Disclosure: Hushread is our app. We’ve tried to be fair, and we say where the others are the better choice.
The best Apple News alternative depends on why you need one. If Apple News isn’t offered in your country, Google News is the nearest free app with ready-made headlines. If you want to pick your own sources on iPhone, iPad and Mac, NetNewsWire is free and has a real Mac app, and Reeder is the paid step up. If you want one event’s coverage grouped together, look at Particle, Ground News or Hushread. None of them replaces the magazines in Apple News+.
Everything below was checked on 9 October 2026 against Apple’s pages and each app’s US App Store listing.
Where Apple News is available
Apple’s feature availability page lists Apple News in four countries: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Apple News+ and Apple News Audio have the same four, and News+ Puzzles has two, Canada and the United States (Apple). Apple’s help page says the same thing in one line: “Apple News+ is available only in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States” (Apple support).
Apple’s country list for Apple News and Apple News+, 9 October 2026. Source: apple.com
So no country in the European Union is on the list, and neither are India, New Zealand or Ireland. If you live anywhere outside those four, you are not choosing between Apple News and something else. You are choosing the something else.
What you would be replacing
In the four countries, the free app gives you “Top stories chosen by editors, personalized for you” (Apple). Apple News+ is the paid tier. On Apple’s US page it is $12.99 a month after a free trial, can be shared with up to five other family members, and is included in Apple One Premier at $39.95 a month (Apple).
Apple’s US plans table with the US price, opened from India on 9 October 2026. Source: apple.com
Paying may not make it ad-free. In February 2026 Kirk McElhearn, who says he does not pay for News+, wrote of the ads in the app that “Many if not most of them look like and probably are scams”, and that with News+ “you still get ads” (Kirkville).
We also found no way to add a source of your own. That, and how Apple News compares with Google’s app on editors, privacy and Full Coverage, is in our Google News vs Apple News post, so we won’t repeat it here.
Apple News alternatives at a glance
US App Store prices and platform lines, checked 9 October 2026. “Mac” means what the listing’s compatibility section says, or the maker’s own site.
| App | Mac | Who picks the stories | Price (US) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple News | Yes | Apple’s editors, then personalization | Free with ads; News+ $12.99/mo |
| Google News | No Mac app; website | Algorithms | Free |
| NetNewsWire | Yes, native | You (RSS feeds) | Free |
| Reeder | Yes, macOS 14 or later | You (feeds, video, podcasts, social) | Free download; $1.99/mo or $14.99/yr |
| Particle | iPad app on Apple silicon Macs | Particle, from what you follow | Free; $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr |
| Ground News | Yes, macOS 12 or later | Ground News | Free; plans from $0.99/mo to $99.99/yr |
| No Mac line | Free | ||
| Hushread | No Mac app; web app | You, newest first | 5 sources free; Pro $1.25/mo billed yearly |
If you want headlines chosen for you
Google News
Google News is the obvious swap outside Apple’s four countries. Its iPhone and iPad app is free, needs iOS 17 or later, lists English and 45 more languages, and is rated 4.6 from 226K ratings (App Store). The listing has no Mac line. On a Mac you read it in a browser: the US edition showed headlines to us signed out, with a “Sign in for personalized stories” box (Google News).
The trade is editors for software. Google says “Computer algorithms determine which stories show up on Google News and in what order”, and that personalization draws on your interests and “Your activity on Google services and YouTube” (Google support).
Particle
Particle is the closest in feel to a tidy daily summary. Its listing says it “brings you news from many sources and shows multiple perspectives in one place”, with “summarized bullet points”. It is free with a subscription at $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year, rated 4.8 from 1.2K ratings, carries an Editors’ Choice badge and lists 19 languages (App Store).
On the Mac, read the fine print. The listing is labelled “Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS” and requires macOS 15 and an Apple M1 chip or later, so it is the iPad app running on newer Macs. Particle also has a website whose feed we could read without signing in (Particle).
Ground News
Ground News groups coverage of one event and shows where each outlet sits politically. Its listing describes “over 50K news sources” and features that “spot media bias”, and it has a Mac line needing macOS 12.0 or later. It is rated 4.7 from 48K ratings, and its in-app purchases run from Pro at $0.99 a month or $9.99 a year up to Vantage at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year (App Store).
One caution for readers in Europe: the ratings are set per publication, not per article, and Ground News says they are assessed against the US political system (Ground News).
