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Feed reader alternatives

A free, private alternative to Feedly, Inoreader and Folo.

Monfil is a free desktop feed reader for macOS, Windows and Linux. It has no account, no source limit and no algorithm, and your data stays on your computer. This page compares it with 15 other readers, and says when another one fits you better.

Pick Monfil if

  • No account, no server. Install the app and read. Feeds, read state and saved articles stay in a database on your computer.

  • Newest first, nothing hidden. Items arrive in date order from the sources you chose. Nothing is ranked, boosted or summarized for you.

  • More than RSS. Paste a GitHub repository, an arXiv category, a Bluesky profile or a company job board. Monfil finds the feed.

  • Free, with no feed limit. The app is free and has no ads. Follow as many sources as you want.

Pick another reader if you need

  • There is no mobile app and no web app. Monfil runs on macOS, Windows and Linux.

  • There is no sync between devices. Your data stays on one computer, and you move it with an OPML file.

  • There are no AI summaries, translations or digests.

  • There is no email address for newsletters. Follow a Substack by its link, or the web version of a newsletter if it has a feed.

  • There is no sharing or social layer.

Monfil and 15 feed readers, side by side

Prices and limits come from each product’s website and recent reviews, checked on 2 November 2026.

Reader KindRuns onFree planPaid planAccountYour dataHow items are sorted
Monfil Desktop appmacOS, Windows, LinuxFree, no feed limitNoneNoYour computerNewest first
Feedly Web serviceWeb, iOS, AndroidUp to 100 sourcesPro from $6 a month, billed yearlyYesFeedly’s serversNewest first, AI Feeds on Pro+
Inoreader Web serviceWeb, iOS, AndroidUp to 150 feeds, with adsPro from €6.67 a month, billed yearlyYesInoreader’s serversNewest first, with rules and AI summaries
NewsBlur Web service, open sourceWeb, iOS, Android, macOSUp to 64 sitesPremium $36 a yearYes, or host it yourselfNewsBlur’s servers, or yoursA trainer hides or highlights stories
Feedbin Web serviceWeb, and apps that sync with itNo free plan, 30-day trial$7 a month or $70 a yearYesFeedbin’s serversNewest first
Readwise Reader Read-it-later serviceWeb, iOS, Android, desktopNo free plan, 30-day trial$9.99 a month, billed yearlyYesReadwise’s serversYour saved queue, with a feed tab
Folo AI reader, open sourceWeb, desktop, mobileUp to 150 feeds, 3 AI summaries a dayBasic $49.99 a yearYesFolo’s serversTimeline with AI summaries and digests
FeedNest AI readerWeb and appsUp to 150 feedsPlus $5.99 a monthYesFeedNest’s serversAI curation, summaries and tags
daily.dev Developer news feedBrowser extension, web, iOS, AndroidFreePlus $9.99 a monthFor most featuresdaily.dev’s serversPersonalized feed and community votes
Mailbrew Email digestWeb, emailFree plan with limitsPaid plan for more digestsYesMailbrew’s serversOne email on your schedule
Miniflux and NextFlux Self-hosted, open sourceWeb, installable web appFree to host yourselfHosted Miniflux $15 a yearOn your serverYour serverNewest first
FreshRSS Self-hosted, open sourceWeb, and apps that sync with itFree to host yourselfNoneOn your serverYour serverNewest first, with extensions
NetNewsWire Apple app, open sourcemacOS, iOS, iPadOSFree (MIT)NoneNo, sync is optionalYour devices, or your sync serviceNewest first
Reeder Apple appmacOS, iOS, iPadOSLimited free tier$14.99 a yearApple account for iCloud syncYour devices and iCloudOne timeline
Fluent Reader Desktop app, open sourceWindows, macOS, LinuxFreeNoneNoYour computerNewest first, with rules
RSS Guard Desktop app, open sourceWindows, macOS, LinuxFree (GPL-3.0)NoneNoYour computerNewest first, with filters

Hosted feed readers

These readers keep your subscriptions on their servers, so you sign in and read on any device.

Monfil vs Feedly

feedly.com

Feedly is the best-known web feed reader. The same company also sells threat intelligence and market intelligence products to teams.

Pick Feedly if
You read on your phone as much as on your computer, or your team needs shared boards and AI feeds.
Pick Monfil if
You read at a computer and do not want an account or a source limit. Monfil also finds the feed for a GitHub repository, an arXiv category or a company job board when you paste its link.

