Inoreader
Power RSS reader with rules, monitoring, search, and automations
A single-user RSS reader with rules and alerts can be built quickly on top of existing parsers, though not with Inoreader's scale and polish.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- enterprise-scale feed handling
- mobile apps
- integrations
- article translation
- polished search
- support
Why people still pay
They pay for reliability and a power-user rules engine that keeps working while feeds break.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- Runtime and tools: Python, a bounded HTTP worker, feedparser, SQLite FTS5 and a small local web reader.
- Before starting: A reviewed list of permitted RSS/Atom feeds and OPML examples; a running worker is required for scheduled refresh.
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Project rule — domain: Store Item, RuleVersion, MatchTrace, Tag and AlertReceipt; reprocessing a new rule version can update tags but cannot resend an already acknowledged alert without confirmation.
Project rule — scope and recovery: Support transparent title/body matching first. Failed feeds are not zero matches, and full-text retrieval remains subject to source permissions and extraction limits.
Project rule — acceptance: Add a broad include rule and a later exclusion for sponsored posts; show why a matching item was suppressed and preserve the decision after restart.
Project rule — delivery: document real setup commands and permissions; do not claim a build, accuracy level, performance result or security certification that has not been demonstrated.
Recommended skill: modern-python — structure the Python worker or explicitly optional read-only utility with pinned dependencies, typed boundaries and clear failure handling. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Recommended skill: web-design-guidelines — review keyboard access, focus, validation, error recovery and the readable work/review interface or HTML report. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Pin the working slice and create its example input: Fetch selected feeds, run ordered keyword rules, apply tags and send a digest of matched items with an inspectable rule trace. Confirm setup: A reviewed list of permitted RSS/Atom feeds and OPML examples; a running worker is required for scheduled refresh.
Phase 2
Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store Item, RuleVersion, MatchTrace, Tag and AlertReceipt; reprocessing a new rule version can update tags but cannot resend an already acknowledged alert without confirmation.
Phase 3
Connect the working view to real saved state. Preserve feed GUIDs with a canonical URL fallback. Use conditional requests, per-host backoff and separate fetch errors from empty feeds; sanitize article HTML and prevent private-network URL fetches.
Phase 4
Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: Support transparent title/body matching first. Failed feeds are not zero matches, and full-text retrieval remains subject to source permissions and extraction limits.
Phase 5
Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: Add a broad include rule and a later exclusion for sponsored posts; show why a matching item was suppressed and preserve the decision after restart. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.
Build the following focused alternative to Inoreader. Implement the focused workflow below first; the verdict is not evidence of a completed or production-certified build. WORKING SLICE Fetch selected feeds, run ordered keyword rules, apply tags and send a digest of matched items with an inspectable rule trace. SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE Use Python, a bounded HTTP worker, feedparser, SQLite FTS5 and a small local web reader. Prerequisites: A reviewed list of permitted RSS/Atom feeds and OPML examples; a running worker is required for scheduled refresh. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success. DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS Store Item, RuleVersion, MatchTrace, Tag and AlertReceipt; reprocessing a new rule version can update tags but cannot resend an already acknowledged alert without confirmation. IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT Preserve feed GUIDs with a canonical URL fallback. Use conditional requests, per-host backoff and separate fetch errors from empty feeds; sanitize article HTML and prevent private-network URL fetches. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content. APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY Support transparent title/body matching first. Failed feeds are not zero matches, and full-text retrieval remains subject to source permissions and extraction limits. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO Add a broad include rule and a later exclusion for sponsored posts; show why a matching item was suppressed and preserve the decision after restart. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested. DELIVERY Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product. PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md
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Alternatives to building your own
all 3 free alternatives to Inoreader →· no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
Inoreader pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| free | $0/user | $0/user | Up to 150 RSS subscriptions. |
| pro | $10.38/user | $7.70/user | 2,500 RSS subscriptions; 20 web feeds; 20 newsletters; 30 monitoring feeds; 100 boosted feeds; 30 rules; 50 filters; 10 translations/day; 5 text-to-speech uses/day.Source prices: €8.99 monthly or €6.67/month annually; converted at the ECB 2026-08-12 rate of $1.1545/€. |
| custom | — | — | Custom feed, monitoring and organization limits.Quote-based. |
free tier150 RSS subscriptions
billingmonthly + annual for Pro; Custom quote-based; source prices are in EUR
hidden costspaid add-ons increase web-feed, monitoring and boosted-feed limits; AI/Intelligence can use the user's own third-party API key, which creates separate provider charges
pricing sources checked 2026-08-13 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Inoreader
Can you build your own Inoreader with AI?
The verdict is yes for the scoped workflow. A single-user RSS reader with rules and alerts can be built quickly on top of existing parsers, though not with Inoreader's scale and polish.
What does the Inoreader build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Fetch selected feeds, run ordered keyword rules, apply tags and send a digest of matched items with an inspectable rule trace. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: enterprise-scale feed handling; mobile apps; integrations. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Inoreader prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Inoreader project take?
The catalogue estimate is weekend for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Inoreader?
enterprise-scale feed handling; mobile apps; integrations; article translation; polished search; support. They pay for reliability and a power-user rules engine that keeps working while feeds break.
What price is this guide comparing against?
The recorded Pro plan is $10.38/mo per seat (monthly per user), checked 2026-08-13. Check the linked pricing source before buying. Building your own also has hosting, API and maintenance costs; the recorded amount is not a guaranteed saving.
What can I use instead of building Inoreader?
FreshRSS: Filters, search, tags and extensions without a subscription or hosted convenience. Miniflux: Regex filters, full-text search and a clean reader; monitoring and automations are basic. NewsBlur: Trainable feeds, search and newsletters, plus enough infrastructure to qualify as a hobby. Compare all listed options at https://howtovibecodeit.dev/inoreader/alternatives. Check each option's license, hosting needs and feature limits.