Head Topics is a free, ad-supported news site that summarizes top headlines from 36 countries or regions. The closest alternatives are Google News and Apple News, free apps with a feed from many outlets. A feed reader such as Feedly follows sources you pick. Avos News writes you one briefing by email from the sources and topics you choose.
This page is for anyone who reads Head Topics and wants to know what else does the job. Full disclosure: Avos is our product. That is why every Head Topics fact below comes from Head Topics' own pages, linked so you can check them, and why we say plainly where Head Topics is the better pick.
What is the difference between Avos and Head Topics?
Head Topics is built around a country. Its About page calls it "the global access point for local news" and says it collects the most important news from 36 countries or regions. Each has its own edition at its own address, mostly in the local language: German, Japanese, Arabic, Korean and Urdu among them. An edition has Top and Latest pages, categories such as Politics, Economy and Health, short explainer videos, games and a search. In Head Topics' words, each news item is "professionally selected, summarised and complemented with a link back to the original publisher": a story page shows the summary and a link to the full story at the outlet. Some stories are rewritten, translated or merged with AI (more on that below). Every edition has a Daily Digest of the day's 10 top stories, and some, such as the US and UK editions, add a Daily Audio Briefing of about a minute, with a transcript. Everyone who opens an edition sees the same one: you choose the country and the category, not the stories.
Avos is built around you. You describe the briefing you want to an AI editor in chat, and it is assembled from sections, each with its own sources: curated topics with wide international coverage from across the web, a news search for any topic with its own language and region, web and AI search, RSS feeds, X accounts and searches, YouTube channels, podcasts by topic, research papers, funding rounds, company news by stock ticker, and market data. Agents read the sources and write each section to the filters, format and tone you set, with links back to the originals. One email arrives at your time and in your timezone, daily, on the weekdays you pick, or monthly, and every issue is also on the web.
How do Avos and Head Topics compare?
Checked on 13 November 2026 against Head Topics' About page, Publication Principles, Alerts page, the US edition's Daily Digest and audio briefing, its ownership and funding page and a US story page. Head Topics lists no prices on its site.
| Head Topics | Avos | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | A country's top and latest headlines, each summarized with a link to the original, and a daily top 10 | One briefing written from your sources, a section per subject |
| How it reaches you | A website; alerts and the daily digest arrive as browser notifications | Email at your time and timezone, daily, on chosen weekdays or monthly; also on the web |
| Sources | News outlets in 36 countries or regions, chosen by Head Topics | Curated topics, news search, web and AI search, RSS feeds, X, YouTube, podcasts, research papers, funding rounds, company news and market data |
| Personalization | Pick an edition and a category; its editors and AI pick the stories, the same for every reader | You set every section's sources, filters, format, tone and language |
| AI | Rewrites headlines and summaries, translates, merges one event's coverage; editors and AI pick the digest | Writes every section; plain-language filters; AI sections from your own prompt, with the model you pick on paid plans |
| Alerts | Browser notifications, instant or hourly, by country, category and topic | News, price and combined alerts by email, as it happens, daily or weekly |
| Audio | A one-minute daily audio briefing on some editions, free | Anchor Mode reads your issue aloud and takes questions, on paid plans |
| Languages | Each edition in a local language | Site and emails in 9 languages; briefings in around 50 |
| Price | Free to read, with ads; no paid plan on its site | Free Starter plan with ads; paid plans on the pricing page |
How does Head Topics' AI compare to Avos?
Head Topics uses AI on a shared edition. Its Publication Principles say AI may rewrite headlines and summaries, translate or localise reporting, and merge coverage of the same event from several publishers into a single story. Its Alerts page says that every day "our editors and AI" pick the 10 stories that mattered most in each country and write a short summary for each.
In Avos, the AI works on your own briefing. A News section reads the feeds you chose and writes headlines with descriptions or article briefs, keeping to a filter you wrote in plain words, such as "only policy and regulation, no celebrity news". An AI section writes whatever its prompt asks for, with optional web search and deep research, and on paid plans with the model you pick: GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and others. Behind it are prompts, filters and story selection refined over thousands of hours of research, testing and optimization. Each section skips the stories it already sent you, the same story never runs twice in one issue, and a quiet day reads like a quiet day instead of being padded with old news. When a story is also covered by an outlet without a paywall, the section links that version.
When is Head Topics the better choice?
- You want to browse, not set anything up. Open your country's edition and read. There is no account to create and nothing to configure. Avos asks you to describe a briefing first.
