News Explorer vs Reeder

News Explorer

• People on Apple devices who want feed sync without creating an account
• Readers who would rather pay once than subscribe
• Following Reddit, YouTube, Mastodon and podcast feeds alongside RSS

Reeder

• Apple users who want feeds, videos and podcasts in one timeline
• Readers who would rather pick up where they left off than clear unread counts
• People who want syncing to stay inside their own iCloud account

News Explorer

• Built only for Apple platforms, with syncing that relies on iCloud; there is no web, Windows or Android version.
• The Mac app and the mobile app are separate purchases, listed at $9.99 and $4.99 on the US App Store.
• The 14-day trial is a download of the Mac edition; the App Store editions are paid up front.
• Current versions need macOS 15.6 or iOS and iPadOS 18 or later, and the Apple Watch app needs a paired iPhone.

Reeder

• Apple only: it runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac, with no web, Windows or Android version listed.
• The free version stops at 10 feeds and leaves out OPML import, Shared Feeds and social home timelines.
• There are no unread counts, and third-party sync services are not supported; syncing is through iCloud.
• Reeder Classic, the older app, is sold separately as a one-time purchase: $4.99 on iPhone and iPad, $9.99 on Mac.

News Explorer

iCloud sync without an account

Feeds, folders, articles, read status, favorites, filters, notes and tags sync through iCloud across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV, with no other service to sign up for.

Many feed types

Reads RSS, Atom, RDF and JSON feeds along with Mastodon, Bluesky, Reddit, YouTube channel and podcast feeds, and a built-in search finds new feeds by keyword.

Automatic Reader view

For supported sources the app downloads the full original article and shows it in a clean format. Several Reader view engines are available and can be chosen per feed.

Smart filters and prefilters

Sidebar filters match on title, content, author, tags or dates, and prefilters stop unwanted articles from being downloaded at all. Both sync between devices through iCloud.

Article comments

Comments can be read inside the app for feeds that publish a comment feed per article, and for YouTube, Reddit and Hacker News feeds.

Notes, tags and sharing

Rich-text notes and custom tags can be attached to articles, and built-in sharing sends items to Instapaper, Raindrop.io and Readwise.

Reeder

Unified timeline

RSS feeds, videos, podcasts and social media posts appear in one timeline. Items can be opened in other apps when you want the full client.

Synced timeline position

Reading progress is tracked by scroll position instead of read and unread states, and it syncs for the home timeline, filters, folders and single feeds.

Filters

Build custom timelines that include or exclude posts by keyword, media type or feed type. The built-in Audio and Video timelines are filters.

Saved links and tags

A share extension saves links from other apps. Later, Bookmarks and Favorites are built-in tags with their own keyboard shortcuts, and custom tags can be added.

Shared Feeds

Subscribers can turn any tag into a public, auto-updating JSON feed with a browser view. A shared feed carries the last 50 items added to the tag.

iCloud sync without data collection

Subscriptions, timeline position and tagged items sync through your own iCloud account, and the developer states that Reeder collects no data.

News Explorer

• Mobile edition$4.99

  one-time purchase (US App Store)

  Universal purchase covering iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV. It does not include the Mac app.

• Mac edition$9.99

  one-time purchase (US Mac App Store)

  The macOS app. Also sold as a Personal License in the Betamagic Store, where the 14-day trial is offered, and included in Setapp.

Reeder

• Free$0

  Nearly all features for up to 10 feeds, without OPML import, Shared Feeds or home timelines from Mastodon, Bluesky and Micro.blog.

• Subscription$1.99

  per month, or $14.99 per year (US App Store)

  Lifts the 10-feed limit and adds Shared Feeds, OPML import and social home timelines. One subscription covers iPhone, iPad and Mac.

News Explorer

No public discounts listed.

Reeder

• Annual discount

  About 37% off with the yearly plan

  The US App Store lists the subscription at $14.99 a year or $1.99 a month, so a year paid up front costs about 37% less than twelve monthly payments.