# NewsBlur vs Sift

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sift at none against NewsBlur's 3. Sift also leads on update cadence (daily vs weekly) and iOS requirement (18.1 vs 26.0). NewsBlur's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. NewsBlur sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per month. Sift asks for nothing beyond the download.

NewsBlur ships an update weekly, Sift daily. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | NewsBlur | Sift |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.7 (514 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/newsblur-rss-news-reader/id463981119/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **514** | — |
| Positive reviews | 56.7% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | Weekly | **Daily** |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Size | 33 MB | 11 MB |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | **18.1** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [NewsBlur, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/463981122) | [Kentaro Iwata](https://appshunter.io/developer/6794563963) |

## What reviewers say

### NewsBlur

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/newsblur-rss-news-reader/id463981119)

Consolidate all your favorite news sources, blogs, and newsletters into one personalized feed. Customize your reading experience with themes, text adjustments, and offline access. Train the app to highlight important stories and hide irrelevant ones.

**Highlights:** Personalized RSS news feed, Offline reading, Customizable themes and text, Story filtering and training, Home screen widgets, Article summarization with AI, Text-to-speech for articles

**Features:** Vision Pro support, iPhone Duo support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| NewsBlur Premium Pro | $29.99 | per month |
| NewsBlur Premium | $35.99 | per year |
| NewsBlur Premium Archive | $99.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Fast and reliable
- 👍 Excellent news reader
- 🔒 Great privacy policy
- 💡 Useful training and filtering features
- 👍 Seamless sync across devices

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes and bugs, especially on iPad
- 👎 Paywall for basic features
- 👎 Outdated and cluttered UI
- 👎 Difficult to manage feeds and folders

**Reported bugs**

- Crashes on launch for some users
- Incorrect feed display and article loading issues
- Syncing problems between web and mobile apps

**Requested features**

- Customizable font sizes
- Offline reading mode
- Improved sharing options
- Ability to delete feeds and folders


### Sift

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sift-rss-reader/id6797250286)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is NewsBlur free?

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

### Is Sift free?

Sift is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do NewsBlur or Sift have ads?

Sift shows ads; NewsBlur does not.

### Which is updated more often, NewsBlur or Sift?

NewsBlur ships an update weekly, and Sift daily. Most recently, NewsBlur was updated on November 6, 2026 and Sift on October 31, 2026.

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