- You want each country's own front page. Head Topics has an edition for each of 36 countries or regions, in a local language, a click apart. Avos can cover a country with a news search set to its language and region, but you build that section yourself.
- You want breaking news as it lands. Head Topics' Latest page and instant browser alerts (at most one every 20 minutes) follow the news as it comes in. Avos briefings arrive once per issue, and Avos alerts check on a schedule set by your plan.
- You want it free, with no account and no credits. Reading Head Topics costs nothing, and its alerts ask for no name or email. Avos Starter is free too, but you sign up, and issues use credits from a monthly allowance.
- You like a quick audio rundown. The US and UK editions have a free daily audio briefing of about a minute, with a transcript. Avos's spoken version, Anchor Mode, is on paid plans.
When is Avos the better choice?
- You want your own front page, not a country's. A Head Topics edition is the same for every reader. An Avos briefing covers the topics, feeds, companies and markets you name, filtered in plain words.
- You want it in your inbox. Head Topics' alerts and digest go to your browser. Avos sends one email at your time and in your timezone, and keeps every past issue on the web.
- You want better data than a headline page. Avos spends a large budget on quality data: licensed market data and global news, plus research papers and official sources. So a section can carry market prices (which may be delayed), your portfolio, startup funding rounds or news about one company by its ticker.
- You want alerts with a condition. News alerts email you when a new story meets a condition you wrote, with a reason it matched; price alerts watch markets and US economic indicators; combined alerts mix both. Delivery is as it happens, as a daily digest or as a weekly report.
- You read in a different language from the news. Avos reads sources in any language and writes briefings in around 50, set per newsletter or per section. The site and emails come in 9 languages.
- You want a finished newsletter, maybe for others too. Pick a layout (newsprint, tiles or outline), apply a website's colors with Match a website, and get sections with banners, images and market tables, not a list of links. Keep it to yourself, send it to a team, or publish it with a public page. On paid plans, Anchor Mode reads an issue aloud like a news anchor, and you can interrupt to ask about any story.
How do you set up a Head Topics-style briefing in Avos?
- Describe it to the AI editor. "Every weekday at 7, in English: the top stories in Germany and Japan, then technology and economy news, no celebrity gossip."
- Check each section's feeds. Use curated topics such as World or Tech, a news search per country or topic with its own language and region, and the RSS feeds of outlets you already read, from the built-in feed directory. Head Topics also publishes RSS feeds for its editions (the US one is us.headtopics.com/rss), which a section can read like any other feed.
- Write a filter per section in plain words, such as "skip sports and entertainment".
- Pick the format and language. Headlines with descriptions or article briefs, in any of around 50 languages.
- Schedule it daily, on chosen weekdays or monthly, at your time and in your timezone, then generate an issue to see it before anything is sent.
For breaking news in between, add a news alert and set its delivery to as it happens.
FAQ
What is a good alternative to Head Topics?
For a free feed of headlines from many outlets, Google News and Apple News. Google News picks and orders stories with algorithms and personalizes its For you section, according to Google's help page. Apple News is free on Apple devices, with editors choosing the top stories and a paid Apple News+ tier. To follow chosen sources item by item, use a feed reader such as Feedly (Avos vs Feedly). For a written briefing by email from the sources you pick, use Avos. All our comparisons are on /alternatives.
Is there a free alternative to Head Topics?
Yes. Google News is free, and Apple News is free with an optional paid tier. Avos's Starter plan is free and ad-supported, with every kind of feed; paid plans add more credits, feeds per section and alerts, faster checks, the choice of AI model, Anchor Mode and image generation. Prices are on the pricing page. Head Topics itself is free to read, funded by advertising and sponsorships, its funding page says.
Does Head Topics have an app or an email newsletter?
Its About page mentions a mobile app and an e-newsletter service, but we found no app download link or newsletter sign-up on its site, and its Alerts and Digest pages both say "No app, no e-mail". Alerts and the Daily Digest arrive as browser notifications. On iPhone and iPad, Head Topics says Safari shows them once you add the site to your Home Screen.
Is Head Topics written by AI?
In part. Head Topics says AI rewrites some headlines and summaries, translates reporting and merges several publishers' coverage of one event, always linking to the sources, and that its editors and AI pick the Daily Digest.
Can Avos send me the top news from one country?
Yes. Add a news search for that country with its language and region set, and Avos writes the section in the language you choose, from sources in any language. A second country can be another section of the same briefing.