Fluent Reader vs NewsBlur
Fluent Reader
hyliu.me
NewsBlur
newsblur.comSide by side
| Figure | Fluent Reader | NewsBlur |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $3/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 9 |
| Spec score · RSS Reader Software | 8.8 (#5) | 9.0 (#4) |
| Integrations | It supports Inoreader, Feedbin, and services compatible with Fever or Google Reader API. | The FAQ says NewsBlur connects with IFTTT and Zapier and can automate actions involving Pocket, Instapaper, Evernote, Notion, Slack and email. |
| Notifications | Background fetching can send push notifications, and rules can trigger notifications for matching fetched articles. | Premium users can receive browser, email, iOS or Android notifications filtered by their training. |
Plans
NewsBlur
- FreeFree
- FreeFree
- Premium Pro$29 a month
- Premium Pro$29 a month
- Premium$36 a year
- Premium$36 a year
- Premium Archive$99 a year
- Premium Archive$99 a year
- DIYPriced on request
In their own words
Fluent Reader
Fluent Reader is a free, open-source news aggregator and RSS reader for desktop, built for local, distraction-free reading. Its built-in article view handles RSS full text and can use Mercury Parser to load full text; webpages can also open inside the app or externally. Search spans titles and article contents, with regular expressions available for searches and rules that can mark, hide, or star articles. Subscriptions can be grouped, imported or exported as OPML, and included in backups. Desktop versions are distributed for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It supports Inoreader, Feedbin, and services compatible with Fever or Google Reader API, alongside listed compatibility with services such as FreshRSS, Miniflux, The Old Reader, BazQux Reader, and Tiny Tiny RSS. Fluent Reader Lite offers iOS TestFlight access and Android APK downloads. The project says it does not collect, store, or share personal information. However, a connected RSS service may see activity through its API, and connecting one removes local articles with matching source URLs while retaining rules and preferences.
NewsBlur
NewsBlur is a personal reader for RSS and web feeds, synchronized across web, iOS, Android, API, and self-hosted use. Readers can train feeds to highlight or hide stories by author, tag, and title; the Archive plan adds full-text training. Web Feeds monitor sites without RSS and present updates as custom feeds. The free plan supports up to 64 sites, real-time RSS updates, story saving, training, and mobile apps. New accounts receive a 30-day premium trial without a credit card, then retain feeds and training on the free tier. Premium costs $36 a year, Premium Pro $29 a month, and Premium Archive $99 a year. Depending on plan, features include search, larger site limits, more frequent fetching, River of News, story clustering, permanent searchable archives, Ask AI, daily briefings, and MCP tools. NewsBlur also describes IFTTT and Zapier workflows, a public API, third-party reader sync, and open-source self-hosting.