X Brain vs Dewey for X/Twitter Likes (2026 Comparison)
X Brain vs Dewey for X/Twitter Likes
TL;DR: Both tools import your historical X likes, which makes this a closer comparison than most. The difference is how they get them: Dewey reads your likes page through a browser extension, and X Brain reads the official X data archive. Dewey then keeps syncing and covers eight other platforms; X Brain does one archive at a time but adds semantic search, automatic classification, an Obsidian vault export, and an MCP server for Claude. Dewey is $10/mo, $7.50/mo billed annually, or $225 for life. X Brain is $19 once.
Pricing and features below were checked against Dewey's own pricing and help pages on 6 August 2026. Both products change, so verify before you buy.
Dewey imports likes too, and that matters
A lot of comparison pages in this niche claim their tool is the only one that reaches your likes rather than just your bookmarks. Against Dewey, that claim is false, and it is worth correcting plainly.
Dewey ships a "Grab Likes" button that sits at the top of your X likes page, alongside its "Grab Bookmarks" equivalent. Click it and Dewey pulls your likes into your library, warning you first that the number may run to tens of thousands. Once imported, likes and bookmarks sit side by side and are distinguishable in the interface.
So the real question is not who reaches likes. It is what each capture method can and cannot see.
The capture methods are the actual difference
Dewey reads the page. The extension works through your logged-in session, walking the likes timeline the same way you would by scrolling. This is why it can keep the author of each post: the author is right there on screen. It is also why it keeps working continuously, catching new likes as you add them.
The constraint is that it can only take what X serves. X paginates the likes timeline, and for accounts with very large like histories it stops returning older entries past a certain depth. Anything reading that timeline inherits the limit. This is the well-known complaint from heavy likers that old likes become unreachable.
X Brain reads the archive. You request your data archive from X, and X builds a file containing your complete like history with no pagination limit and no scroll depth to exhaust. X Brain parses like.js out of that ZIP and processes all of it.
The constraint is the file's contents. like.js stores the post ID, the text, and a URL. That is all:
- No author field. X Brain cannot filter by who wrote a post, and does not pretend to. Dewey can, because it scraped the page.
- No "date I liked it". Not recorded in the archive. X Brain's dates are publication dates recovered from the post ID.
- No live sync. New likes appear only when you download and upload a fresh archive.
Trading author filtering for completeness is a real trade, and which side you want depends on whether your oldest likes are reachable by scrolling. If you have a few hundred likes, they are, and Dewey's method costs you nothing. If you have twenty thousand going back to 2016, the archive is the only thing that sees the bottom of the pile.
Pricing
| X Brain | Dewey Free | Dewey Pro | Dewey Lifetime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $19 one-time | Free | $10/mo, or $7.50/mo billed annually | $225 one-time |
| Connected accounts | Not applicable, you upload a file | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Syncing | Manual re-upload | Manual | Automatic | Automatic |
| AI cost | Your own key, typically $1 to $3 | n/a | Included | Included |
Dewey also sells a $50 Export Pass that unlocks exporting for 48 hours, which is aimed at people who want their data out and nothing else.
X Brain's $19 covers the product, not the AI. You supply an OpenAI, Anthropic, or Gemini key and pay that provider directly for the embedding and classification run, typically $1 to $3 for a whole archive. Your keys stay yours and are encrypted at rest.
What Dewey does that X Brain does not
- Continuous sync. New saves arrive without you doing anything.
- Eight more platforms. Bluesky, LinkedIn, Threads, Truth, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and Substack.
- Author retained. A direct consequence of scraping the page rather than reading the archive.
- Folders, including public ones. X Brain organises by AI-assigned category, not by folders you make.
- Deleted-post backup. Copies survive the original coming down.
- Notion and Google Sheets integrations, plus PDF, CSV, and media export.
- Longer track record. Dewey has been running since 2021.
What X Brain does that Dewey does not
- Semantic search. Find the thread about hiring engineers without recalling one exact word from it. Dewey's search is filter and keyword based.
- Automatic classification. 15 knowledge domains and 65+ subcategories assigned for you, plus a key takeaway, knowledge type, and relevance score per post.
- Obsidian vault export. A structured ZIP with one Markdown note per post, YAML frontmatter, tags, and category and topic index notes. Dewey's pricing page lists PDF, CSV, media, Notion, and Google Sheets, not Obsidian.
- An MCP server. Connect the library to Claude and query your own saved posts in conversation, with four read-only tools. Dewey does not offer one. ContextBolt, a different competitor, does offer MCP over bookmarks on its Pro tier, so this is a point against Dewey rather than a first in the category.
- No extension in the loop. Nothing to break when X changes its markup, and no ongoing access to your account.
- One payment. $19, no renewal.
Which to pick
Pick Dewey if you save across several platforms, want new saves captured automatically, need to filter by author, or want folders you control. It is the more complete general-purpose save manager, and the $225 lifetime tier is a reasonable answer to subscription fatigue if you intend to stay.
Pick X Brain if the job is a large back catalogue of X likes you want made searchable and organised once: especially if it is big or old enough that scrolling cannot reach the bottom, or if you want it in Obsidian, or if you want to ask Claude about it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Dewey support Twitter likes or only bookmarks?
Both. Dewey provides a "Grab Likes" button on your X likes page that imports likes into your library alongside bookmarks, and the two remain distinguishable afterwards. Claims that Dewey handles only bookmarks are out of date.
Why use an archive instead of a browser extension?
Because the archive is complete. X paginates the likes timeline and stops serving older entries past a certain depth, so anything reading that page inherits the limit. The data archive X builds for you has no such cap. The cost of the archive route is that it carries no author field and no record of when you liked each post.
Is X Brain cheaper than Dewey?
For a single import, yes: $19 once plus roughly $1 to $3 in AI provider costs, against $10 per month, $7.50 per month billed annually, or $225 for Dewey's lifetime tier. The comparison only holds if you want a one-time import, since Dewey's price includes ongoing sync across nine platforms.
Can I filter my likes by author in either tool?
In Dewey, yes, because it captures posts from the page where the author is visible. In X Brain, no. The archive's like.js file has no author field, so no archive-based tool can filter by author without paid per-post X API lookups, which X Brain does not perform.
Can I use both?
Yes. Running X Brain once over your archive recovers and classifies the full back catalogue, including anything too old for the likes page to serve, while Dewey handles ongoing capture across platforms. They read different sources, so they do not conflict.