A news aggregator is an app or website that collects stories from many news sources and shows them in one place. What sets aggregators apart is who picks the stories: an algorithm, as in Google News, editors, as in Apple News and Techmeme, other readers' votes, as on Hacker News, or you, in an RSS reader.
How do news aggregators work?
- They collect. New stories come in from many publishers.
- They choose. An algorithm, editors or readers decide which stories make the front page, and in what order. Google News, for example, says its systems rank stories by "relevance, prominence, authoritativeness, freshness, location, and language".
- They show. You get headlines from many outlets in one place, usually with a link to the publisher's site for the full story.
Types of news aggregators
| Type | Who picks the stories | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Algorithmic | Software, often personalized from what you read | Google News |
| Editor-picked | Human editors, helped by software | Apple News, Techmeme, Flipboard |
| Community | Readers submit links and vote on them | Hacker News |
| Bias comparison | Shows how different outlets cover the same story | Ground News |
| Personal (RSS reader) | You pick the sources and see everything they publish | Feeder, Feedly, Inoreader |
News aggregator examples
Google News
Google's free news app, on the web, iOS and Android. Its App Store listing calls it "a personalized news aggregator", and Google's help center says "Computer algorithms determine which stories show up on Google News and in what order." Sections like For you are personalized from your Google News settings and your past activity on Google services and YouTube. You can't add a site or feed yourself, but Google News publishes RSS feeds for its searches and topics. Feedly vs Google News compares it with an RSS reader in detail.
Apple News
Apple's news app. Apple says its "editors curate the day's top stories from trusted sources, and advanced algorithms help you discover stories you'll find interesting." Apple News+ is $12.99 a month after a free trial.
Techmeme
"Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web", in Techmeme's own words. It describes its setup as "people and software forming a sort of editorial pyramid", with editors making the final calls on what it features. It has an RSS feed.
Hacker News
A news site where readers submit links and vote on them. Its FAQ explains the ranking: "The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted." Its RSS feed is among the 15 most-followed feeds in Feeder.
Flipboard offers stories on "thousands of topics, all curated by Flipboard editors and experts".
Ground News
Ground News is built to "compare how different news publishers frame the same news". If you're looking for a news aggregator that shows bias, this is the kind of service to try.
RSS readers
An RSS reader is a news aggregator you set up yourself. You choose the sources, and you see every story they publish, newest first, with nothing ranked or hidden. Feeder, Feedly and Inoreader are examples, and people also call them RSS aggregators or feed readers. What is an RSS reader? explains how they work.
What's the difference between a news aggregator and an RSS reader?
| News aggregator, like Google News | RSS reader, like Feeder | |
|---|---|---|
| Who picks the stories | An algorithm or editors | You pick the sources |
| What you see | A selection, ranked for you | Everything your sources publish, newest first |
| Sources | The publishers the service includes | Any site with a feed, plus newsletters, YouTube channels and Google News searches |
| Setup | None: open it and read | Add the sites you want |
| Best for | A quick look at the day's big stories | Following the same sources every day without missing anything |
You don't have to choose. Several aggregators publish RSS feeds, so you can read them in your RSS reader next to your own sources. These were all live on September 27, 2026:
| Feed | What you get | Feed URL |
|---|---|---|
| Google News: Top stories (US) | The front page of Google News | https://news.google.com/rss?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en |
| Google News: "electric cars" | A Google News search. Change the words after q= | https://news.google.com/rss/search?q=electric+cars&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en |
| Techmeme | The day's top tech stories, picked by Techmeme's editors | https://www.techmeme.com/feed.xml |
| Hacker News | Stories on the Hacker News front page | https://news.ycombinator.com/rss |
How do I build my own news aggregator?
An RSS reader becomes a personal news aggregator in a few minutes. In Feeder:
- Add the news sites you trust. Select Add feed, paste a site's address and select Follow. Our list of news RSS feeds has working feeds from major outlets.
- Add your topics. Under Web monitoring, choose Google News and type a topic, such as a company, a stock ticker or "artificial intelligence". It works on the free plan.
- Sort by subject. Put feeds in folders, such as World, Tech and Local, and read each folder as one list.
- Cut the noise. On Plus, at $7.99 a month billed yearly, filters hide the posts you don't want, and Dashboard shows several feeds or folders side by side.
Plenty of people read the news this way. On September 27, 2026, Feeder users followed more than 13,000 Google News searches that had new stories that week.
Want to show other sites' feeds on your own website instead? See Best WordPress RSS aggregator plugins.
Common questions
What are some examples of news aggregators?
Google News, Apple News, Flipboard, Techmeme, Hacker News and Ground News. RSS readers such as Feeder, Feedly and Inoreader are news aggregators you set up yourself.
Is Google News a news aggregator?
Yes. Its App Store listing describes it as "a personalized news aggregator", and algorithms choose the stories.
What is an RSS aggregator?
Another name for an RSS reader: an app that collects the RSS feeds you choose into one list, so you see every new post from those sites.
Are news aggregators free?
Many are. Google News is free, and Apple News+ is $12.99 a month. Many RSS readers have a free plan too: Feeder's follows up to 200 feeds, with no ads.
Try Feeder
Build your own news aggregator from the sites and searches you choose.
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