Introduction — May 2026, RSS Has Quietly Lived Through 13 Years

The day Google Reader shut down on July 1, 2013, plenty of writers declared RSS dead. Thirteen years later in May 2026, that verdict turned out to be half right. Algorithmic feeds and push notifications became the default, but a new generation of RSS readers armed with **AI summarization** and **newsletter ingestion** has actually grown its user base.

This piece is not a marketing matrix. It honestly answers "which RSS reader belongs where right now". We compare the AI-augmented camp (Feedly + Leo AI, Inoreader, Readwise Reader, Matter), native macOS/iOS clients (NetNewsWire, Reeder 5/6, Unread, Lire 5), web-first curation (NewsBlur, The Old Reader, FeedHQ, Bazqux), self-hosted open source (FreshRSS, Miniflux, tt-rss, Selfoss, Yarr, Commafeed), curated paid services (FeedBin, NewsBoat, Liferea), newsletter inboxes, and ActivityPub/Nostr decentralized readers — with real pricing, platforms, and API shapes.

RSS 2026 Big Picture — Five Distinct Branches

The macro view first. The May 2026 RSS reader market splits into five branches.

1. **AI-augmented SaaS**: Feedly + Leo AI, Inoreader + Inoreader AI, Readwise Reader, Matter.

2. **Native macOS/iOS clients**: NetNewsWire, Reeder 5/6, Unread, Lire 5, ReadKit.

3. **Web-first curation**: NewsBlur, The Old Reader, FeedHQ, Bazqux Reader.

4. **Self-hosted open source**: FreshRSS, Miniflux, Tiny Tiny RSS, Selfoss, Yarr, Commafeed.

5. **Hybrid read-later + RSS**: Readwise Reader, Matter, Instapaper, Wallabag.

On top of that, **Pocket (sunset announced July 2025)**, **Omnivore (sunset November 2024)** and **Revue (sunset January 2023)** — dead or dying products — reshape the landscape. Migration to surviving tools is the big 2025-2026 story.

After Google Reader — 13 Years of Market Realignment

The week after the July 2013 Google Reader shutdown was a gold rush. **Feedly** (founded 2008, Mozilla DevHQ alum) absorbed a million users in seven days, and **The Old Reader** (a 2012 effort to clone the Google Reader UI) got crushed by traffic in days.

Over the next thirteen years the survivors sorted out cleanly.

- **Feedly**: free + paid Pro/Enterprise. Roughly 15 million registered users in 2026. Differentiates with Leo AI.

- **Inoreader**: run by Bulgaria-based Innologica. Free + paid Pro. Strong search, filters, automation.

- **NewsBlur**: solo-run by Samuel Clay. Open source + SaaS. 14 years of nearly daily commits on GitHub.

- **FeedBin**: run by Ben Ubois. Paid-only ($5/mo). API-friendly, the backend behind Reeder, NetNewsWire, Unread.

- **Reeder**: solo-developed by Silvio Rizzi. Reeder 5 (2020) and Reeder 6 (2024) sold side by side.

- **NetNewsWire**: Brent Simmons. Open sourced in 2018, free + GPL.

The fallen list is just as long. **Bloglines** (2010), **Google Reader** (2013), **Digg Reader** (2018), **AOL Reader** (2019), **Microsoft Outlook RSS** (gradual sunset), and Inoreader's sister app **Stoop** (newsletter inbox, sunset 2023).

Feedly + Leo AI — The Market Leader and GPT-Powered Triage

Feedly is the undisputed RSS reader market leader as of May 2026. Free for 100 feeds, Pro $9/mo, Pro+ $14/mo, Enterprise on quote. Two core value props.

1. **Leo AI**: introduced 2022. Users write natural-language rules ("only Apple news, exclude Vision Pro"), and Leo filters and summarizes every morning. Since 2024 it also calls GPT-4-class models.

2. **Boards & Notes**: share curated articles with a team. Auto-push to Slack/Teams.

A Feedly OPML import looks like this.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

xmlUrl="https://hnrss.org/frontpage"

htmlUrl="https://news.ycombinator.com/" />

xmlUrl="https://www.anthropic.com/news/rss.xml"

htmlUrl="https://www.anthropic.com/news" />

Feedly Cloud API is effectively closed (Enterprise only), but OAuth v3 endpoints are exposed for partner integrations.

