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Best Free RSS Reader-Aggregator
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Introduction
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Interim notes on migrating from Google Reader: Google Reader was swept up in "Spring Cleaning this year at Google. Several feed readers currently use the Reader API to sync subscriptions between computers and portable devices. They will be left high and dry unless another API is made available to fill the gap. You should export your feed subscriptions from Google Reader now if you don't do something else.
Feedly was already working on their own backend server, and they say that Feedly will switch over to it seamlessly when the API is shuttered at Google. They may decide to make their API available to other readers. We're in a wait-and-see mode for readers that depended on Google Reader for sync. RSSOwl issued a note note about the need to install the an older version - RSSOwl 2.1.6 - before you can import feeds from Google Reader. After the import you can easily update to RSSOwl 2.2 (or later) and continue the migration by selecting Tools > Unsubscribe from Google Reader. I don't know if you can use an OPML file exported from Google Reader as an alternative. FeedDemon: Nick Bradbury intends to release one final version of FeedDemon that eliminates synchronization with Google Reader. "This version will be free, won't contain any ads, and will have all of the features of the Pro version." There are many ways to aggregate and read feeds.
The "best" feed reader is a matter of individual preference, or even personal taste. No matter which reader you choose, it should give you some way to back up your feeds, preferably as an OPML file. You may also be able to use your OPML file to move to another reader, although the formats may not be compatible. |
NewsBlur makes it dead simple to connect to Google Reader or upload an OPML file to clone your Google Reader subscriptions.
It's available as an extension / add-on for all major browsers, and there are web-apps for iPhone and iPad. It has steadily improved since it was announced. Feedly uses Google Reader for sync, but they are developing their own backend server. See more on these and other readers in 
There are many good ones. Most of them, including the best, are free like browsers. The one that matches the way you want to work is best for you. :-)|
Discussion
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FeedDemon: A powerful, time-proven program with a well thought out user interface. It can be intimidating to new RSS users, but most are able learn to use FeedDemon fairly quickly, and it has an excellent help facility. FeedDemon integrates seamlessly with Google Reader, so you have great synchronism between devices, as well as access to the best of desktop and web-based readers. You can subscribe to feeds and manage them in either FeedDemon or Google Reader. You can subscribe to audio podcasts and play them directly from FeedDemon as well. The Pro version of FeedDemon also handles secure feeds (those that require a username and password). Update: FeedDemon will revert to one last, free, non-synced, pro version. "FeedDemon requires Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7, with Internet Explorer 7 or later installed." It's been running fine for me on Windows 8 too. RSSOwl: Compares very favorably with FeedDemon. They both have powerful ways to manage feeds, and several viewing options. RSSOwl's options seem more versatile. It's not obvious how to find and set up just the combination of options you want for either one though. I like to view just a list of feed posts in the reader, and open the ones that catch my eye directly in Firefox. That combination is not easy to set up, but it's possible to get just what I want in both. I like the resulting view in RSSOwl a little better, but there are many other viewing modes that I haven't evaluated. RSSOwl easily imports existing feeds from other readers.
FeedReader is a simple, straightforward program that easily handles a large number of feeds. FeedReader is not as powerful as FeedDemon but it has most of the important options, and not a lot of confusing ones. It does not require Java either (many readers do for some reason). FeedReader provides the important option to open links in an external browser (but not the post itself as FeedDemon does). It does not sync with Google Reader, but imports or exports OPML files that are compatible with Google Reader.
