Comparison

PetalFeed vs Hackercast

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

Head to head
About

PetalFeed

Features
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An RSS reader built for VoiceOver from day one. Follow blogs, Reddit, Mastodon, Bluesky and YouTube in one place, then listen to it all like a personal news broadcast. No ads, no tracking, no subscription. Every screen is fully labeled for VoiceOver, every swipe has a named custom action, related details are grouped so you hear them in one stop, and all text scales with Dynamic Type. Follow everything you read: - RSS and Atom feeds from any blog or news site - Subreddits, just by name - Your Mastodon and Bluesky timelines - YouTube channels, with videos that play right inside the app - A Discover tab of hand-picked feeds, subreddits and channels by topic Listen hands-free. Have any article, or a whole queue of them, read aloud in any voice installed on your device. Control playback from the Lock Screen, Control Center or the mini player that follows you through the app. The Hive turns your headlines into a short podcast-style show, written by Apple Intelligence and read aloud by distinct voices. Hawk Eye gives you a digest of the topics in your unread articles. Summaries give you the gist of any article in a few sentences. All of it runs privately on your device. Stay organized your way: - Petals are your feeds, Flowers are your folders - Smart Flowers fill themselves using rules you set - Bees filter out keywords, spoilers and topics you would rather skip - Similar articles are grouped, so one story is one stop - Rapid Review lets you triage a busy feed one card at a time - Full-text extraction gives you the whole article without the clutter Bring your library with you. Sync feeds, folders and read state two ways with Feedbin, Inoreader, FreshRSS or Miniflux, or import and export OPML anytime. Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets show your unread counts and latest headlines. Siri and Shortcuts can open an article, read your unread articles aloud, play The Hive, build a Hawk Eye digest or mark everything read. PetalFeed works on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Free 14-day trial, then one-time purchase. Free forever, even after the trial: - Reading RSS and Atom feeds - OPML import and export - Up to 10 Petals - Text-to-speech read aloud - Every accessibility feature PetalFeed Lifetime is a single purchase with no renewals. It unlocks: - Unlimited Petals - Sync with Feedbin, Inoreader, FreshRSS and Miniflux - The Hive, Hawk Eye and summaries - Bees and Smart Flowers - Widgets, Siri and Shortcuts - Refresh as often as every 5 minutes Already bought PetalFeed? You keep everything automatically. Enjoying it? An optional tip jar lets you say thanks. Private by design. Your feeds, articles and reading history stay on your device. All AI runs on the device: no servers, no PetalFeed account, no tracking, no ads. Sync happens only with a service you choose to connect, and your sign-in details stay in the device Keychain. AI features require an Apple Intelligence–capable device.

About

Hackercast

Features
Read full description

Hackercast turns top Hacker News stories into your daily audio digest. No time to read? Just listen. Every day, the highest-scoring stories are curated, summarized by AI, and converted into natural-sounding audio you can listen to anywhere.

Screenshots

PetalFeed4 screens
Hackercast4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Hackercast at none against PetalFeed's 5. Hackercast also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. PetalFeed sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Hackercast asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PetalFeed ships an update every 2 weeks, Hackercast every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
PetalFeed versus Hackercast: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPetalFeedHackercast
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks β€” betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo β€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac β€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.117.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size11 MB2 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperDoxie Media LLCBERENALP BEYGIRCI

In-app purchases

5 purchases

PetalFeed

One-time5
  • 14-Day Free TrialFree
  • Small Tip$1.99
  • Medium Tip$4.99
Show 2 more
  • PetalFeed Lifetime$9.99
  • Large Tip$9.99
None

Hackercast

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PetalFeed free?
PetalFeed is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hackercast free?
Hackercast is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PetalFeed or Hackercast have ads?
Neither PetalFeed nor Hackercast shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PetalFeed or Hackercast?
PetalFeed ships an update every 2 weeks, and Hackercast every 3 weeks. Most recently, PetalFeed was updated on November 9, 2026 and Hackercast on October 31, 2026.

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