NewsGuard

Name: NewsGuard
Rating: 4.6 (193 reviews)
Author: NewsGuard Technologies

NewsGuard's rating shields and labels help users know which news and information websites to trust.

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NewsGuard offers reliability ratings for news and information websites, aiding users in discerning trustworthy sources and avoiding misinformation. Their ratings cover 95% of online news engagement, displayed via rating shields and Nutrition Labels alongside links on search engines and social media platforms.

Expert journalists evaluate sites using nine apolitical criteria, assigning trust scores from 0 to 100, a credibility rating, and detailed Nutrition Labels. These labels disclose site ownership, financing, transparency, and credibility practices. NewsGuard is designed strictly for personal use, ensuring users can make informed decisions about the news they consume online.

Add-on News & Magazines Privacy & Security Education Productivity

By:

NewsGuard Technologies

Users:

25,691

Rating:

4.60

(193)

Version:

5.9.6 Last updated: 2025-03-04

Creation date:

2022-01-18

Risk:

Permissions:

tabs
storage
nativeMessaging

Host permissions:

https://*/*
http://*/*

Size:

1.59MB

URLs:

Website ,Privacy policy

Full description:

Source:

Edge Add-on Store

Data ingested on:

2025-07-16

Ranking

# 1,010 ▲ 4

Other rankings

#3 in financing keyword 3

#3 in trust keyword 33

#10 in cover keyword 12

#11 in label keyword 18

#14 in rating keyword 22 ▼ 1

Upgrade to see more rankings

Other platforms

NewsGuard (v5.9)

30,000 3.59

(519)

NewsGuard - News Trust Ratings (v3.2.1)

18,136 2.01

(197)

NewsGuard (v5.9)

1,946 3.34

(248)

User reviews

NewsGuard is praised for its accessible and detailed assessments of news sources, helping users distinguish trustworthy outlets and avoid fake news. It is valued for balanced evaluations and recommended by many users and institutions. However, multiple reviews criticize it for perceived liberal bias, questionable reliability, reduced clarity after UI updates, and potential government influence. Some users feel it suppresses alternative viewpoints, impacting trust in its ratings.

Pros

Provides easily accessible news source ratings without overwhelming search results.
Offers detailed "nutrition labels" explaining ratings for news publishers.
Helps users identify trustworthy, factual news and avoid misinformation.
Balances analysis across various political spectrums and is regarded as useful by libraries and librarians.
Free and highly recommended add-on for Edge.

Cons

Perceived bias toward liberal or mainstream left-wing news sources, causing distrust among some conservative users.
Users report that the extension can act like a censorship tool or is seen as government-backed propaganda.
Recent interface changes reduced clarity and amount of displayed information, leading to user dissatisfaction.
Some users find ratings unreliable or inconsistent, with accusations of partisan smear campaigns and lack of transparency in evidence.
Concerns over slow analysis of smaller or less prominent news sites.

Recent reviews

Estensione fantastica che prova a sopperire alla mancanza di QI delle persone. Peccato per la nuova grafica blu con i numeri perché lo scudo bianco verde e rosso era molto più chiaro e immediato, lo preferivo molto quindi ho tolto una stellina.

by Lu*****, 2024-08-03

I appreciate that NewsGuard's ratings are easily accessible but do not overwhelm your search results. The "Full Nutrition Label" page for a given publisher provides an in-depth explanation of the ratings assigned, though the formatting on this page could be better to allow users to more-easily find appropriate sections of the text (e.g., let me click on a red X to go directly to the substantiating information). This portion of the service also differentiates between outlets' TV, print, and online outlets if that is necessary. It appears that high-profile or particularly damaging/egregious instances of mis/disinformation will hurt a publishers score more than run-of-the-mill editorial slant, especially if the publisher did not issue adequate retractions/corrections. I'm a big fan of Microsoft licensing this service for inclusion as a free Edge extension.

by Ky*****, 2023-10-30

Funded in part by the US Pentagon (it's on their website), this is clearly an extension pushing the agenda of the US government. Whatever the Newsguard rating is, you subtract it from 100 and get the true rating.

by jo*****, 2023-03-10

View all user reviews ›

Extension safety

Risk impact

Risk impact measures the level of extra permissions an extension has access to. A low risk impact extension cannot do much harms, whereas a high risk impact extension can do a lot of damage like stealing your password, bypassing your security settings, and accessing your personal data. High risk impact extensions are not necessarily malicious. However, if they do turn malicious, they can be very harmful.

NewsGuard requires some sensitive permissions that could impact your browser and data security. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
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Risk likelihood

Risk likelihood measures the probability that an Edge add-on may turn malicious. This is determined by the publisher and the Edge add-on reputation on Edge Add-on Store, the amount of time the Edge add-on has been around, and other signals about the Edge add-on. Our algorithms are not perfect, and are subject to change as we discover new ways to detect malicious extensions. We recommend that you always exercise caution when installing an Edge add-on.

NewsGuard has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.

Risk likelihood analysis details

High This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.
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