Inoreader — Feedly's Strongest Alternative

Inoreader was started by Bulgaria's Innologica in 2013. As of May 2026 the tiers are free (150 feeds), Pro $99/yr, Team $250/yr. The strengths are clear.

- **Search**: full-text article search. Feedly gates this behind Pro; Inoreader gives a one-week window for free.

- **Rules**: enabled in Pro. "Include/exclude keywords, auto-tag, auto-star, external webhook calls".

- **Inoreader AI**: introduced 2024. Article summary, topic classification, noise filter.

- **Social integrations**: subscribe to Twitter/X, Reddit, Telegram channels, YouTube channels as RSS.

- **OPML two-way**: clean import and export.

Inoreader skews heavily Korean and Japanese in the user mix. Localized UI is solid, and annual pricing comes in below Feedly's Pro.

NetNewsWire — Open Source macOS/iOS Done Right

NetNewsWire is the macOS RSS reader Brent Simmons started in 2002. It changed hands to NewsGator and then Black Pixel before Simmons reacquired it in 2018 and open-sourced it under GPL-3.0. As of May 2026, macOS 6.1 and iOS 6.1 are the current versions.

- **Free, no ads, no tracking**.

- Backend sync: iCloud, FeedBin, FreshRSS, NewsBlur, Inoreader, BazQux, Feedly (read-only via API).

- Keyboard-friendly, excellent VoiceOver support.

- Build it yourself: `git clone https://github.com/Ranchero-Software/NetNewsWire && open NetNewsWire.xcodeproj`.

The most-recommended option among ATP (Accidental Tech Podcast) listeners and Mac power users. One-liner: "free, better-built than most paid apps".

Reeder 5 vs Reeder 6 — Same Developer, Two Branches

Silvio Rizzi's Reeder is the aesthetic peak of macOS/iOS RSS readers. Reeder 5 shipped in 2020; Reeder 6 launched as a separate app in 2024, splitting the lineup.

- **Reeder 5**: $4.99 one-time. Traditional folder tree, every backend sync (Feedly, Inoreader, FeedBin, FreshRSS, Miniflux, iCloud).

- **Reeder 6** (Reeder Universal): subscription $4.99/yr. New design, unified Mastodon/Bluesky/RSS/newsletter timeline. Fewer backend syncs.

ATP hosts Marco Arment and John Siracusa bring it up often. The choice between 5 and 6 boils down to "pure traditional RSS" vs "RSS + social in one timeline". Korean and Japanese users still skew toward Reeder 5.

Readwise Reader — Highlights + AI + RSS Integration Newcomer

Readwise Reader launched in beta 2022, GA 2023. Built by Readwise (a book-highlights-sync SaaS since 2017). Pricing is the combined Readwise+Reader subscription at $9.99/mo or $79.99/yr.

The proposition is "one place for all reading".

- **RSS**: standard RSS/Atom subscriptions.

- **Email newsletters**: virtual email address that converts newsletters into readable articles.

- **YouTube**: caption extraction plus reading mode.

- **Twitter/X**: thread unrolling.

- **PDF/EPUB**: upload and highlight.

- **Ghostreader AI**: article summary, Q&A, next-article recommendations.

Highlights sync automatically to Anki, Notion, Obsidian, Logseq, Roam. Expensive if you just want RSS, but rational when consolidating "Pocket + RSS + Anki cards + Notion sync".

Matter — Beautiful Curation + AI Audio

Matter started in 2020 and launched publicly in 2022. Free + Premium $59.99/yr. Center of gravity is iOS/Android/Web; on macOS it runs as a PWA.

- **AI audio narration**: natural-sounding TTS reads articles. Excellent commute companion.

- **Highlights + GPT summary**.

- **Social curation**: see what other Matter users are reading.

- **Newsletter inbox**: virtual email like Readwise Reader.

Matter is widely regarded as the most beautifully designed RSS + read-later hybrid. The downsides are no native macOS app and higher pricing than Pocket.

NewsBlur — Samuel Clay's 14-Year Solo Run

NewsBlur was started by Samuel Clay in 2009. Open source (MIT) and SaaS ($36/yr) at the same time. Two core value props.

- **Intelligence Trainer**: train it on article body, author, and tags so it auto-classifies new posts as "must read" vs "skip".

