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ReviewsIs NewsBlur actually free?
How free78/100
Value5/10
How these scores work
Free Score (0–100) follows a fixed rubric: cards up front, auto-billing, hard time cutoffs, withheld core features, and paying with your data or attention all deduct points. 90–100 truly free · 70–89 free forever · 45–69 squeezed · 15–44 trial mechanics · under 15 fake or gone. Value (0–10) is editorial: real-world worth of the free offering measured against its paid equivalent. Full rubric on the methodology page.
Yes — 64 sites free, forever, from a one-developer operation that's been quietly reliable for over a decade. The cap is honest and the paid tier that lifts it costs less than most apps' monthly fee, per year.
What it’s worth
Premium is ~$36/year — the 'squeeze' here is about as gentle as paid software gets.
What you get free
- Read up to 64 sites with training and filtering
- The 'training' system that hides what you don't care about
- Web, iOS and Android apps — open source
In practice: an honest indie RSS reader — real free tier, cheap upgrade, no dark patterns.
Drawbacks
- 64-site cap
- Dated interface
- Small team means slower feature pace
Also paywalled
- More than 64 sites
- River-of-news reading and text-extraction views
- Search and saved-story archives
Free facts
| Verdict | Free Forever |
| Card required | No |
| Auto-bills | Only if you subscribe |
| Account | Required |
| Limits | Up to 64 sites free; the premium that lifts it is one of the cheapest in software |
| The real cost | Nothing for 64 sites. Premium is about $36/year. |
The catch
64 sites is a genuine ceiling for heavy readers, and the interface has an old-forum charm that isn't for everyone.
The smart play
- Train it early — the hide-this filtering is the actual killer feature
- If you pass 64 feeds, the annual fee is cheaper than the time you'll spend working around it
More info — tap to expand
Who runs NewsBlur?
Essentially one developer, openly, since 2009 — the code is open source. That's the opposite failure profile of VC-funded readers that pivot or fold.
Last checked: July 2026 · Verdict: Free Forever — a real permanent free plan. signup and fair limits — but no clock and no card.
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