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The best Google Reader replacements

The best Google Reader replacements
With Google shutting down Google Reader, we break down the top alternatives
With Google shutting down Google Reader, we break down the top alternatives
View 10 Images
The Early Edition 2 delivers your news in a newspaper layout for the iPad
1/10
The Early Edition 2 delivers your news in a newspaper layout for the iPad
Feedly is a magazine-like reader app with a contingency plan
2/10
Feedly is a magazine-like reader app with a contingency plan
Flipboard offers its own curated feeds, but also connects to your social feeds
3/10
Flipboard offers its own curated feeds, but also connects to your social feeds
Taptu offers an attractive interface for your feeds
4/10
Taptu offers an attractive interface for your feeds
NewsBlur closely resembles the Google Reader web interface
5/10
NewsBlur closely resembles the Google Reader web interface
The Old Reader is a hat-tip to the socially-integrated Google Reader of old
6/10
The Old Reader is a hat-tip to the socially-integrated Google Reader of old
Pulse presents your feeds in image-centric rows of tiles
7/10
Pulse presents your feeds in image-centric rows of tiles
Reeder is a Google Reader client for Mac and iOS that will live on after Reader dies
8/10
Reeder is a Google Reader client for Mac and iOS that will live on after Reader dies
Twitter can do double duty as an RSS service
9/10
Twitter can do double duty as an RSS service
With Google shutting down Google Reader, we break down the top alternatives
10/10
With Google shutting down Google Reader, we break down the top alternatives
View gallery - 10 images

Were you disappointed at the news that Google will soon kill its RSS service, Google Reader? If so, you aren't alone. Fortunately, you have until July 1 to find a worthy alternative. Read on, as we break down the best Google Reader replacements.

Twitter

Twitter can do double duty as an RSS service
Twitter can do double duty as an RSS service

Twitter’s popularity played an indirect – but crucial – role in the demise of Google Reader. Though Twitter’s focus is on social interaction, it can also serve as an RSS replacement.

Nearly every news source – including Gizmag – tweets new posts immediately after publishing. To use Twitter as a Google Reader alternative, create a separate account (apart from your social account) that you only use for news feeds. Follow your favorite sites, then browse your feeds on Twitter’s website or in any Twitter-integrated app (like Flipboard, see below).

The biggest downside to the Twitter-as-RSS approach is that the company has been cracking down on third-party apps that use its API. So there’s no guarantee that any given third-party Twitter app will still be in the game a year from now.

Twitter

Feedly

Feedly is a magazine-like reader app with a contingency plan
Feedly is a magazine-like reader app with a contingency plan

Feedly is a magazine-like app that connects to your Google Reader account. That could have spelled doom for Feedly, but the company announced that it already has a plan in place for the Google Reader apocalypse.

Feedly says that if you sign into its service (available for web browsers and mobile devices) with your Google Reader account before July 1, your feeds will automatically transfer to Feedly’s own upcoming RSS service. The change will all occur on the back end, so your front end experience should be seamless.

Feedly

Flipboard

Flipboard offers its own curated feeds, but also connects to your social feeds
Flipboard offers its own curated feeds, but also connects to your social feeds

Flipboard is the most popular of the magazine-like content aggregator apps. In addition to its own curated feeds, it connects with a variety of social networks that can collect news feeds – including Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

For many readers, though, Flipboard's lack of a web or desktop client will be a deal-breaker. At least for now, it's iOS and Android only.

Flipboard

NewsBlur

NewsBlur closely resembles the Google Reader web interface
NewsBlur closely resembles the Google Reader web interface

If you want your Reader alternative to look and feel a lot like Google Reader, then NewsBlur is worth a look. Available on the web, iOS, and Android, it lets you easily import your Google Reader feeds and enjoy them in a traditional RSS layout.

The biggest downside is that – at least right now – the service only works with its own apps. So if you aren’t crazy about its interface, it doesn't play nice with any third-party alternatives.

NewsBlur

Pulse

Pulse presents your feeds in image-centric rows of tiles
Pulse presents your feeds in image-centric rows of tiles

Now owned by LinkedIn, Pulse is a feed-reader along the lines of Flipboard. Its interface, though, is less magazine-like, focusing instead on rows of tiles.

Pulse serves as something of a standalone RSS service, letting you manually select your favorite sources, which sync across Pulse’s web and mobile apps. Unfortunately, though, Pulse no longer lets you directly import your old Google Reader feeds.