WebReader is the desktop companion of a series of mobile-apps for iPad, iPhone, and Kindle Fire (so far). It provides just the few important options you'd expect in a mobile-app. That makes it easy to learn how to use, especially if you're familiar with touch-centric devices (which they have nicely appproximated with mouse navigation for the PC version). I liked the ease with which you can access web feeds by list, excerpts or full posts, with "Previous" / "Next" arrows to navigate with. You can also read the original content at websites/blogs directly in the reading pane. WebReader not sync directly with Google Reader, but it does import/export OPML files, which allows you to sync indirectly. BlogBridge is targeted at power users who subscribe to many feeds, but don't let that scare you off. It's designed to make it easy to discover feeds you'll be interested in. BlogBridge gives you access to "Guides", which are written by experts in many different feed categories. You can upload a list of your feeds to a free "BlogBridge Service" account to synchronize your feeds across multiple computers. Omea Reader combines Web browsing, feed reading and newsgroups in one capable application. Omea Pro (also free) adds email, ICQ and Miranda (multi-protocol IM) to create an integrated information workspace. Integrated with Microsoft Outlook for email. RSS Bandit and Awasu are comparable to FeedDemon, but they're a bit less capable and complex. That means their learning curves are not as formidable. Even so, they are elegant full-featured readers. RSS Bandit is now an Open Source program. It was launched by Dare Obasanjo -- programmer, avid feed reader and active blogger. Awasu is widely used by business users. |
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Related Products and Links
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Notice: Google announced that Google Reader was swept up in their 2013 "Spring Cleaning." Many feed readers currently use the Reader API to sync subscriptions and post read status between computers and also portable devices. They will all be left high and dry unless another API is made available by some as yet unknown entity that leaps in to fill the gap. Read more at the top in the Introduction. 6 Free Google Reader Alternatives describes Web-based readers to consider replacing Google Reader with. Thunderbird Thunderbird has built-in support for aggregating RSS feeds. Thunderbird allows you to view RSS feeds the same way you view your email. I is convenient to have feeds available without opening another program. It's simple - but a little obscure the first time - to subscribe to RSS feeds with Thunderbird. The mollizaZine knowledge base has the information you need to get started subscribing to RSS feeds with Thunderbird. Web-based readers Blogtrotter is a unique service that accesses web feeds you subscribe to and relays them to your email inbox. It converts the content to a compact, easy-to-read format. Blogtrotter accepts OPML subscription lists so you could use it to replace Google Reader if you only have several feeds you want to follow. Netvibes offers a wide range of "widgets" and apps to access web feeds, tweets and other kinds of dynamic content. For example, there's an app that delivers all the latest news from Google, split up into 8 tabs for World, U.S., Business, Sci/Tech, Sports, Entertainment, Health and Most Popular. Feedbooster has an impressive array of filters -- date, folder, author, source, etc. It's a different way to access articles. I loaded Feedbooster with a large collection feeds, and it made it easy to find specific feeds and topics. Some users will find it works well for them. Browser Add-ons / Extensions and Web-apps Add-ons / Extensions for browsers and web-apps for smartphones and tablets combine many of the advantages of desktop readers and web-based readers like Google Reader. They have a small footprint and can be "instantly" installed/uninstalled as well. Like web-based readers, an add-on reader creates an efficient browser-centric workspace, with good work flow for feed-based tasks. Opera has a built-in RSS reader integrated with Opera Mail. NewsBlur is an exciting new web-based reader that could be going places. See my reply to a fortuitious comment below for more information. Feedly is a unique feed reader for the 21st Century. Feedly offers numerous ways to add, filter, display, mark, and share content. Feedly does display advertisements, but in an interesting, relevant way. It has steadily improved since it was introduced. They are even positioned to replace Google Reader API with their own backend sync server. [more] Brief is a Firefox extension: It is powerful and simple at the same time. Brief is an excellent, capable replacement for Google Reader. I follow nearly 500 feeds [crazy I know], and Brief imported all of them flawlessly for my test. NewsFox is another capable add-on that puts a three pane reader (classic email layout) directly in a tab. Both of these Firefox extensions integrate directly with Live Bookmarks. There are also many other feed reader extensions for Firefox. RSS Subscription Extension adds RSS feed discovery and subscription options to Chrome. The extension comes with 4 feed readers predefined (Google Reader, iGoogle, Bloglines and My Yahoo). There are not many feed-reader add-ons for IE7, and I have not evaluated any of them except Feed Plus, which adds very little. The best way that I've found to extend IE7 is to install Windows Live Mail — yes, the email program — or RSS Bandit. Both of them automatically tie in with IE7 feed subscriptions through the Windows RSS Platform. The article may leave the impression that this only works in Vista, but it works with Windows XP if you have IE7 and SP3 installed. Podcast and Vidcast "readers" gPodder downloads and manages audio and video content ("podcasts"). Listen directly on your computer or on your mobile devices. Supports RSS, Atom, YouTube, Soundcloud, Vimeo and XSPF feed formats. For Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, Mac OS X and mobile devices like the Nokia N810, N900, N9 and Sailfish OS. A portable version is available from PortableApps.com Miro is ideally suited for pulling in and managing content from video feeds (vidcasts). It's a powerful open-source video aggregator that opens up a large variety of video "channels". The organization behind Miro is working for a more open and diverse world of online video. [more video programs] Juice's primary purpose is to pull in and manage audio content (podcasts). Juice supports many media players directly. According to a comment below, Juice appears to be abandon ware, but works fine. FeedDemon also has a podcast utility. BitsCast, FireANT and VLC Media Player are some more media aggregators that might be just what you're looking for. Update: Just added Media Monkey - see the comment below. Related links
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Notice: Google announced that Google Reader was swept up in their 2013 "Spring Cleaning." Many feed readers currently use the Reader API to sync subscriptions and post read status between computers and also portable devices. They will all be left high and dry unless another API is made available by some as yet unknown entity that leaps in to fill the gap.
