A free bookmark manager that actually gets you to read
Burn 451 is free to start — no credit card, no trial countdown. The core reading flow costs nothing: a 24-hour deadline on every save, Chrome extension, Spark queue, and permanent Vault. When you want AI features, that's Pro.
What the free plan actually includes
No credit card. No 14-day trial. These features work on the free tier indefinitely:
5 Flame saves/day
Save up to 5 links per day into the 24-hour queue. Deliberate by design — if you're saving more than 5 things a day, you're probably not reading any of them.
30 Spark + 100 Vault items
Rescue saves to Spark (30-day storage, 30 slots) or Vault (permanent, 100 slots). A real working archive, not a preview.
Chrome extension
Burn Web Clipper on the Chrome Web Store. One-click save from any page. Works on the free plan.
Metadata search
Search your saves by title, domain, and tags. Free. Full-text body search across the article content is Pro.
30 MCP requests/day
Connect Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf to your Vault via the 26-tool MCP server (npm: burn-mcp-server). 30 requests/day free.
24-hour timer
The whole point — every save auto-deletes after 24 hours unless you act. Keeps your queue honest. Always free.
What Pro adds — $4.99/mo
AI features, unlimited storage, and full-text search are behind the Pro paywall. No tricks — here's exactly what you're paying for:
Free
$0 — no card needed
- 5 Flame saves/day
- 30 Spark + 100 Vault items
- Metadata search
- Chrome extension
- 30 MCP requests/day
- 24-hour timer
Pro
$4.99/mo
- AI Read decision cards
- Voice notes
- YouTube + video transcripts
- Auto-tag Vault
- Full-text body search
- Markdown export
- Unlimited Spark + Vault
- Unlimited MCP requests
How it works: Flame → Spark → Vault
Three stages. One rule: every save has to earn its place.
Flame — 24 hours
Every new save lands here with a 24-hour clock. Read it before the deadline, rescue it to Spark, or it auto-deletes. No snooze button. The pressure stops you saving things you were never going to read. Free plan: 5 saves/day.
Spark — 30 days
Rescue an article from Flame and it moves here for up to 30 days — curated saves you genuinely intend to read. Free: 30 items. Pro: unlimited.
Vault — permanent
Permanent storage for articles you've read and want to keep. Searchable, taggable, and queryable by AI tools via the MCP server. Free: 100 items. Pro: unlimited.
Where Burn is NOT the pick
If you want unlimited free storage forever— Raindrop.io's free tier gives you unlimited bookmarks, collections, and basic search at no cost, with no item caps. Chrome's built-in bookmark manager is also completely free and already installed. Both are genuinely good options for permanent storage. Burn's free Vault caps at 100 items, so it's not the right tool if unlimited free storage is the priority.
If you want a visual archive with cover images and nested collections — Raindrop is the better-designed tool for that. Karakeep (formerly Hoarder) is open-source and self-hostable if you want full control at zero ongoing cost.
Burn 451 solves one specific problem: you save things and never read them. The 24-hour timer is the mechanism that fixes that. If that's not your problem — or if unlimited free storage is the dealbreaker — it's probably not your tool.
Full comparison: free bookmark manager comparison · bookmark manager overview
Free to start. No card. No countdown.
The core reading flow — 24-hour timer, Chrome extension, Spark queue, 100 Vault items — costs nothing. When you want AI features, $4.99/mo is there.
Try Burn 451 free →Frequently asked questions
Is it really free?
The core reading flow is free — no credit card required. The free plan gives you 5 Flame saves per day, 30 Spark slots, 100 Vault items, 30 MCP requests/day, metadata search, and the Chrome extension. What's not free: AI Read decision cards, voice notes, YouTube transcripts, auto-tagging, full-text body search, Markdown export, unlimited Spark + Vault, and unlimited MCP — those are Pro at $4.99/mo (7-day free trial included). The free tier is a real working product, not a 14-day trial.
How does the 24-hour deadline work?
Every save lands in Flame with a 24-hour clock. Read it before the deadline, rescue it to Spark (30-day extended storage), or let it auto-delete. No snooze. The pressure is intentional — it forces a real read-or-release decision on every save, which is what stops the pile from growing. The 24-hour timer is on the free plan.
How does Burn compare to Raindrop's free tier?
Raindrop's free tier is genuinely good: unlimited bookmarks, collections, and basic search. If you want permanent, organized storage with cover images and nested folders, Raindrop's free plan is hard to beat. Burn's free tier is narrower — 5 saves/day, 100 permanent Vault slots — but adds something Raindrop doesn't: a 24-hour deadline that forces a reading decision. Different tools for different problems.
What's the MCP server?
Burn ships a 26-tool MCP server (npm: burn-mcp-server) that lets Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf query your saved articles directly. The free plan includes 30 MCP requests/day. Pro has unlimited. There's no CLI — the MCP server is the programmatic access layer.
What platforms does Burn 451 run on?
iOS app (App Store), web app at burn451.cloud, and Chrome extension (Burn Web Clipper). AI features — Read cards, voice notes, YouTube transcripts — are on iOS. Saves sync across all platforms.