Pinterest is an overall solid service for finding new ideas for things and having a place to save them.
That being said, Pinterest is mostly a one-size-fits-all generalist app, and sometimes you might need an alternative to Pinterest that is more focused on a certain niche, like recipes, crafts, DIY or web design.
Other times, you might need a Pinterest alternative that focuses more on actual functionality such as saving more types of content like PDF files, videos, gifs, Office documents, annotation etc.
Generalist sites and apps like Pinterest
We Heart It
We Heart It is the closest alternative to Pinterest, and has near identical functionality.
You can:
- Search and browse ideas.
- Save posts to collections.
- Create your own posts.
- Follow other people and collections (Pinterest equivalent of boards).
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Raindrop
Raindrop.io is essentially a very flexible and powerful bookmarking and online storage tool, available both in app form and browser extension.
If you’re using Pinterest mostly as a way to save interesting stuff you find around the Internet, then Raindrop.io could just be the thing for you.
What makes Raindrop so unique is that, besides bookmarking links, you can also upload files such as PDF, mp3’s, videos, photos, documents etc.
You will have a 100mb per month limit, but simply the fact that this feature is available makes it a very useful tool.
That being said, Raindrop.io only allows you to save and organize content, not to browse the Internet for new ideas.
This means you can’t use Raindrop to find new food recipes or other useful stuff.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Pearltrees
Pearltrees is the closest possible alternative to Pinterest.
Just like with Pinterest, you can save photos and articles from around the Internet in “collections” that you are free to create.
Another major similarity to Pinterest is that Pearltrees has a built-in search function you can use to explore new ideas and collections from other users.
This means you’re not limited to your own content and can browse through lots of posts for more inspiration.
The only downside to Pearltrees is that it’s interface is rather old looking and not as pleasing to use as Pinterest.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Tumblr
Tumblr is a microblogging site similar to Pinterest, where users can post a wide variety of content including: photos, text posts, links, videos, audio and more.
Most of the content on Tumblr is structured around “microblogs”, and most are dedicated to a particular niche such as archaeology, recipes, history, design etc.
You can save posts you like either by simply liking a post, or by creating multiple microblogs on the same account and then sharing the post to your relevant microblog. It’s the same mechanic as Pinterest boards in essence.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Flickr
Like Pinterest, Flickr is primarily a photo-based social media platform mixed with an extremely convenient cloud photo storage service.
For users that are interested strictly in photos (rather than drawings, infographics, illustration etc), Flickr is a fantastic service since it allows you to:
Post your own photography and build a following.
Follow other photographers and their work.
Explore Groups based on certain interests (architecture, food, urban exploration, character poses, traveling, artistic photos etc.)
Finally, you can create personal galleries (collections, basically), to save any photo you like, either from you or other photographers.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
500px
500px is a photo sharing platform similar to Flickr, where photographers post and share their work.
You can search for photos based on various subjects, follow groups or individual photographers. Finally, you can save photos you like to collections of your choosing.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Diigo
Diigo is a bookmarking service that allows you to save and annotate web pages, PDF articles and more, while also providing a lot of extra functionality such as:
- Screenshotting and saving the images in Diigo, alongside any annotation.
- Highlight passages in articles and leave sticky notes or comments.
- Organize bookmarks based on tags or file type.
- Annotating webpages and PDF’s.
Diigo doesn’t have a search engine, so you can’t use it to browse for new content, but if you want a tool to help you organize files and do proper research, then Diigo is worth a shot.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Peoople
Peoople is an iOS and Android social network purely dedicated to users who recommend products in practically any category you can think off.
You can choose to follow these users and see the products each user recommends. Most of them are specialized around certain niches.
As for the categories, here is what you can expect to find:
- Films and TV series (broken down by genre such as drama, comedy etc.)
- Games.
- Toys.
- Sports.
- Books (drama, thrillers, action, mystery etc.)
- Electronics (headphones, power chargers, batteries, monitors etc.)
- Apps.
- Travel locations.
- Home decor.
If you’re looking for a social network that is heavily specialized around recommending products, then Peoople might just be what you’re looking for.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Instagram Tags & Save to Collection
To use Instagram as a Pinterest replacement, consider searching and following tags, instead of users.
Just as an example, the #homedecor tag has 100 million photos you can explore. Not only that, but most of the Instagram posts there are very on-topic thanks to its algorithm.
Instagram can also be used for more text heavy searches such as recipes. This is because most Instagram posts for recipes also include the actual steps in the photo description, and many recipe posts have a carrousel of images showing you how to complete the recipe step-by-step.
Once you find relevant images, you can then save them to Collections. You can create as many Collections as you want, for any topic you want.
The big disadvantage of Instagram as a Pinterest replacement is that you can’t click on images to follow links, poor desktop support, and a cumbersome UI that’s not really designed for saving content.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Sites and apps like Pinterest for Art
ArtStation
ArtStation is a service primarily dedicated to artists in the video game industry, namely concept artists, character designers, environments designers etc.
