Newshosting – Best Overall Usenet

What makes Newshosting our top choice for a full service Usenet Access Provider?

Maximum Retention: Newshosting has the longest data retention, currently  and increasing by one day every day. Newshosting never deletes the oldest Usenet posts, so the entire 13+ year Usenet archive is stored and available for search and download.

Speed: Newshosting had the  fastest speed of any Usenet provider. 

Usenet posts are delivered over their own internet backbone network optimized for delivering large Usenet posts directly to their subscribers.  Newshosting is the only provider who has been investing in a Usenet delivery network for more than a decade.  Newshosting also owns its own servers in Europe and North America  with the best Usenet delivery tech inside. Result: Super speedy Usenet access.

Newshosting also provides a free, pre-configured newsreader with a Usenet search engine. While not as powerful as other newsreaders, the Newshosting newsreader is a fast and intuitive search and download tool. The included free Newsreader is reason enough to subscribe to Newshosting.

The $10/mo (Lite) plan comes with unlimited speeds, up to 30 connections, and 50GB/mo of data transfer with rollover. For $3 per month more, you get unlimited data on top of the unlimited speeds, and up to 100 connections. The top plan, the XL Powerpack  has unlimited data transfer, 100 connections to max out your high speed broadband plan, and comes with a zero-log VPN, which everyone should be using for additional security while online.

New users and old Usenet hands alike can’t go wrong with Newshosting, the best Usenet provider.

Eweka – Premiere EU Usenet Provider

The best European Usenet provider, Eweka has faster speeds and more retention than any other EU-based Usenet providers we tested.

Download completion rates are excellent on Eweka. Compared to other European providers, we had more successfully completed downloads on Eweka and it wasn’t even close. There are simply more posts retained on their Usenet servers than other European Usenet server platforms. [retention.days] days of retention is comparable to Newshosting with retention increasing by one day every day.

Eweka has a unique Usenet pricing structure, with two pre-paid plans and a subscription plan. While the pre-paid plans are acceptable, the Subscription High-Speed plan is the star here. It is the only Eweka plan with unlimited speeds and up to 50 connections. While Eweka does have speed limits, all plans come with unlimited data downloads.

Overall, Eweka is the best European provider with access to additional Usenet content, good data transfer speeds and excellent pricing.

Easynews – Best Usenet for Newbies

Best For Usenet Newbies: It’s incredibly simple to sign up and use.

Web Interface with Search Included: Easynews is the only Usenet Provider with a browser based access option. Just search and download directly through Chrome, Firefox, Brave, or whatever web browser you use.

A cool and unique feature of the Easynews web interface is that all Usenet search results display previews: helpful for sifting through results before downloading.

There are lots of advanced features and filters to narrow your searches to find the exact Usenet posts (also called articles) you are looking for. High retention means that more of your searches will find what you’re looking for.

Of course, you are not limited to web-based searches.  You can bring your own Usenet client newsreader to Easynews like all other providers. 

Unlimited speeds means you won’t have any issues with slow Usenet connections.

A drawback to Easynews is there are no unlimited data transfer options, so the access is best for people who don’t download more than 150GB per month. Unused GB data rolls over month-to-month and accumulates until it is used, so while not unlimited, GB rollover should give most subscribers the freedom to download as needed.

Easynews is a premium Usenet Provider.  Pricing may be a bit higher than average, but is a great value. Monthly plan pricing starts at $9.99. The most expensive plan, the $29.99 Big Gig Plan, not only has the 150GB per month of data transfer with rollover GB, but also comes with a free VPN subscription to protect the rest of your non-usenet online activity. 

All plans come with unlimited download speeds, 60 connections, and a very high retention rate that increases daily.

Overall, Easynews has unique features and benefits that set it apart from any other Usenet provider. We can’t recommend Easynews enough, especially for people who want the simplest on-ramp to the world of Usenet.

UsenetServer

UsenetServer has been the Usenet Power Users’ choice since 2001.

UsenetServer has 3 similar subscriptions. Each include: maximum retention (equal to Newshosting), unlimited downloads, SSL encrypted connections, and a unique search feature.  If you subscribe to their annual plan, a VPN is included as an incentive.  

Fast and stable connections, so no worries about slow downloads and dropped data packets.

