The short answer. NetNewsWire is the free, open-source baseline and the one to start with: local feeds, no account, no subscription. Reeder 5 and Unread are the two polished clients for hosted services such as Feedbin and Feedly, and the choice between them is typography and gesture rather than capability. ReadKit adds bookmarks to the same window. Elytra is the private, native one with an iOS counterpart. Leaf, Feedy and Vienna are the lighter readers, Papr is the keyboard-driven one with highlight export, and Saga Reader adds an AI layer over web and feed content. The dividing question is where the subscription list lives, because a local reader and a service-backed reader are different commitments and migrating between them is the part nobody enjoys.
This guide covers 10 rss readers for macOS. Every fact below is drawn from the same verified records that back each app’s own page. The recommendations are our editorial judgment, not payment. Last verified 2026-10-16.
Quick comparison
| App | What it is | Pricing | Licence | Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elytra | productivity app | not published | not published | 2026.9.2 |
| Feedy | productivity app | not published | not published | 2.0 |
| Leaf | productivity app | not published | not published | — |
| NetNewsWire | feed reader | Open source | not published | 7.1.5 |
| Papr | productivity app | Open source | MIT | 0.16.1 |
| ReadKit | productivity app | not published | not published | — |
| Reeder 5 | productivity app | not published | not published | 5.6 |
| Saga Reader | productivity app | Open source | MIT | 0.9.90 |
| Unread | productivity app | not published | not published | 5.0.1 |
| Vienna | productivity app | Open source | not published | 3.10.8 |
What actually decides this
- Local feeds or a hosted service. A local reader stores the subscription list in the app. A service-backed one stores it on a server and syncs across devices. The second is the only way to read the same list on a phone and a Mac, and it is also a dependency that outlives the app.
- How it renders the article. A feed can carry full text, a summary or nothing. A reader with its own extraction can show the article when the feed does not. A reader that only shows what the feed provides will show an empty page for half the sites you subscribe to.
- What the typography controls are. Font, measure, line height and theme are not vanity in a reading app; they are the reason to prefer one client over another with identical sync. This is the entire difference between Reeder and Unread for most people.
- Whether it can export what you highlighted. Highlights that stay in the reader are notes you will not find again. Export to a notes app or a read-later service is the feature that turns reading into a library.
- Whether it is maintained. Feed readers depend on parsing that sites change constantly. An unmaintained reader works until the first site changes its markup, and then it shows a blank article with no error.
Our picks
- NetNewsWire — Its record describes a free and open-source feed reader for macOS, which is the baseline case. Choose it when you want a free, open-source reader with local feeds.
- Reeder 5 — Its record describes a news reader for Feedbin, Feedly and similar services, which is the service-client case. Choose it when your subscriptions live in Feedbin or Feedly and you want a polished client.
- Unread — Its record describes an RSS reader with beautiful typography supporting the same services, which is the typography case. Choose it when typography is the reason you are choosing a reader.
- ReadKit — Its record describes a bookmark and RSS management client, which is the combined case. Choose it when you want bookmarks and feeds in one place.
- Papr — Its record describes adjustable typography, keyboard-driven navigation and highlight export, which is the keyboard-and-highlight case. Choose it when you read with the keyboard and highlight as you go.
- Elytra — Its record describes a simple and private RSS reader with native rendering, which is the privacy case. Choose it when privacy and a native implementation matter more than features.
The apps
Elytra
Elytra is a productivity app for macOS. A Simple & Private RSS Feed Reader with native rendering for macOS & iOS. Its pricing is not published.
What it does. Simple, private, and feature rich RSS feed reader for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
Elytra is listed with current version 2026.9.2.
Full profile and verified facts for Elytra →
Feedy
Feedy is a productivity app for macOS. An elegant and lightweight RSS client and news reader for your Mac. Its pricing is not published.
Feedy is listed with current version 2.0.
Full profile and verified facts for Feedy →
Leaf
Leaf is a productivity app for macOS. A news reader for managing subscriptions and enjoying daily news. Its pricing is not published.
Full profile and verified facts for Leaf →
NetNewsWire
NetNewsWire is a feed reader for macOS. Free and open-source feed reader for macOS. It is open source.
Strengths. Free and open source, with no account and no paid tier — the project’s support page explicitly asks people not to send money. Reads four feed formats: RSS, Atom, JSON Feed and RSS-in-JSON. Ships for both macOS and iOS, so the same subscriptions can be followed on desktop and phone.
Trade-offs. The project asks contributors to ask before even starting a pull request, so casual code contributions move slowly. Building from source means cloning the repo and creating a DeveloperSettings.xcconfig for code signing — there is no one-command build. Reading stays local; there is no bundled hosted sync service in the app itself.
Not for. Readers who expect a hosted reader reachable from any browser — this is a native macOS and iOS app.
What it does. Reads RSS, Atom, JSON Feed and RSS-in-JSON subscriptions. Free and open source, with no account needed to read feeds locally. Ships for both macOS and iOS. Release notes and change history are published on GitHub.
NetNewsWire is listed with current version 7.1.5.
