The Best Free Feed Readers for Windows, Mac and Linux
Do you look for a feed reader? This is a list of those I think are the best ones.
These feed readers work on Windows, Mac and Linux.
The Web-based feed readers also work on mobile devices without the need for an app.
How Do These Feed Readers Differ?
The best standalone feed reader is open source software.
It’s based on the Java programming language, that’s why it works on all operating systems.
2 of them are web based feed readers. It means they work in your browser like any website.
1 is an open source cross-platform (working on Windows, Mac and Linux) mail client that can also be used for feeds.
Feed Readers for Your Computer and Beyond
Here is the actual list of tools. The standalone desktop program comes first. There are only four left.
- RSSOwl – Probably the most popular downloadable free open source RSS reader, nice clean interface, supports dozens of languages. It’s quite sophisticated and feature rich.
- Feedly – Feedly, a modern web based feed reader with a magazine like display of your feeds. It adapts to your natural reading habits. Originally it was used as an interface for Google Reader.
- The Old Reader – Clean and simple online tool for subscribing to your favorite feeds that is based on the early versions of Google Reader without the bloat that followed later.
- Thunderbird – The popular mail client by the Mozilla Foundation, the makers of Firefox, can also be used as a feed reader. Reading news like this saves time but can also be distracting.
Are All Feeds and Feed Readers the Same?
Are newsreaders, feed readers, Atom and RSS readers the same? Yes and no.
I prefer the term feed reader by now as they also support Atom feeds or RDF feeds.
These are just other RSS-like formats. They are different standards but very similar.
By 2024 most feeds are using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds anyway.
Yet in some cases it might be a good idea to still support more formats than just RSS.
Feedreader vs Feed Readers
There is a feed reader software called Feedreader. You do not want you to mix them up.
A feed reader is any tool that allows you to read feeds while Feedreader is just one brand.
I did not include Feedreader here as it only works on Windows and Linux.
It has a Web based version as well. Yet the online version didn’t work correctly here.
I could log in with Google+ [sic!] but it couldn’t find a feed for site that certainly has one.
Netvibes is a Security Risk
In an earlier version of this list I recommend a tool called Netvibes.
Netvibes was for many years a very useful “startpage” tool.
It was essentially a feed reader with additional features.
Yet by now it seems they have changed the business model.
Also after trying to log in with Google the site was blocked by Google.
Apparently Google considers them a security risk by now.
Thus I can’t recommend it anymore.
Feedly is the Market Leader and my Choice
So what tool do I use these days for reading feeds?
I use Feedly for like a decade by now.
I’m not the only one.
Feedly is the market leader in this niche.
I chose Feedly long ago as my favorite and even after testing or using all the other tools.
Even in 2024 it is the easiest to use and most up to date one IMHO.
I thought you hated feeds, Tad ;).
Yes. I see you are a dilligent reader. My first draft of this post was half explanation why I changed my mind, but then I thought nobody cares and the target audience are the Google visitors anyways as you all already use RSS readers.
I you followed my last 3 or so “great blogs” posts you might have wondered how I manage to read them all without a feed reader ;-)
So finally I had to change my reading habits. And it’s all your fault! Stop writing so many different great blogs! Get a life! And give me a break! Damn blogging bastards!
Haha, I know the feeling. My bookmarks are cluttered beyond belief without having a bunch of blogs in there. I think you’ll like RSS :)
Google Reader is my current choice though I can’t review it against the other options because I haven’t tried them.
Just spent an age looking for readers – my searching has to get better. Thanks for the list.
[…] The best 10 RSS readers for Windows, Mac and Linux […]
RSSOwl is unlikely to be the most popular f/loss rss reader irrespective of stretches of imagination.
I’d suspect liferea would take that title, and if not then it would come second to akregator.
Help!
(Heh. I love the dramatic first-timer entry.)
I’ve been wanting to get away from Bloglines for a while now, because the number of feeds I subscribe to and the complexity of my needs is soaring.
However, almost every feature-filled application-based x-platform reader totally screws up content-rich feeds. Take RSSOwl, for example. Half the time, graphics and nice formatting disappear from feeds that look great in Bloglines.
This means I’m finding myself tied to a browser-based reader, when I’m really trying to get away from one. Can you recommend something that’s app based, but offers similar functionality to Bloglines?
You do a roundup of RSS Newsreaders for the Mac platform as well and don’t even mention NetNewsWire? Shame on you! :)
Miles: This is a cross-platform list. Thus I listed only tools that work on all three major operating systems.
So much useful information here, i really need to bookmark this site at home so i can look at it at my leisure. I dont use rss readers much myself, but my colleagues do, so i’ll pass this to them.
I need an RSS reader that can search all the readers out there and locate by region, city, or geographical anything. I can type in keyword + Los Angeles, but that only searches for feeds with “los Angeles” + keyword in them, not RSS feeds from the Los Angeles area. Help!!!!
So much useful information here, i really need to bookmark this site at home so i can look at it at my leisure. I dont use rss readers much myself, but my colleagues do, so i’ll pass this to them.
[…] Google’s Reader (free, via your Google account) or natively within Internet Explorer (and there dozens of other RSS clients out […]
You say you’d use Google too much, is there a possibility that you use Firefox too much as well? I suspect I am, because my Firefox takes yonks to open. Apart from the usual SEO plug-ins, I depend heavily on it for stocks as well; adding to my preferred theme of mainly black, sometimes redirecting my RSS needs to Google seems like the most logical thing to do, although I am a big fan of Sage.
After Google Reader died, there appeared quite a few good tools, at least 2-3 of them. I work for Flowreader. It has a clean design, is a simple organizing tool and brings me my social together with web news.
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