Why it's a strong pick

Clearly Reader packs a reader mode, an AI article assistant and text-to-speech into one extension, and its vendor says it works offline. It states its plan limits openly, including how many AI uses each plan gets. The trade-off: the free plan caps AI use, and the cloud and AI features sit in a paid plan.

What it does

The vendor describes a one-click reader mode, an AI article assistant that can summarise, translate and chat, text-to-speech, cross-device sync with cloud storage, and export to PDF, Word and Markdown. Reader views like this reformat article pages. They are not a dark mode for the rest of the web.

Key features

One-click reader mode. Strips the page to the article.
AI article assistant. Summarise, translate and chat, per the vendor.
Text-to-speech. Listed on the vendor's intro page.
Sync and cloud storage. Listed by the vendor. Cloud and AI features sit in the Subscription plan.
Export. PDF, Word and Markdown, per the vendor.
Plans. Free, Pro and Subscription. Check current plans and prices on the vendor's pricing page.

Who it's for

Clearly Reader suits people who want AI help with long articles and are happy to pay for it. If you only want clean pages and no AI, a simpler reader such as Reader View or Just Read may be enough. For saving articles to read later, see Pocket alternatives.

What do the Free, Pro and Subscription plans include?

Free covers the most basic features. Pro adds advanced customisation, such as custom themes and font changes. Subscription adds the online and AI features: cloud and AI use, with the most AI uses. The vendor lists plan prices and has run early-bird offers, so check its pricing page for current plans before you buy.

How many AI uses do I get?

The vendor's pricing page lists a monthly limit on AI Reader Assistant and AI Skim uses for each plan, and the limit rises from Free to Pro to Subscription. The free plan lets you try the AI features only lightly. Limits can change, so check the vendor's current limits on its pricing page before you rely on them.

What permissions does Clearly Reader ask for?

We could not read the extension's permissions when we checked, so we cannot list them. A reader mode usually needs access to the pages you open, so check the install prompt before you install. We also could not read the developer's privacy policy when we checked; read it before installing, since AI features may send page text to a service.

Do I need an account?

An account page exists on the vendor's site, and the vendor describes an account step for activating Pro. Cloud features also use an account. We could not confirm whether the free plan works without one, so check the listing before you install it.

FAQ

Is Clearly Reader free? It has a free plan with basic features and a monthly cap on AI use. Pro and Subscription are paid plans.

Is it open source? We found no sign that it is, and we do not claim either way.

Does it work offline? The vendor's intro page says so. We did not test it.

Good to know

The free plan caps AI use. Cloud, sync and the highest AI limits need the Subscription. Reader views format articles only, so do not expect them to help on apps or dashboards.

Other dark mode & reader tools to compare

Clearly Reader is one of 10 picks in our Dark Mode & Reader Tools guide, which compares them side by side and explains how to choose. The other picks:

Dark Reader: An open-source dark mode for websites. Free extension, with brightness, contrast and sepia controls.
Night Eye: A dark mode extension that adjusts each page's elements instead of flipping every color. Free Lite plan with limits, paid plans above it.
Midnight Lizard: An open-source colour-scheme tool for websites. Dark, light and grayscale modes plus a blue-light filter.
Reader View: A reader extension built on Mozilla Readability. Opens an article in a clean page, with fullscreen reading and text-to-speech.
Reader Mode: A distraction-free reader with accessibility tools, highlighting and text-to-speech. Free plan with limits, paid Premium.
Chrome Reader Mode: A reader mode that can also save articles offline, highlight and take notes. The listing is now titled Quiet Reader.
Turn Off the Lights: Dims the page around a video player and adds a Night Mode for dark pages. Open source (GPLv2), free, supported by donations.
Just Read: A reader mode for article pages, made by one developer. Free core, paid subscription for extras.
Stylus: Restyle websites with CSS themes, such as dark themes, that you install or write yourself. Not a one-click dark mode. Open source.