Replacements for Google Reader
Give me an RSS reader made for speed.
With the ongoing demise of Google Reader (July 1), like a lot of other people I've been looking for a replacement. And - like a lot of other people - I haven't been finding what I wanted and so the search for a replacement has gone done to the wire. Here are some of the notes I've made about the candidates
Assumptions & needs
- I used GReader for scanning through journals and job ads, so the replacement should be to that all business / quick filter-and-forget style (and probably is thus fairly graphics light)
- I read/scan feeds on the desktop and via an Android tablet
- It has to import from GReader
- Folders or other organisation is essential (today I want to read about stats, tomorrow I will want to look at pictures of cats ...)
Candidates
Inoreader
- feature-packed (tags, social integration, folders, subscribe from browser ...)
- No Android reader yet but one is one the way
- does all other features needed
- nice lean look
- a very new service
NewsBlur
- acclaimed hosted service
- $24 / year
- Android app has dire reviews
Fever
- actually a pay-for and host-your-own service
- some nifty filtering services
- some Android clients
- lord, I am so not hosting my own service
Tiny RSS
- another host-your-own service, albeit free
- no Android clients
Feed Wrangler
- several clients on different platforms
- paid service, $19 a year
Feedbin
- several clients on different platforms
- paid service, $2/month
NetVibes
- more of a business intelligence platform for handling various incoming medias but does do RSS feeds
- there is a free version but it seems there are limits and the whole capability of the platform is very unclear
Feedly
- used to use gReader data, has now developed own service
- tends to very graphical look, but can be customised
- has Android clients
- the default choice for many moving from GReader
Digg
- says they are developing their own, but there's no no sign of
- their current apps are iOS only
FlowReader
- seems to do most of the reading fine
- imported my GReader feeds without issue but I can't scroll down to the bottom feeds
- no Android client?
- frustrating lack of instructions or help
CurataReader
- looks nice but there's a lot of unused white on the screen
- also there's junky HTML/Javascript code coming through many of my feeds
- a lack of instructions and customisation
Ridley
- failed on my first import of feeds. The second time, it seems to have worked but I'm unsure. Hmmm ...
- has Android clients
TheOldReader
- designed to duplicate old look of GReader
- it certainly does look retro ...
- no Android support
Conclusion
For the moment, InoReader and Feedly are the way to go. The former has the features and the "business" look that I want, the latter has the clients and user-friendliness. There's a lot of pretty readers with big and bright interfaces (leaving most of the screen unused) and what I'd really like is something more compact, where I can whip through dozens of feeds quickly and see if there's anything I'm interested in. Something like Google Reader, actually, which on reflection was damn good at what it did. It just worked, which is the highest praise you can give a bit of software.