Which RSS Reader Do You Prefer? [Poll]

RSS-reader Yes Make Use Of readers, contain your growing excitement. It’s time for another poll! (we know you all love a good poll).

So the question for today is what RSS feed reader do you prefer?

RSS has become a big part of the net. Instead of constantly checking your favourite sites to see if they have been updated, the updates instead come to you in Really Simple Syndication (RSS) format. If you have no idea about how it works see “What is RSS” video here.

Everybody has their own favourite RSS reader. Google Reader has grabbed a big share of the market but other apps such as My Yahoo, Bloglines, NewsGator / FeedDemon and Firefox Live Bookmarks still have their share of loyal fans who refuse to give them up.

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Mark O'Neill

Mark O'Neill is the managing editor of MakeUseOf.com

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  • http://www.keithkeirstead.com/blog Keith

    Used to use google reader but have now switched over completely to Mozilla Thunderbird.

  • http://www.tquizzle.com Travis Quinnelly

    Seems as if Google Reader is topping this poll!

  • http://www.betterthantherapy.net Mark O’Neill

    I used to be a HUGE addict of My Yahoo and when Google Reader first came out, I hated the sight of it. But when Google made significant improvements to Reader, I switched and never went back to My Yahoo.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      First I tried Netvibes, used it for about 1-2 months. Sitched to Google Reader the very first time I tried it.

  • http://networking.cruzical.com Serge

    I started using the Feedly extension for FireFox after using Bloglines for several years. Feedly leverages Google Reader and incorporates FriendFeed content as well. Try it out.

  • Famf

    I love Google Reader just because I can read my feeds from any computer.

  • http://rwsoft.method8.net/ Simon SC

    YET another vote for Google Reader. Its simlicity and power is astounding. I love the way it integrates right into my iGoogle home page (although the gadget itself sucks a little).

    If they could let us get rid of that damned Arial font, I’d be an even happier user.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Can’t agree more :-)

  • RS

    RSSBandit is pretty cool!! It lets me have a desktop instance on my home machine which i can sync with my work pc by enabling syncing via Newsgator (so it lets me have a web instance too!)

  • Yappa

    I use Omea Reader, and its free too.

  • prattmic

    Feedly, it is absolutely amazing!

  • Walter

    My preference is FeedReader3 (Freeware version). It does everything I want, exactly the way I want it.

  • Jack

    Opera!

  • CWillis

    I don’t know if I’m hip or way old school, but I use IntraVnews, which pulls my feeds into folders in Outlook. Its free, and it works.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek
    • Marla

      Ditto! It’s great for work when you may be short on time or for whatever reason only open specifically work-related applications (workplace policy, nosy cubemate, boss checking up on you, etc.), and does everything I need and does it easily.

  • Yair

    I started keeping track of my favorite Tech-sites using their RSS feeds just about 2 months ago. Originally I used a Firefox extension called Brief, untill I found out that 25 “Live Bookmarks” trying to update themselves every few minutes got my FF stuck every time.

    After testing about 10 RSS readers (almost all Portable Software), 3 weeks ago I discovered that NewsGator is the best one for me, because they have a software client, an online client AND a J2ME application (though it’s in beta) that works pretty fine with my Sony-Ericsson phone. This way I can read and sync my feeds from every possible weird location I’m in!

  • G

    I use Feedreader 3.13.

  • http://nstr10.blogspot.com C. M. White

    I use the Brief extension for Firefox.

  • Luis Bastos

    Greatnews is the best rss reader i know and i test a lot.

    • RS

      I took a look at Greatnews site. It seems to have a nice interface but it did not mention the ability to synchronize between multiple machines. Is there a way to do this?

      • Luis Bastos

        Greatnews is portable, you can have it in a pen.

  • http://blog.geekblake.22web.net/ Blake Elias

    I use Google Reader for a few reasons. The fact that it’s online means I can view feeds from any computer as Famf said and have it all be in sync, but also from different operating systems on my own computer instead of having a different desktop app for Windows, one for Ubuntu Linux, and any other OS I want to experiment with.

    Of course there are other online feed readers, but Google Reader has other advantages. The method it uses for organization seems to be better than other online readers, since feeds or individual posts can be organized with tags. And when a feed or item sits in multiple tags, no duplicate copies are made, so if you have a feed labeled “tech” and also “friends”, you can read it from any place and not have to read it again in the other places it was tagged. It’s really a great web app, reminds me a lot of Google’s Gmail in terms of the organizational methods it uses.

  • Declan

    Brief extension for Firefox.

  • Luke

    I use the Sage extension for Firefox. I prefer this over any stand-alone (web or app) reader because I don’t have to switch to a separate program or window (or even tab) to view my feeds. Sage runs in a sidebar and gives me a very simple feed list (which can be organized into folders) in an upper window, with the updates in a lower window. If I hover the mouse over the item, the first couple sentences are pop up in a tool-tip. Can’t get simpler than that!

