A news aggregator is a piece of software or a remotely hosted service that periodically reads a set of news sources, in one of several XML-based formats (primarily RSS), finds the new bits, and displays them in reverse-chronological order on a single page.
There are primarily three kinds:
- Desktop news aggregators
- Online news aggregators
- Server side aggregators
Note also that the web browsers Mozilla Firefox and Opera and the e-mail client Mozilla Thunderbird now support RSS.
Desktop news aggregators
These are programs that you can download and install on computer.
- RSS Popper (http://www.rsspopper.com/) is a free RSS/RDF/Atom news aggregator Add-In for MS-Outlook.
- AmphetaDesk is a cross platform, open-sourced, syndicated news aggregator - it obediently sits on your desktop, downloads the latest news that interests you, and displays them in a quick and easy to use (and customizable!) webpage. Although once cutting-edge, by 2004 its creator Morbus IFF had moved on to other projects.
- Omea Reader is a full-featured .NET news and RSS/ATOM aggregator. It has advanced support for searching and managing messages, like linking them, categorizing them, creating custom filters and rules. It supports Web bookmarks management as well.
- BlogExpress is a full-featured .NET application for content syndication (as also called a news aggregator or a blog reader). BlogExpress supports all RSS versions and Atom. It can read contents from any Weblogs (a.k.a., blog) and any Websites that provide XML files for content syndication
- RSSBandit is another full featured .NET aggregator. It has the useful feature of being able to store the current state on a web server, so that you can use it at work and home and keep the two setups synchronised.
- Lektora (http://www.lektora.com) - Seamlessly integrated with IE and Firefox, Lektora enables easy and efficient reading of RSS news feeds within your browser. (beta)
- Abilon displays headlines from RSS (Rich Site Summary - Really Simple Syndication) Channels in an easy to read format. It is small (about 500 kb) and fast. Adding new channels is as simple as right-clicking and entering the address of the feed.
- Awasu is a Windows news-reader that runs in the background on your computer and monitors these sites for you. When it sees that something new has appeared, it will let you know. Awasu will also keep track of what you have already read which saves you even more time since you no longer need to search through your favorite sites for new stories.
- Serence™ KlipFolio™ is a information awareness and notification application for Windows. It's quick to install and easy to use. KlipFolio lets you configure and monitor a wide variety of real-time information services on your desktop--like weather, stocks, breaking news, RSS feeds and auctions.
- Vox Lite allows you to keep up-to-date with all your favourite sources of information that support the RSS protocol. Requires .NET Framework.
- RSSOwl is a free RSS / RDF / Atom Newsreader in Java with SWT for a fast, native GUI
- SharpReader is an RSS Aggregator for Windows. Requires .NET Framework.
- Aggie is a news aggregator: it is a desktop application that downloads the latest news and displays it in a webpage. Requires .NET Framework.
- Wildgrape NewsDesk is a fast, convenient, and easy to use RSS headline reader for Windows. NewsDesk reads headlines from thousands of sources, including popular websites and weblogs. Requires .NET Framework.
- Sauce Reader is an easy to use, innovative and full-featured feed reader.
- Feedreader is a lightweight open-source aggregator that supports all major RSS formats. It works under Windows 95 and later versions.
- Pluck - a free RSS reader for Windows IE 6.0+, which creates an RSS pane in your browser. CNET's editor's choice.
- Kinja - a free full-featured web-based RSS/RDF/ATOM reader (beta)
- Sage (http://sage.mozdev.org/) - a lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator extension for Mozilla Firefox.
- CITA RSS Aggregator (http://www.seeita.com/RSSA/RSSA.html) - a free full function RSS Aggregator that also allows you to get weather updates from the Weather Channel feed and which can download Podcasts and BitTorrents manually or automatically. It can also access RSS feeds secured by user id and password.
- wTicker (http://www.wticker.org/) a heavyweight rss/atom aggregator with lots of features. Podcasts, mail notification, scraping websites, stocks, system events, proxy + ssl + authentication, tickers, reads out articles, very customizable by sql-scripts, runs from a memory stick, no .net/IE needed.
