About 4usenet
How we compare and rate Usenet providers
How we build the comparison table: mapping brands to backbones, sourcing retention and prices, how often prices are checked and what our rating means.
4usenet compares 15 Usenet providers across 9 backbone families. One rule shapes every page: the backbone a provider runs on matters more than the brand on the front. Two brands on the same backbone sell you the same files, so one cannot step in when the other is missing something. Below you can see where each number on the site comes from and what our rating means.
What we compare
| Field | What it means | Where we get it |
|---|---|---|
| Backbone | The network that stores the articles the provider serves you. | Provider documentation, the NNTP hostnames a provider gives its customers, and community backbone maps built from network (ASN) data and article availability. |
| Retention | How many days of binary posts the backbone keeps. | The figure the provider publishes, recorded per backbone. Brands on the same backbone share one number, unless a provider publishes a lower figure of its own, as UsenetBucket does. |
| Takedown rules | DMCA (US notice-and-takedown), NTD (Dutch notice-and-takedown) or hybrid. | The jurisdiction the backbone operates under, taken from provider terms and the backbone operator. |
| Servers | Where the provider's NNTP endpoints are located. | Provider server lists. |
| Connections, VPN, web reader, blocks | Plan features that change how you use the account. | Provider plan pages. |
| Price | The monthly price, the term you pay up front, the total due today and the renewal price (what you pay after the first term). | Each provider's own pricing and checkout pages, with the date we checked them. |
How we map brands to backbones
Most Usenet brands resell capacity from a small number of backbones. We group brands into backbone families (Highwinds, Eweka, Base IP, UsenetExpress, Netnews, Abavia, Usenet.Farm, ViperNews and Certida) and publish that grouping as an open backbone dataset with a changelog. We only move a brand to a different family when its hostnames or the provider's own documentation show the move. Shared ownership higher up (several families under one parent company, for example) does not count as sharing the same stored files unless the articles really are the same.
You can see the result on the backbone map. In the comparison table, rows on the same backbone get a colored edge and list the brands that serve the same copy.
How we check prices
We check prices against each provider's own pricing pages. An automated checker reads those pages on a schedule. When it is confident a page has changed it updates the price, and anything it is unsure about gets flagged for a manual check. Deals with a published end date expire automatically on that date. Every price on the site shows when it was last checked, and the most recent check was on 26 Oct 2026.
On a plan you pay up front, the monthly figure is the total divided by the number of months in the term. We always show the term and the total next to it, because the renewal price is often higher.
What the rating means
Every review has an editorial score from 1 to 5. It is our judgement of how well the provider works as a first or second account, and it rests on these questions:
- Backbone and role: does it run on its own backbone, or is it one of several brands serving the same stored files? An independent backbone scores higher because it can work as a backup server, often called a fill server.
- Retention class: how far back the backbone keeps binaries.
- Takedown rules: DMCA or NTD, and how clearly the provider explains which one applies.
- Price: what you actually pay over the term, plus the renewal price.
- Plan fit: connections, block plans, VPN or web reader where they matter.
- Transparency: whether the checkout page shows the price that was advertised.
The score is not a user rating, and it is not a speed test. Affiliate commission does not move it. How we make money explains what commission does and does not affect.
What we do not do yet
We do not publish speed or completion tests of our own yet. Once we do, each review will show them with the method, the dates and the raw results, so you can judge them for yourself. Until then, the retention and takedown figures are the numbers providers publish, and the backbone mapping is the part we vouch for.
Corrections
Backbones get sold and brands switch networks. If a mapping, price or retention figure looks wrong to you, email deals@4usenet.com with a link to your source. We correct the page, update its date and log any backbone change in the dataset changelog.