Google News is Google's free news app: its algorithms pick the stories and group them for you. Feedly is an RSS reader: you choose the websites, and it shows you what they publish. Google News is the quicker way to catch the day's headlines, and an RSS reader is the better way to keep up with sources you care about. You can also have both, because Google News publishes RSS feeds for its searches and topics.
We make Feeder, another RSS reader, so we're not neutral. Every fact about Feedly and Google News on this page comes from their own websites, help centers and app store listings. Prices are in US dollars, checked on September 27, 2026. For more readers, see the best RSS readers, compared.
What is Google News?
Google News is a free news aggregator from Google. It runs on the web at news.google.com and in apps for Android and iOS. Google's help center puts it plainly: "Computer algorithms determine which stories show up on Google News and in what order."
Some sections, like the headlines, are the same for everyone who uses your language and region. Others, like For you, are personalized from your Google News settings and your past activity on Google services and YouTube. You can steer it: follow topics, places and sources, save searches, ask for more or fewer stories like one you see, or hide a source. Following needs a Google Account.
What is Feedly?
Feedly is an RSS reader from Feedly Inc., for the web, iOS and Android. You follow the websites you choose, and their new articles show up in one list. Its plans are Free, Pro, Pro+ and Enterprise. Pro+ adds Feedly AI, and Enterprise adds intelligence products for companies.
Feedly vs Google News at a glance
| Feedly | Google News | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An RSS reader | A news aggregator |
| Who picks the stories | You pick the sources, and you see what they publish | Google's algorithms, based on your language and region, and in some sections on your interests and past activity on Google |
| Sources | Any site with an RSS feed. Newsletters and Google News feeds on Pro+. Up to 100 Reddit feeds through your Reddit account. | Publishers that Google's systems include. You can't add a site or a feed yourself. |
| Price | Free: up to 100 feeds in 3 folders Pro: $6 a month billed yearly ($72 a year), or $8 monthly Pro+: $12 a month, billed yearly only ($144 a year). The first year was $99 when we checked. | Free |
| Ads | Sponsored ads on Free. Pro hides them. | The Android app's Google Play listing says "Contains ads". |
| Alerts | No in-app or e-mail notifications for new articles, according to Feedly's help center | App notifications, from low to high, and a daily briefing e-mail. Both need a Google Account. |
| Search | Search your feeds on Pro, with AND, OR, NOT and date filters | Search all of Google News by exact phrase, words to leave out, date range or publisher site |
| AI | Feedly AI on Pro+: AI Feeds, Topics, mute filters and deduplication | Algorithms choose and rank the stories |
| Platforms | Web, iOS (iOS 15 or later) and Android | Web, iOS (iOS 17 or later) and Android |
| RSS | Reads RSS feeds. That's its job. | Publishes RSS feeds for searches and topics, for use in a personal feed reader |
Google News vs RSS feeds: what's the difference?
An RSS feed is a website's own list of its newest posts. Follow it in an RSS reader, and you get each new post from that site, and only from that site. Google News works the other way around. It collects stories from many publishers, and Google's systems decide which ones reach you. Google says they rank stories by factors like relevance, prominence, authoritativeness, freshness, location and language.
- With RSS, you choose every source and see everything they publish. A small blog counts as much as a big newspaper. What is RSS? explains how feeds work.
- With Google News, you get a wide view of the news without choosing anything, and one story from many angles. You can follow or hide sources, but Google decides which publishers are in Google News.
When Google News is the better choice
- You want the headlines picked for you. Open it and read. There's nothing to set up, and it's free.
- You want one story from many angles. See more headlines & perspectives shows the full coverage of a story. That page isn't personalized, except for your language, region and subscriptions.
- You want local news. Search for a place and follow it.
- You want alerts about big stories. The app sends notifications, and you choose how many, from low to high.
When Feedly is the better choice
- You know which sources you want. Blogs, trade press, a company's news page: if it has an RSS feed, Feedly follows it, and you see everything it publishes.
- You'd rather not have an algorithm decide. Feedly shows what your sources publish. Its AI on Pro+ is there to cut the noise, with mute filters and deduplication.
- You want to search and keep what you read. Pro, at $6 a month billed yearly, adds search, notes and highlights, and saving to Evernote and OneNote.
