Cheaper Than Feedly: Why a Curation-Only Tool Costs More Than You Think (Save $168+/Year)
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16 min readQuick tool comparison. Features, pricing, and what works best for your needs.
Cheaper Than Feedly: Why a Curation-Only Tool Costs More Than You Think (Save $168+/Year)
Feedly is the best RSS reader available. At $6.99-12.99/month, the price seems reasonable. (See our full Feedly review.) But here's what most people miss: Feedly only reads content. It can't create posts, schedule them, or track how they perform.
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Start your free trialThe real cost of Feedly isn't $12.99/month — it's $12.99 + whatever you pay for a publishing tool. That combined cost usually exceeds what an all-in-one tool charges for everything.
This guide breaks down Feedly's true costs, who actually benefits from a separate curation tool, and where you can get better value.
About This Guide
This comparison focuses on social media managers and content marketers currently paying for Feedly + a separate scheduling tool. If you use Feedly purely for personal reading with no social media publishing needs, Feedly's pricing is fair.
What This Guide Covers: True cost analysis of Feedly + scheduler combos, all-in-one alternatives, and when separate curation tools make sense. What It Doesn't Cover: Enterprise Feedly plans ($1,600+/month) for competitive intelligence teams.
Key Takeaways
Feedly Cost Reality
Hidden Two-Tool Cost: Feedly Pro+ ($12.99/mo) + Buffer 5 channels ($30/mo) = $42.99/month. That's $515.88/year for reading + basic scheduling.
No Content Creation: Despite paying $12.99/month, Feedly can't write a single caption. You still create all content manually or need yet another tool.
AI Reads, Doesn't Write: Feedly's Leo AI summarizes articles — useful for research. But it doesn't generate social media posts, captions, or hashtags.
All-in-One Savings: SocialRails ($29/month, $348/year) creates AI content AND schedules posts — saving $168+ compared to Feedly + Buffer.
Quick Decision Helper
Switch to SocialRails if you:
- Use Feedly mainly to find content to share on social media
- Pay for Feedly + a separate scheduling tool
- Want AI to help create captions and posts (not just read articles)
- Need video templates for Reels/TikToks
- Want to simplify your tool stack
Keep Feedly if you:
- Use it for research/reading, not social media publishing
- Follow 200+ specific RSS sources that matter to your work
- Work in PR, journalism, or competitive intelligence
- Don't need social media scheduling
- Value deep RSS organization over content creation
The True Cost of Feedly
Feedly Alone
Feedly + Scheduling Tool (What Most Users Actually Pay)
All-in-One Alternative
Savings vs Feedly Pro+ + Buffer: $167.88/year (32% less) Savings vs Feedly Pro+ + Later: $107.88/year (24% less) Savings vs Feedly Pro+ + Hootsuite: $995.88/year (74% less)
Quick Feature Comparison
You pay for Feedly Pro+ ($12.99/mo) and Buffer 5 channels ($30/mo). What's your total annual spend?
What You're Paying For (But Might Not Need)
RSS Feed Monitoring
Feedly's pitch: "Follow every source in your industry."
Reality check: How many of those 200+ feeds do you actually read weekly? Most Feedly users report scanning headlines and reading 10-15% of articles. AI content tools can generate relevant post ideas without you reading through hundreds of articles.
Leo AI (Pro+ Only)
Feedly's pitch: "AI that reads for you."
Reality check: Leo summarizes and prioritizes articles. That's useful for researchers. But it doesn't write a social media caption, suggest a video concept, or generate hashtags. You still do all the creative work yourself.
Board Organization
Feedly's pitch: "Organize content into curated boards."
Reality check: Great for research teams sharing sources. Unnecessary if your goal is just finding content to post on social media.
Real Cost Scenarios
Scenario 1: Solo Content Marketer
Current: Feedly Pro+ ($12.99/mo) + Buffer Essentials 5 channels ($30/mo) = $42.99/month
What you actually do: Scan Feedly for 20 minutes, find 3-4 articles to share, open Buffer, write captions manually, schedule posts.
With SocialRails: Open SocialRails, use AI to generate post ideas and captions, schedule directly. One tool, one login.
SocialRails Creator: $29/month Annual savings: $167.88 (32%) Time saved: ~20 minutes/day (no separate curation step)
Scenario 2: Small Marketing Team (3 people)
Current: Feedly Pro+ ($12.99/mo) + SocialPilot ($42.99/mo) = $55.98/month
What happens: One person monitors Feedly, shares links in Slack, another person creates posts in SocialPilot. Two workflows, two tools.
With SocialRails: Team collaborates in one platform. AI generates content. Everyone schedules directly.
SocialRails Business: $49/month Annual savings: $83.76 (12%) Workflow improvement: Single platform, no link-sharing step
Scenario 3: Agency Managing Social Media
Current: Feedly Pro+ ($12.99/mo) + Hootsuite Pro ($99/mo) = $111.99/month
Reality: Feedly subscription often goes unused after the first month. Team defaults to Hootsuite's content suggestions anyway.
SocialRails Agency: $99/month Annual savings: $155.88 (12%) Bonus: AI content creation, video templates
A solo marketer uses Feedly to find articles, then manually writes captions in Buffer. What's the biggest inefficiency?
When Feedly Actually Makes Sense
Stay with Feedly if:
- PR or journalism — monitoring 100+ specific publications daily
- Competitive intelligence — tracking competitor blogs and industry news systematically
- Research-heavy roles — need organized, tagged, searchable article archives
- No social media needs — purely reading and research, no publishing
- Enterprise team — need shared boards, team collaboration on content sources
Reality check: If you checked 3+ boxes, Feedly's pricing is justified. If 0-1, you're paying for a reading tool when you need a publishing tool.
You're a PR professional monitoring 300+ industry sources daily. Should you switch away from Feedly?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Feedly overpriced?
As a standalone RSS reader, Feedly Pro+ at $12.99/month is fair. The issue is that most social media professionals need Feedly + a scheduler, which doubles the cost. An all-in-one tool is often more cost-effective.
Can AI replace RSS curation?
For social media content, largely yes. AI content generators create posts based on trends and your brand voice — no need to manually curate articles first. For deep research and specific source monitoring, RSS still has value.
What if I love Feedly's reading experience?
Keep it for reading. But consider whether you also need a separate scheduling tool. If you're paying $43+/month for Feedly + a scheduler, switching to an all-in-one tool for $29/month saves money while covering publishing needs.
Is Inoreader cheaper than Feedly?
Yes. Inoreader Pro is $2.99/month vs Feedly Pro at $6.99/month. But Inoreader also lacks social scheduling, so the two-tool problem remains.
Bottom Line
Feedly is great at reading. But reading isn't publishing.
Switch if:
- You pay for Feedly + a scheduler ($43+/month)
- You want AI content creation
- You need one tool, not two
- You want to save $168+/year
Keep Feedly if:
- Pure research and reading is your goal
- You monitor 200+ specific RSS sources
- You don't need social media scheduling
- You work in PR, journalism, or intelligence
The math: Feedly Pro+ + Buffer = $515.88/year. SocialRails = $348/year. Save $167.88/year while gaining AI content creation, video templates, and analytics.
Ready to simplify? Start your SocialRails free trial and see if AI content creation replaces your curation workflow.
Related Comparisons
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Scheduler Comparisons:
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