Web, iOS, Android · Free plan: Up to 100 sources · Paid: Pro from $6 a month, billed yearly

Monfil vs Inoreader

inoreader.com

Inoreader is a web reader for heavy users. It follows feeds, newsletters, web pages without a feed, Bluesky, Telegram and Google News, and adds rules, filters and AI summaries.

Pick Inoreader if
You want automation rules, web page monitoring and newsletters by email, with the same account on your phone.
Pick Monfil if
You want no account and no ads, and you want release notes, arXiv papers, Hacker News and job boards in the same river as your blogs.

Web, iOS, Android · Free plan: Up to 150 feeds, with ads · Paid: Pro from €6.67 a month, billed yearly

Monfil vs NewsBlur

newsblur.com

NewsBlur is a web reader made by one independent developer, Samuel Clay. Its trainer learns which authors, tags and titles you like, and the code is open source under the MIT license.

Pick NewsBlur if
You want a trainer that hides the stories you do not like, a social layer to share stories, or a reader you can host yourself.
Pick Monfil if
You want every item in date order with nothing hidden, more than 64 sources for free, and no account.

Web, iOS, Android, macOS · Free plan: Up to 64 sites · Paid: Premium $36 a year

Monfil vs Feedbin

feedbin.com

Feedbin is a paid, ad-free web reader that also receives email newsletters. Many third-party apps, such as NetNewsWire and Reeder, sync with it.

Pick Feedbin if
You are happy to pay for a calm hosted reader, and you want newsletters and feeds together on all your devices.
Pick Monfil if
You want a free reader with no account, and sources such as GitHub releases, arXiv and job boards found from a pasted link.

Web, and apps that sync with it · Free plan: No free plan, 30-day trial · Paid: $7 a month or $70 a year

Monfil vs Readwise Reader

readwise.io/read

Readwise Reader is a read-it-later app that also reads feeds. It is strong on highlights, notes and PDFs, and it comes only with the full Readwise plan.

Pick Readwise Reader if
You save long articles, PDFs and books to read later, and you want to keep and review your highlights.
Pick Monfil if
You want to see what is new in your field every day, for free, more than you want to build a reading library.

Web, iOS, Android, desktop · Free plan: No free plan, 30-day trial · Paid: $9.99 a month, billed yearly

AI feed readers

These readers use AI to summarize, translate or pick what you read. They run in the cloud and limit AI use by plan.

Monfil vs Folo

folo.is

Folo, once called Follow, is an AI feed reader under the GPL-3.0 license. It uses RSSHub to follow social networks and video sites, and its AI summarizes, translates and sends digests of your timeline.

Pick Folo if
You want AI to summarize and translate your timeline, or you follow sources that only RSSHub reaches, such as X, Weibo or bilibili.
Pick Monfil if
You want to read the items yourself, in date order, with no daily limits and no account. Your list of sources stays on your computer.

Web, desktop, mobile · Free plan: Up to 150 feeds, 3 AI summaries a day · Paid: Basic $49.99 a year

Monfil vs FeedNest

feednest.com

FeedNest is a hosted reader with an AI news analyst. It follows feeds, YouTube, podcasts and newsletters, and it can build a feed from a description of your interests.

Pick FeedNest if
You want AI to pick and summarize news for you, or to read your feeds from Claude or ChatGPT.
Pick Monfil if
You want to pick every source yourself and see every item. Nothing in Monfil ranks your items, and your data stays on your computer.

Web and apps · Free plan: Up to 150 feeds · Paid: Plus $5.99 a month

Curated feeds and digests

These products bring you news in another shape: a community feed or an email.

Monfil vs daily.dev

daily.dev

daily.dev is a developer community. Its feed comes from thousands of sources that its editors approve, and it opens in your browser’s new tab.

Pick daily.dev if
You want popular developer articles with votes and comments from other developers, and you do not need to pick each source.
Pick Monfil if
You want your own sources. In daily.dev you cannot add a feed of your own, only suggest a source for review. In Monfil you paste any link, and nothing is ranked by popularity.

Browser extension, web, iOS, Android · Free plan: Free · Paid: Plus $9.99 a month

Monfil vs Mailbrew

mailbrew.com

Mailbrew sends a daily or weekly email that collects your sources, such as feeds, newsletters and websites.

