Google Reader Alternatives
Since Google’s big announcement in March about shutting down Reader on July 1st, I have been diligently trying different RSS Readers trying to find one that would be the best replacement for the beloved reader that I’m so attached to. I have hundreds of blogs in my reader that I read on a daily basis. After months of trying out over 10 different readers, I’ve come to the conclusion that none of them are perfect. They all are missing something I desire.
Here are my lists of alternatives you could use, and the one that I will probably end up using.
- Readers that are similar to Google Reader: If you are looking for a reader that is similar in style and functions, I would suggest either TheOldReader.com or BlogLines.com both of these are similar and your google reader subscriptions can be transferred easily over with just a click. However, both of these also do not have any mobile apps, as of yet. So if you read your subscriptions on a phone or tablet as well (which I do) then these readers are not for you.
- Readers for mobile users: If you’re looking for a sleek, magazine style reader for your mobile phone or tablet, I would recommend Google Currents or Flipboard. However, if you would like a reader for your desktop as well, then these readers are not for you.
- Promising Readers that I had technical difficulties with:
FeedReader.com is one that looked very promising but for some reason every time I tried to import my subscriptions from Google Reader, it would time out and never load them. I have tried this numerous times over the past several weeks and it never seemed to work for me.
Imotiv is another reader that I actually really loved. I loved how it is more like a community of bloggers and how easy it is to share your feeds with your friends and others. I would have stuck to using this reader, however I had major issues with the site and the mobile app, it was just soooo slow. It took forever to do anything at times and I know it wasn’t my internet as it was at different times, days and locations. I am keeping my account with imotiv though and will continue to attempt to use it. Hopefully their speed issues will improve as time goes by. - Upcoming Readers that sound promising: There is much noise and expectations about the upcoming reader from Digg. Unfortunately the Digg Reader has not been officially launched yet but I am excited to see all the features it will offer.
- The Reader I will end up using: Although I am not 100% happy with Feedly, this is the one I will end up using..for now. You can easily import your subscriptions from Google Reader and it also has a fast and easy mobile app to accompany the desktop version. I was able to setup all of my feeds under different categories and have them all organized. It also provides several different layouts to view the feed. I usually alternate between the title only and magazine layout. It’s not perfect and there are a few things I could change about it, but in my opinion it is the fastest and easiest reader to adapt to and start working with right away.
UPDATE: I have now switched over to Bloglovin and I am extremely happy with it. It is definitely my reader of choice. You can follow me on Bloglovin if you’re on there!
Here are some ways you can subscribe to or follow StrawberrySingh.com.
- RSS Feed Address for StrawberrySingh.com – Feed that link into whichever reader you end up using.
- Follow this blog via email – Click the “Follow” button on the bottom right corner of this page or check out the sidebar for the “Subscribe to Blog via Email” widget and sign up.
- Facebook Page – Every post I write is shared on my Facebook page, you can hit the like button and follow me on facebook.
- Google+ Page – This blog has a Google+ Page where I share all of the posts. Feel free to +1 and circle the page on Google+.
- Follow me on Twitter – I tweet each post along with tweeting whatever pops into my head on a daily basis.
Google Reader will disappear on July 1st! Which RSS Reader do you use or are planning to switch to once Google Reader dies? If you don’t use an RSS Reader, how do you keep up with your favorite blogs?
I’m using FeedDemon right now and love it. I was able to import all my Google Reader subscriptions and the app is intuitive when I’m on a blog and want to add it to the list. I don’t use another device other than my laptop to read blogs so I’m not sure if they have versions for phones or tablets.
I have no idea how feeds work. Maybe that would be a good tutorial? Or is it so simple (and I’m so dumb) it’s not necessary?
Hi Naughty, I did look at FeedDemon but didn’t give it an earnest try since I had to download and install it. I would rather use something webbased on my computer and also, it doesn’t have any mobile apps so wouldn’t work for me.
Peep, a reader really can save you a lot of time. They are very easy to setup. Just go to feedly.com, make an account and start adding in the urls to your favorite blogs. Then all you have to do is go to feedly every morning and all the new posts to your fav blogs will be there, ready to be read by you. It’s so very convenient.
Great post, very useful! I’d like to add that feed.ly has just dropped the browser extension and it’s become fully web based. That was a big issue for me and now that it’s solved I’ll probably turn to it, although I’m not 100% satisfied either
I find ‘Mr. Reader’ very useful on my tablet.
