Almost all of us have a particular set of favorite websites, blogs, news portals etc. that we visit on a near daily basis. And when it comes to keeping tabs on the latest updates from all these diverse web sources, nothing works better than RSS feed aggregators, such as the hugely popular Feedly. Now, although Feedly is a really great RSS reader, it also has its fair share of limitations. Some users are also unable to digest the high price of its Pro version. If you are also tired of using Feedly, don’t fret, as there are numerous feature laden RSS feed aggregators out there that you can use as alternatives. Stoked? Let’s take a look at the 10 best Feedly alternatives you can use in 2020.
Best Feedly Alternatives in 2020
1. The Old Reader
The Old Reader is one of the complete alternatives to Feedly with jam-packed features and superior platform support. Similar to Feedly, you can add your sources including websites, blogs, keywords, and a lot more. The best part about Old Reader is that it can create a feed from direct URLs as well, in case the website does not support RSS syndication service. And if you are already using Feedly or any other RSS reader then you can seamlessly migrate all your feed subscription using the OPML file extension. That’s awesome, right? But wait, there is more to it. You can also export the personalized feed folders so that you feel right at home after moving to Old Reader.
Apart from that, you can organize your feed with various tags and folders. Further, you can reposition the news sections just by dragging and that is awesome because I want my news in the right order. Having said that, The Old Reader has something called a ‘Like’ action button which helps you in discovering similar content and also connects you with users having related interests. Not to mention, you can bookmark articles in a separate folder for later reading as well. All in all, The Old Reader is an apt replacement to Feedly and you simply can’t go wrong with it.
Platform Availability: Browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari; iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Windows Phone (Mobile)
Price: Free, Paid plans start from $3/month
2. Feedbin
Feedbin is an open-source alternative to Feedly which I would say, is on par with Feedly in terms of both slick design and features. Talking about the features, you can add your sources ranging from websites to email newsletters. But the best part is that you can also add Twitter handles creating a single feed of all the information. On the interface front, there is support for dark theme and various fonts which can be customized for the optimal reading experience. Apart from that, what I love about Feedbin is that you can read articles in full-screen mode which gives an immersive experience and allows you to pay full attention to details.
The best part about Feedbin is that it can sync feed in real-time and you can continue reading while moving from one device to another. In addition, Feedbin comes with something called faves which is basically the bookmark feature and also has support for seamless sharing across many apps. Apart from that, you have newsletter support, text-only reading, saved searches and surprisingly podcast which is a unique addition in an RSS reader. Nevertheless, Feedbin is one of the feature-packed RSS readers and easily rivals Feedly. Have no hesitation in picking this RSS reader.
Platform Availability: Web, iOS, Android
Price: Free trial for 14 days, Paid plans start from $5/month
3. Inoreader
Having a truckload of impressive features, Inoreader is arguably the most feature packed Feedly alternative out there, and one that’s truly built for the power user. Getting started with Inoreader is as simple as creating a free account and logging in. You can either choose your favorite topics (e.g. sports, technology) for getting an automatically curated feed, or use the Subscriptions menu in the left side-bar to add/manage your favorite websites and other feed sources.
Inoreader fully supports tags and folders, which make organizing feeds easy. You can star your favorite articles, as well directly share them on a variety of social networks (Facebook, Baidu, Remember The Milk etc.) that Inoreader supports. Not only that, you can even create custom filtering rules for specific articles by configuring parameters like subscription source, title text, and stuff like that.
The free tier account is ad supported and doesn’t include advanced features like automatic feed backups, and public article searching. In addition, it also caps the maximum number of certain features like rules and filtered feeds. However, you can always upgrade to one of the paid plans for removing all these restrictions, and get goodies like customizable dashboard, access to password protected feeds, and much more.
Platform Availability: Browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera (Web); iOS, Android, Windows Phone (Mobile); Multiple third party extensions and apps (Other platforms)
Price: Paid plans start from $14.99 per year, Free plan available
4. Reeder 4
If you are in the Apple ecosystem, Reeder is the best alternative to Feedly by a long run. It’s as powerful and feature-rich as Feedly with native apps for Mac, iPad, and iPhone. For starters, you can choose multiple news sources, personal blogs, newsletters and it will streamline all the headlines in a readable format. Further, you can choose to read articles by individual websites too and in case you are running out of time then you can save them for later reading. One interesting feature of Reeder 4 is Bionic Reading which highlights initials of every word so you can scan and read the article quickly.
Other than that, what I love about Reeder 4 is that it shows article thumbnail, which even Feedly lacks, and lets you preview images without clicking on them. Not to mention, the Reeder 4 app comes in dark mode for strain-free reading so that is great. Also, keep in mind, unlike Feedly, Reeder 4 does not follow a subscription model. Instead, it charges you a one-time fee and that is about it. All in all, I would say Reeder 4 is the perfect RSS Reader for Apple users and you should definitely give it a try.
Platform Availability: iOS, macOS
Price: $4.99 for iOS, $9.99 for macOS
5. NewsBlur
Want a powerhouse solution for taking care of all your feed management needs? Look no further than NewsBlur. Toting a whole bunch of goodies, NewsBlur is a pretty great RSS feed aggregator, and a solid Feedly alternative. It has a variety of topics (e.g. travel and geography) that can be selected for building a pre-curated feed, and of course, you can add your own websites as well. NewsBlur includes different reading modes (feed, text etc.), which can be used to view/read the feed stories the way you like.
