Watch, listen and read4 picks
The best read-later and RSS apps for Mac and iPhone
Readwise Reader is the read-later app to pay for if you read a lot, and NetNewsWire is the best free one.
Readwise ReaderPick it if you read dozens of articles and PDFs a week and want every highlight searchable later.From $9.99Readwise Reader puts articles, newsletters, RSS, PDFs and YouTube transcripts in 1 library and brings your highlights back later, for $12.99 a month after 30 free days. NetNewsWire is a free, open source RSS reader with every new post in 1 ad-free list. Reeder blends feeds, YouTube and social posts into a timeline, and Matter reads articles aloud.
How we chose
- 1Highlights you can search and revisit
- 2RSS feeds and newsletters in 1 place
- 3Listening to articles read aloud
Compare at a glance
Tap a name to jump to its write-up.
| App | Price | How you pay | Mac | iPhone | iPad | App Store | Developer | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Readwise Reader | From $9.99 | Subscription | 4.6 | |||||
 NetNewsWire | Free, open source | Free | 4.7 | |||||
 Reeder | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.3 | |||||
 Matter | Free to start | Free, with paid upgrades | 4.6 |
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The picks, in order
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Pick it if you read dozens of articles and PDFs a week and want every highlight searchable later.
If your reading is split between saved articles, newsletters clogging your inbox, RSS feeds and PDFs, Readwise Reader pulls all of it into 1 library you can highlight and search. It reads anything aloud, Ghostreader AI answers questions about the page, and Readwise resurfaces your highlights later. It costs $9.99 a month billed yearly after a 30-day trial, with no free tier, while Matter has a free plan for plain read-later.
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Pick this if you follow blogs and news sites and want a free, ad-free list of new posts.
Social feeds and their algorithms decide which posts from your favorite sites you ever see. NetNewsWire pulls every new article from the blogs and news sites you follow into one list, in order, and tracks what you've read. It's free and open source on Mac, iPhone and iPad, syncing via iCloud, Feedbin or Feedly, while Reeder costs $14.99 a year for a timeline that also mixes in YouTube and podcasts.
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Pick it if you follow YouTube channels and Mastodon accounts too and want to scroll them as 1 feed.
There are no unread counts in Reeder; it remembers your spot in one timeline of RSS feeds, YouTube channels, podcasts and Mastodon and Bluesky posts, and syncs that spot through iCloud. You can also build filtered timelines by keyword or media type. If you like working through folders until the badge hits zero, the free NetNewsWire is the better fit, and Reeder's subscription is $14.99 a year.
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Pick this if you save more than you read and would rather hear articles on a walk, on iPhone or iPad.
Save an article, thread, PDF or YouTube video now and listen to it later, with podcasts and videos turned into transcripts that scroll in time with playback. The free tier already gives you an unlimited library, browser extensions and full-text search on iPhone, iPad and the web. Natural voices, newsletter and RSS sync and Send to Kindle need Premium at $79.99 a year, still less than Readwise Reader's $119.88.
Head to head
Stuck between 2 of these? Each comparison lines up price, devices and who should pick which.
- Readwise Reader vs NetNewsWirePick this if you follow blogs and news sites and want a free, ad-free list of new posts.
- Readwise Reader vs ReederPick it if you follow YouTube channels and Mastodon accounts too and want to scroll them as 1 feed.
- Readwise Reader vs MatterPick this if you save more than you read and would rather hear articles on a walk, on iPhone or iPad.
- NetNewsWire vs ReederPick it if you follow YouTube channels and Mastodon accounts too and want to scroll them as 1 feed.