Pick Mailbrew if
You want your sources as one email at a fixed time, and you do not want another app.
Pick Monfil if
You want to see new items when they arrive, search across all of them, and keep track of what you read.

Web, email · Free plan: Free plan with limits · Paid: Paid plan for more digests

Self-hosted readers

You run these readers on your own server. You own your data, and you also maintain the server.

Monfil vs Miniflux and NextFlux

miniflux.app

Miniflux is a small, fast reader that you run on your own server. NextFlux is a modern web front end for Miniflux, which you deploy with Docker or Cloudflare Pages.

Pick Miniflux and NextFlux if
You run a server and want the same feeds in a browser on every device.
Pick Monfil if
You want the same privacy with no server to run. Install Monfil, and your data stays on your computer.

Web, installable web app · Free plan: Free to host yourself · Paid: Hosted Miniflux $15 a year

Monfil vs FreshRSS

freshrss.org

FreshRSS is a self-hosted reader for many users, under the AGPL-3.0 license. It has extensions, web scraping, and the Google Reader and Fever APIs for mobile apps.

Pick FreshRSS if
You want one server for your family or your team, and your choice of mobile app.
Pick Monfil if
You want to start reading in a minute, with no server, database or updates to manage.

Web, and apps that sync with it · Free plan: Free to host yourself · Paid: None

Desktop and Apple apps

These apps run on your own computer, like Monfil. Most of them read RSS and Atom feeds only.

Monfil vs NetNewsWire

netnewswire.com

NetNewsWire is a free, open-source reader for Mac, iPhone and iPad. It syncs through iCloud, Feedbin, Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur and FreshRSS.

Pick NetNewsWire if
You use only Apple devices and want a fast native app that syncs with your phone.
Pick Monfil if
You also use Windows or Linux, or you want GitHub, arXiv, Hacker News and job board sources found from a pasted link.

macOS, iOS, iPadOS · Free plan: Free (MIT) · Paid: None

Monfil vs Reeder

reederapp.com

Reeder is a polished Apple app that follows feeds, YouTube, podcasts, Mastodon and Bluesky in one timeline, and syncs through iCloud. Reeder Classic still works with hosted readers.

Pick Reeder if
You use only Apple devices and want one timeline on your Mac and your phone.
Pick Monfil if
You also use Windows or Linux, or you follow GitHub releases, arXiv, job boards and developer conferences.

macOS, iOS, iPadOS · Free plan: Limited free tier · Paid: $14.99 a year

Fluent Reader is a free, open-source desktop reader for Windows, macOS and Linux. It reads RSS and can sync with Inoreader, Feedbin, Miniflux and other services through their APIs.

Pick Fluent Reader if
You want a free desktop RSS reader that syncs with a hosted service you already use.
Pick Monfil if
You follow more than RSS. Monfil finds the feeds for GitHub and GitLab releases, arXiv, Hacker News, Bluesky, Mastodon, YouTube and job boards, and adds workspaces, saved searches and feedpacks.

Windows, macOS, Linux · Free plan: Free · Paid: None

RSS Guard is a free, open-source desktop reader written in C++ with Qt. It reads RSS, Atom and JSON feeds, plays podcasts, and syncs with many online services.

Pick RSS Guard if
You want a light native app with scripted filters and a podcast player.
Pick Monfil if
You want curated feedpacks for your field, workspaces and saved searches, and sources such as arXiv categories, Hacker News score levels and company job boards.

Windows, macOS, Linux · Free plan: Free (GPL-3.0) · Paid: None

Move your feeds in two minutes

Most feed readers export your subscriptions as an OPML file. Monfil imports that file and keeps your folders.

  1. 1

    Export

    In your current reader, find the OPML export. It is often in the settings, under import and export.

  2. 2

    Install Monfil

    Download Monfil for macOS, Windows or Linux. There is nothing to sign up for.

  3. 3

    Import

    In Monfil, open Settings, then Your data, and select Import OPML. Pick a new workspace or merge into Home.

Read the import guide

Monfil Pro is coming.

Sync your feeds between devices, and get a smarter radar that brings up what you must not miss.

One email when Pro launches. You confirm your address first, and you can leave the list at any time.

Try Monfil next to your current reader.

Free for macOS, Windows and Linux. Import your OPML file or install a feedpack, and compare for a week.