NetNewsWire vs PageFeed
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Direct feed downloading
- iCloud and third-party syncing
- Customizable article themes
- Reader view
- Starred articles
- Smart feeds
- Home screen widgets
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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
PageFeed
This news reader presents content in a book-like, page-turning format, eliminating scrolling. Organize your favorite sources, read offline, and enjoy a distraction-free experience with customizable text and themes.
- Page-based reading, no scrolling
- Organized by source, not algorithm
- Distraction-free reading experience
- On-device article summaries
- Customizable tagging and filtering
- Offline reading capability
- Adjustable text and high-contrast theme
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PageFeed is a different kind of news reader, built for reading, not scrolling. The sites, blogs, and writers you follow, laid out in clean, full pages. You tap forward and back, like turning pages in a book. Nothing scrolls. Every page is set to fit, so you always know exactly where you are. WHY PAGEFEED • Read in pages, never scroll. A calm, book-like way through every story, and on iPad, a two-page spread like an open book. • Your sources in order, not by algorithm. Newest or oldest first, your choice. Nothing is promoted, hidden, or reordered for you. • Group your sources. Organize the sites you follow into your own categories and read one topic at a time. • Private sync, your way. Sync through your own iCloud account to keep your iPhone and iPad in step, or through your own Google Drive to sync cross-platform, including the web. Either way, we never see your reading. Prefer simple? A free PageFeed sync account also works everywhere. • Summaries on device. On an iPhone or iPad with Apple Intelligence, get the gist of any article in a few private, on-device bullet points. • Tags, on your terms. Every story is tagged, so you can follow a topic or mute one and never see it in your feed again. • Save anything. Share a web page to PageFeed to keep it, and star the stories you want to come back to. • Works offline. Once loaded, your reading is there on the subway, on a plane, anywhere. It catches up when you're back online. • Find your sources. Browse hundreds of publications by topic in Discover, and follow the ones you like. • Adjustable type and a high-contrast theme. Set the text size and switch to an easy-on-the-eyes look. PageFeed is deliberately minimal: no noise, no infinite scroll, no clutter. Just the news you choose, in order, one page at a time.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: PageFeed at every 4 days against NetNewsWire's monthly. PageFeed also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and review sentiment (100% vs 84%). NetNewsWire's advantage is ratings volume (882 vs 2) and chart position (#144 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
PageFeed holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NetNewsWire has 882 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of NetNewsWire's written reviews are positive against 100% of PageFeed's.
NetNewsWire ships an update monthly, PageFeed every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NetNewsWire | PageFeed |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (882 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 882 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #144 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Brent Simmons | Brad Moss |
Customer experience
NetNewsWire
PageFeed
In-app purchases
NetNewsWire
No in-app purchases
PageFeed
No in-app purchases









