Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

NewsBlur VS CipherWrite

Compare NewsBlur VS CipherWrite and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

NewsBlur logo NewsBlur

NewsBlur is a personal news reader that brings people together to talk about the world.

CipherWrite logo CipherWrite

CipherWrite.com is the #1 free book writing app and secure writing software. Write your novel, journal, or memoir with zero-knowledge encryption. Better than Hermit and Standard Notes.
  • NewsBlur Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • CipherWrite landing page
    landing page //
    2026-03-25
  • CipherWrite dashboard
    dashboard //
    2026-03-25
  • CipherWrite Setting
    Setting //
    2026-03-25
  • CipherWrite Advanced TODO List
    Advanced TODO List //
    2026-03-25

CipherWrite is a privacy-first writing and journaling app with true end-to-end, zero-knowledge encryption, designed for novels, private journals, and long-form writing that only you can read. It runs as a free, cross-platform PWA on Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, with client-side keys, anonymous sync, and no trackers or AI training on your data. CipherWrite adds optional, boundaries-respecting AI for brainstorming and editing, plus tiers from a free local-only plan to pro and enterprise options with encrypted cloud vaults, AI credits, image uploads, and self-hosted deployments

NewsBlur

Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

CipherWrite

$ Details
freemium $11.0 / Monthly (Pro)
Platforms
Notion
Release Date
2026 January
Startup details
Country
India
State
chhattisgarh
City
Kanker
Founder(s)
Aashish Sarva
Employees
1 - 9

NewsBlur features and specs

  • Personalized Reading
    NewsBlur allows you to train its system on what stories you like and dislike, providing you with a more personalized news reading experience.
  • Offline Access
    The mobile apps support offline reading, which is useful for users who want to catch up on news without an internet connection.
  • Story Sharing
    It offers social features, enabling users to share interesting stories and comment within their circle or the public.
  • Third-Party Integration
    NewsBlur supports integration with other apps and services via APIs, enhancing its functionality and convenience.
  • Open Source
    The platform is open-source, which can attract developers who want to contribute to its improvement or customize it for their own needs.

Possible disadvantages of NewsBlur

  • Subscription Cost
    While NewsBlur offers a free tier, its advanced features and better performance require a paid subscription, which may not be appealing to everyone.
  • Complex Interface
    The user interface can be overwhelming for new users due to its numerous features and customization options.
  • Learning Curve
    Due to its rich set of features, there can be a steep learning curve for those unfamiliar with RSS readers or similar platforms.
  • Limited Free Account
    Free accounts are limited to a small number of feeds and some features are restricted, pushing users towards the paid tier for a fuller experience.
  • Occasional Performance Issues
    Users have reported occasional performance issues, especially with large numbers of feeds, affecting the overall experience.

CipherWrite features and specs

  • book writing/diary writing
    end to end encrypted book and dairy writing
  • AI brainstroming
    AI Brainstorming: Connected Story Engine Cure writer's block instantly. Generate wild premises, deep character profiles, established narrative structures, and unpredictable plot twists.
  • Advanced TODO_LIST
    categorized to-do list

Analysis of NewsBlur

Overall verdict

  • Overall, NewsBlur is considered a good choice for users seeking a flexible and robust RSS reader. It provides a powerful set of features for avid news readers and those who wish to manage a high volume of information feeds efficiently.

Why this product is good

  • NewsBlur is a web-based RSS reader that allows users to follow updates from their favorite websites, blogs, and news sources in one place. It offers features such as real-time updates, a simple and intuitive interface, customizable views, and the ability to train the reader to show more of what you like and less of what you don't. The platform is praised for its speed and reliability, as well as its intelligent mode for filtering content based on user preferences.

Recommended for

    NewsBlur is recommended for tech-savvy users, journalists, bloggers, and information enthusiasts who appreciate having control over their content consumption. It's particularly beneficial to users who prefer a customizable and tailored reading experience and those who are comfortable with spending a little time setting up feeds and filters to suit their specific preferences.

