Bloglovin vs. Feedly - An RSS Reader Showdown

{Bloglovin' vs. feedly}

As you may be aware, Google announced a month or so ago it's retiring Reader in July. My reaction to that was, "What?! Noooooo. You can't take that away from me! It's my blog-reading lifeline!"

Ok, maybe it wasn't quite that dramatic, but I was pretty sad.

Once I got over my shock and sadness, I decided it was time to move on and see what else was out there. I found two good, potential RSS reader options - you might've come across them too - Bloglovin' and feedly. I've been trying them out over the past couple of weeks to see which one I liked best. I figure some of you are in the same boat as me, wondering what you'll use after Reader is gone. So I thought we'd kick this week off with good old-fashioned showdown. Who'll it be...Bloglovin? or feedly?

First up: Bloglovin'.

What is it? An RSS feed reader very similar to Google Reader. You can follow your favorite blogs, see what's popular, and discover new blogs. *Note: when I logged in on Sunday, I noticed they're launching a new version, which is what my screenshot shows. It's still in test mode, so if you don't see this when you try it out, know that it'll be coming to your computer soon!

What devices can I use it on? Internet browser and iPhone. No iPad/tablet or Android app right now, but there is a mobile site that acts sort of like the iPhone app.

Pros:

• Easily sign up using your email address or your Facebook credentials.
• Simple user interface (the way it looks).
• Site navigates similarly to Google Reader, making it easy to switch.
• Easy to import your Google Reader blog list.
• Has a like button acts like the starred button in Reader to keep track of your favorite posts.
• Clicking a post takes you to the blog's full site, but has a navigation bar at the top so you can go directly to your next unread post without having to go back to the Bloglovin' site.
• You can log into Bloglovin' from any computer and catch up on your blogs.
• Generates traffic for blogs (a definite plus for tracking your blogging stats).
• Can "claim" your blog and track the number of people who have added your blog to their feed (followers).
• Easy to add a button to your blog so others can use Bloglovin' to follow you (see that plus button on my sidebar under connect? That's for Bloglovin'.).
• Commenting on blog posts is easy since you read the post from the site itself.

Cons:

• Can't read the post directly from the Bloglovin' site when reading on a desktop (you can in the iPhone app though). I don't love clicking through to read each new post.
• No iPad/tablet/Android app.
• Doesn't sync with Google Reader (that won't matter though once Google Reader is gone).
• No options to customize the layout or appearance of the site/app.

Second up: feedly.

What is it? An RSS feed reader also very similar to Google Reader, but with more flexibility and options. It's a browser extension too. Once you install the extension, you'll see a small gray diamond in the bottom, right-hand corner of your browser window. This allows you to easily add a site to your reader or share a post via social media.

What devices can I use it on? Internet browser, iPhone, iPad/tablet and Android.

Pros:

• It has a beautifully simple user interface.
• Easy to sign up and transition over from Reader. You can log in using your Google credentials.
• Lots of flexibility for viewing your reading list so you can customize it to fit your the look you like.
• The app version has lots of tricks like swiping across a title to mark as read or unread and holding down a title to bookmark it.
• Import your Google Reader list right as you sign up from the homepage.
• Syncs with Google Reader when you've read or starred a post.
• Can read posts directly in the reader without having to open a new browser window.
• The browser extension makes it easy to add new blogs to your list.
• Update (4/23)! I discovered today that you can PIN directly from the post in feedly! Major bonus points.

Cons:

• You can't claim your blog on feedly.
• For bloggers, there's no way to track how many followers you have, and readers on feedly don't count towards pageviews/stats as far as I can tell. 
• Have to click through to leave a comment on a post (not a con for me, but likely could be for others).

The winner in my book is definitely feedly. I love the clean interface, the ability to customize the view, and all the tricks in the on the iPhone app. It really comes down to personal preference though - both really are good alternatives to Google Reader! As a disclaimer to this pro/con list, you may disagree with me on some of these points, and that's fine. I just wanted to throw some things out there for people to think about as they make the switch to a new RSS reader come July 1st. 

You can follow me on feedly here or Bloglovin' here if you'd like.

What do you think? Have you tried either of these and found you liked one better? What did I miss in this little review?

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