- **Blurblogs**: share curated articles as a public blog.

NewsBlur can be self-hosted. `git clone https://github.com/samuelclay/NewsBlur && docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up`. On Kubernetes a deployment looks like this.

apiVersion: apps/v1

kind: Deployment

metadata:

name: newsblur-web

namespace: rss

spec:

replicas: 2

selector:

matchLabels:

app: newsblur-web

template:

metadata:

labels:

app: newsblur-web

spec:

containers:

- name: web

image: newsblur/newsblur_web:latest

env:

- name: NEWSBLUR_HOSTNAME

value: rss.example.com

- name: DATABASE_URL

value: postgres://newsblur:secret@pg/newsblur

ports:

- containerPort: 8000

Samuel Clay has been committing almost daily on GitHub for 14 years. One of the longest-running single-developer SaaS products in any category.

FeedBin — Backend-Friendly Paid SaaS

FeedBin is the paid RSS SaaS Ben Ubois started in 2013 to coincide with the Google Reader sunset. Single plan at $5/mo or $50/yr.

Clear identity.

- **API**: a clean REST API, so Reeder, NetNewsWire, Unread all support FeedBin as a backend.

- **Newsletter inbox**: virtual email address.

- **Pages**: save any web page as a one-off "article".

- **Search**: full-text search.

- **Twitter/X, YouTube integrations**.

FeedBin positions as "we will not ship clients; we will be the best backend". Reeder 5 + FeedBin is the standard setup among ATP listeners.

FreshRSS — The Self-Hosted PHP Standard

FreshRSS is a GPL-3.0 PHP/SQLite/PostgreSQL self-hosted RSS server. As of May 2026, v1.24.x is current. Runs well from a Raspberry Pi to a large server.

- **One Docker line**: `docker run -d --restart unless-stopped -v fresh:/var/www/FreshRSS/data freshrss/freshrss`.

- **Fever / Google Reader / Tiny Tiny RSS APIs**: Reeder, NetNewsWire, Fluent Reader plug straight in.

- **Extension system**: PHP extensions for non-RSS integrations (YouTube, Reddit, Mastodon).

- **i18n**: full Korean and Japanese UI translations.

FreshRSS is the canonical answer to "I want one RSS backend on my server and any client on top". Raspberry Pi 4 + Docker + FreshRSS + Reeder 5 is the most common setup.

Miniflux — Go Single-Binary Minimalism

Miniflux is the Go-based RSS server Frederic Guillot started in 2014. Apache-2.0 license. v2.2.x as of May 2026.

The character is "minimalism".

- **Go single binary**: SQLite or PostgreSQL. Runs in 200MB of RAM.

- **Read-first UI**: no folders, only categories + tags.

- **Google Reader API + Fever API**: external clients compatible.

- **Webhook/Telegram/Matrix**: notify on new articles.

- **API as a first-class citizen**: REST API is clean.

A CLI example.

Run via Docker

docker run -d --name miniflux \

-p 8080:8080 \

-e DATABASE_URL="postgres://miniflux:secret@db/miniflux?sslmode=disable" \

-e RUN_MIGRATIONS=1 \

-e CREATE_ADMIN=1 \

-e ADMIN_USERNAME=admin \

-e ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme \

miniflux/miniflux:latest

Add a feed via REST API

curl -u admin:changeme -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/feeds \

-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \

-d '{"feed_url": "https://www.anthropic.com/news/rss.xml", "category_id": 1}'

Users who prefer minimalism pick Miniflux over FreshRSS. The two effectively compete for the same slot with different philosophies.

Tiny Tiny RSS · Selfoss · Yarr · Commafeed — Other Self-Hosted Options

The two above own ~80% of the self-hosted market, but the alternatives survive.

- **Tiny Tiny RSS (tt-rss)**: started by Andrew Dolgov in 2005. PHP/PostgreSQL. The de facto self-hosted standard for years; has lost ground to FreshRSS in 2026.

- **Selfoss**: PHP, single-page SPA UI. Strong media embeds. GPL-3.0.

- **Yarr**: Go + SQLite. Lightweight enough to be called "Miniflux for a Raspberry Pi". Single-user assumption.

- **Commafeed**: Java/Quarkus. K8s-friendly. GPL-3.0.