NewsBlur videos

Newsblur - an online open-source RSS reader

More videos:

  • Review - Anleitung zum RSS-Feed-Reader Newsblur
  • Tutorial - Newsblur and RSS: A Quick Tutorial

CipherWrite videos

No CipherWrite videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NewsBlur and CipherWrite)
RSS
100 100%
0% 0
Writing Tools
0 0%
100% 100
RSS Reader
100 100%
0% 0
Brainstorming And Ideation

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing NewsBlur and CipherWrite.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

CipherWrite's answer:

Why writers choose CipherWrite

  • Your writing stays truly private. Everything is encrypted on your own device with AES-256 and Argon2id before it ever leaves. The keys live with you, not on our servers, so even we cannot read a word of it.

  • AI that helps without eating your book. Tools like Sudowrite and Grammarly only work by shipping your whole manuscript to the cloud. CipherWrite's AI only ever sees the snippet you hand it, so you get brainstorming, humanizing, and editing help while your full draft never leaves your control.

  • Writing Guides that teach the craft. Deep, research-backed guides on story structure, the psychology of unforgettable characters, world-building, narrative pacing, and subtext. Most apps hand you a blank page and walk away. We hand you a blank page and a writing education to go with it.

  • A Critical Thinking Gym for your brain. You write your own argument first, the AI challenges you with Socratic questions, then scores your reasoning and shows your blind spots. It sharpens your thinking instead of doing it for you.

  • Built for authors, not repurposed from a notes app. Real chapter structure, a proper book workflow, and Kindle-ready export, all built in from the start.

  • Works everywhere and free to start. Runs in any browser on any device, with a genuinely free tier. Privacy is not something we make you pay extra for.

In short: CipherWrite is the only writing app that combines real zero-knowledge encryption, AI that never sees your whole book, craft guides that teach you to write better, and a thinking gym that sharpens your mind, all in one free app that runs anywhere.

What makes your product unique?

CipherWrite's answer:

In an age where every keystroke is tracked, scanned, and graded by opaque algorithms, writing in a conventional cloud editor means your private drafts and journals are being mined for data. CipherWrite was built to be different a writing sanctuary where you can finally be alone with your own mind.

Your words are encrypted on your device with AES-256 before they ever touch the cloud, secured by Argon2id. The keys never exist on our servers, so even if CipherWrite were compromised, your data stays unreadable. It's true zero-knowledge privacy: not even our team can see what you write.

Beyond the blank page, CipherWrite helps you grow as a writer. Its Adaptive Creative AI respects your boundaries brainstorm ideas, humanize drafts, and check readability without your work being used for AI training. Deep, research-backed Writing Guides teach the craft itself, from story structure and character psychology to world-building and narrative pacing. And the Critical Thinking Gym turns reasoning into a daily workout: you think first, AI challenges you with Socratic questions, then scores you on the nine Paulโ€“Elder intellectual standards so the AI stays a mirror, never a crutch.

What's the story behind your product?

CipherWrite's answer:

I was going through a difficult time. Every morning I would wake up feeling overwhelmed, carrying around thoughts and emotions that I didn't know how to process. Most of my friends were busy, and honestly, I didn't really have anyone I felt comfortable talking to about some personal things.

One day, I picked up an old diary and started writing everything down. It helped, but I constantly worried that someone might read it because many of my thoughts were deeply personal.

As a developer, I thought, "Why not build a secure digital space for myself?"

That idea eventually became CipherWrite.

My first goal was simple: privacy. I wanted a place where I could write freely without worrying about someone reading my thoughts. So I designed the platform around that idea and built a writing space where privacy came first.

As I continued writing every day, I noticed something surprisingโ€”I felt lighter. Writing had genuinely helped me process my thoughts and emotions. What started as a tool for myself slowly became something much bigger.

I've always wanted to build a SaaS product, and I've also dreamed of writing books one day. As I spent more time using the app, I realized it could become a safe space not only for private journaling but also for writers and authors who needed a distraction-free place to think, create, and write without fear of losing ownership of their work.

The first version was incredibly simple. It wasn't polished, and it had only the features I personally needed. But because I used it every single day, I kept discovering small things that could make the experience better. Every improvement came from solving a problem I had while writing.

Over time, CipherWrite evolved into much more than a private journal. I added tools for brainstorming, organizing ideas, critical thinking, creativity, and long-form writing. Some features were inspired by my own workflow, while others came from listening to people who enjoyed using the platform.

Building it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It started from a difficult chapter when I simply needed a place to empty my mind. Today, it has become the writing space I wish had existed when I first needed itโ€”a place where people can think freely, write honestly, and create without worrying about privacy.

