RSS Guard is an open-source cross-platform multi-protocol desktop feed reader. It is able to fetch feeds in RSS/RDF/ATOM/JSON formats. RSS Guard is developed on top of the Qt library.

RSS Guard is a cross-platform application, and at this point it is known to work on:

  • Windows 7+
  • GNU/Linux (including PinePhone and other Linux-based phone operating systems)
  • BSD (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, etc.)
  • macOS 10.13+
  • OS/2 (ArcaOS, eComStation)

Supports online feed synchronization with these services:

  • Tiny Tiny RSS,
  • Inoreader,
  • Nextcloud News,
  • Gmail API,
  • FreshRSS,
  • The Old Reader,
  • Bazqux,
  • Reedah,
  • Feedly.

RSS Guard is written in C++. It is pretty fast even with tons of messages loaded. The core features are:

  • Multiplatformity,
  • Support for all feed formats,
  • Simple internal chromium-based web viewer (or alternative version with simpler and more lightweight internal viewer),
  • Simplicity,
  • Import/export of feeds to/from opml 2.0,
  • Downloader with own tab and support for up to 6 parallel downloads,
  • Message filter with regular expressions,
  • Very fast parallelized feed updates,
  • Feed metadata fetching including icons,
  • No crazy dependencies,
  • Ability to cleanup internal message database with various options,
  • Ability to tweak columns in displayed list of messages,
  • Enhanced feed auto-updating with separate time intervals,
  • Multiple data backend support,
  • Sqlite (in-memory dbs too),
  • Mysql.
  • Ability to specify target database by its name (mysql backend),
  • "Portable" mode support with clever auto-detection,
  • Feed categorization,
  • Drap-n-drop for feed list,
  • Automatic checking for updates,
  • Full support of podcasts (both rss & atom),
  • Ability to backup/restore database or settings,
  • Fully-featured recycle bin,
  • Can be controlled via keyboard,
  • Feed authentication (basic),
  • Handles tons of messages & feeds,
  • Sweet look & feel,
  • Fully adjustable toolbars (changeable buttons and style),
  • Ability to check for updates on all platforms + self-updating on windows,
  • Hideable main menu, toolbars and list headers,
  • Feanza-based default icon themes,
  • Fully skinnable user interface + ability to create your own skins,
  • Newspaper view,
  • Support for feed:// uri scheme,
  • Ability to hide list of feeds/categories,
  • Open-source development model based on gnu gpl license, version 3,
  • Tabbed interface,
  • Desktop integration via tray icon,
  • Localizations to some languages,
  • Qt library is the only dependency,
  • Open-source development model and friendly author waiting for your feedback,
  • No ads, no hidden costs.

What's New

There have been some BTC and USD donations in the past several months and years. I very value these things and let me say it is not because of their monetary aspect. It is because that's a proof that you - users - value and cherish RSS Guard and use it regularly.

Thank you.

Added:

  • Feed and article searches can now be set to run only after pressing Enter. (#2277)
  • The Settings window now reopens the section that was selected last. (#2365)
  • Article filters can now be moved five positions at a time with Shift, or directly to the top or bottom with Ctrl. (#2320)
  • Added icons to more commands and context-menu actions.
  • Feed-list deletion confirmations now identify the selected item and show how many feeds and folders it contains. (#2396)
  • Article filter scripts can now retrieve matching stored articles and inspect their custom data.
  • Generated JSON, RSS, Atom and RDF feeds can now attach persistent custom data to their articles.
  • Individual feeds can now be left out of global unread counters. (#1955)

Fixed:

  • MariaDB no longer creates duplicate articles when feeds return more than ten items. (#2410)
  • Opening a file in an already running RSS Guard instance no longer crashes after closing feed discovery. (#2407)
  • Added a couple of fixes in relation to issue #2408:
    • Made UI texts more consistent when talking about "attachments", also fixed in documentation.
    • Changed UI text for "Open articles URL directly..." feature and added help spoiler and tooltip explaining its function to it.
    • "Play in media player" feature is now expanded and it offers dropdown submenu where user can "play" article attachments. Same behavior was expanded in article list context menu.