
Google Reader alternatives - mkr-hn
http://getgini.com/google-reader-alternatives
======
Shish2k
Used liferea for years. Using it now. Will continue using it.

Tangentially, it saddens me to see people forgetting about simple native
desktop apps - no getting shut down; no ads; no obnoxious social bullshit;
just simple tools that succeed based on being useful rather than getting their
users hooked and spamming their contacts for attention...

~~~
gtaylor
It's not really about "forgetting". In many cases, a simple desktop app won't
cut it.

Unless it also has a mobile app that syncs what I've read with the desktop
app, it's sub-par to Google Reader for me personally. This is actually the
most important of any feature for me.

I need to be able to go back and forth between desktop, laptop, and phone and
never lose my place. I travel, co-work periodically, and like to read my feeds
over lunch on most days.

~~~
at-fates-hands
This is my main issue. Finding something which works across multiple devices.

One thing which I've found rather irritating with Windows 8 and Windows Phone
8 is you find a great RSS app like Feed Monster, but then its not available on
the WP8 platform. I'm constantly finding good apps for the desktop which are
not available on the mobile platform and its incredibly frustrating. Add then
you have some great apps like Feedly which are not available yet on WP8 (and
probably won't be).

I'm pretty sure I'll be moving back to Android at the end of the summer.

~~~
gjulianm
Actually, Feedly said that they would make apps for both Windows and Windows
Phone: [http://blog.feedly.com/2013/06/04/feedly-is-listening-the-
ro...](http://blog.feedly.com/2013/06/04/feedly-is-listening-the-roadmap-you-
helped-us-shape/)

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omaranto
The feature I'm most interested in is not mentioned in this chart at all:
whether my feeds will render correctly! I read a bunch of math blogs, many of
which are on WordPress and use some LaTeX plugin for formulas. Many RSS
readers do not render the formulas at all (I'm not sure why). Google Reader
does it right, as does the RSS to email service blogtrottr.com (which is what
I'm using now). Last time I tried Feedly, to give just one example, the
formulas didn't show up.

I asked on /r/math for RSS feed readers that don't use Google Reader as a
backend and render formulas correctly and didn't get a single answer, so I'm
not optimistic. Maybe reading math blogs is too small a niche for RSS readers
to bother with it?

~~~
mkr-hn
The suggestion for proper math support in Feedly has 125 votes. You can add
your vote:
[https://feedly.uservoice.com/forums/192636-suggestions/sugge...](https://feedly.uservoice.com/forums/192636-suggestions/suggestions/3745440-latex-
math-support)

~~~
omaranto
Mmh. That suggestion mentions MathJax, but the WordPress LaTeX plugin many
blogs use is not so fancy. That plugin insert formulas as images, dynamically
generated by a PHP script, using URL's like this one:

    
    
        http://s0.wp.com/latex.php?latex=%5Cdisplaystyle+H%5E%2A%28%5Cmathrm%7Btmf%7D%3B+%5Cmathbb%7BZ%7D%2F2%29+%5Csimeq+%5Cmathcal%7BA%7D+%5Cotimes_%7B%5Cmathcal%7BA%7D%282%29%7D+%5Cmathbb%7BZ%7D%2F2%2C+&bg=ffffff&fg=000000&s=0
    

That is most likely much easier to support than MathJax, which involves
running JavaScript code. Having MathJax support too would be great, but I'd be
satisfied with the WordPress PHP LaTeX plugin thingy.

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prayerslayer
The list confuses full feed reader services (like Feedly, Newsblur) with
Google Reader clients (Reeder). Would have been nice to separate those as
Reeder is certainly not a replacement for Google Reader.

~~~
revorad
Good point. I added a note for Reeder.

~~~
Adirael
Reeder supports feedbin.me and it can also process the RSS itself.

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CrazedGeek
I'm using <http://feedbin.me> right now, which doesn't appear to be on the
list.

~~~
shoebappa
I found Feedbin from Reeder saying it was going to support it, but find that
the feedbin website meets my needs. Of all of the ones I've tried it was the
first that seemed to refresh the feeds with seemingly the same frequency that
Google Reader. $2 / month.

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ernesth
What does "Web" mean? I would expect it to mean I can access it with a web
browser, but that does not seem to be the case (feedly, reeder are
applications to install). It does not mean hosted either as tt-rss and
stringer need to be self-hosted.

Concerning FeedHQ, it has now a paid service (free for one month, 12$ a year)

~~~
revorad
I do mean web browser by "Web". I thought Feedly used to work directly in the
browser, but looks like now they require you to install it via the Chrome Web
Store. I've updated the other details you mentioned. Thanks!

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dt7
I haven't tried many of the services on this list, but I would recommend
Feedly. It can be a bit slow, and the fact that it requires a browser
extension is a bit off-putting, but those things are being improved I believe.

They seem to be willing to listen to their users (in particular all of the ex-
Google Reader users) and are improving the service very quickly, trying to
cater for everyone's seemingly different needs.

The Android app is great as well, and is a much more visual reading experience
than Google Reader was (but it doesn't have to be- it seems to be very highly
configurable).

The fact that it's free is a bit worrying, but in a survey they sent out last
month they asked if user's would be willing to pay a small fee for it- so this
might be where it heads in the future (I'd hope so, anyway).

