Lire vs Unread (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Lire and Unread share a 2.6 GPA, and only Unread has a free plan.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Lire grades higher on value for money. Unread grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Unread
RSS reader for Mac, iPhone and iPad with full-text retrieval
Which one is for you
Pick Lire if
- Fits if you live on Apple devices and read feeds that only show a snippet
- Works for people who want articles saved for offline reading
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you use Windows or Android, as there's no version for either
- Pricey if you want both Mac and iPhone, since they're two separate $9.99 purchases
- Watch out: both listings mention in-app purchases but don't show what they cost
- Tight if you want to try before buying on iOS, as a demo is mentioned only for the Mac app
Pick Unread if
- Fits if many of your feeds only publish a summary and you want the whole article
- Works for people who already sync through Feedbin, Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur or a FreshRSS server
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you read on Windows, Android or the web, as it's Mac, iPhone and iPad only
- Not for you if your devices are older, because it needs macOS 15, iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 or later
- Tight if you read offline and won't pay, since caching is Premium at $29.99 a year or $4.99 a month
- Watch out: there's no trial of Premium, so you pay before you can try caching, actions or Shortcuts
- Watch out: Save to Unread works only with Unread Cloud, Local, Feedbin, Feedly and NewsBlur accounts
How we grade them
| 2.6GPALireGood | 2.6GPAUnreadGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A$9.99 one time for each app, under a year of the $3.99 that a middle-priced reading app charges. The in-app purchase amounts aren't shown on either listing. | CPremium is $29.99 a year, $2.50 a month, a shade above the $2.42 that marks the lowest-priced quarter of reading apps here, so an ordinary price. It does cover Mac, iPhone and iPad together, and Plinky Pro subscribers get the yearly plan at half price. |
| Free plan and trial | DNo free plan. A demo of the Mac app is offered on the vendor's site and none is mentioned for iOS, and the demo limits aren't on record. | BMost of it is free and one person could live on that: reading, syncing through Unread Cloud or your feed service, full article text, website accounts, themes and search. Premium is offline caching, article actions, Shortcuts and Save to Unread, and there's no trial of it. |
| Features | BFull-text articles, offline reading, standalone use or sync with Feedly, Feedbin, Inoreader, NewsBlur, FreshRSS and others. Nothing in the listing is missing from a reader's job. | BIt covers the whole feed-reading job: it works out which feeds carry only summaries and pulls the full article from the page, signs in to news sites that need an account, syncs with Feedbin, Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur and self-hosted Fever, FreshRSS or Miniflux servers, and adds widgets and share extensions. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record. Install it and read, with sync as an option rather than a requirement. | B4.59 from 442 App Store ratings, under the 1,000 ratings an A needs, so a B. Syncing through Unread Cloud takes a Sign in with Apple and nothing else, and the app decides by itself which feeds need their full text fetched. |
| Platforms and integrations | CiPhone, iPad and Mac only, which is one family of devices. No Windows, Android or web version. | COne family of devices: Mac, iPhone and iPad, with no web, Windows or Android version listed, and macOS 15 or iOS 18 required. It does talk to a long list of feed services and read-later apps, from Feedbin to Readwise. |
| Best for | an RSS reader that turns partial feeds into full text | reading summary-only feeds in full on Apple |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Lire and Unread. How we grade
Where they differ
At a glance
| Lire | Unread | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $9.99 one-time per app, in-app purchases listed | $29.99 per year, or $4.99 per month |
| Free plan | None | Most functionality is free: feed reading, Unread Cloud and third-party sync, automatic webpage text, themes and search. Caching, article actions, Shortcuts and Save to Unread need Premium. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| iOS | ||
| Made by | Kunal Sood | Golden Hill Software |
| Price read from | apps.apple.com | goldenhillsoftware.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Lire
- The Mac and iOS apps are bought separately, at $9.99 each on the US App Store.
- Both listings mention in-app purchases but do not show what they cost.
- No Windows, Android or web version is listed.
- A demo is offered for the Mac app on the vendor's site; no demo is mentioned for iOS.
Unread
- Apple platforms only: Mac, iPhone and iPad, with no web, Windows or Android version listed.
- Offline caching, article actions, Shortcuts, Save to Unread and limiting widgets to a feed or folder all require Unread Premium.
- The press kit lists macOS 15, iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 or later as requirements.
- Save to Unread works only with Unread Cloud, Local, Feedbin, Feedly and NewsBlur accounts.
Key features
Lire
- Full-text articles
- Its own engine fetches the whole article for feeds that publish only a snippet, with no third-party parsing service.
- Offline reading
- Full text can be downloaded ahead of time and cached, so cached articles open without a connection.
- Standalone or synced
- Use it without an account, or sync through iCloud on current versions or a supported feed service.
- Many sync services
- Feedly, Feedbin, Feed Wrangler, FeedHQ, The Old Reader, Inoreader, NewsBlur, BazQux, FreshRSS, Miniflux, Nextcloud News and Tiny Tiny RSS.
Unread
- Automatic webpage text
- Unread judges whether each feed is summary-only and, if it is, shows the full article text taken from the web page. The default can be changed for individual feeds.
- Unread Cloud and third-party sync
- The free Unread Cloud service syncs devices after Sign in with Apple. Unread also syncs with Feedbin, Feedly, Gobbler, Inkwell, Inoreader and NewsBlur, and with self-hosted Fever, FreshRSS and Miniflux servers.
- Website accounts
- For news sites that require an account, you can sign in from inside Unread, and the app then generates the full article text for that site on the device.
- Caching for offline reading
- With Premium, webpage text and images are cached ahead of time so articles open quickly and remain available offline. Caching can be limited on cellular connections.
- Article actions and Shortcuts
- Premium sends articles to services such as Anybox, GoodLinks, Instapaper, Matter, Pinboard, Plinky, Raindrop.io, Readwise and wallabag, and runs your own Shortcuts on articles and links.
- Share extensions and widgets
- Subscribe in Unread adds a site's feeds from a browser's share sheet, and Save to Unread, a Premium feature, turns the page being viewed into an article. Widgets show recent articles and unread counts.
Plans
Lire
lire for iOS and iPadOS$9.99
one-time App Store price; in-app purchase amounts not shown
Universal purchase for iPhone and iPad, with the full-text engine and iCloud or service sync.
lire for macOS$9.99
one-time Mac App Store price; in-app purchase amounts not shown
Separate Mac app. A demo build is offered on the vendor's site.
Unread
Free$0
Feed reading with Unread Cloud or third-party sync, automatic webpage text, website accounts, color themes, search and basic widgets.
Unread Premium$29.99
per year, or $4.99 per month; covers Mac, iPhone and iPad
Adds caching of webpage text and images, article actions, Shortcuts, Save to Unread, widget customization, custom app icons and premium support.
Ways to pay less
Lire
No public discounts listed.
Unread
- Annual discount
About 50% off with the yearly subscription
Unread's press kit lists Premium at $29.99 a year or $4.99 a month, so a year paid up front costs about half of twelve monthly payments.
- Other savings
50% off for Plinky Pro subscribers
Golden Hill Software says Plinky Pro subscribers can get an annual Unread Premium subscription at a 50% discount, which continues for as long as they stay subscribed to Plinky Pro.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Lire or Unread?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Lire starts at $9.99 one-time per app, in-app purchases listed, and Unread starts at $29.99 per year, or $4.99 per month.
Which has a free plan, Lire or Unread?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Unread has a free plan. Lire does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.