Best Free Usenet (How to Use Newsgroup Servers for Free)

Free Usenet Method #2: Use Free Usenet Servers

If a free trial isn't enough, or you don't want to deal with canceling a membership or giving out your payment details, there is another option for getting free Usenet. And that's with free Usenet servers, sometimes called open news servers.

These are free Usenet servers that are publicly accessible. There's no cost to access them, but they usually have a limited number of newsgroups.

However, we don't consider these a serious option. For starters, the two options we've highlight below only allow you to download text files, not binaries. That means no movies, TV shows, music, and the like. 

On top of that, there retention is often very low, so you won't even be able to access files older than a few months or years. But we'll still include them, just in case you're interested.

Eternal September

EternalSeptember gives users free access to several servers, including feeder.eternal-september.org and news.eternal-september.org (SSL). But again, you can only download text files.  

AIOE

Update: AOIE is no more, check out the other alternatives on our list.

AOIE provides free Usenet access through its two servers, nttp.aioe.org and news.aioe.org. They do support SSL and TSL encryption, but you can only download text files.

List of Free Usenet Servers

There are also some directories that try to keep track of free Usenet servers. Just keep in mind that these open servers can disappear or go inactive at any time. 

• Free Usenet News is the best, comprehensive and up-to-date directory that lets you search for specific newsgroups on open free Usenet servers.

Please note that your ability to access open news servers may vary. This happens for a number of technical reasons and means that although your friend may be able to access a particular open news server you may not be able to.
 

Can I get Free Usenet through my ISP?

In the past, many internet service providers allowed you to access Usenet through their own limited-retention servers. It wasn't completely free, of course, since you were still paying them for internet. But it didn't cost anything extra. 

However, almost every ISP has closed their Usenet servers since then. One of the last holdouts, Virgin Media, shut down their server in 2021. 

There are a few smaller US-based ISPs that still have free Usenet though:

• CenturyLink / Qwest
  
• PenTeleData

Earthlink and one or two others also seem to offer Usenet, but only to customers who've had their accounts before a specific year. So, you're out of luck if you're not already a long-time subscriber. 

All of these are rather small providers, so if you're using Comcast, Spectrum, AT&T, etc., you'll need to either pay for Usenet separately... or use one of the free trials we mentioned above.

How to Use a Free or Open News Server

To use an open (free) Usenet server, change your newsreader app’s News Server or NNTP setting (look under menu items such as Settings, Options or Preferences). In that box, type in the NNTP address of the specific open news server you want to use.

For example, if you want to try one of the open news servers listed in the sites above, you would enter the corresponding NNTP address (see screenshot).

Using this open news server, you can obtain a full list of its available newsgroups, subscribe to newsgroups and retrieve (read) messages, sometimes including binaries. You may even be able to postUsenet messages through some open news servers.

Top Tip – Never post through an open news server unless you are certain that no traceable information will appear in any of the message headers. The only way to be sure about this is to post a test message, retrieve it and carefully look at its full headers. The appropriate newsgroup for this is alt.test. Please follow proper Usenet etiquette and insert the word ignore in the post’s subject line. Furthermore, even if you are posting through an open news server which is currentlynot passing traceable information in the message headers, this can change at any time due to technical reasons or changes made by the system operator. This is why you should always first post a test message to check what information is appearing in the headers before posting messages.

Free Usenet Method #3: Find Open News Servers Yourself (Advanced Users)

Another way to gain free access to Usenet newsgroups is to find open news servers yourself. You can do this using a so-called NNTP sniffer app. In fact, the operators maintaining the open news server directories under method #2 above are using similar apps and tools to generate their listings.

Using an NNTP Sniffer App

An NNTP sniffer app helps you track down open news servers. Because you perform the search, this method has the advantage of finding open news servers that are accessible for your particular setup and circumstances. Recall from earlier that access to open news servers may vary from user to user for a number of technical reasons (your location, ISP, load on the servers, time of day, etc).

An NNTP sniffer app uses your own connection as a starting point and tries to find as many news servers as it can. Then, the app tests each one to see which are open to you.

Depending on the app, usually you will need to enter a starting NNTP news server address and a newsgroup that the news server carries. If you have Usenet access through your ISP, you can enter your news server (news.example.com) and use the alt.test newsgroup, or some other newsgroup that you know your starting news server carries. If you do not have Usenet access, find an open news server on one of the listings mentioned under method #2 above and enter its NNTP address as the starting news server in the sniffer app.

From there, the app will do the rest of the hard work, presenting you with a list of available open news servers and the newsgroups they carry. Depending on the functionality of the app, it may also tell you which servers carry binaries and allow posting, as well as perhaps the estimated download speeds and retention periods.

The screenshots below (with the server name results blurred out) are for the NNTP sniffer app software News Hunter 4 (free) http://news-hunter.software.informer.com/4.0/. If this link doesn’t work, try typing “News Hunter 4 NNTP” in your favorite search engine or torrent index search to find the app.

Best Free Usenet Server Access Wrap-up

As you can see, the expression “there is no free lunch” also applies to Usenet. By far, the easiest and most efficient way to gain good access to newsgroups is to find the best Usenet provider and pay a modest monthly fee for access.

However, the premium Usenet providers are also the best source – albeit only for a short period of time – for gaining free access to newsgroups through a generous free Usenet account (method #1 above).

Otherwise, you can get free Usenet access by using open news servers, either from directory listings (method #2 above) on the web or by finding them yourself using NNTP sniffing methods (method #3 above).

Try all the methods for yourself and see what works for you. In the end, we’d recommend that you do yourself a favor and invest as little as $9 a month for good and reliable Usenet access.