The free version of FeedDemon is ad-supported (one small add in the lower-left corner). You can suppress the ad in the Pro version. There free version also has a few feature restrictions.
NOTE: See the comment at - http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-rss-reader-aggregator.htm#comm... - about freeze problems.
To set up the mode I prefer (a simple list of posts in the reader, and open the ones of interest in Firefox) use the following preferences. 1) View > Layout > pick "Classic" > move divider to the bottom of the list panel. 2) Tools > Preferences > Browser > pick "Use the standard external browser (Mozilla Firefox)"
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Comments
Try checking out Bottomfeeder at http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/BottomFeeder/ for another great free feed reader. I have run the windows installer on Vista-pro_x86 version and it works as well as it does on XP 32-bit.
Thanks for the suggestion. We're entering a more active editing phase, so I just got around to looking at comments on my categories. I've heard of BottomFeeder, but don't remember anything about it, so I'll go have a look.
Woops, forgot to log in before commenting. Guess I've gotten rusty. :-)
Cheers ~ Philip Spohn
Abilon is another good choice, it's abandonware though, so I don't know if that qualifies.
http://email.about.com/cs/rssfeedreaders/gr/abilon.htm
Don't let the article fool you, you can easily find it for download.
-Wally G
Well, I think the answer is, "It depends." However, there are so many free programs available in this category that I think the best policy here is "No." :-)
Cheers ~ Philip Spohn
There is an abundance of choices in this category. It seems that every reader has its specific pluses and minuses. I've checked out many of them, and none is perfect. If you have a slooooow connection and limited bandwidth like I do, RSS Bandit is the best I've found. RSS Owl and FeedDemon would be a close second.
Omea Pro and Omea Reader
I recently submitted a small article to be added here on Omea Reader and Omea Pro but it has not shown up yet.
However, it is by far the best News and RSS Feed software available. It has quite recently, after a year of seemingly endless discussions. It is the best that could happen to this very nice product.
I expect many new add-ons to come plus a new version (3.0) that is about to come later this year.
More info:
Omea Pro http://www.jetbrains.com/omea/
Omea Reader http://www.jetbrains.com/omea/reader/index.html
Download links:
Omea Pro http://www.jetbrains.com/omea/download/download.html
Omea Reader http://www.jetbrains.com/omea/download/reader.html
Regards
Gorm Chandler
Thanks for the suggestion Gorm. I'll take a look at Omea.
I don't use a standalone feed reader. Opera's built-in reader is pretty good.
Google reader is definitely the ONE,you don't have to store the rss on your own storage,and what's more ,you can read rss anywhere ,without installing any readers ,and the most important is,it saves you reading history,you know what you have read and not when you open the feeds on other computers.
A couple of readers I have bookmarked that looked good to me are as follows:
SharpReader http://www.sharpreader.net/
FeedReader http://www.feedreader.com/
Outlook users might like RSS Popper http://rsspopper.blogspot.com/2004/10/home.html
Thanks for the suggestions Leland.
