# Brief

> Brief makes reading RSS feeds as easy and intuitive as it gets. Designed to have exactly the right set of features, it is powerful and simple at the same time. Feeds are presented on a seamless, interactive page which let's you bookmark and tag items with a single click.

Canonical page: [https://chrome-stats.com/d/brief](https://chrome-stats.com/d/brief)

## Overview

- **ID:** `brief`
- **Platform:** Firefox
- **Type:** Firefox add-on
- **Status:** Available
- **Publisher:** Adam Kowalczyk
- **Category:** feeds-news-blogging,bookmarks
- **Daily users:** 2,635
- **Weekly downloads:** 14
- **Rating:** 4.18 / 5 (196 ratings)
- **Version:** 2.7.7
- **Last updated:** 2026-03-08
- **First published:** 2007-02-25
- **Size:** 394 KB
- **Data as of:** 2026-09-15
- **Store listing:** [Firefox Add-ons Store](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/brief/)
- **Website:** [https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/t/support-brief/6514](https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/t/support-brief/6514)

## Description

Brief is a Chrome extension designed to make reading RSS feeds effortless and intuitive. It offers a perfect balance of powerful features and simplicity, presenting feeds on a seamless, interactive page. Users can easily bookmark and tag interesting items with a single click. Brief allows browsing feeds in multiple ways: viewing only unread or bookmarked entries, displaying a single feed or an entire folder, and choosing between full items or headlines.

The extension also includes a search bar to quickly find news items, notifications for new entries, and a status bar to track unread counts. Customization options let users tailor the appearance of their feeds, while keyboard shortcuts enable faster navigation through news. Overall, Brief provides a streamlined, efficient, and user-friendly experience for managing and enjoying RSS feeds.

## Rankings

- #1,838 — Overall
- #53 — Bookmarks
- #94 — Feeds, News & Blogging
- #72 — item
- #148 — present
- #158 — interest

## Permissions and access

### Permissions

- `<all_urls>`
- `menus`
- `bookmarks`
- `storage`
- `unlimitedStorage`
- `downloads`
- `tabs`
- `notifications`
- `webRequest`
- `webRequestBlocking`

## Safety

- **Risk impact:** High risk impact
- **Risk likelihood:** Moderate risk likelihood

### Analysis details

- Allows access to all websites, posing a significant security risk as it can monitor and modify data from any visited site.
- This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.

> Some risk analysis details are omitted from this free response. [Upgrade to view the full analysis](https://chrome-stats.com/pricing).

## Review summary

Brief is praised for being handy and highly customizable, with many users calling it flexible and a long-time favorite. However, multiple reviews report stability issues after Firefox updates, including broken extensions and disappearing UI elements. The search feature is often non-functional, and basic feed management (reordering, foldering, bookmarks) is weak or broken. Some users report items auto-deleting after viewing, and difficulties subscribing to new feeds or loading content. Overall, strong concept with great customization, but stability and core features need fixes.

### Pros

- Handy and easy to use
- Highly customizable and free (free as in freedom)
- Flexible, powerful and a long-time favorite
- Regarded by some as the best and most flexible feed reader

### Cons

- Reliability problems after Firefox updates; extension breaks
- Search box is non-functional in many reports
- Feed management issues: cannot reorder feeds, drag to folders, or organize bookmarks
- Items auto-delete or vanish after viewing/marking as read
- Cannot subscribe to new feeds or feeds not loading

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- [Briefify - Explains In Short](https://chrome-stats.com/d/briefify-explains-in-short) — 1 users

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Source: [Chrome-Stats](https://chrome-stats.com/d/brief)