Article Summarizer Chrome Extension

Reduz extracts the readable content from the article you have open in Chrome and turns it into compact bullets, a clean post draft, a full summary, or a research brief. The extension reads the page directly from your tab — it works on paywalled content you have access to, internal blog posts, and any readable webpage where copy-pasting into a separate chat tool is a pain. Anya uses it to scan 20 competitor articles in the time it used to take to read 5. Theo uses it to triage industry pieces cited in the papers he's reading.

Illustration of a writer at a desk drafting and reading articles — Photo by Storyset on Pixabay

What you get

Readable article extraction from the active tab — works on paywalled content you have access to, internal blogs, and rendered web pages.
Local-first history with search, filters, and source URL — revisit summaries weeks later without an account.
Multiple output styles: quick-review bullets, full notes, publishing-ready post, research brief.
Selected-text mode: highlight a paragraph and summarize just that section via right-click context menu.
Hosted Free (100 monthly credits, no card) or Your own AI key with your own provider key for unlimited use.
Export to Markdown, PDF, DOCX, JSON, or ZIP — summaries become artifacts you can cite.

Sample article summary

A 4,200-word market analysis article with context, three counterpoints, supporting numbers, and a forward-looking thesis.

The article separates near-term demand pressure from longer-term structural growth — the headline thesis distinguishes the two for the first time in this category.
Three numbers drive the argument: margin trend (-280bps YoY), customer concentration (top 5 = 38% of revenue), and net retention (108%).
Strongest counterpoint: the latest quarter may reflect delayed enterprise spending decisions rather than structural churn — see the buyer-survey paragraph for evidence.
What Anya should follow up on: the cited Gartner forecast (dated 2026-Q1), the comparison to the 2023 cycle, and the unnamed customer-quote source.
Suggested action: pull the Gartner report and verify the renewal-rate calculation against the 10-Q before quoting this article in a brief.

How it compares

Compared with web-app article summarizers like QuillBot, TLDR This, and Scribbr, Reduz works in your tab without copy-paste or URL entry — useful for paywalled or auth-gated articles where a server-side fetch fails. Compared with broad AI assistants like Sider and Monica, Reduz uses click-only permission instead of full host access. Compared with Eightify and Glasp YouTube Summary, Reduz treats articles as a fully supported source rather than YouTube-only.

Why extension-first beats paste-URL article tools

Server-side article fetchers struggle with bot defenses, paywalls, auth-gated content, and JavaScript-rendered pages. An extension reads the article from your tab — the full DOM, your auth state, your subscription. Anya can summarize a paywalled industry blog she has access to without copy-pasting; Theo can summarize an article behind a corporate SSO wall. The extension only activates when you click it, so it doesn't see what you didn't ask it to.

Output styles for the same article

From one article, generate bullets for triage, full notes for deeper reading, a research brief for citation, or a publishing-ready post for sharing. Switch styles without re-extracting the article — Reduz keeps the source content in memory while the tab is open. Each output saves to local history as a separate artifact.

Selected-text mode for one section

For long-form articles with many sections, you may only want a specific paragraph summarized. Highlight the text, right-click, and choose Summarize text with Reduz. The selection becomes the source instead of the whole article — useful for quoting specific claims or extracting one argument from a longer piece.

History, search, and revisit

Every article summary saves to local storage history on your device with the source URL, article title, timestamp, provider used, and output style. Search the history by title or URL; filter by date or output style; re-export to Markdown, PDF, or DOCX. Optional zero-knowledge encrypted cloud backup is available if you want a copy off-device.

Hosted Free vs your own AI key for articles

Hosted Free processes article text through the Reduz relay using a hosted AI model and counts 1 credit per article. 100 monthly credits cover ~100 articles a month with no card. Your own AI key sends article text direct from your browser to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, or xAI Grok using your own API key. A typical 3,000-word article on Claude Haiku 4.5 or GPT-5.4 Mini costs a fraction of a cent.

Frequently asked questions

Does Reduz work on paywalled articles?

Reduz summarizes article text that is visible to you in the browser — including paywalled content where you have a subscription. It does not bypass paywalls or fetch hidden content. If you can read the article in Chrome, Reduz can summarize it.

Can I summarize selected text instead of the whole article?

Yes. Highlight the text you want to summarize, right-click, and choose Summarize text with Reduz from the context menu. The selection becomes the source instead of the full article. Useful for quoting specific claims or summarizing one section of a long piece.

Why use an extension instead of pasting a URL into a web tool?

Server-side URL fetchers fail on paywalled content, auth-gated pages, and bot-defended sites. An extension reads the article from your tab — the same DOM you're seeing in Chrome — so it works on any article you can read, including subscription content and internal blogs.

Can Reduz cite or link back to the original article?

Yes. Every summary saves the source URL alongside the article title in local history. Exports to Markdown and PDF include the source link; DOCX exports include it in the document metadata.

Which provider produces the best article summaries?

For most articles, Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini Flash, and GPT-5.4 Mini produce comparable quality at low cost. For long-form (10,000+ word) articles or complex argument structures, Claude Sonnet 4.6 and GPT-5.5 produce noticeably better outputs. Try a few — switching providers in Reduz takes one click.

Is Reduz free?

Yes. Reduz includes 100 free credits a month. Using your own AI key removes the credit limit.

Do I need an account?

Not when you use your own AI key. An account is only needed for free credits, paid plans, or cloud backup.

Where is my data stored?

Summary history is stored in your browser. Cloud backup is opt-in and encrypted on your device before upload.

Which AI providers does Reduz support?

Reduz supports OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, and xAI Grok. You can also use free credits without setting up an AI account.