Full profile and verified facts for NetNewsWire →
Papr
Papr is a productivity app for macOS. RSS reader with adjustable typography, keyboard-driven navigation, and highlight export to Readwise, Notion and Obsidian. It is released under MIT.
What it does. A fast, native RSS reader — plus an agent-facing CLI so your AI agent can read, search and triage your feeds from the shell.
Papr is listed with current version 0.16.1.
Full profile and verified facts for Papr →
ReadKit
ReadKit is a productivity app for macOS. Bookmark and RSS management client. Its pricing is not published.
What it does. ReadKit - Read later and RSS client for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Full profile and verified facts for ReadKit →
Reeder 5
Reeder 5 is a productivity app for macOS. News reader for Feedbin, Feedly, Feed Wrangler and so on. Its pricing is not published.
What it does. News Reader. Rebuilt for Today.
Reeder 5 is listed with current version 5.6.
Full profile and verified facts for Reeder 5 →
Saga Reader
Saga Reader is a productivity app for macOS. AI-powered web and RSS reader. It is released under MIT.
What it does. Blazing-Fast and Extremely-Lightweight Internet Reader driven by AI! Your AI-Powered think tank assistant.(Built with Rust, Tauri & Svelte).
Saga Reader is listed with current version 0.9.90.
Full profile and verified facts for Saga Reader →
Unread
Unread is a productivity app for macOS. RSS reader with beautiful typography that supports Feedbin, Feedly and so on. Its pricing is not published.
What it does. Unread is an RSS reader with beautiful typography and a variety of color themes. Unread is available for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
Unread is listed with current version 5.0.1.
Full profile and verified facts for Unread →
Vienna
Vienna is a productivity app for macOS. RSS/Atom reader for Mac OS X. It is open source.
What it does. The Free and Open-Source RSS/Atom Reader for macOS.
Vienna is listed with current version 3.10.8.
Full profile and verified facts for Vienna →
How to choose
- No licence fee, source available. NetNewsWire, Papr, Saga Reader and Vienna — the source can be read and, under the terms of each licence, reused.
- Pricing not published in our data. Elytra, Feedy, Leaf, ReadKit, Reeder 5 and Unread — check the developer’s own site before assuming anything about cost.
Open source: NetNewsWire, Papr, Saga Reader and Vienna (4 of 10).
Common mistakes
- Choosing a reader before choosing where the subscription list lives. The list is the part that is hard to move.
- Subscribing to feeds that only publish summaries and blaming the reader for the empty page.
- Highlighting in a reader with no export, then hunting for the quote a month later.
- Keeping an unmaintained reader and assuming a blank article is the site’s fault.
How this guide was put together
Each app’s facts come from its own record: the developer’s own pages and repository, the App Store listing where one exists, and the documentation, each with a source grade and an access date. Where a fact rests on the developer’s own statement rather than on something we verified independently, the sentence says so. Where our data has no value for something, the guide says “not published” instead of guessing.
A price appears here only where the record carries one from a stated source; the guide never estimates one, and it records the pricing model alongside so the two can be read together. Prices change and vary by region, so each app links to its own page for the current detail.
The facts and the recommendations are kept apart on purpose. Everything in the app entries, the comparison table and the answers above is composed from the records. The short answer, the criteria and the picks are our editorial judgment: they reflect what we would choose and why, and they are not paid for. Where we make a recommendation we name the condition it applies under, because we do not call anything “the best” without explaining the criteria.
Verified 2026-10-16.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I choose between these rss readers?
There is no single answer — it depends on what you need. This guide covers 10 rss readers: Elytra, Feedy, Leaf, NetNewsWire, Papr, ReadKit, Reeder 5, Saga Reader, Unread and Vienna. They differ mainly in pricing model, licence and the trade-offs each one carries. Pick by the trade-off you care about rather than by rank.
Are these rss readers free?
Pricing across this group: not published (Elytra, Feedy, Leaf, ReadKit, Reeder 5 and Unread) and open source (NetNewsWire, Papr, Saga Reader and Vienna). Where we list pricing as not published, the developer does not state a model we could verify — check their own site before assuming anything about cost. We quote a price only where the record carries one from a stated source, and we never estimate one. Prices change and vary by region and by store, so always check the developer’s own page for the current figure.
Which of these rss readers are open source?
NetNewsWire (not published), Papr (MIT), Saga Reader (MIT) and Vienna (not published) are open source.
Do these rss readers support Apple Silicon?
Our data does not carry an explicit Apple Silicon statement for any app in this group, so we do not claim one. The absence of a statement is not the same as the absence of support.
How do I choose between them?
Start with how you pay: the guide groups these apps by pricing model, because the budget is the constraint most people actually have. Then check the trade-offs listed for each app: the limitations are the part that decides most people’s choice, because they describe what the app will not do for you.
Who should not use these apps?
NetNewsWire each list an audience they are explicitly not aimed at. Those notes come from the same verified records as the rest of this guide, and they are worth reading before you install anything.
When was this data last verified?
The facts in this guide were last confirmed on 2026-10-16. Every app page carries its own verification dates and source list, so you can check any individual claim.