- Your company tracks a market or security threats. Enterprise adds Market and Threat Intelligence, priced on request.
Can I add my own RSS feeds to Google News?
No. Google News has no option to add a site or a feed by its address. You follow topics, places and sources that you find with its search, and Google's systems decide which publishers are in Google News at all. Publishers can't send in feeds either: since March 2025, Google News builds every publication page automatically and no longer uses the RSS feeds that publishers submitted.
If a site you like isn't there, follow its RSS feed in an RSS reader instead.
How do I get Google News in an RSS reader?
Google News publishes an RSS feed for any search, for its top stories and for its topics. Each feed says it's made for use "within a personal feed reader for personal, non-commercial use", so following one in your reader is exactly what it's for.
| Feed | Address |
|---|---|
| A search, like "electric cars" | https://news.google.com/rss/search?q=electric+cars&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en |
| Top stories | https://news.google.com/rss?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en |
| A topic, like Technology | https://news.google.com/rss/topics/CAAqJggKIiBDQkFTRWdvSUwyMHZNRGRqTVhZU0FtVnVHZ0pWVXlnQVAB?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en |
For a search, put your keywords after q=. Use quotes for an exact phrase, OR between words to match any of them, a minus sign to leave a word out, site: for one publisher and when:7d for the past week only. For a topic, open it on news.google.com and add rss/ to the address, so news.google.com/topics/ becomes news.google.com/rss/topics/. The hl, gl and ceid parts set the language and region.
Google News in Feedly
Feedly lists Google News feeds as a Pro+ feature, at $12 a month billed yearly ($144 a year).
Google News in Feeder
Google News is a built-in source on every plan, the free plan too:
- Click Add feed.
- Under Web monitoring, choose Google News.
- Type what you want to follow, pick a Language and click Search.
- Check the preview, then click Follow.
Feeder adds when:7d to your search, so stories older than a week stay out. You can also paste any news.google.com/rss address into Add feed. Track news about a topic, company or person has more search tips, and Add Google Alerts to Feeder shows how to follow a Google Alert the same way.
A third option: Feeder
Feeder is our RSS reader, for the web, iOS and Android, with extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. Like Feedly, it shows what your sources publish, and it follows Google News searches on every plan. If you're choosing between Feedly and Google News, these are the differences that matter:
- Google News on the free plan. Your Google News searches sit next to your other feeds. Feedly puts Google News feeds on Pro+.
- 200 feeds free, with no ads. Newsletters, YouTube and Reddit work on Free too.
- Alerts on every plan. Push and desktop notifications when a feed posts something new, even on Free. Plus adds e-mail updates.
- Plus is $7.99 a month billed yearly, or $9.99 monthly. It follows 2,500 feeds, updates them as often as every 5 minutes, and adds Rules and keyword filters, so a broad news search shows you only the matches.
- What it doesn't do. Feeder doesn't pick the day's stories for you the way Google News does: you see what your feeds publish. On Free, feeds update every 2 hours unless you set them to update more often, as often as every 30 minutes.
The full comparison is in Feeder vs Feedly. For news sites to follow, start with the RSS feed list: 100+ news RSS feeds by topic.
Common questions
Is Google News an RSS reader?
No. Google News is a news aggregator: Google's algorithms choose the stories, and you can't add your own feeds. It does publish RSS feeds for its searches and topics, and you can follow those in an RSS reader.
Is Google News free?
Yes, on the web, iOS and Android. Following topics, notifications and daily briefing e-mails need a Google Account.
Is Feedly free?
Yes. Feedly Free follows up to 100 feeds in 3 folders, with sponsored ads, on the web, iOS and Android. Pro is $6 a month billed yearly, or $8 monthly.
Which is better for news, Google News or an RSS reader?
For a quick look at the headlines, Google News. To follow the same sources every day and miss nothing they publish, an RSS reader. You can also use both: read Google News for the big picture, and follow your favorite Google News searches in your reader.
Try Feeder
Feeder is an RSS reader for the web, iOS and Android, with extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. The free plan follows up to 200 feeds, updated as often as every 30 minutes, with no ads. Plus is $7.99 a month, billed yearly, for 2,500 feeds, updates as often as every 5 minutes and e-mail summaries.
Get started with Feeder for free