Considering returning to Usenet

[ISO-Man]

It has been 15+ years I have used Newsgroups. I see some threads about Usenet, but they were old. My main questions are:

1) What is the best service for 'content' and unlimited, then price ?

2) What apps/programs are used for 'reading' ?

It USE to be a simple process of reader connecting to newsgroup server (ISP at the time) and updating threads, you tag what you want, and it dumps the tagged articles to your drive.

Thanks

 

[Fabax01]

Newsbin+Eweka is my go-to for binary files. Newsbin as this newsreader has an (affordable) search function that satisfies my needs (better results than Shemes' GrabIt or Newslazer), and Eweka has the highest retention possible + NTD laws - wait up for a deal, Eweka is not cheap (at least the website advertised prices.)
But I do not search much for modern stuff, you probably need to pay private indexer services for that.
---

Now I can also recommend the native Macintosh program "Usenapp" - recently discovered it, the built in search is pretty good.
---

My suggestion? Check out these three options and pick whatever your wallet can withstand:

A)Eweka by itself.

B)Easynews or Newshosting reseller + ViperNews block
Thanks to this indie provider we'll catch the content getting rapidly DMCA'd on Omicron's main backbone.
ViperNews follows EU NTD law (stuff gets taken down in a few days vs DMCA's few hours.)

C)Usenetserver (deal that bundles Tweaknews block)
Thanks to Tweaknews's backbone you'll grab stuff that got recently DMCA'd on Omicron main.
Tweaknews follows EU NTD law (stuff gets taken down in a few days vs DMCA's few hours.)

Extra: 10GB "free trial without time limits" from Usenet.farm, - another indie provider; follows NTD.


Omicron-based "full retention (6000+ days for binaries)" providers comparison
[TABLE=full]
[TR]
[TD]Provider[/TD]
[TD]Pros[/TD]
[TD]Cons[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Eweka[/TD]
[TD]Follows EU NTD law (less failed DL)[/TD]
[TD]Pricey[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Easynews[/TD]
[TD]Web ui (can search & download stuff through http;
no need to install a newsreader = mobile support)[/TD]
[TD]Pricey
Follows US DMCA law (more failed DL)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]UsenetServer[/TD]
[TD]Search engine webpage
Certain offers bundle in Tweaknews access (limited gigabytes)[/TD]
[TD]Follows US DMCA law (more failed DL)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Newshosting[/TD]
[TD]Resells service to others
Certain offers bundle in Easynews access (limited gigabytes)[/TD]
[TD]Resells service to others
Follows US DMCA law (more failed DL)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Only two resellers have full retention nor have any data cap & are unlimited speed:
FastUsenet which is $6.95 a month and includes GrabIt (Unlimited Search) + another web-based/mobile newsreader.
NewsgroupNinja which is $5.83x12 billed yearly.

Newsreader global** search functionality comparison (test keyword = lt 3.0 firmware)​

​

**=as in, no need to download headers or enter a group -> do XPAT​

• Newsbin Pro: paid (for life), returns a lot of results - search requires a separate subscription; WIN
• Usenapp: paid (for life), returns a lot of results - limited search (last month only) without a subscription; Mac OS X
• Usenet Explorer: paid (yearly; expired key = no updates or search), returns a lot of results; WIN
• Shemes' GrabIt: free software, returns many results - limited searches/day OR unlimited with a subscription; WIN
• OEM software*: bundled in with your provider's usenet access, search returns few results; WIN/Mac OS X/Linux
  • Newslazer (Eweka ver.)
  • Usenet Wire (Tweaknews ver.)
  • Newshosting's newsreader (self-explanatory)
  • iLoad's newsreader (Newshosting reseller)
• Newsleecher: trial is available, search returns no results - free for the time being, registration seems broken; WIN
• Holmez software: MALWARE - sends data (including your auth credentials) to their servers.
  
  • Phantom
  • Tangysoft
  • Momentum

*= It doesn't ask users if they want to enable SSL during the initial setup...
Before downloading anything, please enable it in the connection settings. If you're paranoid, restart the client too.
I'll leave you to judge if it's incompetence or intended by design as a sort of malicious "honeypot".

extra: providers that offer a search webpage

• Easynews advanced search: lots of hits - files can also be downloaded already unpacked from the RARs.
• UsenetServer global search: no results. Enabling "any" search option returns irrelevant content, in large quantity.

edit: added comparison tables; current recommendation.

 

[ISO-Man]

Newsbin+Eweka is my go-to for binary files. Newsbin as the newsreader has a (cheap) search function that satisfies my needs, and Eweka has the highest retention possible - wait up for a deal, Eweka is not cheap (at least the website advertised prices.)
But I do not search much for modern stuff, you probably need to pay private indexer services for that.

Eweka was my top pick from the research I did. I just wanted input to others preference. As to newsreaders, I am ignorant as it gets since the old days. I do plan to use it on Linux (personal usenet server connected to NAS). Will use windows for about a month or two while I get it all setup.

