The Old Reader
The Google Reader clone for people who never forgave its shutdown.
About
The Old Reader is a deliberately nostalgic web RSS reader built to recreate Google Reader as it existed before the 2013 shutdown. Created by Dmitry Krasnoukhov, Anton Tolchanov, and Elena Bulygina, it won a wave of refugees when Google Reader closed — 60,000 signups in a single day — and was later acquired by Levee Labs, with another ownership handover posted in March 2024. What you get is Google Reader's exact grammar: a plain chronological list of articles, folders, starring, and — most unusually — the social layer of shared items, where you follow friends and comment on what they share.
There is no AI, no automation, no discovery, and no official mobile app; third-party clients like Reeder connect through its free API. The free tier allows 100 feeds, and Premium at $30/year raises that to 500 with full-text search, one year of article storage, faster refresh, and keyboard shortcuts. Import works via OPML. If you want the 2009 experience with nothing competing for your attention, this is the most faithful surviving version of it — but go in knowing the product deliberately adds nothing beyond that.
What it can do
- Faithful Google Reader-style interface: chronological lists, folders, starring
- Social layer: shared items, following friends, comments on shared stories
- Free tier: 100 feeds; Premium $30/year: 500 feeds, full-text search, 1 year of storage
- OPML import/export for migration
- Browser bookmarklet to send any page to your account
- Free public API with third-party mobile client support (Reeder, Feeddler)
- Keyboard shortcuts throughout
- Readability and Instapaper integrations
Setup
Create an account at theoldreader.com and import your feeds via OPML or add them by URL (up to 100 on the free tier). Connect friends to see their shared items in the social feed. Install a browser bookmarklet to send web pages straight to your account. For mobile reading, connect a third-party client such as Reeder through the public API. Upgrade to Premium ($30/year) for 500 feeds and full-text search.
Prerequisites
A web browser; a third-party iOS/Android client for mobile reading; Premium for more than 100 feeds.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 7/10
Scored 7/10 (verified tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: Wikipedia-documented history from 2013 (founders named, 420k registered users at the 2013 crisis, Levee Labs ownership from Nov 2013, 2024 ownership handover); pricing and free/Premium limits independently corroborated in 2026 reviews. Strengths: the most faithful Google Reader recreation, simple and stable, free public API. Docked for: (1) deliberately minimal — no mobile app, no automation, no discovery; (2) ownership has changed hands twice, a mild continuity risk. License: proprietary, freemium.
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 7.0/10
- 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); founded 2013 by Dmitry Krasnoukhov, Anton Tolchanov, Elena Bulygina; Levee Labs ownership since Nov 2013; new team from 2024
- · Free 100 feeds; Premium $30/yr: 500 feeds, full-text search, 1 year article storage; free public API; third-party mobile clients only
- · Deliberately minimal: no AI, no automation, no discovery, no official mobile app; ownership changed hands twice (mild continuity risk)
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.