Compare
Taper and NewsBlur
The closest thing to Taper in the category, and the comparison that comes down to one disagreement rather than a feature list. Both are built on the idea that the reader decides, not a model.
Sources, free tier
Unlimited64
Taper · NewsBlur
A year, paid
$48$36
Taper · NewsBlur
A day's reading
EndsDoesn't
Taper · NewsBlur
The short answer
NewsBlur has been going since 2009, is open source, can be self-hosted, and has never carried an advert. Its intelligence trainer is the honest version of what the rest of the category now sells as AI: you tell it which authors, tags and titles you want more or less of, and it applies the rules you wrote rather than ones it inferred.
NewsBlur's answer
Train the filter until what is left is worth reading. You keep everything, and you teach it what matters.
Taper's answer
Fill the number of items you set. End there, with nothing underneath the last one.
Move to Taper if
Sixty-four sites stopped being enough a while ago
That is the free tier's ceiling, and $36 a year moves it to 1,024. Taper never counts sources on either tier, so the list is not the thing you would be paying to change.
The training became something you maintain
It works, and it is a standing job: every new source arrives untrained. Three tiers assigned per edition is the whole of the equivalent here, and there is nothing to keep teaching.
The green and yellow counts are still counts
NewsBlur is unusually good at saying what is probably worth reading, and it still tells you how much is left. There is no figure here, anywhere, including on the app icon.
You want the reading to have a bottom
Training changes what is in the list. It does not change that the list continues.
Stay with NewsBlur if
You want to run it yourself
NewsBlur is open source with a documented Docker install. Taper is a hosted product, and self-hosting it is not something to plan around.
The trainer is how you read
Nothing here replaces it. Taper filters an edition by keyword, and by expression on Pro, but it does not learn and it never will.
You want everything kept and searchable
Premium Archive keeps the full history and searches it. Taper keeps no copy of an article you did not save.
You need the apps or the API
NewsBlur has native iOS and Android and an API other clients are built on. Taper has neither.
Side by side
Values rather than ticks, because a tick is an opinion and a figure is something you can go and check.
| Feature | Taper | NewsBlur |
|---|---|---|
| Sources, free tier | Unlimited | 64 |
| Sources, paid tier | Unlimited | 1,024 on Premium · 4,096 on Archive |
| Paid tier, billed monthly | $5 | $29 on Premium Pro only |
| Paid tier, billed yearly | $48 | $36 Premium · $99 Archive |
| Ads on the free tier | None, on any tier | None |
| What sets the order | Source tiers you set | Training you write, by author, tag and title |
| A figure for what you did not read | None, anywhere | Beside every source |
| Where a day's reading ends | At the size you set | It does not |
| Search across old items | Saved items only | Premium and above |
| Run it yourself | No | Yes, open source |
| Everything back out as OPML | Free | Free |
What NewsBlur does better
Written down first, and not out of politeness. You are probably reading this while paying for NewsBlur, which makes you the worst possible audience for a page that cannot be checked.
It is yours if you want it
Open source, with a documented self-hosted install. If what you actually want is a reader nobody can take away or change the terms of, that is an argument Taper cannot answer and is not going to pretend to.
Training that is rules, not a model
Thumbs up and down on authors, tags and titles, applied exactly as written. It is what everybody else's AI claims to do, without the model, and it worked for years before the category cared.
A real archive
Premium Archive keeps everything and searches all of it. Taper keeps no copy of anything you did not save, so this one is a straight loss rather than a trade.
Apps, an API, and sixteen years
Native iOS and Android, an API other clients are built on, and a product maintained continuously since 2009 by the person who started it. Taper is new, and new is a risk you are entitled to price in.
Where they actually differ
Not a feature list. Four places the two products disagree about what a reader is for, and every smaller difference falls out of one of them.
Teach the filter, or end the page
The whole disagreement. NewsBlur assumes the list is permanent and gets better at deciding what surfaces in it. Taper assumes the decision is how much you are going to read, and the list ends there. Both refuse to let a model choose, which is why this is the closest comparison on the site.
Where the work goes
NewsBlur's training rewards effort: the more you teach it the better it gets, and every new source starts from nothing. Taper's three tiers are set once per source per edition and are not revisited. One is a skill and the other is a setting.
What the source count is for
NewsBlur meters with sources: 64, then 1,024, then 4,096. Taper never counts sources at all, because a ceiling on the list underneath a ceiling on the reading would be an admission that the second one does not work.
What is kept
NewsBlur keeps what you subscribed to, and on Archive keeps it permanently. Taper keeps no copy of an article you did not save. Anything still current arrives on your next refresh, and anything older is with the publisher.
Moving from NewsBlur
What comes across, what does not, and what it costs.
Will my NewsBlur folders come across?
Yes. Export OPML from NewsBlur, import it here, and each top-level folder becomes an edition with its sources already in it. There is a flat mode if you would rather start with everything in one and split it later. Sources are never counted, so a folder with two hundred feeds in it is fine on the free tier.
Does my training come with it?
No, and nothing here is equivalent to it. Training is NewsBlur's own picture of what you like, built from thumbs on authors, tags and titles, and there is nothing in OPML to carry it. What you get instead is keyword filters free, and boolean logic with headline, summary and author scoping on Pro. Those are rules you write once rather than something that learns, which is a smaller tool honestly described.
NewsBlur is cheaper and open source. Why would I move?
Both are true and neither is the reason to move. $36 a year against $48 a year is a real difference, and being able to run it yourself is worth more than the gap to some people. The only reason to move is if your reading does not finish. NewsBlur makes a long list better; it does not make it shorter. Figures checked 15 August 2026.
Do I lose the counts I use to keep track?
Yes, and it is deliberate rather than unbuilt. There is no count, badge or dot anywhere in Taper, including on the app icon. What replaces it is that an edition has a bottom: you set how many items it holds, and the last one has nothing underneath it. If a figure going down is how you know where you are, this is the wrong product and NewsBlur is a good one.
Decide how much news is enough.
Bring the sources you already read. Set a size. Reach the end of it, and find nothing underneath.
Free. No card, and bring every source you follow.