For windows - commercial
- NewzCrawler (http://www.newzcrawler.com) NewzCrawler is a rss/atom reader, news aggregator, browser and blog client which provides access to news content from various sources such as Atom/RSS/RDF/BackSlash; Usenet (NNTP) newsgroups; Web pages (HTTP).
- NewsGator is a "news aggregator" that runs in Microsoft Outlook. It allows you to subscribe to various syndicated news feeds (such as weblogs, news sites, etc.) and have news from these sites be delivered right into your Outlook folders.
- FeedDemon enables you to quickly read and gather information from hundreds of web sites - without having to visit them.
- NewzSpider (http://www.newzspider.com) easy to use RSS and ATOM aggregator. FREE unlimited trial.
- intraVnews (http://www.intravnews.com/) is an RSS/ATOM aggregator that runs in Outlook. Feeds are delivered into Outlook folders where they can be read alongside email.
Freeware for Mac OS X
- NewsMac powerful RSS reader with Palm and iPod sync. A multi-lingual version is available.
- NetNewsWire also has a Lite version, and is an easy-to-use RSS Web news reader for Mac OS X.
- RSSOwl is a free RSS / RDF / Atom Newsreader in Java with SWT for a fast, native GUI
For Mac OS X commercial
- NewsFire is a very simple and nice looking RSS news reader designed to be easy on the eyes.
- NetNewsWire is an easy-to-use RSS Web news reader for Mac OS X.
- PulpFiction is an RSS/Atom news reader with a unique interface, similar to Mac OS X's Mail.app.
- Shrook is a Mac OS X newsreader with a unique feature set. It is a desktop application with a web-app interface to use when you're on the road - and when you go back home, the desktop app knows which articles you've read. The "distributed checking" feature means that you are alerted as soon as a new article is posted - even if you're only set to check every hour.
For Unix
- akregator - KDE RSS/Atom feed reader and aggregator
- Straw - Desktop news aggregation for GNOME
- Liferea - Another GTK/GNOME aggregator
- Snownews - Text mode RSS newsreader for Linux and Unix.
- Raggle - Raggle is a console RSS aggregator
- Blam! - Yet another GTK/GNOME aggregator written in C# for mono
- RSSOwl is a free RSS / RDF / Atom Newsreader in Java with SWT for a fast, native GUI
For all platforms
- BottomFeeder is a news aggregator client (RSS and Atom) written in VisualWorks Smalltalk. BottomFeeder runs on x86 Linux (also FreeBSD), PowerPC linux, Sparc Linux, Windows (98/ME/NT/2000/XP), Mac OS8/9, Mac OS X, AIX, SGI Irix, Compaq UNIX, HP-UX, and Solaris.
- Mozilla Thunderbird has a news aggregator built in.
- NewsFeed is an RSS/RDF news reader and aggregator in Python/Tk.
- Sage (http://sage.mozdev.org) - a lightweight feed aggregator for the Mozilla Firefox web browser
- Habari Xenu (http://habarixenu.mozdev.org/) - a news aggregator that works on Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox web browsers
Online news aggregators
These allow the user to enter the URL of news feed that he/she wants to subscribe to and gets refreshed automatically at a time interval. These could be free or a paid service.
Free online news aggregators
- Everyfeed (http://www.everyfeed.com) purpose is to propose in various forms (directories, search engine, personalized feeds...) a simple and fast means to manage its flows of information. Thus, searching for information is with the range of all!
- Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com) is an easy-to-use service for subscribing to news feeds, which also lets you publish a blog easily from your feeds. Available in several languages, and supports browsing from a mobile device. Completely free.
- NewsIsFreeis (http://www.newsisfree.com) a full featured free web based news reader offering unparalled tools to browse and search online content. For a small yearly fee the Portal Premium Services offer advanced features such as clipping, click tracking, news alerts, news archives, weather reports. NewsIsFree Export Premium Services offers simple and powerful syndication tools for people who want to access the news items in their desktop aggregator or on their web site: custom RSS feeds, web services and news headline export to blogging tools. Online since 1999.