Your favorite stories can be saved for later reading, as well as shared on numerous social networks like Twitter, Instapaper, Tumblr, and Delicious. The feed layout can be customized, and handy keyboard shortcuts make navigating your feed a breeze. However, perhaps the highlight feature of NewsBlur has to be its Intelligence Trainer, which can be used to train NewsBlur to automatically filter your feed with curated stories, based on specified parameters like author name and categories.
Then there’s the Blurblog (your personalized NewsBlur hosted webpage, with the URL as: www.<username>.newsblur.com), which can be used to publicly share your favorite stories with others, and other goodies like keyboard shortcuts, feed statistics, and more. The free level account of NewsBlur restricts the maximum number of sites to 64, in addition to disabling public search and some other features. So if you want the whole deal, you can upgrade to the premium account which removes all these restrictions, and provides other features such as full story searching, private sharing, and stuff like that.
Platform Availability: Browser extensions/bookmarklets for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari (Web); iOS, Android, Third party Windows Phone (Mobile); Multiple third party apps (Other Platforms)
Price: Paid account costs $24 per year, Free account available
6. Flipboard
Many think that Flipboard is all about news recommendation, but it also offers an option to add your news sources which makes it very much like Feedly. It has something called Magazine, under which you can add your favorite news outlets, blogs, Medium channels and it will automatically organize your feed into several categories such as social, politics, science, etc. Other than that, it also comes with later reading and bookmarks feature. However, keep in mind, Flipboard is not as feature-packed as Feedly and does not have key features like feed grouping and mark read support. Anyway, if you are looking for personalized news service with decent RSS reader backed in then Flipboard can be a good alternative to Feedly.
Platform Availability: Web, Android, iOS
Price: Free
7. G2Reader
The lightweight G2Reader makes quick work of reading the latest updates from your subscribed feeds. Toting the standard dual column UI, G2Reader lists all regular sub-sections (e.g. starred items, unread) in the left, while showing up the feed stories in the right. Quite a nice Feedly alternative if you ask me! Once you add your feeds (which is as simple as hitting the Add a new subscription button on the top left), the latest stories are displayed in nice looking individual boxes, with each box having quick sharing buttons for instant sharing on web services like Twitter, Google Plus, Buffer, Pocket, and of course, Email.
An interesting feature of G2Reader is its Trending section, which shows the currently popular stories/articles on the web. Other than that, ther’s full text search functionality, as well as cross-device syncing. The basic account of G2Reader limits the maximum feeds and items per feed to 100, and is advertising supported. To get more features, you can upgrade to the paid account, which removes these restrictions, and also provides additional goodies like customized feed updates and premium customer support.
Platform Availability: Browser based (Web); Android (Mobile)
Price: Premium account costs $29 per year, Free account available
8. Feedspot
Feedspot is a web-based RSS feed reader that not only allows you to follow blogs and websites but also Youtube channels, podcasts, and more. When you first sign-up for the service, you will be asked to select your sources. You can do it here or just finish the sign-up and add it using your dashboard. Adding websites and YouTube channels is easy enough. You just search for the name and click on the “Add” button in the result. However, adding your favorite podcasts was not easy. You have to find the RSS feeds of podcasts to add them here. You can’t simply search by name. I find it easier to listen to podcast on my Android device.
That being said, once you set up your account, it makes it easy to manage all the content. What I love about this service is that you can set up email alerts so you don’t have to open the app and just receive emails with all the new posts. You can change the frequency of the emails and even select multiple receivers. This makes it great for people who want to share their RSS feed with family or team members. The UI of the app looks a bit outdated, but functionally, it has all the features you need. You can change the theme of the app which makes it better. It’s a viable replacement for Feedly.
Platform Availability: Web
Price: Free, $19/month for businesses and publishers
9. NetNewsWire
NetNewsWire is a free and open-source RSS reader for Mac and iOS. It lets you easily subscribe to your favorite blogs, tech news portals, and websites, and syncs all your data across devices. So, if you marked an article as read on your Mac, it will reflect the same on your iPhone. It sports a modern user interface with both dark and light mode options. I love that it pulls the website favicons and displays them alongside articles making it easier to identify them. Some of my favorite features of NetNewsWire include direct feed-downloading, support for multiple accounts, an excellent reader view, keyboard shortcut support, and more. If you are looking for a free and open-source RSS reader that can match the UI beauty of even the best-paid apps, this is the one to get.
Platform Availability: macOS, iOS
Price: Free
10. Netvibes
Netvibes is a service that lets you create a dashboard of everything that you love online. You can follow websites, social media accounts, YouTube channels, and more. You can even add your calendar, add to-dos, and sync emails. This allows you to create a dashboard that gives you a holistic view of your life and interests. I mean the service even lets you connect your IoT devices and control them from the dashboard. While I haven’t gone so deep into the hole, I tested is as a Feedly replacement and it worked great.
I love the built-in automation features that let me share articles and even automatically reply to tweets. If you get the premium version, you can create custom searches for tracked topics, get social analytics, and more. Needless to say, Netvibes does a lot more than Feedly and can be overwhelming for some people. However, if you are looking to create a dashboard for your online life, it’s worth giving it a try.
Platform Availability: Web
Price: Free, Paid plans start from $2/month
Get Your Favorite Web Content with These Feedly Alternatives
With the (practically) unlimited content that’s available online, it does get a little problematic at times managing that information inflow. However, the RSS feed aggregators mentioned above make sure you don’t have to worry. Do check them out and let us know your favorite Feedly alternatives by writing in the comment section below.
