with Brave and LibreWolf.
I used to use Xbrowsersync but switched to Floccus
I found it to be more reliable and I am also in greater control of the sync settings. Plus, it lets you store the bookmarks in traditional storage mediums like Nextcloud or WebDAV, or even a Google Drive. I also like their mobile apps better.
If you need a free cloud drive that offers WebDAV, you can use Koofr. Get 10GB of cloud storage for free.
I use Raindrop, and since i found it, i considered my bookmark system solved. It’s open source, the extension and app are really convenient, everything is saved on the cloud + you can export a CSV or HTML backup whenever you like.
It has a free and paid plan. I use the free plan, it already has unlimited bookmarks and collections. The paid plan has some useful stuff like automatic backups, and an automatic archive of the websites you save, so even if they are taken down you can still check them.
It also has many integrations (IFTTT, Zapier and so on) , which I haven used but this may be useful for you.
In my experience, the best bookmark manager i’ve tried, and i’m surprised it is not used more.
I see two types of app this entire discussion. One is just purely for bookmarks syncing, the biggest name being xBrowserSync for obvious reason, the other being the so-called ‘read-it-later’ apps, saving articles for later read, mainly for productivity use, like Omnivore(which is a very good alternative to Instapaper).
So for managing your bookmarks, I guess both works…?
So from a privacy POV I don’t see a massive value in it being open source (though I’d still love to see it!)