Newsboat

Spec sheet

What it does

Newsboat is an RSS/Atom feed reader designed for text terminals on Unix or Unix-like systems.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Purpose

Newsboat is an RSS/Atom feed reader designed for text terminals on Unix and Unix-like systems.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Platforms

The project says it has been tested on Linux with glibc and musl-libc, FreeBSD, and macOS.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Free plan

YesRead 20 Sep 2026 · newsboat.org

Integrations

It can act as a client for services including The Old Reader, NewsBlur, FeedHQ, BazQux, Feedbin, FreshRSS, Tiny Tiny RSS, ownCloud News, Nextcloud News, Inoreader, and Miniflux.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Security

The documentation asks users to report vulnerabilities by email and encrypt messages with the project’s OpenPGP key if possible.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Support

The project directs general questions and non-security issues to its issue tracker and mailing list, and offers community chat on Libera.Chat.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

License

Newsboat is distributed under the MIT License, which provides the software without warranty.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Audience and limits

The documentation says Newsboat can be used as a feed reader on its own, while online services may be useful for syncing news across devices or fetching feeds when the user's computer is not running continuously.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Bandwidth behavior

Newsboat uses HTTP Last-Modified and ETag values, when available, to ask servers to send feed data only when it has changed.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Browser integration

Users can configure an external browser command to open article links.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Caching

Newsboat saves downloaded articles locally and uses Last-Modified and ETag headers for conditional feed downloads when available.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Credential handling

For NewsBlur, the documentation describes providing a password through an external command, such as one that decrypts a file or reads a system keyring.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Feed import

Users can add feed URLs in a configuration file or import subscriptions from an OPML file.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Feed support

Users can add feed URLs directly or import an OPML file.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Installation

Prebuilt binaries are available through Linux and BSD distribution repositories, Homebrew, and the Snap store; Newsboat can also be compiled from source.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Latest release

The site lists version 2.45, released October 4, 2026.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Notable limitation

The project says NetBSD is currently unsupported because of technical limitations in its iconv() implementation.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Offline downloads

YesRead 20 Sep 2026 · newsboat.org

Offline reading

Newsboat keeps downloaded articles locally so they can remain available after they disappear from the current feed.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

OPML service mode

OPML online subscription mode synchronizes subscriptions one way from an online service to Newsboat.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Podcast support

Newsboat can download, save, and stream podcasts, but requires an external media player for playback.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Podcasts

Newsboat supports downloading, saving, and streaming podcasts, but playback requires an external media player.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Private feed support

YesRead 20 Sep 2026 · newsboat.org

Reading and search

The interface has feed, article-list, and article views, and users can search article titles or content.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Release

The project homepage lists version 2.45, released on 4 October 2026.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Security reporting

The project asks users to report vulnerabilities to [email protected] and encrypt messages with its OpenPGP key if possible.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Service integrations

The documentation describes using Newsboat with online feed services including The Old Reader, NewsBlur, FeedHQ, BazQux, Feedbin, FreshRSS, Tiny Tiny RSS, ownCloud News, nextCloud News, Inoreader, and Miniflux.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Supported platforms

Linux and macOS; also tested on FreeBSDRead 20 Sep 2026 · newsboat.org

Supported systems

The documentation says Newsboat has been tested on Linux, FreeBSD, and macOS, and that NetBSD is currently unsupported.Read 9 Oct 2026 · newsboat.org

Plans and prices

Every Newsboat plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• RSS Reader Software#13 of 338.2
• Podcast apps#31 of 557.9