Comparison

Amethyst vs Sakura Reader

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

Head to head
About

Amethyst

A streamlined RSS reader designed for Apple devices, offering customizable feed organization, real-time notifications, and article bookmarking. It supports RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds, syncing seamlessly across your Apple ecosystem.

Highlights
  • RSS, Atom, JSON feed support
  • Feed grouping and sorting
  • Real-time push notifications
  • Article bookmarking
  • iCloud sync across Apple devices
  • OPML import/export
Features
Read full description

Amethyst is the ultimate RSS reader for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro. Built by a writer, for writers. It support RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds. It offers in depth customization, group sorting, real time push notifications, recaps, and much more. It feels right at home on your Apple device, being optimized for larger screen layouts - and truly makes RSS feel painless. Your feeds sync across iCloud, providing a unified experience across all of your Apple devices. Stay organized - Group feeds into folders and reorder them however you like - Mark your key sources as favorites - Bookmark articles to read later - Unread indicators quickly show you whats new - "Here's what you missed" summary when you're away for a little while - Keep up with your reading stats on your profile Real-time push notifications - Get notified the moment your favorite publications post new articles - Dial in your notifications per feed, so you only see what's most important - Never miss key stories, even when the app is in the background - Set certain feeds as Time Sensitive, so they always show up despite your Focus mode - Free users get up to 4 notification sources, Plus users gain unlimited Deep integration - View articles on your Apple Watch through complication or notifications, beam it to your iPhone to read later - Home and Lock Screen widgets to keep up with the news without checking the app - Mac keyboard shortcuts for easy navigation without lifting a finger - Share sheet extension to bookmark articles or add new sources, straight from Safari Discover new sources - Browse curated feeds organized by topic for added variety - Preview any source before adding it to your library - Import and export your feed collection with OPML, making it easy to switch in or out Amethyst Plus - Customize your folder icons, theme color, and app icon - Follow writers, so you can keep up with your favorite sources - Unlimited real time push notifications, instead of just 4 Thanks for using Amethyst! Feel free to share any feedback with me at feedback@amethyst.news. Subscription Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Sakura Reader

A modern RSS reader offering multiple display styles for news, blogs, and podcasts. Features on-device AI summaries, content grouping, and easy feed discovery. Read offline with cached content and built-in translation.

Highlights
  • Multiple display styles for content consumption
  • On-device AI-generated article summaries
  • Automatic content grouping by topic
  • Easy feed discovery via Share Sheet
  • Offline reading with cached content
  • Built-in podcast player with background audio
  • Customizable feed presentation
Features
Read full description

Sakura is a modern RSS reader designed to fit the way you consume content. Whether you're catching up on news, browsing photo blogs, watching YouTube channels, or listening to podcasts, Sakura has a layout for that. Multiple Ways to Read Choose from many display styles designed for specific types of experience: inbox for the classic RSS reader experience, swipeable cards for bite sized consumption, a feed-like interface for the social media experience, and more. Specific feeds will also be able to use a subscription view with widescreen thumbnails, and a dedicated podcast player with full playback controls including skip, seek, and background audio is also included. Intelligence Features (Supported Devices Only) Wake up to an AI-generated briefing of articles published overnight. In the evening, get a digest of the day's highlights. Summaries are generated on-device using Apple Intelligence, so your reading habits never leave your phone. Additionally turn on Content Insights to automatically groups articles together by topic to make content easier to find. Add Feeds Easily Use the Share Sheet to discover and add RSS feeds from any website, no need to hunt for a feed URL. Sakura automatically detects feeds from web pages, probes common feed paths, and handles special formats like Reddit, YouTube, Fediverse, and Bluesky feeds. Clean Reading Articles are extracted from their original pages and presented without clutter. Content is cached locally so you can read offline, and built-in translation lets you read feeds in other languages. Stay in Control Mark articles as read or unread, and mute keywords or authors you don't want to see. Import and export your feeds with OPML so you can move between apps with ease. Additionally, make use of advanced customization options to take control of how feeds are presented. Built-in Podcast Player Subscribe to podcasts alongside your other feeds. Play episodes with full playback controls, background audio support, and Now Playing integration on your Lock Screen and Control Center. Home Screen Widgets Stay up to date at a glance. Medium and large widgets show your latest unread articles, and tapping one opens it directly in Sakura. Privacy by Design AI summaries, content extraction, and article caching all happen on your device. No accounts, no ads, and no tracking. More features: - Bookmarks to save articles for later - Full-text search across all your feeds - Unread tracking with badge counts - Configurable background refresh intervals - Localizations in multiple languages - Integrations with reader services

Screenshots

Amethyst4 screens
Sakura Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Sakura Reader at 100% against Amethyst's 0%. Sakura Reader also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 4 days vs monthly). Amethyst's advantage is device support (5 vs 3) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Amethyst sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Sakura Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Amethyst ships an update monthly, Sakura Reader every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 14, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Amethyst versus Sakura Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAmethystSakura Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.3 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—3 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB30 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperMBRKHRDT LLCJustin Xin

Customer experience

Amethyst

Written reviews6 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Sakura Reader

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Amethyst

Subscriptions2
  • Amethyst Plus - Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Amethyst Plus - Annual14 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Amethyst Plus - Lifetime$49.99
None

Sakura Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Amethyst free?
Amethyst is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sakura Reader free?
Sakura Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Amethyst or Sakura Reader have ads?
Neither Amethyst nor Sakura Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Amethyst or Sakura Reader?
Amethyst ships an update monthly, and Sakura Reader every 4 days. Most recently, Amethyst was updated on September 14, 2026 and Sakura Reader on September 21, 2026.

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