- **Stringer**: Ruby on Rails. Once popular, maintenance effectively stopped.

- **rsslay**: Nostr bridge. Converts RSS into Nostr events.

For a single home machine, Yarr or Miniflux fits. For a serious server, FreshRSS or Miniflux are the common choices.

NewsBoat · Liferea · Lire 5 — Desktop Native Survivors

Web and mobile own most of the market, but native desktop clients are still alive.

- **NewsBoat**: TUI (terminal). Vim keybinds. Linux/macOS. Lightness as a virtue.

- **Liferea**: GNOME-native GTK. Started late 1990s, still packaged in 2026.

- **QuiteRSS**: Qt-based. Windows/Linux/macOS. Activity has declined.

- **Lire 5**: macOS/iOS. Specialty is offline full-text caching.

- **ReadKit**: macOS/iOS. Overshadowed by Reeder 5, but bundled subscription ($9.99/yr).

- **Unread**: started by Supertop, acquired by Golden Hill Software. iOS/macOS, minimalist design.

A NewsBoat configuration fits in one text file.

~/.newsboat/urls

https://hnrss.org/frontpage hacker-news

https://www.anthropic.com/news/rss.xml anthropic

https://martinfowler.com/feed.atom fowler

~/.newsboat/config

auto-reload yes

reload-time 60

browser firefox

notify-program "/usr/bin/notify-send"

bind-key j down

bind-key k up

NewsBoat is the near-standard for TUI users, and combined with system-tray notifications it can match Telegram bots.

Newsletter Inbox — The Fusion of RSS and Email

The biggest shift in the 2024-2026 RSS scene is **newsletter ingestion**. As Substack, Beehiiv, and Ghost have driven a newsletter explosion, email inboxes broke, and "read newsletters inside the RSS reader" became a routine pattern.

- **Readwise Reader newsletter inbox**: virtual address auto-issued.

- **Feedly newsletter** (Pro and up): virtual address.

- **Inoreader newsletters**: every paid tier.

- **FeedBin newsletters**: all paid users.

- **Stoop**: was inside Inoreader; sunset 2023. Users were migrated to Inoreader proper.

- **Kill the Newsletter!**: open source. Newsletter-to-RSS only. https://kill-the-newsletter.com/.

- **Substack auto-RSS**: every Substack newsletter exposes `/feed` automatically.

To subscribe to a Substack via RSS, append `/feed/` to the publication URL, e.g. `https://stratechery.com/feed/`. Beehiiv works the same way.

YouTube · Podcasts · Social via RSS

Most readers offer integrations to pull non-RSS content.

- **YouTube channel RSS**: `https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=<CHANNEL_ID>`. Every reader accepts it.

- **Apple Podcasts RSS**: podcasts are RSS 2.0 + the iTunes namespace by spec. Readers can subscribe directly (covered in iter97).

- **Mastodon user RSS**: `https://<instance>/@<user>.rss`. Most ActivityPub instances expose it.

- **Reddit subreddit RSS**: `https://www.reddit.com/r/<subreddit>/.rss`. Non-logged-in access has been restricted since the 2023 API changes.

- **Twitter/X**: removed RSS in 2023. Inoreader and Feedly work around it with OAuth.

- **Bluesky / AT Protocol**: user-handle RSS is unofficial, but `https://bsky.app/profile/<handle>/rss` works via some third-party gateways.

- **GitHub release/issue RSS**: append `.atom` to the repo URL and it just works.

Thanks to these integrations, RSS readers are gradually turning into **"one place for all content"** tools.

Read-Later — Instapaper · Pocket (sunset) · Omnivore (sunset) · Wallabag

The read-later market went through upheaval in 2024-2025.

- **Instapaper**: Marco Arment founded it in 2008. Acquired by Pinterest in 2016, then by Brian Donohue in 2018, who runs it independently. As of 2026, free + Premium $5.99/mo. Stable, simple design.

- **Pocket (Mozilla)**: started as Read It Later in 2007, acquired by Mozilla in 2017. **Mozilla announced the Pocket sunset in July 2025**. Users were told to export and migrate to Readwise Reader, Matter, or Instapaper.

- **Omnivore**: open-source read-later from 2022. **Sunset November 2024 along with the ElevenLabs acquisition**. The community-maintained forks **Readeck** and **Omnivore CE** keep parts alive.