If you’re looking for amazing and otherworldly landscapes, creatures and imaginary worlds then ArtStation is a fantastic place to browse.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
DeviantArt
DeviantArt is a site where artists post their work, meaning photography, illustrations, drawings, paintings etc.
The site allows you to follow individual artists, collections, groups and journals.
You can save creations you like to your own personal collections.
A great site for those who want more artistic content, not so much for those who want a more general site.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Pixiv
Pixiv is a Pinterest-like site designed for manga, anime and illustration.
When you create an account, you get access to a wide network of subsites, and each one has its own specialization:
Videos and tutorials that teach you how to draw in anime style.
Read fan made manga for free.
An indie marketplace for photos, illustration and more.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Sites like Pinterest for fashion, home decor & DIY crafts
Etsy
Etsy is an online marketplace designed for small, boutique product designers and sellers.
Often times, the shops are operated and run by only 1 to 3 people who create various products such as clothing, accessories, paintings, furniture and more.
Overall, Etsy has an absolute ton of cool and interesting fashion, DIY and crafts stuff you will not find on Pinterest, and offers extensive saving features such as lists and more.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Hometalk
Hometalk.com is a site for DIY projects, as well as a discovery engine for finding new and interesting home decor stuff.
What makes site useful is the huge amount of DIY guides and documentation available to build pretty much anything you want.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Houzz
Houzz is a site specialized in home decor, and has deep eCommerce functionalities so that any product you see can actually be purchased.
It’s a fantastic site even if you don’t want to spend money, since it offers an excellent search engine and with numerous filters such as budget, size, style, color and more.
You can save certain products or layouts in lists called “Projects”. You can create as many projects as you want,
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Sites and apps like Pinterest for recipes
Tasty
Tasty is an amazing food recipe app developed by Buzzfeed. Whatever you may think of Buzzfeed, this recipe app is actually surprisingly good and well organized.
Every recipe comes with a short, to the point instruction video, ability to change unit measurements (US or metric), nutrition information.
What really makes it unique is the integration with Walmart grocery so you can automatically have all products delivered to you at a click of a button and many other quality of life features.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
SideChef
SideChef is one of the biggest and most popular recipe apps, and has close to 20,000 unique recipes you can try out.
You can search for recipes based on ingredients, time for preparation, diet, allergies etc.
SideChef also comes with a feature where you can save individual recipes to “cookbooks”, these are recipe collections basically and you can create as many as you want.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Sites and apps like Pinterest for design
Behance.net
Behance is a site specialized for professionals in visual fields: illustrators, photographers, web designers, branding, fashion, animation, motion graphics, 3D modelling and so on.
If you need inspiration for a project that is similar in scope to those above, then Behance is a great place to start since there’s a wealth of use-submitted content for practically anything you need.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Dribbble
Dribbble is a Pinterest for professional designs in a wide variety of fields: animation, illustration, typography, logo design, branding, print etc.
The site allows you to search, like and save content based and filter them into folders.
If you’re a professional, you can use Dribbble as a portfolio site to show off your work.
As a wider functionality, Dribbble lets you search for work as a freelancer designer, or even hire other freelance designers to work for you.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Pexels
Pexels is a stock photography site specializing that has an entirely free to use library of photos and videos.
If you’re on Pinterest looking for stock photos to use in various projects, then Pexels might be a good alternative since everything there is free so you won’t have to worry about licensing rights.
Plus, the Pexels library is vast and has millions of photos you can use without worrying about licensing issues.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Depositphotos
A stock photography site similar to Pexels. The only difference is that Depositphotos.com is a paid website, with the lowest price costing $36 per month with 25 included images.
As for content, Depositphotos has around 200 million photos, sounds effects, videos, illustrations, vector images and more.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Sites and apps like Pinterest for reading
Flipboard is a content curation tool, mostly used for written articles such as recipes, DIY guides, blog posts, news, commentary, discussion etc.
With Flipboard, you can discover articles either by search, following publishers (like Wall Street Journal or even smaller blogs) or by following categories (such as Economics).
You can then save articles you like in collections called “Magazines”. You can create as many magazines as you want, for whatever topic is on your mind.
Where Flipboard might not replace Pinterest is its visual bookmarking features, since it does not excel at saving photos and other visual content like videos, gifs and so on.
Website Link | Google Play | iTunes App Store
Reddit is a very different social network compared to Pinterest, but there is some overlap in what you can do on both platforms.
Vaguely similar to boards, Reddit has communities called “subreddits” that are built around certain topics (books, DIY, food recipes etc.).
Thousands to millions of people are part of the subreddits.
These are very strictly moderated to keep everything on-topic. What you end up with are communities you can browse and search through to obtain ideas and inspiration.
The disadvantage of Reddit is that most of the ideas come in text form. There is a lot of reading involved if you want to really obtain useful information.
Another disadvantage is that Reddit has a poor saving feature. You cannot create different “boards” where you can save interesting comments or threads.
Instead, everything you saved is organized in just one place. This makes navigating through your saved list a chore and not very easy to do.