15 Free Google Reader Alternatives

If you’re an avid Google Reader user, you’ll have to say goodbye to the service on July 1. But don’t worry: There are plenty of free alternatives, from basic readers to more comprehensive social readers. Here’s a look at some of your best options.

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You’ll find a lot of similarities between Google Reader and Bloglines, which resembles a more traditional RSS feed. To make the transition easy, Bloglines lets you import your subscriptions in an OPML file. It also includes a number of additional features such as Twitter feeds, a weather app, to-do lists and plenty of personalization.

Curata is a newer, basic RSS feed that offers a clean, streamlined design across multiple platforms. You can browse your feed by viewing all articles, flagged articles or uncategorized ones, but you can’t yet view by individual feed source. Curata also lets you vote up or down articles, tweet them, share on Facebook or send via email.

EldonReader, which describes itself as “an interactive digital magazine” transforms your RSS feed into Flipboard-esque viewing experience across mobile, Web or tablet.

EldonReader is available for download in the Google Play store or the Chrome Web store.

Feedly makes it easy to migrate your subscriptions from Google Reader to its own platform, which is available for Web, iOS and Android. Feedly is easily customized and is more visual than Google Reader. Plus, it works across platforms. However, if you prefer the old RSS look of Google Reader, you can choose to view your content in a list instead.

Flipboard is, perhaps, the trailblazer in visual RSS feeds. The app, which is available for Android in the Google Play store and for iOS in iTunes turns your subscriptions into your own “personal magazine.” In addition to browsing stories that interest you, you can also save stories to personalized “magazines.”

To ensure your feeds are safe after Google Reader shutters, Flipboard provides you instructions here.

G2reader is a basic RSS feed with many of the standard features: sorting by unread, starred and all items; and a handful of settings including a highlighter feature that will surface particular keywords; and an importer to upload your Google Reader subscriptions via an OPML file.

NewsBlur works much like Google Reader, but you can customize the interface to suit your needs. NewsBlur also has a feature called “Focus” mode, which surfaces stories it thinks you’ll like based on articles you’ve liked or disliked in the past.

In addition to its Web version, NewsBlur is available for iOS and Android.

Pulse is available for iPhone, iPad, Android and the Web, and lets users access not only stories from RSS feeds, but from social networks and other traditional media as well.

Pulse is more visual than traditional readers and does a good job of surfacing stories it thinks you’ll enjoy. You can easily save stories for later, share with friends, filter and pick up where you left off across multiple devices.

Startup Rolio, which was founded in 2012, is a basic reader with a few extra features. Like many others, it lets you quickly upload your Google Reader subscriptions or add new feeds from a number of categories. Customization features let you organize your feeds how you want and gives you the option to view and share Facebook and Twitter posts from within the site.

Rolio is available for Web and iOS, with Android and Windows Phone 7 versions coming soon.

If you’re looking for something as basic as Google Reader, RSS Owl may be a suitable replacement. This tool lets you display news feeds side by side in multiple tabs and features a number of views from “grouping mode” to “newspaper view” and keyword feeds.

Rssque is perhaps the most basic alternative to Google Reader. The site asks you to sign in with your Google account and in a few steps will quickly import your subscriptions.

Rssque has no bells or whistles, just a menu on the left to switch between your feeds and options such as marking all items as read.

Skimr is a reader designed to help you do just that: Skim the day’s headlines without the distraction of images (if that’s what you prefer). Skimr organizes all of your feeds into one column and stories are displayed chronologically.

You can choose to read the top headlines from a handful of preselected websites, or import your own from Google Reader.

Spundge is a more comprehensive reader that does more than just display the day’s news. Spundge lets you sort your subscriptions into “notebooks” by subject and lets you scan updates from a number of social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Reddit and Flickr.

Spundge can be collaborative, too: You can add friends and colleagues to your notebooks and let them read the content you collect, as well as enable “notes” in which you and others can share comments about a particular story.

The Old Reader lets you log in via Google or Facebook and import your subscriptions via OPML. The interface is a lot like Google Reader with folders on the left and your stories in the main pane.

The site is currently working on some improvements, including a friend-suggestion page and mobile capabilities.

Tiny Tiny RSS is an open-source Web-based news feed with more features than Google Reader. And the best part: It won’t ever shut down. Tiny Tiny RSS does require a little time and patience to set up, but once you’ve done so, you’ll have a site you can visit anywhere to read all your top news and blogs.