- **Wallabag**: open-source read-later, self-host first. PHP/Symfony. The most active self-host alternative.

- **Readwise Reader**: combined read-later + RSS + highlights. The biggest winner from Pocket's sunset.

- **Matter**: read-later + RSS + AI TTS bundle.

As of May 2026, Instapaper is effectively the only remaining free read-later, with everything else split into paid (Readwise/Matter) or self-hosted (Wallabag, Readeck) camps.

RSS · Atom · JSON Feed · WebSub — Spec Walkthrough

RSS readers consume four kinds of specs.

- **RSS 2.0**: led by Dave Winer, finalized 2002. XML-based. Simple, but with many ambiguous corners; extensions go through namespaces (e.g. `media:`, `itunes:`).

- **Atom 1.0**: IETF RFC 4287, 2005. XML-based but cleans up RSS 2.0's ambiguities. Strict on ID, update time, and author representation.

- **JSON Feed 1.1**: started in 2017 by Brent Simmons and Manton Reece. JSON-based. Much easier to author and parse than RSS/Atom. Adoption is small in 2026 but growing.

- **WebSub** (formerly PubSubHubbub): W3C Recommendation, 2018. Publisher-to-hub-to-subscriber push model. Eliminates polling and approaches real-time updates.

- **ActivityPub**: W3C Recommendation, 2018. The basis of the fediverse (Mastodon, Threads, etc.). Not directly compatible with RSS readers, but a few readers (Reeder 6, Inoreader) subscribe to ActivityPub actors.

- **AT Protocol**: Bluesky's decentralized SNS spec. Separate from ActivityPub. RSS gateways exist on the periphery.

A minimal JSON Feed looks like this.

{

"version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1",

"title": "My Example Feed",

"home_page_url": "https://example.org/",

"feed_url": "https://example.org/feed.json",

"items": [

{

"id": "2026-05-16-1",

"url": "https://example.org/2026/05/16/post-1",

"title": "Hello",

"content_html": "<p>Body</p>",

"date_published": "2026-05-16T09:00:00+00:00"

}

]

}

Unlike RSS, JSON Feed has no namespace hell and is a one-liner to emit from a static site generator (Eleventy, Hugo, Astro).

ActivityPub · Nostr — Decentralized Content Syndication

The generation after classic RSS is decentralized protocols. Two threads have hardened by 2026.

- **ActivityPub**: the foundation under Mastodon, Pleroma, Misskey, GotoSocial, Threads (Meta), PeerTube, Pixelfed and the rest of the fediverse. Frequently described as the future of content syndication.

- **AT Protocol**: Bluesky's decentralized SNS spec. A separate camp from the fediverse.

- **Nostr**: the key-based decentralized protocol Jack Dorsey backs. NIP-23 (long form), NIP-94 (attachments), and similar NIPs route blog posts through it.

Subscribing to an ActivityPub actor directly from an RSS reader became real in 2024-2026. Reeder 6 treats an ActivityPub actor as a first-class citizen — paste a Mastodon handle like `@<user>@<instance>.<tld>` and it works.

For Nostr, a bridge like **rsslay** converts RSS into Nostr events. The reverse direction (Nostr-to-RSS) is handled by **nostr-rss-bridge**.

Korea RSS Scene — Daum / Naver / Tistory / Brunch

In Korea, RSS has settled as follows.

- **Daum RSS Feed**: by 2013 Daum's Mail/Cafe/Blog RSS aggregator was being phased out. After the Kakao merger, RSS dropped in priority.

- **Naver Blog RSS**: every Naver blog exposes RSS at `https://rss.blog.naver.com/<id>.xml`. Private cafes and blogs are excluded.

- **Tistory RSS**: as of 2026, `https://<blog>.tistory.com/rss` is still the standard.

- **Brunch**: Kakao's writer platform. RSS at `https://brunch.co.kr/rss/@<id>`.

- **velog**: a developer-blog hub. User RSS at `https://v2.velog.io/rss/@<id>`.

- **Millie's Library newsletters**: a few curated newsletters can be auto-converted to RSS for Readwise Reader.

- **Ddanji Ilbo, Slow News**: expose their own RSS; many users subscribe via Inoreader/Feedly.