 

[Fabax01]

Eweka was my top pick from the research I did. I just wanted input to others preference. As to newsreaders, I am ignorant as it gets since the old days. I do plan to use it on Linux (personal usenet server connected to NAS). Will use windows for about a month or two while I get it all setup.

I see, hope linux users can chime in & help ya.
I'm on Mac OS but run a VM with windows for Newsbin
too lazy to learn another newsreader... (Forte Agent, in my opinion the best for discussion groups, went the way of the dodo, too outdated these days.)
And well, wine's a possibility I think.

 

[ISO-Man]

Forte Agent was what I used back in the day (loved it).

NZBGet and SABnzbd are popular (what I found) and seems to support all platforms and open source.

 

[SecureBoot]

I recently got into an automated Plex request -> pipeline with Usenet as an indexer. I use Eweka and lifetime nzbgeek. It's worked well so far

 

[aoimatsuri]

Never used em. Paying for "circumventing paying for stuff" is a silly concept for me
Got my free fix .. stuff from elsewhere always.

In other news:

 

[Marc_LFD]

I tried Usenet for a short while, but afterwards I just went back to torrents as it's what I'm used to.

 

[ISO-Man]

I recently got into an automated Plex request -> pipeline with Usenet as an indexer. I use Eweka and lifetime nzbgeek. It's worked well so far

That's an interesting concept for Plex. I have Movies and TV with no issues, but anime doesn't work so well as to identifying. I have been using Usenet heavily with success now since start of thread.

 

[Bladexdsl]

I've pretty much used them all and the only one i can recommend is newshosting.com. they are fast, have multiple servers which you can connect to ALL at once. and they have the best retention i have gotten files from 5-6 years ago with no problems!

here's the rest i used

astraweb - shitty retention
giganews - garbage retention
usenetserver - slow
tweaknews - pathetically slow
Eweka : pathetically slow
newsleecher: pathetic slow and tons of missing articles

Post automatically merged: May 6, 2025

I tried Usenet for a short while, but afterwards I just went back to torrents as it's what I'm used to.

max speeds if i am lucky i get from torrents is 5-10 Mb/s with usenet i get 50 MB/s every single time.

 

[SecureBoot]

That's an interesting concept for Plex. I have Movies and TV with no issues, but anime doesn't work so well as to identifying. I have been using Usenet heavily with success now since start of thread.

That's great! Do you search for everything manually or do you use a program like Radarr/Sonarr to automatically find media?

 

[Larsenv]

I will also recommend eweka. They haven't failed me at all. Also as a backup Frugal Usenet is alright.

For indexers, you have a couple options out there. You definitely want to get a indexer, which adds onto the cost. Most Usenet content these days is posted obfuscated to indexers.

NZBGeek, NZBFinder and NZBSU are all open for registration, so they are good places to start. Geek is one of the cheapest and it's honestly one of my favorites as they have a good content selection.

For downloading I recommend SABnzbd, you can also organize your indexers with Prowlarr, and go farther with Sonarr to monitor and download TV shows, Radarr for movies, Lidarr for music, Readarr for books, etc

 

[SecureBoot]

I will also recommend eweka. They haven't failed me at all. Also as a backup Frugal Usenet is alright.

For indexers, you have a couple options out there. You definitely want to get a indexer, which adds onto the cost. Most Usenet content these days is posted obfuscated to indexers.

NZBGeek, NZBFinder and NZBSU are all open for registration, so they are good places to start. Geek is one of the cheapest and it's honestly one of my favorites as they have a good content selection.

For downloading I recommend SABnzbd, you can also organize your indexers with Prowlarr, and go farther with Sonarr to monitor and download TV shows, Radarr for movies, Lidarr for music, Readarr for books, etc

Don't forget overseerr for requesting! If you share with friends and family it is so much easier to give them a website to go to instead of manually finding everything yourself

 

[Larsenv]

yes indeed jellyseer is slightly better though

 

[ISO-Man]

I am using Eweka and using their app for now. It is a manual search/find right now. I do plan to dive deeper into Usenet soon. I really need to (re)learn the terminology. I was spoiled by Forte Agent back in the day with simplified one program for everything. I did rework my NAS for a mirrored drive just for Usenet. I also started on my script/program to work on windows but have my new Usenet Linux box do the actual downloads automatically. Whatever I find through Windows, and I select, it will start the transfer on Linux not the Windows PC. Currently, I'm trying to find a site like Usenet for Dummies for a real dragged-out step/step explanation. Don't get me wrong, the money I spent for over a year access, I already got back and more.

Torrents WAS my way, but it has become ISP trap for me. Torrents seems to be more incompletes (lack of seeders) than fast completes. Usenet is FAST and selection for certain things has been abundant. Only downside, too much p0rn spammed on Usenet groups.

 

[sudeki300]

usenetbucket, SABnzbd, nzbplanet +others or nzbleech on my phone, gets me what i need for now.