~~~
easyfrag
One thing I can't figure out about Feedly is if they're using their own sync
service yet or if they are still relying on Google's while they work on
building their own.

~~~
mkr-hn
The impression I get is that their own system (Normandy) is running
concurrently, and they'll switch seamlessly once Google Reader shuts down.

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m-ramige
For Emacs users, there's Gnus [1] and Newsticker [2]. Gnus doesn't support
Atom feeds natively [3], so you have to call an external script to convert
them to RSS before they're processed by Gnus. Newsticker supports RSS and Atom
[4].

[1]
[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/gnus/RSS...](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/gnus/RSS.html)

[2]
[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_mono/newstick...](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_mono/newsticker.html)

[3] <http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/GnusRss>

[4] <http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/NewsTicker>

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acheron
Doesn't seem to consistently note which options you host yourself vs which are
hosted elsewhere. E.g. I see Fever has a note that it is self-hosted, but tt-
rss does not have a similar note.

Nice long list though. I guess it's almost July, I need to get on this.

------
ph33r
Great list!

I'm holding off to see what the 'Digg Reader' has to offer before making a
final decision.

Looks like it's going to be Feedly though. I was pretty much sold when I heard
that Reeder (iOS) and GReader (Android) will both sync with it.

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Achshar
I have been using feedly, but it keeps asking me for logging in to google
after every session. I wonder what will happen once reader goes down. That and
it looks/feels bloated.

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petepete
I'm not as heavy an RSS user as I was, but I use newsbeuter. Minimal, light,
fast.

<http://www.newsbeuter.org/>

~~~
revorad
Thanks, just added newsbeuter. I'm sorry I haven't added collobaration to my
list app, otherwise I'd credit you properly. But I've linked to this
discussion as a source.

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electrichead
They're going to have to pry Klipfolio 5 from my cold, dead, internet-hands. I
still find it the most awesome RSS reader - as a bonus, you can program it to
do pretty much anything as it is a full-fledged KPI program. v.5 is the last
consumer-oriented one they put out, after which it disappeared, but you are
still able to find it about. Give it a try if you like a desktop version!

------
mdesq
I'm reluctantly probably to go with Feedly for now, even though the
"slickness" of the experience really gets in the way, the preferences are
limited, and the page-by-page flipping on Android is maddening. I skim in
streams, not blocks.

Newsblur was my second choice, but I found it too busy and cumbersome. That
arrow that follows your mouse vertically that you can lock/unlock was the last
straw.

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fraqed
Here's another self-hosted option I came across in my search for a Reader
replacement <http://projet.idleman.fr/leed/> The site's in French but Google
translate works well and it seems the developer has done good work on this
project.

Thanks for the comprehensive list I now have more options to consider for a
home hosted replacement.

------
Concours
I use <http://www.feedsapi.org> to forward all my expanded rss to my email
account, On the web I use it in combination with Feedly to read fulltext rss
feeds, and on my desktop, I use snackr + <http://www.feedsapi.org> .

------
LandoCalrissian
I've been using Tiny Tiny RSS since Google Readers announcement of shutdown.
It's worked really great and since you can host it yourself the only person
you can blame for it getting shutdown is yourself. The updating of RSS feeds
is a little janky, but certainly not a show stopper. I have been very happy
with it so far.

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mcintyre1994
Just a quick note, you have Feedly as "Chrome, iOS, Android", but it also has
at least a Firefox plugin.

~~~
revorad
Ah I see. I originally had it as "Web" but then it only showed me Chrome
(because I'm using Chrome). Changed back to Web since they have addons for FF
and Safari too. Sorry IE :-p users

------
JulianWasTaken
I'm still looking for one with a spiffy UI, a backend written in Python with
Flask not Django, and not using MongoDB as a back end. I'd piece together my
own but it's tempting to just use NewsBlur or one of the others that don't
quite meet all those but see active development.

~~~
mason55
Why do you care what the backend to your newsreader is? You just need to
access the UI, who cares what's driving it. If there are reliability issues
it's because it's poorly built not because of the technology it's built on.

~~~
JulianWasTaken
Because I'm going to be self hosting. Obviously some things are more likely to
have reliability issues than others.

~~~
mason55
Ah gotcha - didn't realize you were planning to self host, that makes sense.

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shared4you
Here's a list with mostly _shortcomings_ of some RSS readers:
<https://gist.github.com/bdsatish/5627447>

~~~
cgislason
BTW, feedbin.me DOES work on mobile. The layout adjusts and shows just the
list or just the article view, instead of both at the same time.

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archagon
It would be good to know which of these readers has a sustainable business
model. For example, Feedly is free. After Google Reader, I'm not sure I can
trust that.

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revorad
Thanks for re-submitting this. I submitted this earlier when the Google Reader
shutdown was first announced. Any more additions or suggestions most welcome.

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firearch
I use <http://www.FeedRebel.com> (Disclaimer: I built it), can you add it to
the list as well.

~~~
revorad
Added, thanks.

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smackfu
Unfortunately, I feel like this list is so long it ends up being useless.

You did miss FeedWrangler too. I guess it wasn't out at the time of the other
thread.

~~~
revorad
I see your point, but I made this list so that people can see lots of
alternatives. Feel free to make your own list with just the ones you think are
good. That's really the idea of Gini - it's meant to be like a Github for
useful lists of data. Collaboration and forking coming soon!

I've added FeedWrangler now, thanks.

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pupppet
Count this as a strike against Yanobs after spamming its entire userbase with
a few hundred emails (while CCing everyone ta boot).

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s0me0ne
netvibes.com is free and good, just wish they would implement showing youtube
embeds properly, other than that it does what I want