Pulse

Taptu

Taptu offers an attractive interface for your feeds
Taptu offers an attractive interface for your feeds

Taptu presents feeds in a slick layout that’s similar to Pulse’s. It lets you enter feeds manually, import them from Google Reader, or – much like Flipboard – browse your followed Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Taptu

Reeder or FeedDemon

Reeder is a Google Reader client for Mac and iOS that will live on after Reader dies
Reeder is a Google Reader client for Mac and iOS that will live on after Reader dies

Reeder is one of the best RSS clients on the Mac and iOS. Right now, it relies exclusively on Google Reader for feeds, but its developers say that a plan is already in the works for the app to survive long after Reader is dead.

FeedDemon is a similar app that runs on Windows. Its developer also confirmed a plan to break free from the Google Reader chains and continue offering the app for free.

Reeder, FeedDemon

The Early Edition 2

The Early Edition 2 delivers your news in a newspaper layout for the iPad
The Early Edition 2 delivers your news in a newspaper layout for the iPad

The Early Edition 2 is an iPad-only feed reader that presents your news in a newspaper layout. Though it integrates with Google Reader, it doubles as a standalone RSS service; so it’s poised to survive the Reader-pocalypse.

The fact that it's confined to the iPad, though, limits its appeal as a full RSS solution for many readers.

The Early Edition 2

The Old Reader

The Old Reader is a hat-tip to the socially-integrated Google Reader of old
The Old Reader is a hat-tip to the socially-integrated Google Reader of old

When Google removed Reader’s social features, a throng of loyalists longed for the Reader that once was. So they created their own replacement. The Old Reader lets you import your Google feeds and connect socially via Facebook and Google+.

Unlike Google Reader, though, The Old Reader doesn't serve as an API for other apps and services. It also doesn't (yet) have a native mobile app. So it's web only here.

The Old Reader

What else?

Do you have any Google Reader replacement solutions that we left out? Join the conversation in the comments below.

View gallery - 10 images
19 comments
19 comments
Flipider Comm
Need to double my staff to "2" Employees to qualify as best in anything.
Martin Rutgersson
This is bad news. The Reader is great, and is one of the really basic tools that makes my day much easier. Please Google, rethink!!!
Loard Singh
This shows the commitment of Google for innovation and changing Google for as per current environment. Indian companies should learn from Google. BR// Vipul Tiwari
Alex Hallatt
What this shows is that I've become way too dependent on Google. I've got my mail there and documents and photos and I checked my regular websites through Reader.
If it can close Reader, it can close anything else too and it sucks to have to transfer all that content.
Another reason to stick with Dropbox for my back ups...
Clinton Wu
Hi Will, would love to be included as an alternative. If you used Reader (or iGoogle) to skim headlines, please give Skim.Me (http://skim.me) a shot. We're a startup releasing to the public soon to help you keep up at a glance.
trendspotter
Dave Winer - the man behind RSS - is recommending as alternative
- Spundge https://twitter.com/davewiner/status/312189680219197440
Other RSS feed reader recommendations are
- Good Noows http://goodnoows.com/
- Reader2000 http://www.reader2000.com/
- HiveMined http://hivemined.org/
- Prismatic http://getprismatic.com/
- Taptu https://www.taptu.com/
- Feedreader http://www.feedreader.com/
- Netvibes http://netvibes.com/
- Bloglines http://bloglines.com/
- NetNewsWire http://netnewswireapp.com/
- ManagingNews http://managingnews.com/
pat100
RSS Bandit is another suggestion.
fred_dot_u
FeedDemon is no longer supporting Google Feed synchronization, but as a stand-alone RSS program, I've found it quite capable. The worst aspect of it is that it does not allow an alternative browser to be assigned to display the pages, and the developer is ceasing development of the program entirely.
The feature I like best is that it presents the information in an e-mail-like format. Folders and feeds on the left column, single line entries on top right and full page below. Many email programs display messages in a nearly identical manner. Not many feed readers have the layout and those that do, don't have some minor refinements.
FeedDemon gets a thumbs-up from me.
Synchro
I have no attachment to Google reader as an RSS reader (generally I dislike all of Google's products), but there's a secondary role it provides that's not related to its interface: acting as a broker between multiple RSS clients, so if I read something in NetNewsWire, it gets marked as read in MobileRSS etc. That's a function I will miss, and (as far as I know) there isn't a sensible replacement for that.
Kevin Görner
here is a huge list with 100 Google Reader alternatives for all operating systems + mobile readers + web based readers + email readers:
http://www.rss-readers.org/list-of-rs-feed-reader/
this link should be in the article to give the users even more help.
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