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News Feed Eradicator Alternative: Hide Feeds on 8 Sites, Plus Time Limits

By Gokhan TosunPublished 7 min read

A folded newspaper set aside next to a laptop and a cup of black coffee

News Feed Eradicator is one of the best-known tools in a small category: browser extensions that remove the feed from a social site and leave the rest. If you are comparing it with other options, or you tried it and want something that covers more of how you actually scroll, this is a fair side-by-side. It covers what News Feed Eradicator is known for, what Stillfeed's browser extension does differently, and how to choose.

Key points:

  • News Feed Eradicator describes itself as an extension that replaces your social media feeds with a quote. It is a public, open-source project (AGPL-3.0 on GitHub) for Chrome and Firefox.
  • Stillfeed's extension is free and focuses on eight sites, hiding the specific surfaces that keep you scrolling, such as Reels, Shorts, For You and r/popular, and adding time tools.
  • They overlap in spirit. The difference is mostly in how much each does on each site and whether you want time limits in the same tool.

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What News Feed Eradicator is

News Feed Eradicator started as a simple idea: social media feeds are built to be scrolled, so remove the feed and show something else instead. Its public GitHub page describes it as "A browser extension that replaces your social media feeds with a quote". It is built as a WebExtension for Chrome and Firefox, the code is public, and the repository lists the AGPL-3.0 license. That openness is a real strength for people who want to read what runs in their browser.

The idea is easy to grasp, and that is the point. You open the site, the feed is gone, and a quote sits where it used to be. There is nothing to configure to understand what happened. For someone whose problem is mainly the home feed, that is a clean answer.

Its list of supported sites can change between versions, so check its own store page or repository for the current one. The comparison below is about approach, not a feature scorecard.

Two approaches to the same problem

There are broadly two ways to remove a feed. The first is to clear the main feed container and replace it with something calm. The second is to look at each site as a set of separate surfaces and hide the specific ones that drive compulsive use, while leaving the useful parts in place.

The second approach matters because modern social sites are not one feed. Instagram has the home feed, a Reels tab, a Reels shelf inside the feed, suggested posts and an Explore grid. YouTube has the home page, a Shorts shelf, a Shorts menu entry and Shorts pages. X has a For You tab, a Following tab, Trending and a right column of trends. A tool that only handles the main feed can leave the other surfaces untouched, and those are often where the time goes. This is the case Stillfeed's extension is designed around.

What Stillfeed's extension covers

Stillfeed's extension is free, needs no account and runs entirely inside your browser. It sends nothing to Stillfeed or anyone else and has no analytics. It works on eight sites, Instagram, YouTube, X, Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and Snapchat. It does not block arbitrary websites; it hides feed surfaces on those eight and adds time tools. Each site's hiding is on by default and can be switched off from the toolbar popup. Here is the default behaviour per site:

  • Instagram: the Reels page and single reels go to your home page, Reels in the left menu are hidden, Reels in your feed are collapsed, suggested posts are collapsed (English only) and the Explore grid is hidden. Search still works.
  • YouTube: Shorts in the menu, Shorts shelves and Shorts pages are hidden or blocked.
  • X: your home timeline opens on Following, the Trending page goes to your home page, and trends and Today's News in the right column are hidden.
  • Reddit: r/popular and r/all are blocked.
  • Facebook: Reels and Watch pages go to your home page, and the Reels tab, menu entries and feed shelf are hidden.
  • TikTok: For You, Explore, LIVE and Short dramas are hidden in the menu and you are sent to Following.
  • LinkedIn: My Network goes to the invitation manager, Games goes to your feed and sponsored posts are removed from your feed (English only).
  • Snapchat: Stories, Spotlight and Lenses are hidden in the top menu and you are sent to Chat.

Beyond the defaults there are optional controls, off until you turn them on and available where the site supports them. You can hide sponsored posts on X and Reddit, hide likes and counts on YouTube, X and TikTok, hide comments on YouTube, X and Reddit, set word filters on X, Reddit and LinkedIn, filter media on X, Reddit and LinkedIn, and hide notifications on several sites. Where a feature is not available on a site yet, the popup says "Not available yet" rather than showing a switch that does nothing. Some features depend on labels a site shows in English.

What stays untouched matters as much as what goes: messages, profiles, posts you open, search and sign-in. For a longer look at one site, how to see only the accounts you follow on X and LinkedIn without the feed go deeper.

The time tools

The other difference is that Stillfeed puts time limits in the same extension, on all eight sites. If your problem is less "this feed is too good" and more "I lose an hour without noticing", hiding surfaces helps and a limit finishes the job.

  • Daily limit: a total for the day. When it is used up, those sites close until midnight. You can add five more minutes once per visit.
  • Session timer: two, five, ten or fifteen minutes per visit, with one five-minute extension.
  • Quiet hours: named schedules that close chosen sites on chosen days, overnight windows included.
  • Pause before opening: five or ten seconds before a site loads.
  • Grayscale: removes colour from the page so scrolling is less rewarding.

These limits apply in the browser where you set them. If your habit lives on your phone, the same ideas apply there; see phone addiction for habits that carry across devices.

How to choose

Pick the tool that matches the problem you actually have.

  • You mostly lose time to one home feed and like the quote idea. A feed eradicator does exactly that, simply. If you value a public codebase, News Feed Eradicator has one.
  • Your time goes to Reels, Shorts, For You, Explore or r/popular as well as the feed. Stillfeed's per-surface approach is built for that.
  • You want a limit as well as a block. Stillfeed bundles the daily limit, session timer, quiet hours and pause. With a feed-only tool you would add another extension for time.
  • You want to block whole websites. Neither tool is that. A site blocker is a different category; how to block a website in Chrome covers the options.

You can also run more than one tool. Nothing says you must pick a single extension, though two tools changing the same page can behave oddly, so test one site at a time.

Installing Stillfeed's extension

Go to stillfeed.pro/extension. In Chrome, Brave, Edge, Opera and Arc you install it from the Chrome Web Store, and in Firefox from Firefox Add-ons.

Get the extension

Stillfeed is also an iPhone app with a distraction-free browser, which is its main product. The extension brings the same idea to the desktop for free.

Common questions

What is News Feed Eradicator?

Its GitHub page describes it as a browser extension that replaces your social media feeds with a quote. It is available for Chrome and Firefox and its repository is public under the AGPL-3.0 license.

Is Stillfeed a replacement for News Feed Eradicator?

It solves a similar problem differently. Stillfeed hides specific surfaces such as Reels, Shorts and For You on eight sites and adds time limits, rather than replacing the feed with a quote.

Does Stillfeed's extension cost anything?

No. It is free, with no account.

Does it block all of a site?

No. It leaves messages, profiles, posts you open, search and sign-in alone, and it only hides feed surfaces on the eight supported sites.

Where does my data go?

Nowhere. It runs in your browser, sends nothing out and has no analytics. Settings and minutes of use stay on your device.

More guides

More browser extension guides

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