UsenetServer also has Usenet retention rates that match Newshosting, so you’ll get more Usenet with your access.

There’s a reason why Usenet veterans subscribe to UsenetServer as their main provider. It’s the best value, full access Usenet provider.

Tweaknews

If Eweka is Europe’s best Usenet service, Tweaknews is a close second. As the oldest continually running EU Usenet provider, they have one of the most stable Usenet delivery platforms  in the world. 

Tweaknews’ “Ultimate + VPN” plan is the best value: € 9,07/mo for unlimited speeds and downloads, free SSL, up to 60 connections, and a zero-log VPN. While the Fast and Lightning plans are both good choices, the Lightning plan actually costs more than the Ultimate + VPN plan.

While Tweaknews retention is not as high as our top choices, it is still quite good at over 4200 days. Speed, high connection quality, and a 99.5% completion rate make Tweaknews an excellent option, especially for the European Usenet fan.

Sunny Usenet

The European budget Usenet provider option with still solid service levels has nearly 13 years of retention that increases daily and a 99.99% completion rate, putting them in line with many of the best Usenet providers.

Sunny offers the best everyday cost for a basic, but full access, Usenet service plan: as low as €3.03 per month for a yearly subscription.

While maybe not the choice for Usenet power-users like UsenetServer, or for those who want feature-rich options like Newshosting, Eweka, or Easynews, Sunny Usenet is an attractive budget Usenet server with surprisingly good service levels for the cost.

Astraweb

Pioneering consumer Usenet access in 1997 with the first independent Usenet server platforms, Astraweb still offers a competitive service, if not quite as high quality or feature-rich as our top choices.

Astraweb is also one of the few Usenet providers who offer pay-per-GB prices. This means that users can opt to only pay for what they use over a given timeframe.  Warning: the pay per GB pricing is high and is only recommended for light Usenet users.

Their subscription pricing is a much better value, provides unlimited Usenet downloads, and is competitive with the other high-quality Usenet access providers. The biggest drawback is that it only offers 4,000 days of retention.

While Astraweb is trustworthy and solid, the lack of features like a newsreader client, Usenet search engine, or VPN makes their offering less attractive than some other providers. 

Pure Usenet

Pure Usenet is another popular Netherlands-based provider with more than 2 decades of experience. Unlike other European Usenet Providers, Pure Usenet does not require a Dutch IP address to sign-up for service, so anyone can access their servers. Pure Usenet also offers a 7-day free trial to test their services.

Pure Usenet made our list because it has been in business for years offering a stable Usenet service which meets the basic standards of high retention, fast speeds, SSL secure downloads,  and very good pricing.  It is, however, a barebones service without any add-on features like VPN.

Pure Usenet does accept Bitcoin for payment so it may be a good option for those looking to pay with Crypto.   

Bottom Line: Pure Usenet is a good choice, but not as good as our top providers.

XLned

XLned is another Dutch-based provider offering basic service that meets our standards for a full access Usenet Provider, but not much else.  XLNed does offer the absolute lowest pricing of any of the providers on our list, but for a very small number of connections and 2.5 Mbps speed limits, which is slow.  Obviously, XLNed is trying to entice you with a low initial offer and then sell you a better service plan at competitive prices, but we are highlighting XLNed because you can get quality Usenet service for under €3.00 per month. 

While XLned is not nearly the best provider, it can: be a European Usenet backup server. It’s also good for those with slow broadband speeds, or for the light Usenet downloader. The prices make maintaining an account relatively easy, but you get what you pay for, and XLned is transparent about the low price / service level tradeoffs.

Newsleecher

Newsleecher is a combination Usenet access provider, newsreader client developer and Usenet search index.  The service levels offered meet all of our standards for retention, completion, network speed and platform redundancy in US and EU.  

The Newsleecher newsreader client is a stable app serving the Usenet community for more than a decade. It has gone through many revisions to keep up with all the changes that Usenet has undergone over the years and is full-featured.  

Newsleecher also maintains a Usenet Search engine similar to Newshosting and is packaged with the access service and client for a seamless package.  

Newsleecher has one subscription plan at $9.49 per month for the three service bundle and is a worthy choice for the Usenet user looking for an all-in-one solution.