Cheers ~ Philip Spohn
I've been using GreatNews for a week or two, mostly because it cheerfully runs portably. Might be worth a look.
http://www.curiostudio.com/index.html
Tim
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the tip. I'll take a look.
Cheers ~ Philip Spohn
RSS syndication is becoming increasingly popular as it brings the web to you rather than you having to go to the web for updated pages.
In addition to the stand-alone and web-based RSS readers that you have discussed, I suggest that you should also include a section for add-on RSS readers (as you've only mentioned about them and not included any reviews). In this category, I strongly recommend Brief (Firefox extension) to users of Firefox. It's extremely usable and customisably with all the basic features and requires little or no knowledge of RSS for getting started. It's the best overall RSS solution. I strongly recommend it.
Web: http://brief.mozdev.org/
Hope this helps.
Regards.
Thanks,
As you see, I've added Brief, and reorganized things a bit. In the process, I realized that a more comprehensive browser add-on might rival the browser-centric advantages that Google Reader gives me. Something for me to try. :-)
Cheers ~ Philip Spohn
I prefer NewsFox
Nice find Wally! Finally an application that just checks for new content and alerts me when it finds some. It lets me open the content in my favourite browser and doesn't depend on a parade of bloated code to be pre-installed. Booyeah!
Opera has excellent built-in RSS Reader
After a quick trial, NewsFox appears to me to be a capable 3-pane feed reader that is well integrated with Firefox. I could be happy using it for a modest number of feeds.
One obvious limitation is the lack of a true 2-pane mode. Yes, you can maximize the reading pane, but you must go back to 3-pane to read the next item. Update: From a comment below, if you want to move to the next item while in 2 pane mode, use the built in shortcut keys. You can open items in a new tab from the item list though, which is nice.
There's also a trap for the neophyte user: There is no obvious way to close Newsfox in the default configuration of Firefox. There are solutions, e.g. just navigate to a website, change the Tab options to "Always show the tab bar", etc.
I suggested Newsfox because I'm using it for a while and I have never experienced any issue. You don't have to read a manual to use it, I find it very user friendly.
Personaly I prefer 3 pane because I don't want feeds to be mixed with bookmarks. That's why I said I prefer it to Brief. Besides, with a wide screen format this is realy no problem.
At this moment I have +1900 feeds organized in 12 categories and no problem. What do you consider a "modest number"?
I don't think a lot of users navigate with just 1 tab: Newsfox always open's and closes as any tab, that's not a big deal... IMHO.
Opera is excellent in many ways, 9.5 is better than ever - from a Firefox user. I would use it if it had an integrated calendar and if I had widgets that replace my favorite extensions.
BTW, I think Newsfox, Wizz RSS (Lite), Brief, Feed Sidebar are very much the same in terms of features. That's a matter of personal taste. If you want a more complete RSS manager that integrates FF, I would suggest infoRSS, which integrates the context menu and displays updated feeds in the status menu (mine is so crowded nowadays). But you do have a bigger learning curve, some users reported it doesn't keep the settings...
http://inforss.mozdev.org/index.html
infoRSS 1.1.3 features:
* RSS feed including RSS Gmail notifier (with https://mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom)
* ATOM feed
* NNTP feed
* HTML feed (in fact any text document on internet: RDF, txt, HTML...). Extraction with regular expression
* Support for SSL feed (HTTPS)
* Customized refresh time per feed
* Automatic or manual refresh
* Customized number of headlines to display per feed
* Customized number of character to display per feed (status bar is a limited area...)
* Customized favicon per feed or group
* Customized filter per feed : filter on title, subject, headline number, published date, received date, ...
