Ask HN: Which RSS reader do you use?

Hacker News Discussion ↗

RSS power users compare a wide range of readers, from hosted services like Feedly, Inoreader, BazQux, NewsBlur, and Feedbin to self-hosted options such as FreshRSS, Miniflux, Tiny Tiny RSS, CommaFeed, and Nextcloud News. Preferences often hinge on reliability, simple UIs, cross-device sync, price, self-hosting flexibility, and extras like keyword filtering, full-text retrieval, and email or Slack integration. Many remain nostalgic for Google Reader, and some have gone so far as to build their own tools to get exactly the workflow, control, and privacy they want.

Hosted RSS services

  • Many moved to hosted services after Google Reader’s shutdown.
  • Popular choices: Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur, Feedbin, BazQux, The Old Reader, Mailbrew, Readwise Reader, Follow, Digest-like tools.
  • Praise focuses on stability, cross-device sync, decent web + mobile apps, and reasonable pricing.
  • Criticisms:
    • Some services “enshittify” with unwanted business/AI features and higher prices.
    • Free tiers can be limiting (e.g., feed caps).
    • Users often switch when pricing or UX changes unfavorably.

Self-hosted solutions

  • Widely used for control, privacy, and avoiding lock-in.
  • Common servers: FreshRSS, Miniflux, Tiny Tiny RSS, CommaFeed, selfoss, Nextcloud News, self-written servers, yarr, Feedi.
  • Miniflux and FreshRSS recur as favorites; Miniflux praised for minimalism and easy maintenance, FreshRSS for features and broad client compatibility.
  • Some note PHP stacks as “more moving parts,” others say Docker or simple configs make them trivial.
  • Self-hosting on cheap VPSs, webhosting, or Raspberry Pi is common.

Local / client-only readers

  • Desktop/terminal: NetNewsWire, Thunderbird, Newsboat/Newsraft, QuiteRSS, RSS Guard, Sage-Like, Elfeed (Emacs), Newsraft, browser extensions like Feedbro, Brief.
  • Mobile: Reeder (classic and newer), Feeder, FeedMe, Flym, CapyReader, Feedi PWA, various Android apps.
  • Often combined with a sync backend (FreshRSS, Miniflux, Feedly, Feedbin, The Old Reader).

Alternative consumption patterns

  • Email-based workflows: rss2email/feed2mail, email digests (Mailbrew), or direct delivery into mail folders.
  • Slack integrations and custom bots mentioned.
  • Some use RSS only as a “headline list,” always opening in a browser to respect site design.
  • Others rely on full-text fetching (Miniflux rules, FreshRSS selectors, reader apps with “fetch full article” buttons).

Common requirements and pain points

  • Desired: fast UIs, good keyboard shortcuts, offline/“offline-first,” keyword filters (including for mental-health filtering), duplicate removal, full-content extraction, multi-device sync.
  • Complaints: disappearing or abandoned mobile apps, pricing hikes, arbitrary limits, Cloudflare/protection blocking self-hosted instances, and readers that don’t cache content locally.