The most common Korean setup is "Inoreader Pro ($99/yr) + Naver Blog + Tistory + Brunch + English-language tech publishers". Self-hosting overwhelmingly means FreshRSS.

Japan RSS Scene — Hatena · NewsPicks · SmartNews · Gunosy

Japan's split between RSS and curation apps is more pronounced than Korea's.

- **Hatena Bookmark**: started 2005. Bookmark + popular-article curation. Built on `b.hatena.ne.jp`. The de-facto Japanese del.icio.us.

- **Hatena Blog RSS**: every Hatena Blog exposes RSS at `https://<id>.hatenablog.com/rss`.

- **NewsPicks**: started by Uzabase in 2013. Paid + commentary curation.

- **SmartNews**: started 2012. Algorithmic curation. Significant US market share by 2026.

- **Gunosy**: started 2012. Algorithmic curation + digital advertising.

- **NHK News RSS**: per-category RSS like `https://www3.nhk.or.jp/rss/news/cat0.xml`.

- **Yahoo! Japan News RSS**: per-category RSS, still valid in 2026.

- **Qiita, Zenn**: developer-blog hubs. Per-user and per-tag RSS exposed as first-class citizens.

Japanese users skew toward Inoreader and Feedly too, but Hatena Bookmark occupies a "one tier above" slot, so users tend not to migrate directly into an RSS reader. Self-hosting splits roughly evenly between FreshRSS and Miniflux.

Newsletter Platforms — Substack · Beehiiv · Ghost · Buttondown · Kit

While RSS readers absorbed newsletters from one side, newsletter platforms have universally exposed RSS from the other (with some overlap with the iter53 blog-platforms post).

- **Substack**: every post gets an auto `/feed`. No author setup required to be RSS-subscribable.

- **Beehiiv**: founded 2021, ex-Morning Brew team. Auto RSS + SEO-friendly.

- **Ghost**: open-source newsletter platform. Exposes RSS/Atom/JSON Feed simultaneously.

- **Buttondown**: solo-run by Justin Duke. Minimalist + RSS as a first-class feature.

- **Kit (formerly ConvertKit)**: rebranded 2024. Creator-focused email marketing. Exposes RSS too.

- **Revue**: sunset by Twitter in January 2023. Users moved to Substack/Beehiiv.

- **TinyLetter**: ran under MailChimp until sunset in 2024.

Most publishers run on Substack or Beehiiv, both of which expose RSS automatically — so "subscribe to 1,000 Substack authors" is feasible inside Feedly/Inoreader.

AI Features 2026 — Summarization · Classification · Translation

In 2024-2026 the consistent differentiation point for RSS readers has been **AI features**.

- **Summarization**: Feedly Leo, Inoreader AI, Readwise Ghostreader, Matter Summary. Mostly backed by GPT-4 / Claude 3.5-class models.

- **Topic classification**: Feedly AI rules ("topic + keyword combination auto-filter"), Inoreader rules, NewsBlur Intelligence Trainer.

- **Noise filters**: rules like "auto-exclude ads/sponsorship/AI-generated headlines". Inoreader is the most expressive.

- **Multilingual translation**: Readwise Reader translates article bodies inline into Korean/Japanese. Feedly Pro+ does the same at the Board level.

- **Recommendations**: Matter, Feedly Discover. "New articles similar to what you liked".

- **TTS narration**: Matter, Pocket (sunset), Readwise Reader. ElevenLabs voices spreading.

The most aggressive AI users tend to be **readers who ingest email newsletters via RSS**. They process 200 newsletters a day in 30 minutes via topic filters and summaries.

OPML — The Common Currency for Migration

OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is the common currency for reader-to-reader migration. Essentially every reader supports import and export.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

text="Martin Fowler"

xmlUrl="https://martinfowler.com/feed.atom"

htmlUrl="https://martinfowler.com" />

text="HN Frontpage"

xmlUrl="https://hnrss.org/frontpage"

htmlUrl="https://news.ycombinator.com" />

text="Stratechery"

xmlUrl="https://stratechery.com/feed/"

htmlUrl="https://stratechery.com" />

A standard migration looks like this.