I still use CipherWrite every day. It's still the first place I go whenever I need to organize my thoughts, write down ideas, or simply clear my mind. In many ways, I'm still building the product for the same person who first opened that old diaryโ€”the only difference is that now I'm hoping it can help others the same way it helped me.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

CipherWrite's answer:

CipherWrite is for privacy-conscious writers. Mainly authors and novelists drafting unpublished books, plus private journalers and journalists, who want AI writing tools without ever letting anyone, including the app itself, read their work.

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare NewsBlur and CipherWrite

NewsBlur Reviews

19 Best Feedly Alternatives To Track Insights Across The Web
NewsBlur NewsBlur is a web-based RSS reader that provides a simple and fast way to keep up with your favorite websites. It offers features such as filtering, text-to-speech, and the ability to share stories on social media. Web, iOS, Android
17 Best RSS Feed Reader And News Aggregation Apps
NewsBlur also has intelligent content filters that you can use to scrutinize the content in your feed. These content discovery filters can actually learn the pattern of your searches and you can teach them too. This way you can see customized stories. Even if a source is publishing articles in bulk, it will show you only those of your interest.
The Best RSS Feed Readers for Streamlining the Internet
One thing that sets Newsblur apart is that it's open source. You can see the code on Github, and if you're comfortable with the command line you can even set up your own self-hosted version of Newsblur on your own server.
Source: www.wired.com
Hello, RSS
I looked at what RSS readers were popular by checking out my website analytics. Iโ€™ve always seen Feedly and Newsblur in there as referrers, but have also started to see Inoreader as well. Feedly has a robust offering, and it was a product I used a bit many years ago. It has a higher price point than some other services but in the end I just didnโ€™t like the design. It felt...
Top 6 Free Online RSS Readers
NewsBlur is another popular RSS reader that aims to bring your articles from your favorite sites while maintaining the style of the original site. Easily organize your stories with categories and tags, hide stories you don't like and highlight stories you do like. You can also take a look at some of the third-party apps NewsBlur can be integrated with for even more versatility.

CipherWrite Reviews

We have no reviews of CipherWrite yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NewsBlur seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 22 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

NewsBlur mentions (22)

  • I Stopped Reading Newsletters. Here's What I Use Instead.
    RSS didn't die, though. Feedly picked up 8 million new users in the weeks after Reader shut down. Inoreader, Miniflux, FreshRSS, NewsBlur, and dozens of others filled the gap. Feedly alone now has over 15 million registered users. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Apple courier may have stolen 2 MacBooks, () Apple is not going to help
    As someone who has been on and off the Degoogle train (I ran full LineageOS without Google Play at one point) and is now pretty deep in iOS territory, I'd say the main thing for me has been email. I've used https://www.fastmail.com for a great deal of years now, which is also home to my calendar as well so there's nothing much of value tied to my Google account. YouTube subscriptions would be annoying to lose but... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • After more than 20 years, I published my first dirty project
    I also use it for its Popular Bookmarks - I subscribed to its RSS feed in NewsBlur and always have something interesting to read when my other feeds are Empty (they rarely are). - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Killed by Google
    There's a bunch of replacements. I like https://newsblur.com but there are 4-6 large-ish similar sites. That said, partially what people miss is the relative cultural hegemony of Google Reader. It was RSS front-and-center, prominently featured on websites, supported by the biggest company in tech, with all the users there and able to take advantage of the (sparse) social features. - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • Ask HN: Alternatives to Reddit
    Https://newsblur.com/ I think this might be pretty close to what you're looking for. It's an RSS feed reader with a platform for discussions. - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago
View more

CipherWrite mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of CipherWrite yet. Tracking of CipherWrite recommendations started around Mar 2026.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing NewsBlur and CipherWrite, you can also consider the following products

Feedly - The content you need to accelerate your research, marketing, and sales.

Standard Notes - A safe place for your notes, thoughts, and life's work

Inoreader - Dive into your favorite content. The content reader for power users who want to save time.

Notion - All-in-one workspace. One tool for your whole team. Write, plan, and get organized.

Tiny Tiny RSS - Web-based news feed aggregator, designed to allow you to read news from any location, while feeling...

Obsidian.net - Obsidian is an Action-Adventure, First-person Exploration, Puzzle and Single-player video game created and published by Rocket Science.