Comparison

Elytra vs Nabu

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

Head to head
About

Elytra

A privacy-focused RSS reader for iOS and macOS that offers native article rendering, advanced search, and cross-device synchronization. It strips tracking scripts and provides customizable appearance options for a clean reading experience.

Highlights
  • Privacy-focused design
  • Native article and image rendering
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Search within articles
  • Customizable appearance
  • Mute filters
  • Widgets
Features
Read full description

Elytra is a private RSS reader for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Follow the news sites and blogs you choose, read them in a clean native reader with every tracker stripped out, and keep everything in sync across your devices. Elytra is a paid app: every new account starts with a 14-day free trial, after which you can subscribe or buy a one-time lifetime licence. WHY ELYTRA PRIVATE BY DESIGN: Your account is created automatically. There is no email, no password and no personal information. A random account ID and anonymous crash reports are the only data Elytra uses, and only to sync your feeds and keep the app stable. NO TRACKING: Elytra removes tracking scripts and tracking pixels from every article, so what you read stays between you and your device. NATIVE READER: Articles are rendered with native iOS text and image views, not a web view. That means Dynamic Type, VoiceOver, text selection across paragraphs, syntax-highlighted code blocks and fast scrolling on long articles. SYNC: Your feeds, folders, read state and bookmarks sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac through Elytra's own service. The Mac app is a separate download on the Mac App Store. PUSH NOTIFICATIONS: Get real-time alerts from blogs that support the WebSub protocol, and near real-time local notifications from the ones that do not. FULL-TEXT ARTICLES: When a feed only ships a summary, Elytra can fetch the full article for you. SEARCH: Search for a feed, then an article, then a phrase inside the article. Elytra was the first RSS reader to search within articles. MUTE FILTERS: Hide topics, spoilers and keywords you do not want in your timeline. OPML: Import your subscriptions from another reader, and export them at any time. OFFLINE BOOKMARKS: Bookmarked articles are stored on your device, so you can read them without a connection. FEED FORMATS: RSS, Atom and JSON Feed are all supported. IMAGE LOADING: Choose when images load to save mobile data, or load them on demand. APPEARANCE: Light and dark themes, a choice of serif and sans-serif fonts, and support for custom fonts installed on your device. LINKED HEADERS: When an author links section headers, Elytra lets you share a link straight to that section. WIDGETS: Four widgets bring your favourite feeds and latest updates to your Home Screen and Lock Screen. ——— Elytra uses its own sync service and cannot connect to Feedly, Inoreader, iCloud or other RSS syncing services. ——— Terms: https://elytra.app/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://elytra.app/privacy/

About

Nabu

Features
Read full description

Nabu — Read & Listen Later You save articles all day and never get back to them. Nabu fixes the "later" part. Drop in any article, blog post, newsletter, or long read, and Nabu turns it into clean, narrated audio you can actually listen to — on a walk, in the car, doing dishes, anywhere reading isn't an option. The ones you'd rather read, you read, no clutter, no ads, no 14 open tabs. Save it now, get to it later Share anything to Nabu from Safari or any app. It strips out the junk and saves a clean copy to your library, ready to read or play. Listen to your reading list Tap play and Nabu reads articles aloud in a natural voice. Starts almost instantly — you don't wait around for the whole thing to process before the first word plays. Made for offline Once it's saved, it's yours. Read and listen on the subway, on a flight, or anywhere with no signal. Yours on every device Your library, your audio, and your spot in each article stay in sync across iPhone and iPad automatically. No account to make, no password to forget — it just works through iCloud. Built to stay out of the way A quiet, clean reader. Adjustable text. A play queue that flows from one piece to the next so you can keep moving. Save the long reads. Listen on your time. Terms of Service: https://trynabu.app/tos Privacy Policy: https://trynabu.app/privacy

Screenshots

Elytra4 screens
Nabu4 screens

Verdict

The call

Elytra and Nabu are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Elytra sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Nabu sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Elytra versus Nabu: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterElytraNabu
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (9 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews44.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings9 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscription—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size56 MB29 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperNikhil NigadeFlorian Ernst

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Elytra

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Pro - Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$10.491 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro - Yearly7 Days trial$20.001 Year
One-time5
  • Free TrialFree
  • 1 Month Subscription$0.99
  • 3 Months Subscription$2.99
Show 2 more
  • 1 Year Subscription$12.99
  • Lifetime Subscription$54.99
3 purchases

Nabu

Subscriptions2
  • Nabu Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Nabu Pro Yearly$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • 50 Nabu Credits$14.99

Questions

Is Elytra free?
Elytra is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Nabu free?
Nabu is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Elytra or Nabu have ads?
Neither Elytra nor Nabu shows ads.

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