* Enable/Disable filter
* Group of feeds
* Customized filter per group : filter for the group or combination with feed's filter and group
* Full associated HTML article in a simple clic on the headline
* Customized style sheet for headlines : font family, font size, background color, foreground color
* Display headlines in the status bar or in a separate bar (top or bottom)
* Manual resize of the status bar area
* Automatic size adjustment with the window width
* Skip headline
* Automatic scrolling feeds in the headline area
* Manual scrolling feeds in the headline area with scroll mouse
* Manual scrolling by pixel or by headline
* Right to left or left to right scrolling direction
* Customized scrolling speed
* Fade in/out headlines
* All headlines in the main menu as a submenu
* Automatic cycling between feed or group or within feed of a group
* Skip empty feed in cycling mode
* Popup when new headlines are published
* Customized icon bar beside the headline bar
* Mark all headlines as read
* View all headlines at once
* Flashing icon when refreshing
* Read article in tooltip, a new tab or a new window
* Tooltip on headline to see the full title, begin of article, all info or full article without opening a new tab
* Tooltip in HTML mode for rich description
* Tooltip that supports multimedia in ENCLOSURE tag : images are displayed beside the description, and audio and video files are played (podcasting, try feed http://inforss.mozdev.org/inforss.xml) with the firefox embedded multimedia plugin
* Size and type of the enclosure in the tooltip on the enclosure icon
* Tooltip on main icon to display the number of hedline / unread headline
* Option to play/mute podcast
* Display icon near headline in case of enclosure tag
* Persistence of viewed and banned headline even after the session
* Remote synchronization with FTP or WebDav server
* OPML import and export from a local file or a distant ressource (on internet)
* Export the repository in the bookmark hierarchy
* Display the repository on screen
* Display the RSS file in the browser by dragging the feed in the menu on the browser
* Detect RSS feed in the current page and add an item in the menu
* Contextual menu in Firefox to add a feed in the extension repository
* Add any URL in the clipboard to the menu to simply add it to the repository
* Detete a feed in the menu with drag and drop on the trash bin
* Add a feed in a group with drag and drop on the group icon in the menu
* Link to the main web page in one click
* Customized FF add feed menu (orange radar icon) to add feed in infoRSS
* Global activity switch
* Activity switch at the feed/group level
* Collapse headline bar if no headline
* Thumbnail image of the main URL in the option dialog
* Quick filter icon to filter in one click all displayed headlines
* Auto or manual decoding in the HTML feed
P.S. In Newsfox, if you want to move to the next item in 2 pane mode, use the built in shortcut keys (I forgot this one in the previous post).
Cheers
Please say what extensions?
Quick test on Feed Sidebar:
- no import/export (basic)
- cannot save feed search
- preview pane is too small and the info cropped
- cannot add tags (basic)
- cannot create custom groups (basic)
- no shortcuts
Quick test on infoRSS:
- slow interface
- uses too much bandwidt
- freezes at times
- outline needs to be much improved (the worst outline I found)
- the GUI is confusing
I think Feed Sidebar doesn't have the basic features I expect to find in a RSS reader, and I didn't like infoRSS. I'm keeping Newsfox, still the better FF extension IMHO.
Feed Sidebar has been updated with new features and bug fixes.
http://www.chrisfinke.com/2008/08/03/feed-sidebar-update/
Cheers ~ Philip Spohn
New Features
* Added an option to always have new items open in tabs
* Added a button to the search bar to quickly show all items, both read and unread
* Removed "Mark All as Read" and "Mark All as Unread" from feed and item context menus
Bug Fixes
* Sidebar now shows the name you gave the feed, not the feed's default title.
* Marking a feed (or all items) as read is now much faster. In my tests, it only took about 5% of the time it used to.
* Clicking on a feed name in the preview pane now opens the homepage, not a useless blank page.
That's nothing!
That's brilliant philip, thanks for adding the new group.
When I started my search for a feed-reader, there's one thing I didn't realise. I must have asked myself the question When do I read my feeds? While I'm browsing the net? While I'm reading my e-mail? When I sit down for a dedicated feed-reading session? Or from several computers?
Depending on the answer, one might need a browser-centric feed-reader, an email-integrated feed reader, a stand-alone reader, or a web-based reader.
Also, I wonder why most Firefox users prefer Sage over Brief?
Another quick-tip: If you use Brief, try using FoxMarks and you'll have your feeds backed up automatically with the rest of your life's worth of collected bookmarks.
Regards.
Check out Juice, which is multi-platform, open-source standalone RSS aggregator:
http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/
So what is Juice?
This podcast aggregator (reader) has a bright cheery web site. :-) Juice is interesting. I'm going to need to take a look at how to fit programs like this into the format here.
Cheers