# Stream vs lire

The clearest difference is price: Stream at Free against lire's $9.99. Stream also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 68%). lire's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and chart position (#11 vs unranked). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Stream is free to download; lire costs $9.99 up front. Stream sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and lire sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Stream holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: lire has 151 ratings behind it against 21, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Stream's written reviews are positive against 68% of lire's.

Stream ships an update every 3 months, lire fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on August 1, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Stream | lire |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $9.99 |
| Rating | **[4.6 (21 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stream-a-feed-reader/id1377383950/reviews)** | [4.4 (151 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lire-rss-reader/id1531976425/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 21 | **151** |
| Positive reviews | **85.7% of reviews** | 68.4% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | **Fortnightly** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | **#11** |
| Size | 16 MB | 160 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | **15.6** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [Rob Fahrni](https://appshunter.io/developer/321211293) | [Kunal Sood](https://appshunter.io/developer/542137548) |

## What reviewers say

### Stream

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stream-a-feed-reader/id1377383950)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (4)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Small Tip | $0.99 | one-time |
| Medium Tip | $1.99 | one-time |
| Large Tip | $4.99 | one-time |
| Enormous Tip | $9.99 | one-time |


### lire

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lire-rss-reader/id1531976425)

**Currently charting:** #11 Top Paid · News (US App Store)

This app provides full-text RSS feeds, converting partial feeds into complete articles. Read content offline after initial caching. It offers standalone use or syncs with iCloud and various popular RSS services.

**Highlights:** Full-text RSS feed conversion, Offline reading of cached feeds, Standalone feed reader, iCloud sync, Sync with multiple RSS services

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (5)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Generous Tip | $0.99 | one-time |
| Massive Tip | $1.99 | one-time |
| Amazing Tip | $4.99 | one-time |
| Humongous Tip | $9.99 | one-time |
| Stupendous Tip | $19.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Fast full-text parsing
- 👍 Highly customizable
- 🔒 No data collection
- 💡 Bionic reading support
- 👍 Excellent accessibility

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes
- 🐛 Sync issues
- 🐛 Memory management problems
- 🐛 Buggy after updates
- 🐛 Inconsistent article rendering

**Reported bugs**

- Crashes on launch
- Incorrect feed display
- Articles not opening
- Overlapping UI elements
- Sync errors with FreshRSS and Wallabag

**Requested features**

- Bulk unsubscribe option
- Ability to add multiple feeds at once
- Custom keyword filtering
- Highlight/annotate articles
- Embedded video support


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Stream free?

Stream is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is lire free?

lire costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Stream or lire?

Stream is rated higher. Stream averages 4.6 out of 5 from 21 ratings, while lire averages 4.4 from 151 ratings.

### Do Stream or lire have ads?

Neither Stream nor lire shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Stream or lire?

Stream ships an update every 3 months, and lire fortnightly. Most recently, Stream was updated on August 1, 2026 and lire on September 23, 2026.

---

*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*