Comparison
Longest Usenet Retention in 2026: Providers and Backbones Ranked
Short answer
On 7 Nov 2026, Newshosting and Easynews stated 6,658+ days of retention, UsenetServer 6,657 and Eweka 6,654. TweakNews stated 6,000 and NewsgroupDirect 5,931. In a July 2026 test by Usenet World, Eweka and Newshosting still held at least 95% of sampled segments back to 6,570 days. Pure Usenet reached 4,140 days.
Which Usenet providers have the longest retention?
Retention is how long a provider keeps files, and four brands stand at the top: Newshosting and Easynews at 6,658+ days, UsenetServer at 6,657 and Eweka at 6,654, all as stated on 7 Nov 2026. That is a little over 18 years. The first three sell the same Highwinds storage, so in practice you are choosing between two archives, Highwinds and Eweka, and not four.
Below those, TweakNews now states 6,000 days and NewsgroupDirect, on UsenetExpress, states 5,931. If you want old posts, start with one of the top two archives. A brand further down the list can still be a good backup, because it holds different copies.
Retention by backbone and provider
These are the figures each provider stated on its own site on 7 Nov 2026. None of the pages shows a publication date for its figure, so the check date is the date that counts. Newshosting says its figure goes up by a day every day.
| Provider | Backbone | Stated retention in days | Length | Source, checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newshosting | Highwinds | 6,658+ | 6,658d · 18.2y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| Easynews | Highwinds | 6,658+ | 6,658d · 18.2y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| UsenetServer | Highwinds | 6,657 | 6,657d · 18.2y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| Eweka | Eweka | 6,654 | 6,654d · 18.2y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| TweakNews | Base IP | 6,000 | 6,000d · 16.4y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| NewsgroupDirect | UsenetExpress | 5,931 | 5,931d · 16.2y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| Astraweb | Highwinds | 5,500+ | 5,500d · 15.1y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| Frugal Usenet | Netnews | 5,000+ | 5,000d · 13.7y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| ViperNews | ViperNews | More than 4,500 | 4,500d · 12.3y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| Pure Usenet | Base IP | 4,100 | 4,100d · 11.2y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| XLned | Base IP | 4,100 | 4,100d · 11.2y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| XS News | Abavia | 4,000+ | 4,000d · 11.0y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| EasyUsenet | Abavia | 4,000+ | 4,000d · 11.0y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| NewsXS | Not on our map | 2,625+ | 2,625d · 7.2y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
| UsenetBucket | Base IP | 1,600 | 1,600d · 4.4y | Provider page, 7 Nov 2026 |
Three brands do not give a binary figure in days, so they are not ranked. Giganews says "over 5 years of binaries" and Supernews "3+ years". Usenet.Farm gives 3,000+ days on its home page and 3,500+ in its FAQ, but both refer to text, and it says binaries are kept as long as possible depending on demand. NewsDemon is also unranked, because it blocked our check on 7 Nov 2026.
What completion means and what is published about it
Retention tells you how old a post may be. Completion tells you how much of it you can still get, and the two can be far apart. We have not run our own completion test yet, so we will not give you a ranking of our own. What is Usenet completion covers the idea, and the completion rate explained shows how to read yours.
Providers do publish completion numbers: 99.99% at Newshosting, UsenetServer and TweakNews, 99.999% at Pure Usenet, 100% at Giganews and Supernews, 99.8% at XS News. Those are claims with no method attached, so don't treat them as measurements.