Flipboard is the magazine-style option, with stories “curated on thousands of topics”. It is free on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, rated 4.7 from 329K ratings, with no Mac line on its listing. Its privacy label lists precise location, device ID and advertising data under Third-Party Advertising (App Store).
If you want to pick your own sources
This is the route Apple News closes off, and it works in any country, because you follow the outlets yourself. If RSS is new to you, the readers below all take a site’s feed address.
NetNewsWire
NetNewsWire calls itself “a free and open source RSS reader for Mac, iPhone, and iPad”. The Mac version is a real Mac app for macOS 15 and newer, downloaded from its site, and it syncs through iCloud or services including Feedbin, Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur and FreshRSS (NetNewsWire). The iPhone and iPad app is free, rated 4.7 from 885 ratings (App Store).
NetNewsWire’s home page naming Mac, iPhone and iPad, 9 October 2026. Source: netnewswire.com
It has no editors, no trending list and no summaries. You get what your feeds publish. For anyone who only uses Apple devices and wants to pay nothing, start here.
Reeder
Reeder puts RSS feeds, videos, podcasts and social media posts in one timeline, and syncs your place in it over iCloud. It says “unread counts are a thing of the past” (Reeder). The US listing covers iPhone, iPad and Mac (macOS 14.0 or later), free to download with a subscription at $1.99 a month or $14.99 a year, rated 4.3 from 882 ratings (App Store).
Both of these are Apple-only. If someone in your house has an Android phone, see NetNewsWire or Reeder for Android.
Hushread
Hushread is our app. You choose the sources (RSS feeds, websites without a feed, topics, subreddits, YouTube channels, public Facebook pages) and everything arrives newest first, with nothing ranked or injected. Articles about the same event from different outlets are linked into one story with a timeline, which is the part of an aggregator a plain RSS reader lacks. Trending has a Local tab for your country (Hushread docs), and there are no ads.
The limits matter here. The free plan stops at 5 sources, and Pro is $1.25 a month billed yearly ($14.99 a year in the US) (plans). There is no Mac app: the App Store listing is labelled “Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS” (App Store), so on a Mac you use the web app in a browser. There are no editors picking stories, grouping occasionally splits one event into two, and it is built by one person. If a native Mac app is the point, NetNewsWire or Reeder is the better choice.
Hosted services such as Feedly and Inoreader are the other way to do this, read in a browser. Our best RSS reader guide compares them, and Feedly pricing has Feedly’s current plans.
If Apple News isn’t offered where you live
Every app above is open to you. We opened the German App Store listings for Google News, Particle, Ground News, Flipboard, NetNewsWire, Reeder and Hushread on 9 October 2026, and each one loaded. We tested one EU storefront only, so check your own.
The practical difference is language and local coverage. Google News and Particle list many languages. An app where you add the sources yourself covers any country by definition, as long as your national and local outlets publish a feed.
FAQ
What is the best Apple News alternative?
For ready-made headlines, Google News, which is free and available well beyond Apple’s four countries. For your own sources on iPhone, iPad and Mac, NetNewsWire is free and Reeder costs $14.99 a year in the US. For one event’s coverage grouped together, Particle, Ground News or Hushread.
Are there free Apple News alternatives?
Yes. Google News, Flipboard and NetNewsWire are free on the US App Store, and Particle and Ground News are free with optional subscriptions. Hushread is free for up to 5 sources.
Is there an alternative to Apple News+?
Not a like-for-like one that we found. News+ is a $12.99 a month bundle of paywalled magazines and newspapers, and none of the apps here includes paid access to publications. The usual substitute is subscribing directly to the one or two titles you read most and using a free reader for the rest.
What can I use instead of Apple News in Europe?
Apple lists Apple News only in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, so readers in the EU need another app. Google News is the nearest free equivalent, and an RSS reader such as NetNewsWire lets you follow your own country’s outlets directly.
Which Apple News alternatives have a Mac app?
NetNewsWire, Reeder and Ground News list Mac support, and Particle runs on Apple silicon Macs as an iPad app. Google News, Flipboard and Hushread have no Mac app, though Google News and Hushread work in a browser.
If you are in one of Apple’s four countries, only use Apple devices and like editors choosing the top stories, stay with Apple News: nothing here matches News+ for magazines. Everyone else should start with Google News for headlines or NetNewsWire for their own sources, and move on only if those fall short.