I will be using feedly because I prefer to read my RSS feeds on my tablet using greader. Your able to connect greader with freely and this app comes very close to the old Google reader look.
Seems to me that at this point Feedly is just an alternate front end for Google Reader. It will be interesting to see if it works when Google Reader goes offline. There is an excellent article on Wired.com about Digg’s race to build an RSS Reader:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/06/inside_digg_reader/
It explains the challenges of doing this and why Google in particular was in a position to do it so well. I’ve also tried a lot of Google Reader alternatives; the one I like the best so far is CommaFeed. It doesn’t appear to be dependent on Google Reader, but it also isn’t updating reliably yet.
Connie, yes that’s actually one of the reasons I decided to finally stick with feedly, because it’s fully web based now so it’s closest to everything I am looking for in a feed.
Crystal, didn’t try Mr. Reader, will take a look at it as well, thanks for the suggestion!
Kim, yes I am very interested in the upcoming Digg Reader, I am hoping it will be the answer to everything I am looking for. I’ve read lots about it all over, just hoping they release it soon and the transition from GR to Digg is not too hard. I haven’t tried CommaFeed but on Feedly’s help pages it says the transition to it after GR is gone should be smooth and without any hiccups, so I’m hoping that’s the way it happens.
Kim, Google Reader is no longer used by Feedly. They set up their own servers and migrated all their users’ feed to their server farm. It runs on its own now.
Hey to Berry & Naughty Princess, it seems that FeedDemon might shut down after July 1st? At least that’s what this article seems to indicate:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/031413-feeddemon-to-shut-down-but-267699.html
But it’s from March, so perhaps FeedDemon felt a surge of life?
Hi Strawberry Singh, I represent Feedreader Online project, I would like to say sorry for the unsuccessful experience you had with old version of Feedreader (you told about it in your number 3). Actually we have a kind of re-launch and re-branding this Monday, 24 of June, 2013. You can reach our renewed project here feedreader.com/online We welcome you to try migrating on June, 24! Thank you, and sorry again for the past problems.
Hi James, wow thank you for the heads up on that. I’ll definitely check it out again on Monday after your re-launch.
I started using Feedly as if was the best choice immediately after Google’s announcement. It has improved a lot of the past 3 months (for a list see this link http://blog.feedly.com/2013/06/21/summary-of-the-last-100-days/ ), plus I’m used to it now.
I am open minded though, so I’ll check out all of the other options again using your list. Thanks Strawberry!
I use Google Reader all the time and was unhappy about losing it. First I tried The Old Reader, but it didn’t display correctly for me. The second reader I tried was amazing. It’s called Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com). It imported my Google subscriptions and categories flawlessly, and it’s easy to customize – you just drag and drop your feeds where you want them, even from one category to another. You can make the display look like Google Reader or toggle a different display called Widgets that looks good too. The clincher for me was when I looked at the bottom of the page and saw “Netvibes, a Dassault Systemes company.” Dassault Systemes makes an application called Abaqus that the engineers use at my nuclear power plant. The free version of Netvibes is their lowest tier product, too. They sell a high end “dashboard” version of Netvibes that has a huge monthly subscription price. I wonder whether some of these Mom and Pop companies will be around for long after the Google Reader refugees start eating up their bandwidth.
Absolutely agree about Feedly, it has become my first reader at the moment.
There is only one thing I really miss: downloading articles on phone or tablet via wifi and store them for a later view without make use (high use) of 3G data plan.
And, if any of you are using Feedly, this is a ‘must have’ if you have not discovered yet:
Chrome:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/feedly-your-news-rss-goog/hipbfijinpcgfogaopmgehiegacbhmob
Firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/feedly/
Thanks!
Berry, have you played with Bloglovin’ ? I’ve had an account there for some time, but almost never used it. I just poked around there today, tried their super-friendly “Google Reader Importer” and it looks like a pretty good way to organize and look through lots of blogs.
The do have desktop and mobile versions. Since I’ve ported everything over I guess I’ll play with it for a while. Maybe it’ll be “the one”! 🙂
And of course, remember everyone, you’ve only got till SUNDAY if you want to port your Google Reader feeds to any other platform(s)
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