SuperNews review

SuperNews regularly features on lists of the best Usenet providers. Founded in 1995, Supernews, like its competitors, provides speedy, streamlined Usenet connections, allowing you to browse Newsgroups and access the wealth of information that’s available.

In our SuperNews review, we help you decide whether it’s as good as it seems. We take a closer look at this Usenet provider’s plans, user interface, support, and more to see if it’s an option worth considering.

SuperNews: Plans and pricing

SuperNews offers a single subscription option to access all of its Usenet features. You will pay £4.19 for your first month with monthly payments, but this increases to £10.08 on renewal. With annual payments, expect to fork out £62.40 for your first year and £84.02 a year after that.

There is a three-day free trial that you can use to test SuperNews, but it’s not quite as good as it appears. For example, you will have to enter payment information to access the trial, and only credit card payments are available.

SuperNews' pricing plans

SuperNews: Features

SuperNews is an exceedingly simple Usenet service provider, and it offers little to set it apart from its competitors. We’ve picked out a few of its most noteworthy features to explore here, but don’t expect anything fancy.

One thing we do like is SuperNews’ unlimited speed (1Gbps or faster) and downloads. This makes it an excellent option for those planning to download large amounts of data. You will also be able to open up to 30 SSL-secured connections at a time, making it even easier to download large files.

We performed a quick test with a 40Mbps internet connection. When we downloaded a handful of open-source media files, we found that each was only limited by our network speed, which suggests their claim of fast speeds holds up.

On top of this, SuperNews offers over 19 years of text retention. Its website doesn’t specify its binary retention time, but you can expect this to be much lower. You will have access to more than 110,000 Newsgroups, and SuperNews claims to have a 100% completion rate due to its multiple data centres.

But at the end of the day, these are things that most high-end Usenet providers offer. SuperNews just doesn’t have anything to make it stand out as special.

SuperNews: Interface and in-use

To get started with SuperNews, simply follow the prompts to create an account and take advantage of the three-day free trial. The setup process is quick, and you should have access to your account in minutes. If you are not interested in the service following trying it out, you can cancel before the three-day limit and not get billed. The three-day trial also only gives potential customers 10GB of uncensored data and only available to brand new customers.

The SuperNews dashboard is quite text-heavy, but there really aren’t all that many useful features. You will find a list of FAQs that may be useful if you’re new to Usenet, but experienced users will likely just find them annoying.

There’s also a small window on the right of the screen that outlines your current account usage, including your transfer amounts. Below this, you will find links to various account-management pages, along with a basic transfer stats portal.

One thing that’s especially important to note here is that SuperNews doesn’t offer any native or integrated newsreader. This means that you will have to find your own program to browse Usenet. There are numerous free and paid options on the market, but since most Usenet providers come with a built-in newsreader, this is a little disappointing.

SuperNews: Support

SuperNews offers very limited support services. If you require technical or billing support, you will need to reach out via an online contact form. The company claims that staff will respond within 48 hours, so don’t expect a fast resolution. Live chat or phone support would have been great to see here.

There’s also a severe lack of self-help resources. Apart from a short list of 14 FAQs on the main dashboard, there’s little else to speak of. If you’re new to Usenet and don’t know what you’re doing, don’t expect much help from SuperNews.

SuperNews: Security

SuperNews itself offers very little on the security front. All subscriptions support up to 30 concurrent connections, and each of these is protected by SSL security. This involves the use of 256-bit encryption to ensure all files are safe while in transit.

Fortunately, Usenet itself is quite a secure, anonymous network. Few details about your browsing history are tracked, and you can post in a completely anonymous manner. We’d also suggest taking advantage of a VPN to add an extra layer of privacy to your browsing.

Alternatives to SuperNews

SuperNews will be a little too simple for many users, and its lack of a built-in newsreader is a concern. Luckily, there’s a selection of versatile alternatives on the market, and you should be able to find one that meets your needs.

One great option is Eweka, which boasts more than 125,000 newsgroups, up to 50 SSL-secured connections, and excellent retention times. It comes in at an affordable £6.02 a month, but like SuperNews, it doesn’t have a native newsreader or Usenet browser.

Newshosting, on the other hand, does come with its own newsreader. It’s similarly priced to SuperNews, but it offers some of the best file retention we’ve seen and support for up to 100 connections. On the downside, it only offers email support.

If you’re looking for a mobile-friendly Usenet provider, you can’t go past Easynews. Prices start from just £8.15 a month, its native newsreader can be used on mobile devices, and you will have access to 60 connections. However, downloads are limited, and it can get expensive if you’re using a lot of bandwidth.

SuperNews: Final verdict

SuperNews has a decent reputation, and it appears good on the surface, but it’s just too simple to compete with the best Usenet service providers. It has no built-in newsreader, its security is limited to SSL connections, and its support services are terrible, to say the least.

On the plus side, SuperNews does have attractive prices, including generous introductory discounts. You will be able to access over 110,000 Newsgroups with unlimited downloads, but this really isn’t anything too special.

The bottom line: SuperNews is a functional Usenet service provider, but we’d recommend looking elsewhere if you want more than the absolute basics.

Further reading on Usenet

Learn how to download from Usenet, if you're interested in downloading files from the platform. It's also worth learning about Google Groups, another modern method for accessing Usenet; and take a look at our other reviews of top Usenet providers, including Eweka, EasyNews, UsenetServer, and Giganews.

Usenet can be a great platform for marketing your business and growing a community. If you would like to learn about another popular digital marketing technique, you can read our guide to SEO marketing. You might also like to delve into how to build an effective marketing strategy with the cloud.