Two of the most popular RSS readers, compared feature by feature. Here's how they differ.
| Feature | NewsBlur | Feedly |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence Training | ✓ Train by author, tag, title, text, URL, regex | ✓ AI-based topic prioritization |
| User-Controlled Filtering | ✓ You decide what to focus and hide | ✗ Algorithm decides for you |
| Regex Classifiers | ✓ Title, text, and URL patterns (Pro) | ✗ |
| Ask AI (Query Stories) | ✓ Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok | ✓ AI Assistant (Feedly AI) |
| Full-Text Search | ✓ Elasticsearch-powered | ✓ Pro+ plans |
| Story Archive (Forever) | ✓ Archive plan ($99/yr) | ✗ Stories expire |
| Track Changes / Diffs | ✓ See how stories evolve | ✗ |
| Web Feeds (Any Website) | ✓ Follow sites without RSS | ✗ RSS only |
| Email Newsletters | ✓ Forward to NewsBlur | ✓ Forward to Feedly |
| Social / Blurblog | ✓ Public blurblog with comments | ✓ Team boards (paid) |
| Open Source | ✓ Fully open source on GitHub | ✗ Proprietary |
| Self-Hosted Option | ✓ Docker one-command install | ✗ |
| Third-Party App Support | ✓ Reeder, ReadKit, Unread, etc. | ✓ Reeder, ReadKit, etc. |
| Free Plan | 64 sites | 100 sources, 3 feeds |
| Cheapest Paid Plan | $36/year (1,024 sites) | $72/year (Pro) |
| Power User Plan | $29/month (Pro: 10K sites, 5-min fetching) | $144/year (Pro+) / $18/month (Enterprise) |
| OPML Import/Export | ✓ | ✓ |
| Keyboard Shortcuts | ✓ Comprehensive | ✓ Basic |
| Dark Mode | ✓ | ✓ |
| iOS & Android Apps | ✓ Native | ✓ Native |
The biggest difference between NewsBlur and Feedly is philosophy. Feedly uses AI to decide what's important for you. NewsBlur puts you in control with its intelligence training system. You explicitly tell NewsBlur what to highlight and what to hide, by author, tag, title keyword, full text, URL, or regex pattern. There's no black box — you always know why a story is highlighted or hidden.
NewsBlur is fully open source under the MIT license. You can inspect the code, contribute features, or run your own instance with Docker. Your data is truly yours. Feedly is a proprietary, closed-source service with no self-hosted option. If Feedly shuts down or changes pricing, you have no alternative but to export and leave.
NewsBlur Premium starts at $36/year for up to 1,024 sites — half the cost of Feedly Pro. For power users, NewsBlur Pro at $29/month includes 5-minute feed fetching for all 10,000 sites, regex classifiers, and priority support. Feedly's comparable Enterprise plan costs $18/month but caps at 2,500 sources and doesn't offer regex filtering or self-hosting.