NewsBlur vs The Old Reader
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
NewsBlur
Open-source RSS reader with trainable story filters
Where they differ
- Only NewsBlur lists iOS and Android apps.
- NewsBlur is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- NewsBlur also covers read later.
At a glance
| NewsBlur | The Old Reader | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $36 per year (Premium) | Not published |
| Free plan | Follow up to 64 sites with real-time updates, training by author, tag and title, saved stories, a public blurblog, and the iOS and Android apps. | Free accounts show ads and keep up to 2 months of unread posts, capped at 300 posts per feed. Premium removes ads and adds search and up to 500 feeds; its price could not be read. |
| Free trial | 30-day premium trial on every new account, no credit card required | 14-day Premium trial offered at sign-up |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | NewsBlur, Inc. | The Old Reader, Inc. |
| Price read from | newsblur.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
NewsBlur
- Readers who want to train their own filters rather than rely on an algorithm
- People who prefer open-source software or want to self-host
- Professionals who need feeds polled every few minutes
The Old Reader
- Readers who want a plain web-based feed reader with folders
- Groups of friends who share and comment on the posts they read
- People who pair a web reader with a third-party app such as Reeder
Worth knowing
NewsBlur
- The free plan is limited to 64 sites.
- Search, River of News and text view start at Premium; web feeds, Ask AI and the archive need Premium Archive.
- Premium and Premium Archive are priced per year only, while Premium Pro is priced per month.
- Native apps are listed for iOS and Android; desktop use is through the web app or third-party clients.
The Old Reader
- The Premium price is not shown on the public pages; the terms say fees are stated at the time of purchase.
- Free accounts show ads and keep unread posts for up to 2 months, capped at 300 posts per feed.
- Full-text search, faster feed refreshes and Instapaper integration are limited to Premium.
- There are no first-party mobile or desktop apps; the apps page lists third-party clients that use the API.
Key features
NewsBlur
- Intelligence Training
- Mark authors, tags and title keywords with a thumbs up or down to highlight matching stories or fade them out. Full-text training needs Premium Archive.
- Web Feeds
- On Premium Archive, NewsBlur builds a feed for a web page that has no RSS by monitoring the page for changes.
- Search and story archive
- Premium adds full-text search across subscriptions. Premium Archive keeps every story indefinitely and back-fills the history of newly added feeds.
- Ask AI and Daily Briefing
- Premium Archive can ask questions about a story using Claude, GPT, Gemini or Grok, and receives an AI-written daily summary of top stories.
- Email newsletters
- Forward newsletters to a personal NewsBlur email address and they appear as a feed that can be trained, tagged and searched like any other.
- Open source and open API
- The server and both mobile apps are open source on GitHub, and the API supports third-party clients such as Reeder, ReadKit and Unread.
The Old Reader
- Feeds and folders
- Add a feed by entering a site's address, or import an OPML file with its folders intact. Feeds and folders are rearranged by drag and drop.
- List view and keyboard shortcuts
- A list view collapses posts to their titles so only the interesting ones need opening, and keyboard shortcuts cover navigation.
- Sharing with friends
- Follow friends to see the posts they share, like posts, and comment on shared items. Shared, liked and commented posts are stored permanently.
- Send To and bookmarklet
- The Send To button passes a post's title and address to a sharing service you configure, and a bookmarklet adds posts from any site.
- API for third-party apps
- A Google Reader-style API lets outside apps sync with an account. The apps page lists clients such as Reeder, Vienna, Liferea and FeedMe.
- Premium extras
- Premium removes ads and adds full-text search, faster feed refreshes, up to 500 subscriptions, a year of post storage and Instapaper integration.
Plans
NewsBlur
Free$0
Follow up to 64 sites, with real-time updates, training by author, tag and title, saved stories, a public blurblog, and the mobile apps.
Self-Hosted$0
The open-source code from GitHub, run on your own server with a single Docker command. Hosting is your own responsibility.
Premium$36
per year
1,024 sites, feeds updated up to 5x more often, River of News, search, text view, tagged saved stories, and blurblog privacy options.
Premium Archive$99
per year
4,096 sites, web feeds for sites without RSS, a permanent searchable archive, Ask AI, daily briefing, story clustering, and the MCP server and CLI.
Premium Pro$29
per month
10,000 sites, every feed fetched every 5 to 15 minutes, training with regular expressions, and priority support.
The Old Reader
Pricing could not be confirmed. See theoldreader.com.
