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Ask HN: Which RSS reader do you use?

64 points by ulam2 ↗ HN
Its been some time since this question was asked. Every RSS reader I've used so far sucks. Either the built-in web support is poor or it stops fetching the feeds or renders then poorly. Sorry for my frustration, but I would like to know what everyone else is using and if they are satisfied with their RSS reader.

145 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 220 ms ] thread
raalapas
NewsBlur
Eighth
Newsblur has been stable and consistent since the Google Reader shutdown. Has plenty of goodies. Samuel Clay, the creator, is responsive to feedback.

Can't fault it.

perilunar
Feedly. It's fine.
AndrewDucker
Yup. Site is fine, Android app is fine, it works reliably. Been paying for it happily since Google Reader went away.
saeedesmaili
I've been using Inoreader for a few years now and I'm pretty happy with it. Its reliability and feature set is the right balance for me. I've written about its pros and cons [1], the main pros for me are:

- Very smooth experience between web, android, and iOS apps (I’m mentioning this first, as many other apps I’ve tried are flaky)

- Mark as read while scrolling (Very useful for quickly shortlisting items from the feed. This is probably the main reason I’ve been able to replace Inoreader with social media apps.)

- Rules to auto-delete duplicated items or if the title contains specific words.

[1] https://saeedesmaili.com/posts/my-content-consumption-workfl...

akkartik
Feedbro lets me read on my regular browser. No need to put up with special UI.
zaruvi
Feedbro is great. It has none of the arbitrary limitations that many of the web-clients impose for monetisation reasons.

The only downside (or upside depending on your perspective) is that it is a local solution. You can only access it on a specific device, and it won't be syncing when that device is turned off.

PikachuEXE
https://freshrss.org

I self-host it

TheDcoder
It's the best option if you use multiple devices and have the ability to self-host IMO.
rcarmo
But being PHP means there is a lot of moving parts. Miniflux is a lot easier to maintain…
Hamuko
Not a lot to worry with the Docker container.
TheDcoder
Even without a container it's pretty easy to run PHP with a HTTP server like Caddy, there's no need for any extra configuration aside from passing the required directives in the server config for your setup. You can find many examples in the docs.
sys_64738
Yeah it's why containers are beautiful. Zero hassle to replicate.
ulrischa
You can use any cheap webhosting
snapplebobapple
i used to think this until i tried commafeed. the webapp is so nice i never bother with a client
TheDcoder
Looks interesting, this didn't turn up in my search when I was looking. Thanks for sharing.
dkwr
Same here. I self-host it since 3 years and didn't feel the need to change it. A stable application which doesn't have any problems which OP mentioned. I use it as a PWA on mobile.
bjoli
Same Here. The web use is non-intrusive and works well on both desktop and mobile.
btschaegg
Same here. Plus FeedMe as a client on Android.
sys_64738
I moved to this when InoReader started charging 60 bucks per year. Never looked back.
schnubbidubb
"Feeder" on Android. Built-in web is the Android web client. But I let it open the links with Firefox anyway. I just use the RSS Reader to get the list, actual reading I do in the Browser.
sausagefeet
I use feed2mail, which is a Python program that turns RSS Feeds into Maildir emails. I have my own patchset on top to address some issues.

https://hg.sr.ht/~mmatalka/feed2mail/rev/mmatalka-patchset

stevekemp
Back in the day I used r2e, which was an old python scrip for the same purpose.

I actually removed it primarily because it was the last package on my system at the time to need python, and removing it let me purge a whole bunch of python packages and save a lot of space!

These days I still read feeds via RSS, via a static golang binary. It lets me do filtering, and similar things:

https://github.com/skx/rss2email/

ripap
I’ve been using Feedbin since Google Reader shut down. Been very happy with it. I access it through the web on desktop and using Reeder 4 on iOS; both work well.
alaq
Exactly the same. Haven't bothered with Reeder 5.
rpgbr
Miniflux via NetNewsWire. Both are great — I could gladly live with Miniflux’s web UI; it’s that nice.
seafoamteal
Miniflux (miniflux.app)

I used to use FreshRSS, but there were some minor pain points that eventually pushed me to find an alternative. Miniflux has been great so far. It's very minimalistic, which also makes it very lightweight to self-host, as I do, but you can also subscribe to the hosted version for about a dollar a month.

draven
Elfeed (emacs package.)
nikdoof
Self-hosted Miniflux, and ReadKit on my Apple devices to access it.

https://miniflux.app https://readkit.app

I've used Miniflux for a long time, and its content manipulation features allows you to work around some of the oddities of RSS feeds you come across.

tarasglek
I love that I can pull whole articles. I wrote https://markdown.download for llm use, but mostly ended up using it with miniflux to fetch full articles from problematic sites
BOOSTERHIDROGEN
Could you please share your Miniflux configuration for fetching full articles?
tarasglek
There is an option in feed settings:

[x] Fetch original content

But most power comes from URL rewrite rules. Here is the one I use for problematic sites:

rewrite("^(.+)$"|"https://markdown.download/$1")

BOOSTERHIDROGEN
How do you have your manipulation configured on a particular website?
Gumminess1
Self-hosted FreshRSS instance. I use FeedMe in Android to connect to it.
rcarmo
I use Reeder Classic on iOS and the Mac (the pre-enshittified version that does not have a subscription model). I will likely stick to it until it’s completely unsupported (which it isn’t), although a key part of the experience for me is read item syncing via Feedly.

I also use Feeder for Android on my Supernote Nomad. It has the nice side benefit of creating EPUBs I can save/annotate/share.

I very much prefer to use a native app, and have no use for web-based RSS readers (I have created my own GPT-based AI summarizer that generates custom digests - https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2025/01/12/1730#daily-news-d...)

I’ve also got a soft spot for NetNewsWire, but don’t really use it since the above works for me to skim the equivalent of 200+ feeds over breakfast (I’m posting this from inside Reeder on my iPad mini).

thefz
Tiny Tiny RSS, self hosted on a cheap virtual server.
unknown321
For me it's Thunderbird, "Blogs & News Feeds" section. After version 120-something it stopped resizing images on article load - this is the part I find unsatisfying. Otherwise it just works.
xvfLJfx9
Self-hosted FreshRSS. Simple and reliable. It just works.
dmje
Self hosted Fresh RSS but Reeder as client on Mac and iDevices