While Usenet groups are no longer so commonly used as in the early days of the internet, they still retain a significant following of users, especially since the advent of NZB readers to make for easy access to specific discussions or topics.
However, while free Usenet groups still exist, these have been very much eclipsed by paid-for Usenet groups which aside from having a more reliable service can also provide a safer service with better anti-virus and spam filtering.
Therefore it's likely that the modern Usenet user will be using a subscription service to access their favorite groups and content.
This doesn't mean to say you can't access Usenet groups for free - you can always get free Usenet trials and just use them one after the other to download Terabytes worth of data for more than four months.
We’ve picked out the safer options in this article: well-known brands that have been reviewed either by ourselves or our peers.
- We also picked out the best Usenet providers
- Want your company or services to be added to this buyer’s guide? Please email your request to desire.athow@futurenet.com with the URL of the buying guide in the subject line.
TechRadar readers can benefit from an exclusive 30-day free trial with UseNeXT featuring up to 600GB to download for free (including a 30GB download at 800Mbps). Get 25% off when you take a paid-for package which allows you to download at up to 800Mbps.View Deal
XS News probably shares the same ownership or backbone as UseNeXT as it has speeds of up to 800Mbps as well. The firm’s trial is as generous (albeit lasting only 14-days) and includes unlimited speed and access to 30 Petabytes of content.View Deal
Newshosting provides a free 7-day trial with 750GB of free downloads. After the trial period, you will receive up to 58% off for the lifetime of your account – plus a free VPN service with annual plans.View Deal
Eweka also offers a 7-day trial with unlimited downloads (you’re essentially limited by your internet speed). Once that period has elapsed, you can opt for a subscription with a 300Mbps connection speed.View Deal
Supernews has only a 72-hour trial period, the (joint) shortest of the freebies here, but it’s the only one to offer a 100% completion rate which should cut down the number of download failures.View Deal
Easynews is probably one of the less fancied providers here. At 14-days, the trial is perfect for those who want to explore the world of Usenet at their leisure. Just note that you only get 10GB of data, but on the upside, you don’t need to download a separate newsgroup reader – you can just use your browser.View Deal
Giganews on the other hand doesn’t suffer from the same issues. Its 14-day trial is on par with Easynews, and gives you a nifty Usenet browser called MIMO. But you have unlimited monthly access and a whopping 50 connections.View Deal
You can try one of the most popular European Usenet service providers, Tweaknews, for up to 10-days with unlimited downloads and uncapped speeds. You get a lifetime discount, but just be wary of the low retention levels.
Usenetserver also offers a 14-day trial but it ends when you reach the 10GB limit, which for power users could take a few minutes! This service is aimed at experienced users so novices should proceed with caution.View Deal
Netherlands-based Pure Usenet wants to introduce new users to 7-days of Usenet nirvana with 12 connections, unlimited speed and unlimited data allowance, unlike most of the other trials highlighted here.View Deal
Usenet.Farm promises to be a “fresh wind on the Usenet landscape” and tries to achieve this by killing the password and not requiring any registration. You only need your email to log in to the trial. Get this 10GB trial for free with no time limits.View Deal
A 14-day trial and 10GB of content is what you can expect from iLoad Usenet, a German-based service that only needs your email – like the above provider – to kick-start your Usenet journey.View Deal
There seems to be something in the Netherlands that attracts Usenet providers. Easyusenet is another outfit based in the country, and offers a 5-day trial with 200Mbps speeds and no data download limit. You do need to provide your mobile phone number, though, as the company will send you an SMS code.View Deal