1. Export OPML from the old reader.

2. Import OPML into the new reader.

3. Verify category/tag mapping.

4. Sync unread state (service-dependent; sometimes not supported).

5. Reconnect API keys and external clients.

After the Pocket sunset announcement, the dominant migration paths were "Pocket to Readwise Reader" and "Pocket to Wallabag (self-host)".

Combination Patterns — How Real Setups Get Built

Common real-world setups people gravitate toward.

- **Minimal free**: NetNewsWire (iOS/macOS) + iCloud sync + OPML backup.

- **Paid macOS/iOS**: Reeder 5 + FeedBin ($50/yr).

- **AI-first**: Feedly Pro+ ($14/mo) + many Leo AI rules.

- **Highlights integration**: Readwise Reader ($79.99/yr) + Anki/Notion/Obsidian sync.

- **Self-hosted**: FreshRSS on a Raspberry Pi + Reeder 5 / NetNewsWire as clients.

- **TUI developer**: NewsBoat + Miniflux backend + Vim keybinds.

- **Decentralized-first**: Inoreader + Mastodon RSS + Nostr via rsslay.

The throughline is **"separate backend from client"**. Once you pick a backend (FeedBin/FreshRSS/Inoreader), you can swap clients freely.

Adoption Roadmap — From Zero to Daily RSS User

When introducing an RSS reader for the first time, the safest order is:

1. Start with **about 20 feeds**. Favorite blogs + company blogs + 5 newsletters.

2. Run for a month on **free NetNewsWire (iOS/macOS) or free Inoreader**.

3. After a month, refine to the **30-50 feeds you really read daily**.

4. At that point migrate to a **paid SaaS** (Feedly Pro, Inoreader Pro, FeedBin) or self-host (FreshRSS).

5. Automate **OPML backups** monthly.

6. Add **AI rules** (Leo AI, Inoreader rules) 1-2 per week.

7. Read-later tools (Readwise Reader, Instapaper) come after RSS is settled.

Trying to integrate 8 tools on day one means quitting within a month. Add **one tool at a time**.

Closing — May 2026, "RSS Quietly Returned for a Second Youth"

The takeaway is that "13 years after Google Reader sunset, RSS did not die". But the shape changed a lot. From a simple polling tool, it became the conduit into **AI summarization + newsletter ingestion + decentralized protocols**.

The two biggest shifts are: first, **the newsletter explosion regrew RSS**. Substack/Beehiiv/Ghost auto-exposing RSS turned "broken inbox to RSS reader" into the new standard. Second, **AI summarization became the top differentiator**. Feedly Leo, Inoreader AI, Readwise Ghostreader essentially compete on the same feature.

Don't agonize over tool selection. Whatever combination you pick, **"OPML backup + backend separation + a month of refinement"** gets you 90% of the way. The rest is taste.

References

- Feedly official site: https://feedly.com/

- Feedly Leo AI overview: https://feedly.com/i/landing/leo

- Inoreader official site: https://www.inoreader.com/

- NetNewsWire official GitHub: https://github.com/Ranchero-Software/NetNewsWire

- Reeder official site: https://reederapp.com/

- NewsBlur official site and GitHub: https://www.newsblur.com/ / https://github.com/samuelclay/NewsBlur

- FeedBin official site: https://feedbin.com/

- FreshRSS official site: https://www.freshrss.org/

- Miniflux official site: https://miniflux.app/

- Tiny Tiny RSS: https://tt-rss.org/

- Readwise Reader: https://readwise.io/read

- Matter official site: https://hq.getmatter.com/

- Instapaper: https://www.instapaper.com/

- Pocket sunset note (Mozilla, 2025): https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/future-of-pocket

- Omnivore sunset note (2024): https://blog.omnivore.app/p/details-on-omnivore-shutting-down

- Wallabag: https://wallabag.org/

- RSS 2.0 spec: https://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification

- Atom 1.0 RFC 4287: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4287

- JSON Feed 1.1: https://www.jsonfeed.org/version/1.1/

- WebSub W3C Recommendation: https://www.w3.org/TR/websub/

- ActivityPub W3C Recommendation: https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/

- AT Protocol: https://atproto.com/

- Hatena Bookmark: https://b.hatena.ne.jp/

- Kill the Newsletter!: https://kill-the-newsletter.com/

- NewsBoat official site: https://newsboat.org/

- Substack RSS guide: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037460752