Both are feature-rich RSS readers for power users. Here's how they compare.
| Feature | NewsBlur | Inoreader |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence Training | ✓ Train by author, tag, title, text, URL, regex | ✓ Rules & filters |
| Regex Classifiers | ✓ Title, text, and URL patterns (Pro) | ✓ Rules with regex (Pro) |
| Visual Training (Thumbs Up/Down) | ✓ Focus/hide with color indicators | ✗ Rules only, no visual training |
| Ask AI (Query Stories) | ✓ Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok | ✗ |
| Daily AI Briefing | ✓ Customizable AI summaries | ✗ |
| Full-Text Search | ✓ Elasticsearch-powered | ✓ Available on paid plans |
| Story Archive (Forever) | ✓ Archive plan ($99/yr) | ✓ Available on paid plans |
| Track Changes / Diffs | ✓ See how stories evolve | ✗ |
| Web Feeds (Any Website) | ✓ Follow sites without RSS | ✓ Web page monitoring (Pro) |
| Email Newsletters | ✓ Forward to NewsBlur | ✓ Forward to Inoreader |
| Social / Sharing | ✓ Public blurblog with comments | ✓ Bundles & broadcasting |
| Open Source | ✓ Fully open source on GitHub | ✗ Proprietary |
| Self-Hosted Option | ✓ Docker one-command install | ✗ |
| All Feeds Fetched Every 5 Min | ✓ Pro plan | ✗ Priority only on select feeds |
| Third-Party App Support | ✓ Reeder, ReadKit, Unread, etc. | ✓ Reeder, ReadKit, etc. |
| Free Plan | 64 sites | 150 sources |
| Cheapest Paid Plan | $36/year (1,024 sites) | $30/year (Supporter: 500 sources) |
| Power User Plan | $29/month (Pro: 10K sites, 5-min fetching) | $100/year (Pro: unlimited sources) |
| OPML Import/Export | ✓ | ✓ |
| Keyboard Shortcuts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dark Mode | ✓ | ✓ |
NewsBlur stands out with AI features that Inoreader doesn't offer. Ask AI lets you query any story using Claude, GPT, Gemini, or Grok — get summaries, extract key points, or ask follow-up questions. The Daily Briefing generates a personalized AI summary of your top stories with customizable sections. These features turn passive reading into active intelligence gathering.
Both readers offer powerful filtering, but the approach differs. Inoreader uses rule-based filtering that requires you to set up conditions manually. NewsBlur's intelligence training is visual and intuitive: see an author you like? Thumbs up. A tag you don't care about? Thumbs down. Stories are color-coded green (focus), red (hidden), or neutral, so you can see at a glance how your training is working. Both support regex for power users.
NewsBlur is fully open source under the MIT license. You can run your own instance, contribute features, or audit the code. The entire application — web, iOS, Android, and all backend services — is on GitHub. Inoreader is a closed-source proprietary service with no self-hosted option.
For professionals who need real-time awareness, NewsBlur Pro fetches every feed in your account every 5-15 minutes. Not just priority feeds — every single one of your 10,000 sites. This makes NewsBlur a monitoring-grade tool for journalists, analysts, security researchers, and anyone whose work depends on being the first to know.