Xmarks, the bookmark syncing service formerly known as Foxmarks, announced today it will close its doors and delete its users' data on January 10, 2011. The always-free, cross-browser syncing service couldn't find a business model, it seems, especially among newer auto-syncing browsers.


We first wrote about Xmarks back when it was Foxmarks, and even then, it was an impressive service that simplified a process that could be done, but in geeky fashion. Then it went on to add selective bookmark syncing, password syncing, and eventually became the full-fledged Xmarks, with support for the other three major browsers and a few new social-ish search enhancements baked in.


Those search enhancement features never really took off, though, and while Xmarks is currently hosting more than 1.2 billion bookmarks from roughly 5 million computers for 2 million users (and adding an estimated 3,000 accounts on a day like today), the firm has struggled to find a money-making service or offering to support the staff and servers. More importantly, as their blog post points out, each of the major browsers offers some kind of synchronization service now—though none with the kind of cross-browser reach that Xmarks enjoyed.

Xmarks has put up the crucial information on getting your bookmarks out and migrating to other services on its Shutdown page. The short of it: the service and servers will be up until January 10, and Xmarks promises that it won't be selling or monetizing its users' bookmark data—in fact, it all gets wiped after shutdown. There's a link included at the Shutdown page to wipe out everything you have on Xmarks right now, if you used to have an account and want it gone.

We welcome your memorials, comparable service suggestions, and other takes on bookmark syncing in the comments.

Xmarks Sync to be Discontinued [Xmarks]