Comparison

Unread vs Stream

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Unread

This app is a beautifully designed RSS reader that focuses on a clean reading experience with customizable typography and themes. It offers seamless syncing across devices and integrates with various read-later services, allowing for offline access to cached content.

Highlights
  • Gesture-based navigation
  • Customizable color themes
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Automatic webpage text display
  • Offline access with caching
  • Integration with read-later services
  • Widgets for unread counts
Features
Read full description

Rediscover the joy of reading your favorite writers and publications with Unread. Unread is an RSS reader with beautiful typography, comfortable gesture-based navigation, and a variety of color themes. Unread is available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Unread won the MacStories Selects 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. Capabilities include: SYNCING: Our free Unread Cloud service keeps your devices in sync. Unread also syncs with Feedbin, Feedly, Fever, FreshRSS, Gobbler, Inkwell, Inoreader, Miniflux, and NewsBlur. AUTOMATIC WEBPAGE TEXT: For feeds that contain only article summaries, Unread will display the full article text from the webpage. Easily switch between feed text and webpage text for any article, and change the default for individual feeds. WEBSITE ACCOUNTS: For news websites that require an account, sign in and get full webpage text. SUBSCRIBE IN UNREAD: This share sheet extension lets you subscribe to a website’s feeds while visiting that website from Safari or any other web browser. SAVE TO UNREAD: This share sheet extension creates an article in Unread with the contents of the webpage you are visiting from Safari or any other web browser. (Subscription required.) COLOR THEMES: Unread provides a variety of color themes. Choose one theme for light mode and another for dark mode. CACHING: Unread caches webpage text and images for instant loading and offline access. (Subscription required.) READ-LATER SERVICES: Unread can save articles to Anybox, Flyleaf, GoodLinks, Instapaper, Matter, Pinboard, Plinky, Raindrop.io, Readwise, Safari Reading List, and wallabag. On a device with a hardware keyboard, assign a custom keyboard shortcut to each. (Subscription required.) SHORTCUTS: Perform shortcuts on articles and links inside articles. On a device with a hardware keyboard, assign a custom keyboard shortcut to each. (Subscription required.) --- “Most importantly, I should stress again how refreshing it feels to have such a great native experience with Unread. The app is really fast, even when it’s loaded up with hundreds of feeds.” — Niléane Dorffer, MacStories “It’s an RSS reader made with taste. It has great typography, themes, search, and compatibility with the usual suspects. I love having this app on my Mac.” — David Sparks, MacSparky “Unread is focused on eliminating chrome — it is a pure reading app. It’s like reader mode all the time, and the assortment of color themes is nicely curated.” – John Gruber, Daring Fireball --- Unread has full VoiceOver coverage. Every screen and every feature is available to users with vision impairments: • From any screen you can perform a magic tap, a two-finger double tap, to open a menu of options available for that screen. • When on an article list, there are actions available for each article in the list. After selecting an article, invoke the accessibility rotor and then select “Actions”. There is an action to mark the article read or unread, an action to share the article, and many others. • Use the VoiceOver escape gesture, a two-finger “Z”, to back out of the current screen. --- UNREAD SUBSCRIPTION Unread is a free app. Additional functionality is available with a $29.99 (USD)/year auto-renewing subscription: • Article actions for sending articles directly to supported bookmarking and read later services, and for sharing via email or iMessage. • Ability to execute shortcuts on articles and links. • Caching of webpage text and images. • Widget customization options. • Save to Unread share sheet extension. • Custom app icons. • Premium support. A subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after purchase. Unread’s Terms of Use are available at: https://www.goldenhillsoftware.com/unread/terms-of-use/

About

Stream

Consolidate all your news feeds into a single, unified timeline. Offers a clean interface, easy import of existing lists, and support for open reading standards for a fresh user experience.

Highlights
  • Unified feed timeline
  • Simple user interface
  • Import existing lists
  • Supports open reading standards
Features
Read full description

With Stream all your feeds appear as a unified timeline. With its simple user interface, ability to import existing lists, and support for open reading standards, Stream is a great choice if you're looking for a different experience.

Screenshots

Unread4 screens
Stream4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Unread at every 8 days against Stream's every 3 months. Unread also leads on ratings volume (442 vs 21). Stream's advantage is review sentiment (86% vs 72%) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Unread sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Stream sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Unread against 4.6 for Stream. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Unread has 442 ratings behind it against 21, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 72% of Unread's written reviews are positive against 86% of Stream's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Unread ships an update every 8 days, Stream every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and August 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Unread versus Stream: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterUnreadStream
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (442 ratings)4.6 (21 ratings)
Positive reviews72.4% of reviews85.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings442 — better21
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB16 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperGolden Hill SoftwareRob Fahrni

Customer experience

Unread

All ratings442 ratings
Positive89.8%
Neutral2.7%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews170 reviews
Positive72.4%
Neutral8.2%
Negative19.4%

Stream

All ratings21 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral9.5%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral7.1%
Negative7.1%

Bugs and requests

Unread

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Occasional article duplication
  • Issues with 'Keep Unread' feature
  • Text formatting problems in dark mode

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add support for more RSS providers (e.g., Miniflux, FreshRSS)
  • Implement keyboard shortcuts and power-user features
  • Improve information density on iPad layout
  • Introduce a one-time purchase option

Stream

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Unread

Subscriptions4
  • Unread Monthly Subscription$4.991 Month
  • Unread Annual Subscription$29.991 Year
  • Unread: Free first year$29.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Unread: Discounted first year$29.991 Year
4 purchases

Stream

One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip$1.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Enormous Tip$9.99

Questions

Is Unread free?
Unread is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Stream free?
Stream is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Unread or Stream?
Unread and Stream are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 442 and 21 ratings respectively.
Do Unread or Stream have ads?
Neither Unread nor Stream shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Unread or Stream?
Unread ships an update every 8 days, and Stream every 3 months. Most recently, Unread was updated on September 21, 2026 and Stream on August 1, 2026.

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