Comparison

NetNewsWire vs Matter

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

Head to head
About

NetNewsWire

This app aggregates articles from your favorite blogs and news sites, offering a faster and more organized way to consume content. It provides control over your news feed, eliminating the need to visit multiple websites or rely on social media algorithms. Enjoy a streamlined reading experience with customizable features and syncing capabilities.

Highlights
  • Direct feed downloading
  • iCloud and third-party syncing
  • Customizable article themes
  • Reader view
  • Starred articles
  • Smart feeds
  • Home screen widgets
Currently charting
Read full description

It’s like podcasts, but for reading. NetNewsWire is a free and open source RSS reader. It shows you articles from your favorite blogs and news sites and keeps track of what you’ve read. It’s fast, stable, and accessible. If you’ve been going from site to site in your browser looking for new articles to read — or counting on the unreliable algorithms of corporate social media — let NetNewsWire bring you the news you want. It’s easy and fun. And it puts you, not billionaires, in control of your news. Features: * Direct feed downloading * Syncing via iCloud, Feedbin, Feedly, BazQux, Inoreader, NewsBlur, The Old Reader, and FreshRSS * Multiple accounts * Custom article themes * Reader view * Share sheet * Starred articles * All Unread and Today smart feeds * Folders * Importing and exporting OPML feed lists * Background refreshing * Searching * Hiding read articles * Timeline customization * Keyboard shortcuts * Context menus * Home screen widgets for today, unread, and starred articles * Share extension

About

Matter

Consolidate articles, newsletters, and PDFs into a single, elegant reading experience. Enjoy features like natural text-to-speech, fluid highlighting, and offline access. Sync your highlights to popular knowledge management tools.

Highlights
  • Save articles, newsletters, PDFs, and YouTube
  • Natural text-to-speech for articles
  • Fluid highlighting and note-taking
  • Sync highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Readwise
  • Send articles to Kindle
  • Unified inbox for subscriptions
  • Offline reading
Features
Read full description

Finally, a better reading app. The internet is full of things you want to read – articles, newsletters, Twitter threads, PDFs. Matter brings them together in one place and gives you modern tools, like natural text-to-speech and fluid highlighting, to help you read more comfortably and effectively. "Matter improves vastly on earlier read-later apps like Pocket and Instapaper" – The Wall Street Journal Save anything: - Save full articles if you're within the paywall (eg. Bloomberg, NYT, WSJ) - Podcast transcriptions & synced playback - Save PDFs and YouTube Read across devices, including Kindle: - iPhone, iPad, Web - Send any article to Kindle in 2-taps Unified inbox for your subscriptions: - Sync your newsletters by connecting Gmail - Follow individual writers for their latest posts - Add any RSS feed The most elegant reading experience: - Best-in-class article parsing + readability - Available offline by default - Gorgeous night mode - Human-like text-to-speech - Fluid highlighting and note-taking Export your knowledge: - Sync your highlights to Notion, Obsidian, Roam, Readwise, and others Matter offers a free service and a Premium service. The free version of Matter includes: - Uncapped read-later library - Mobile & web extensions to save all types of content - Best-in-class parsing and readability - Unlimited tags - Full-text search - Customizable themes and fonts In addition to the free features, Matter Premium offers: - HD text-to-speech for all your articles - Seamless AI Co-Reader - Sync your newsletters, subscribe to writers, and add RSS feeds - Unlimited highlighting, note-taking, and integrations - Send to Kindle Payment for Matter Premium will be charged to your iTunes Account when you subscribe. Annual and monthly subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. Manage your Matter Premium subscription by going to Matter's Settings page. Terms of Use: https://hq.getmatter.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://hq.getmatter.com/privacy

Screenshots

NetNewsWire4 screens
Matter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: NetNewsWire at none against Matter's 21. NetNewsWire also leads on review sentiment (85% vs 54%) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Matter's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs monthly). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Matter sells 20 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. NetNewsWire asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for NetNewsWire against 4.6 for Matter. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 882 and 1.2K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of NetNewsWire's written reviews are positive against 54% of Matter's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NetNewsWire ships an update monthly, Matter weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
NetNewsWire versus Matter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNetNewsWireMatter
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (882 ratings) — better4.6 (1.2K ratings)
Positive reviews84.7% of reviews — better53.8% of reviews
Number of ratings8821.2K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
Best chart rank#143#109 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB113 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperBrent SimmonsDig Wells, Inc.

Customer experience

NetNewsWire

All ratings882 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews321 reviews
Positive84.7%
Neutral7.5%
Negative7.8%

Matter

All ratings1,233 ratings
Positive89.9%
Neutral2.7%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews366 reviews
Positive53.8%
Neutral15.3%
Negative30.9%

Bugs and requests

NetNewsWire

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Matter

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Subscription issues and inability to cancel
  • Delayed or missing newsletter delivery
  • Syncing problems across devices
  • Crashes and freezes on certain content

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to manually add blogs and RSS feeds
  • Customizable highlighter colors
  • Offline mode for audio playback
  • Integration with more note-taking apps
  • Improved search and filtering capabilities

In-app purchases

None

NetNewsWire

No in-app purchases

20 purchases

Matter

Subscriptions18
  • Matter Pro Weekly$2.997 Days
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$7.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$9.991 Month
Show 15 more
  • Matter Pro (Monthly)$12.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$13.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$14.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$15.991 Month
  • Matter Premium (Monthly)$19.991 Month
  • Matter Pro (Annual)1 Year trial$59.991 Year
  • Matter Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Matter Pro (Annual)$59.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)$69.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)$79.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Matter Premium1 Month trial2 variants$79.991 Year
  • Matter Pro (Annual)$79.991 Year
  • Matter Premium (Annual)$99.991 Year
  • Matter Premium7 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time2
  • Matter Patron Tier$149.99
  • Matter Premium (3 years)$149.99

Questions

Is NetNewsWire free?
NetNewsWire is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Matter free?
Matter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, NetNewsWire or Matter?
NetNewsWire is rated higher. NetNewsWire averages 4.7 out of 5 from 882 ratings, while Matter averages 4.6 from 1.2K ratings.
Do NetNewsWire or Matter have ads?
Neither NetNewsWire nor Matter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NetNewsWire or Matter?
NetNewsWire ships an update monthly, and Matter weekly. Most recently, NetNewsWire was updated on September 26, 2026 and Matter on September 25, 2026.
Which is more popular, NetNewsWire or Matter?
NetNewsWire currently peaks at #143 in the App Store charts, and Matter at #109. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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