Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

ReadKit VS Fraidycat

Compare ReadKit VS Fraidycat and see what are their differences

ReadKit logo ReadKit

Have all your Instapaper, Pocket, Pinboard articles and Feedly, Fever, NewsBlur, Feed Wrangler, Feedbin and built-in RSS feeds in one convenient place even when you're offline.

Fraidycat logo Fraidycat

A desktop app or browser extension for Firefox or Chrome. You can use it to follow people (hundreds) on whatever platform they choose - Twitter, a blog, YouTube, even on a public TiddlyWiki
  • ReadKit Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-17
  • Fraidycat Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-11

ReadKit features and specs

  • Unified Reading Experience
    ReadKit provides a single platform to access multiple reading sources such as RSS feeds, bookmarks, and more, streamlining the reading experience.
  • Offline Reading
    The app allows users to download and read content offline, ensuring access to reading material even without an internet connection.
  • Customization Options
    Users can customize the interface and reading experience to suit their preferences, enhancing user satisfaction and usability.
  • Integration with Multiple Services
    ReadKit supports integration with various services like Pocket, Instapaper, and Pinboard, enabling users to sync and manage content effortlessly.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The app features a clean and intuitive interface that makes it easy to navigate and use, even for newcomers.

Possible disadvantages of ReadKit

  • Limited Platform Availability
    ReadKit is available only for macOS, restricting its accessibility to users of other operating systems like Windows or Linux.
  • No Mobile App
    Currently, there is no mobile version of ReadKit, limiting its usage to desktop and affecting users who prefer mobile reading.
  • Subscription Cost
    The app requires a subscription for full features, which could be a deterrent for users looking for free alternatives.
  • Potential Sync Issues
    Some users may experience occasional syncing problems with connected services, which can disrupt the reading experience.
  • Learning Curve
    New users might encounter a learning curve due to the variety of features and settings available, which could be overwhelming initially.

Fraidycat features and specs

  • Simplified Subscription Management
    Fraidycat provides an easy way to manage various content streams from different platforms in a single interface, eliminating the need to check multiple apps or websites.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    It works as a browser extension across major browsers, ensuring users can access it on any system that supports these browsers.
  • Minimalistic Design
    The interface is clean and minimalistic, helping users focus on content rather than getting distracted by excessive UI elements.
  • Categorization
    Allows users to categorize feeds by priority or interest, helping them to quickly access important updates.
  • Privacy-Conscious
    Fraidycat operates on the client-side without storing user data on external servers, thus ensuring greater privacy.

Possible disadvantages of Fraidycat

  • Limited Interaction
    Fraidycat only supports reading and does not allow interaction with content, such as liking or commenting, which can limit user engagement.
  • Learning Curve
    New users might find the unique approach to feed management and the interface slightly confusing at first, requiring some adjustment.
  • Feature Limitations
    While it covers many basic needs, it lacks some advanced features found in other feed aggregators like filters or keyword alerts.
  • Dependency on Browser
    As a browser extension, its functionality is limited to supported browsers, and it may not work as seamlessly in alternative web environments.
  • Manual Updates
    Users may need to manually refresh or check updates for some feeds, as it doesn’t always automatically refresh in real-time.

ReadKit videos

ReadKit for Mac

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Fraidycat videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ReadKit and Fraidycat)
RSS Reader
45 45%
55% 55
RSS
59 59%
41% 41
News & Books
100 100%
0% 0
RSS Client
22 22%
78% 78

User comments

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Reviews

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

ReadKit Reviews

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Fraidycat Reviews

  1. Stan
    · Founder at SaaSHub ·
    A great way to follow RSS

    I was looking for something like this for quite some time. I've been using Fraidycat for about 2 months now. It's very simple and easy to use. I love the you can organize your feeds by simple "emoji" tags. Also, the idea of setting an importance/frequency level per feed is great.

    If only more websites had RSS feeds...

    🏁 Competitors: Feedly, The Old Reader
    👍 Pros:    Simple|Unique

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Fraidycat seems to be a lot more popular than ReadKit. While we know about 30 links to Fraidycat, we've tracked only 2 mentions of ReadKit. 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.

ReadKit mentions (2)

Fraidycat mentions (30)

  • Reading RSS content is a skilled activity
    There are a couple readers that avoid that by providing a calmer experience without a firehose and without background fetching. https://blogcat.org (I made this one) https://fraidyc.at (this is the inspiration for many calm readers) https://cblgh.itch.io/rad-reader (multiplatform and super calm). - Source: Hacker News / 5 days ago
  • Show HN: Artemis, a Calm Web Reader
    For reference, and not implying it's better or worse than your work OP, I've pleasantly used Fraidycat (https://fraidyc.at/) in the past. It's a webextension, so completely local, and also incorporates the idea of having a "calmer" experience: no infinite list of links to check, different update rates, ... I love your philosophy page, OP ! (https://jamesg.blog/2024/11/30/designing-a-calm-web-reader/). - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Did rachelbythebay.com block my IP address because of my feed reader?
    I'm using Fraidycat (https://fraidyc.at/) which I enjoy a lot, but given her recent crusade against feed readers, I suspect that that's the reason that my IP address got blocked or so. (At least, that's what my ISP is leading me to believe because there is no issue on their end). Anyone else out there on the blacklist? - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • MeTube: Self-Hosted YouTube Downloader
    There's the fraidycat extension that I use to do exactly that: https://fraidyc.at/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds
    I went years without consuming RSS until I discovered Fraidy Cat[1] here at Hacker News. 1. https://fraidyc.at. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing ReadKit and Fraidycat, you can also consider the following products

RSS Reader - RSS Reader is a software that enables you to get updates and news about any website or blog.

Miniflux - Miniflux is a minimalist web-based RSS reader. It's very easy to use.

Raven Reader - Offline ready desktop RSS Reader without any distractions.

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

1Feed - 1Feed is your quiet place on the internet, where you can focus on the people and content you care about.

BazQux Reader - Fast, clean and unique feed reader