- NewsGator Online Services (http://www.newsgator.com) is an online reader. For an additional fee, you can synchronize your subscriptions with a mobile device, and also read feeds in Microsoft Outlook.
- Yahoo's RSS Client (http://my.yahoo.com) My Yahoo!, the personalized part of Yahoo! has been updated to allow you to add any RSS feed to your page. It's not as full-featured as some aggregators, but is a convenient option for Yahoo! users and new RSS users.
- SYFACiL (http://www.syfacil.com) is an RSS reader, bookmark manager, and file upload manager with cross-browser support. It also offers an IE Toolbar with additional functionality.
- blogsnow news aggregator based on weblogs.
- Kinja is a weblog portal, collecting news and commentary from some of the best sites on the web. Visitors can browse items on topics, everything from food to sex. Or they can create a convenient personal digest, to track their favorite writers.
- NewzPile is an online news aggregator that gets from the top news sites of the web. It fetches news via XML feeds. It has a vas collection of news in various categories that is updated every hour. It also provides customizable news tickers to webasters for using on their site.
- LiveJournal, while primarily a blogging site, also offers online news aggregation, with the articles being included upon a user's "Friends page". While this is available for free, greater access is afforded to paying users. Several other sites based upon LiveJournal's code also offer similar features.
- RSS Feed Reader is a free online news reader for webmasters. It allows webmasters to easily add any RSS or Atom XML feed to their website.
- The Nearest Neighbor News Network (http://www.nearestneighbor.net/) is an online RSS aggregator that uses collaborative filtering methods to recommend articles to users based on their watchlist.
- 2RSS Reader (http://www.2rss.com/news) online RSS reader with or without registration. Fast and simple.
Paid online news aggregators
- All Headline News (http://www.allheadlinenews.com/) is a web based service that provides professionally aggregated RSS and JavaScript news feeds for web, wireless and interactive applications.
- Neomailbox (https://neomailbox.com/) is a secure email service that offers the ability to receive RSS feeds directly into your email account, thereby enabling access to RSS feeds from any email client.
Server side aggregators
These function much as online news aggregators, but are administered by the user. They can thus be viewed as a hybrid of desktop and online news aggregators. To use one of these, you need to have your own http server (preferably Apache) with PHP and have MySQL installed on either your own computer or on a server. Exceptions are noted in parentheses. Please note: If you plan to run your aggregator on a hosted server, please check with your provider about firewall security setup. They may need to explicitly "allow" your rss feeds.
- MetaPlanet (http://laurel.datsi.fi.upm.es/metaplanet) is a fast feed aggregator written in PHP (no database needed until 0.4, requires sqlite for version 0.4 and above).
- Planet Planet (http://www.planetplanet.org) (requires Python but not PHP or MySQL)
External links
- List of news aggregators (http://dmoz.org/Reference/Libraries/Library_and_Information_Science/Technical_Services/Cataloguing/Metadata/RDF/Applications/RSS/News_Readers/) at Dmoz
- Lockergnome's (http://help.lockergnome.com/index.php?showforum=34) discussion forum on news aggregators.
- AmphetaDesk (http://www.disobey.com/amphetadesk/)
- BlogExpress (http://usablelabs.com/productBlogExpress.html)
- Abilon (http://www.abilon.org/)
- Awasu (http://www.awasu.com/)
- Serence™ KlipFolio™ (http://www.serence.com/site.php?action=ser_products,prod_klipfolio)
- RSSOwl (http://rssowl.sourceforge.net/)
- Vox Lite (http://www.stevenwood.org/stories/2003/06/08/voxLite.htm)
- SharpReader (http://www.sharpreader.net/)
- Aggie (http://bitworking.org/Aggie.html)
- Wildgrape NewsDesk (http://www.wildgrape.net/)
- Sauce Reader (http://www.synop.com/Products/SauceReader/)
- Feedreader (http://www.feedreader.com/)
- BottomFeeder (http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/BottomFeeder/)
- Rippy the Aggregator (http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/software/rippy.php)
- Liferea (http://liferea.sf.net)
- Rss Atom Feed Finder (http://www.postami.com/rss.finder) with direct submit
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