If you’ve been following along lately, you know NewsBlur has been shipping feature after feature: story clustering, timed feed muting, the new site discovery panel, Ask AI, and more. I’m not slowing down, and I want people to know about it. If you’ve been using NewsBlur for years and still love it, tell people. Post about it on LinkedIn, on X, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, wherever you hang out online. Word of mouth is still king, and it’s how NewsBlur has always grown.

To make that more rewarding, I’m launching two new features today: referrals and gift subscriptions.

Earn free premium by referring friends

Every NewsBlur user now has a personal referral link. Share it with someone, and if they sign up and subscribe, you earn free time on your current tier. There’s no cap. Your next billing date gets pushed forward automatically, so you won’t be charged while you have referral credit.

Open the Refer & Gift modal from the Manage menu to find your link. Copy it and share it however you’d like. The modal also shows your referral stats: how many people have signed up through your link, how many have subscribed, and how many years of premium you’ve earned.

The credit scales proportionally based on your tier and what your referral subscribes to. If they subscribe to your tier or higher, you get a full free year. If they subscribe to a lower tier, you get proportional credit:

  • Premium subscribers earn a full free year for every referral, regardless of what tier the referred person picks
  • Premium Archive subscribers earn a free year when the referral subscribes to Archive or Pro, or 4 free months for a Premium referral
  • Premium Pro subscribers earn 4 free months for an Archive referral, 2 free months for Premium, or 1 free month for Pro

The higher your tier, the more it pays to refer people to higher tiers. When a referral converts, you’ll get an email confirming your credit, and your subscription renewal date adjusts automatically. No action needed on your part.

Gift a subscription to anyone

The Gift tab lets you buy a NewsBlur subscription for someone else. Pick a tier, check out through Stripe, and you’ll get a shareable gift link. The recipient clicks the link, signs up or logs in, and their premium activates instantly.

Three tiers are available as gifts:

  • Premium at $36/year
  • Premium Archive at $99/year
  • Premium Pro at $29/month

If the gift isn’t redeemed within 90 days, you get a full refund automatically. No need to contact support or remember to follow up.

How to access it

Open the Manage menu (the gear icon at the bottom of the feed list) and choose Refer & Gift. The modal has two tabs: Refer for your referral link and stats, and Gift for purchasing gift subscriptions.

Referrals and gift subscriptions are available now on the web for all NewsBlur users. If you have feedback or ideas for improvements, please share them on the NewsBlur forum.