BazQux Reader
A fast, Google Reader-style RSS reader by a solo developer — no free accounts, by design.
About
BazQux Reader is a one-person RSS service from bazqux.com that has kept the same pitch since the Google Reader exodus: a fast, clean, Google Reader-style interface, and absolutely no free accounts — the developer is explicit that paying users are how the service guarantees it won't shut down. Pricing is pay-what-you-want: $30 or $50 a year (identical features, pick your level of support), or $249 for a lifetime subscription, with a 30-day free trial and payments through FastSpring.
What it does well: multiple view modes including a mixed view, smart streams (saved searches across your feeds), up to 500 filters and smart streams combined, full-text extraction for truncated feeds, inline comments shown under posts, search, themes and typography controls, OPML import/export, a public API, and sharing to Pocket and other services. There are no first-party mobile apps; you read on the web or through third-party clients like Reeder, FeedMe, ReadKit (via Fever mode), and Vienna. It is written in Haskell and Ur/Web, which the developer cites as a reason for its speed. Honest tradeoffs: tiny one-person operation with no company behind it, no free tier for casual trying beyond the trial, and social integrations (Twitter, Facebook, Telegram follows) have decayed as those platforms closed APIs.
What it can do
- Fast Google Reader-style web UI with multiple view modes (list, expanded, mixed)
- Smart streams: saved searches that act as live feeds across subscriptions
- Up to 500 filters and smart streams combined
- Full-text extraction for truncated feeds; comments shown inline under posts
- Search, themes, dark/sepia modes, and typography controls
- OPML import/export; starred-item export via API
- Public API with Fever-mode compatibility for third-party clients
- Pocket integration, keyboard navigation, IFTTT support
Setup
Create an account at bazqux.com to start the 30-day free trial; choose the $30 or $50 annual plan (or $249 lifetime) before it ends. Import your OPML or add feeds by URL, or use the subscribe bookmarklet from your bookmarks bar. Set up filters and smart streams under settings to auto-tag and surface posts. Read on the web, or connect a third-party client (Reeder, FeedMe, ReadKit in Fever mode) via the API.
Prerequisites
A web browser; $30+/year after the 30-day trial; a third-party client for native mobile reading.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 7/10
Scored 7/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: operating since 2013 as a one-person project with a public FAQ documenting the pay-what-you-want model ($30/$50 yearly, $249 lifetime, 30-day trial, no free accounts); features corroborated by independent alternative listings and comparison pages. Strengths: honest paid-only sustainability model, genuinely fast reader, public API. Docked for: (1) single-person operation with no company behind it; (2) no free tier beyond the trial; (3) social integrations have decayed with closed platform APIs. License: proprietary, paid.
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 6.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 7.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 4.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 7.0/10
- · No GitHub repo (proprietary); one-person project since 2013; public FAQ documents pricing and no-free-accounts policy
- · Up to 500 filters/smart streams combined; full-text extraction; inline comments; public API with Fever-mode compatibility
- · Single-person operation, no company behind it; social integrations decayed as platform APIs closed; written in Haskell/Ur-Web
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.