Earlier this year, NetNewsWire dropped it’s price of $30 and became free. Today, NewsFire did the exact same thing. This leaves us Mac users with a very hard decision on which RSS reader we should use. It is very hard to compare these apps because they are both very nice apps in their own unique way. It all comes down to which one you feel is more efficient and elegant in giving you your news. If you have not downloaded either of these apps, I would do that now. 
Similarities
These apps are very similar. They may have some different features and UI’s, but essentially they do the exact same thing and that is give you your news. They both have the essentials that a good RSS reader needs and that is why they are both good RSS readers.
Similarities are not very important when it comes down to which one to use. It is the small differences that can make or break your decision.
Differences
The differences between these apps are small, but some of these could possible annoy you. The first one I want to talk about, could probably be the biggest one.
NetNewsWire is connected to a big RSS company called NewsGator. Therefor, it offers a really great feature called syncing. You can create an account at NewsGator and sync your feeds with it. This allows your to have your feeds, where ever you go…even on your iPhone. Unfortunately, NewsFire lacks that feature and is not backed up by a big RSS company
NetNewsWire is also sured to update a lot more than NewsFire. NewsFire has been around for a while and is only in the 1.5 stage, while NetNewsWire is already at 3.1.2. This leads me to believe that NetNewsWire is more likely to update than NewsFire. I hope that David Watanabe still plans to update NewsFire even though it is now free.
Those are two bad things about NewsFire, but that has nothing to do with the RSS reader it self. I like NewsFire’s UI much better than NetNewsWire’s. They are both equally easy to use, but NewsFire looks a lot better to me. NetNewsWire seems dull, but NewsFire seems exciting. It may just be the bright colors and “new” look, but I think that makes a big difference when reading your news.
NewsFire and NetNewsWire organize your feeds a little different. In NewsFire, the feeds with the highest number of new posts will be brought up to the top of the list. In NetNewsWire, the feeds are listed in alphabetical order, which makes it easier to locate the feeds, but makes it harder to find the feeds that have the newest items.
Update: My bad, you can sort NetNewsWire Feeds to how ever you want (Thanks Chris).
One thing that I wish NewsFire had that NetNewsWire has is the ability to split the main window into two.
This allows me to look at the content of a post, while having the ability to switch to a different post without having to navigate anywhere else. In NewsFire, when you click a post, the whole screen fills with the content of the post. Sometimes, this can be a bit annoying.
Although they both have numbers next to their icons (in the dock) to tell you how many new posts there are, only Newsfire allows you to get notifications. When a new post comes in, NewsFire gives me a sound and jumps in the dock. I like this for two reasons. I am very used to hiding my dock, therefor, if I am using NetNewsWire and there is 20 new items, I have no way of knowing about it enless I check. I don’t want to have to check, I want to be notified, NewFire does this for me.
Conclusion
NewsFire and NetNewsWire are both great apps. This comparison was very hard to write since I, myself have gone back and forth in the last day or so. It doesn’t really matter to me which one I use since they both get my news and thats all I need. Im going to switch over from NetNewsWire to NewsFire for now just because it feels good to change and I like the UI. I’m glad that I have the choice though.
Try them both out and see which one you like the best. What features annoy you? Do you like the UI of each? Please comment about your opinion.
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March 1st, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Personally, I like NewsFire a lot better, mainly because of the UI.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
The UI looks nicer on NewsFire… but I don’t think it’s enough for me to change. Heck I don’t even keep up with my RSS feeds that much anymore
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 am
@steve
I’m really sorry that I made this horrible first impression on you. I don’t think you should judge my journalistic skills on 1 post. Last night I was lazy and I did not proof read it…. this back fired on me. I don’t think I am a professional write, but I think i am good enough to have my own blog. Again, I am sorry you feel that way about my writing skills.
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
well… it’s been a while since then and you still have missing punctuation, two different fonts and sizes and spelling errors going for you. Wouldn’t appear as if you really cared all THAT much either… you only have one chance for a first impression, as they say.
Like I said, not my idea of “intellectual”.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:12 am
@steve:
Gabe has taken the time to write the article. Credit to him for that. Maybe some constructive rather than destructive comments would be more useful? There have been some errors in previous posts which were fixed, but on the whole he has provided good info.
@Gabe:
I’m looking at NetNewsWire, although I have to say I prefer the convenience of Google Reader. I can use this on any computer. It does have it’s downside though in that it takes a while before it checks for updates on some feeds.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 am
I love NewsFire for its simple interface that doesn’t turn rss reading into a chore. NetNewsWire takes the old clumsy approach of displaying and organizing rss items like a mail client would do. NewsFire has been streamlined so that you can get your reading finished quickly. However, I still would like to compare using Safari rss and Mail rss together once Apple fixes the rss bugs with the PubSubAgent. Once rss works again with those two I would like to see what its like to use Apple’s implementation of reading rss feeds and compare it to NewsFire.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I don’t use NewsFire because of the developer. He’s a jerk.
NewsFire’s interface is nicer than NNW, IMHO, but I rely on NewsGator syncing, so I use NetNewsWire. I need syncing so I can read RSS feeds at school, on my PCs, and on my iPod touch.
Also, you can set how NNW sorts your feeds (see the View menu in the menu bar), so the latest items are on top.