  • FekketCantenel

    Other: Opera’s mail/feeds panel.

    • Krasen

      Same here.
      In Opera integrated feed reader, and i currently have about 40 feeds

  • BernardoP

    Does iGoogle count as Google Reader? I voted for “other” since Google Desktop was there as a different choice.

  • Kathleen

    Google Reader with Better GReader installed and running a few choice greasemonkey scripts

  • http://www.ianswenson.com Ian

    Mozilla Thunderbird. I like getting RSS that reads like email.

  • http://masontechbeat.blogspot.com Jimmy Rogers

    Flockity Flock Flock Flock!

    I use the Flock Feed Reader, if you didn’t guess.

  • John Baima

    I like to just refresh my pages old school style :)

    It gives me something to do.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Well, condsidering that I have around 20 freq. updated sites, refreshing is not really an option for me.

  • John Baima

    Actually, I’d like to get into RSS reading, only for one thing, though.

    Is there any RSS reader that checks every like 40 seconds and shows updates as little alerts on the bottom right hand of your screen? I’d love that.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Of course there are, just look for a desktop-based reader with notifier.

  • http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com Mackenzie

    Used to use Liferea, but since I heard about sharing on Google Reader, I use that.

  • Transcontinental

    ‘GreatNews RSS Reader’ and ‘Sage RSS Reader’ Firefox extension.
    In the morning I start with GreatNews to have a global look on last events and developments, during the day and while on Firefox, I refer to Sage.

  • ph

    Opera! Opera! Opera!

  • aj

    wow is netnewswire sudenly out of fashion. anyway that what i use cause it sycns with my work pc but i do most of my feed reading on a mac.

    for a long time i also used vienna.

    but the holy gail that i wish i had was a desktop reader that synced with google reader

  • http://socialwebtools.info Charnita Fance

    Right now I’m still trying to find a Reader that I like.
    I’m using Google Reader & I love the Apprise Reader but I can’t sync it with Google so I don’t use it too often. I also use Eluma as a Reader from time to time. For the most part I’m using Google Reader until I can find one I actually like.

  • Zen

    I use iGoogle, which is different from Google Reader. I have a ton of RSS feeds spread across six different categories/tabs and iGoogle lets me scan each feed very quickly to find the ones I really want to read. I tried Google Reader and it’s nice, but for my use, I find iGoogle easier and quicker.

  • Lee Meade

    Been using Bloglines for more than 5 years, i’m just used to it i guess. I have Google Reader, but always go back to Bloglines. Will switch eventually because of Google Reader’s offline capability.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/aravindjose Aravind Jose T.

    I would set for nothing other than FEEDLY.
    it’s so wonderful as it brings you recommendations from your friends, direct incorportaion of FriendFeed, An excellent MAGAZINE themed presentation, SKINNABILITY (via UserStyles) and so lite.

  • xxx

    Opera build-in feed reader… xD

  • O_O

    I use feedreader! http://www.feedreader.com/

  • david

    The built in feed reader in ie7 because I find complete integration with the browser is great and much easier to use.

  • http://www.creaturetank.com Rick

    I like Creature Tank
    Like my own li’ll website of other site’s content.
    http://www.creaturetank.com/tanks/danguard/

  • WolvenSpectre

    I use the Opera Browser’s built in Newsfeed Reader. There are 4 reasons.

    1) Opera is my favourite browser.
    2) Every other Newsreader I have tried does something so wrong I can’t use it. Google Reader is not standards compliant and does’t work in Opera. Great News uses an IE display and manages posts poorly, All the Firefox based ones I have tried mismanage podacast and web links which are why I use a reader. Etc, Etc,
    3) It works dependably even though it is missing critical features.
    4)It doesn’t bog down when I save or don’t delete posts.

    I manually download podcasts with it because there is no podcatcher that will work the way I want it to.

    If opera doesn’t expand the basic feature set of it and something I could stand using comes along I will dump it. I would much rarther keep using it though.

  • http://www.phuked.net PhakE

    Opera FTW!

  • http://tallpaul.org TallPaul

    I use feed2imap. It’s an RSS/Atom feed aggregator which runs under cron and periodically uploads new postings from each feed to specified folders on my IMAP mail server as email messages. That means I can read my feeds from any mail client, so in my case that’s Thunderbird when I’m at my desk and a webmail client when I’m on the road.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Thanks for the tip

  • JV

    Maybe it’s lame, but I have a few tabs in Pageflakes set up to handle my RSS needs

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Pageflakes is too slow.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      I find Pageflakes slow.

  • http://techmalaya.com Syahid A.

    I use a combo of Google Reader and FeedDemon. Can’t live with FD’s “Next” icon.

  • R

    I use Opera and Google Reader.

  • Ryan

    Recently I’ve been using bloglines and think it’s one of the best feed readers. Google Reader is good too but Google get credit for everything and is overrated.