The most detailed public test we found is Usenet Retention Tests July 2026 from Usenet World, by the author "rexum", published 27 Sep 2026. It checked about 78,000 NZBs on 10 providers over 22 days in July 2026, with up to 100 segments per NZB, and logged whether each segment was still available.
| Provider tested | Available back to (days, 95% rule) | At the age it advertised | Posts from 2015 | Posts from 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eweka | 6,570 | 99.9% at 6,607 | 99.93% | 99.97% |
| Newshosting | 6,570 | 99.9% at 6,610 | 98.38% | 99.87% |
| Pure Usenet | 4,140 | 99.1% at 4,100 | 72.22% | 99.88% |
| TweakNews | 4,050 | 85.3% at 5,000 | 88.97% | 99.88% |
| EasyUsenet | 990 | 69.6% at 4,000 | 63.30% | 99.85% |
| Blocknews | 450 | 43.2% at about 5,500 | 63.13% | 88.06% |
| UsenetExpress | 90 | 80.6% at 4,000 | 82.20% | 51.60% |
| ViperNews | 90 | 59.6% at 4,500 | 69.40% | 30.72% |
| Giganews | 90 | 54.7% at about 1,825 | 47.40% | 30.81% |
| Usenet.Farm | 0 | 7.4% at 3,000, with no binary age claimed | 23.56% | 24.51% |
Read this table with three things in mind. It counts segments, and the author says plainly that this is not the same as a download completing, since PAR2 repair can fill gaps. The 95% rule is the author's own convention. And we could not establish how independent the test is: the author uses a handle, the site has a deals section, and we found no raw data or funding statement.
The result that stands out is the gap between old and new. Several smaller networks score lower on 2025 posts than on 2015 posts, and the test found that Giganews, UsenetExpress and ViperNews drop sharply just past 90 days and partly recover at older ages. That matters more for a backup server than the headline figure does. It is one test from one author, so check your own history before you act on it. The nine providers in the first table that the test skipped, such as XS News and Easynews, have no result here, and a related brand may behave differently.
Why two brands on one backbone add no retention
Retention belongs to the network, not the logo. Newshosting, Easynews and UsenetServer can all state 6,650-odd days because they read from the same Highwinds storage, so buying a second one gets you the same old posts twice. The backbone map shows which brands share a network, and the backbone data lists them with their families.
Brands in one family can still differ, because each can sell a different slice. In the table above, TweakNews states 6,000 days while Pure Usenet and XLned state 4,100 and UsenetBucket 1,600, and we file all four under Base IP. Check the figure for the brand you are about to buy, not just the family.
Which setup to choose for old posts
Pick one main account from the top two archives. Eweka makes sense if you want Dutch takedown rules, and Eweka retention goes into the detail. Newshosting is the usual choice if you are in the US. Run that for a week and look at your history before you buy anything else.
If old posts still fail, add a block that never expires on a different backbone as a backup server, often called a fill server. In the same Usenet World test, Eweka alone covered 97.23% of sampled NZBs from one to five years old, and Eweka plus Blocknews reached 99.94%. That is sampled coverage, not completed downloads, but it shows why a different network can help more than more days can. If you mainly want European options, European Usenet retention and NewsDemon retention compare specific brands.
Common questions
Which Usenet provider has the longest retention?
On 7 Nov 2026, Newshosting and Easynews stated the most: 6,658+ days. UsenetServer stated 6,657 and Eweka 6,654. These figures grow by a day every day, so a difference of a few days between them means nothing in practice.
Which Usenet provider has the best completion?
We have no completion test of our own, and provider figures like 99.99% are marketing claims. The closest public data is the Usenet World test from July 2026. It measured how many sampled segments were still available, not how many downloads completed, and Eweka and Newshosting came out on top.
What is the difference between retention and completion?
Retention is how long a provider says it keeps files. Completion is the share of a post you can still get. A post can be inside the retention window and still be incomplete, for example after a takedown.
Does a second provider on the same backbone add retention?
No. Newshosting, Easynews and UsenetServer read from the same Highwinds storage, so a second one gives you the same old posts again. A backup server only helps on a different backbone.
Is the retention figure on a provider site reliable?
Treat it as a claim about age, not a promise that every post is there. TweakNews advertised 5,000 days when the figures in that test were captured on 20 Sep 2026, and in the July test 85.3% of sampled segments near that age were available. ViperNews advertised more than 4,500 and scored 59.6% at that age.