We’ve had a chance to test a number of European newsgroup providers this year.  The Dutch are very fond of Usenet and it shows in their services.  You’ll find a number of companies located in Europe that offer unlimited, speed capped and block Usenet accounts.  We’d like to share some of our favorites with you today.  You can visit our Dutch Usenet page on NGR for a more comprehensive selection along with reviews of each service.

1. TweakNews

TweakNews is our favorite Dutch Usenet service.  They offer a number of flatrate and block accounts.  Best of all, you can take advantage of our special to enjoy unlimited, uncapped Usenet and VPN access from just €7,50 a month. Tweaknews binary retention is 2,500 days which is nearly 7 years of binary posts. That puts them well ahead of every other European Usenet provider other than Eweka. Their very high completion rate and reliability helped them earn the top spot in our list.

The Tweaknews NewsgroupReviews special includes unlimited Usenet and VPN:

• Unlimited Usenet + VPN – €9,99 a month
• Unlimited Usenet + VPN – €7,50 a month for 12 months
• 100 GB block – €13,00 one-time
• 250 GB block – €30,00 one-time
• 500 GB block – €45,00 one-time

2. Eweka

If you’re looking for a newsgroup provider that rivals the large U. S. companies then we recommend Eweka.  They are the only Dutch option with retention in line with Newshosting and other leading U. S. providers.  Eweka offers access to their tier-1  network for a very fair price.  You can enjoy unlimited Usenet access with free SSL and speeds up to 100 Mbit from just €7,50 a month during their high speed promotion.

Here’s a closer look at the Eweka account offerings:

• 50 Mbit unlimited – €7,50 for 30 days (our visitors can enjoy a free upgrade to 100 Mbit unlimited)
• 100 Mbit unlimited – €9,60 for 30 days
• 1 day test account – €1,10 for 1 day

You’ll find that Eweka offers several hundred days more retention than other European Usenet providers.  If you want the best speed and retention then we highly recommend their service.

3. XLned

XLned is all about value.  They offer some of the best prices we’ve seen from a leading European Usenet service.  As you can see XLned’s prices start at just €2,99 a month with even lower pricing on 6 month and annual plans.  XLned doesn’t have the higher retention that Eweka offers but they still have two and a half years of binaries.  The XLned plans are based on speed with caps ranging from 2.5 Mbit up to 120 Mbit.

XLned offers five plans with varying speed caps:

• XL Lite 2.5 Mbit  – €2,99 a month
• XL Small 5 Mbit – €4,99 a month
• XL Basic 10 Mbit – €5,99 a month
• XL Plus 20 Mbit – €6,99 a month
• XL Gold 120 Mbit – €9,99 a month

4. Pure Usenet

Pure Usenet offers more retention than XLned but they are still quite a ways behind Eweka.  Like most Dutch providers, PureUsenet offers speed capped plans.  The difference being that they also offer an uncapped plan for € 8,29 a month.  For that price I would go with the Eweka € 7,50 a month deal for 10 Mbit but if you need even more speed then Pure Usenet is a good choice.  The service is fast and reliable.

Pure Usenet offers six plans based on speed:

• Pure XS 4 Mbps  – €1,83 a month
• Pure S 8 Mbps  – €2,63 a month
• Pure M 20 Mbps  – €3,43 a month
• Pure L 30 Mbps  – €4,23 a month
• Pure XL 60 Mbps  – €5,03 a month
• Pure XXL unlimited  – €6,63 a month

5. UsenetBucket

UsenetBucket is similar to SnelNL in terms of binary retention.  The difference is they do not offer a Usenet client.  You’ll find they offer some accounts with slower speeds for a lower cost.  Along with a super fast 400 Mbit account for a more premium price.  As with all the services on our list, UsenetBucket offers free SSL with their accounts.  They are also one of the only providers that accepts Bitcoin payments.

Here’s a quick look at the UsenetBucket plans:

• Basic Bucket 10 Mbit – €2,95 for 30 days
• Comfort Bucket 40 Mbit – €4,95 for 30 days
• Ultimate Bucket 400 Mbit – €12,95 for 30 days

6. SnelNL

SnelNL is great for users who want a Dutch service with an integrated newsreader.  You can use the SnelNL client to search newsgroups, download, repair and extract content.  It will even preview audio and video files.  The service costs €7,95 a month for speeds up to 60 Mbit.  They have some different account options with speed ranging from 5 Mbps all the way up to 120 Mbps.  SnelNL also offers a 3 day, 1 GB free trial.

SnelNL offers three plans based on speed:

• Small 5 Mbit  – €3,95 for 30 days
• Basic 60 Mbit – €6,95 for 30 days
• Fast 120 Mbit – €8,95 for 30 days

7. XS Usenet

XS Usenet is best known for their free newsgroup accounts.  They have changed quite a bit over time though.  With several limitations.  The free service is limited to 1 Mbit speeds and 10 days of binary retention.  That might work for some quick fills if you’re going for new content.  If so grab a free account.  Otherwise they offer premium unlimited plans with speed caps ranging from 3 Mbit up to 120 Mbit.

XS Usenet premium unlimited speed capped plans are as follows:

• 10 mbit – €3,19 a month
• 25 mbit – €5,19 a month
• 50 mbit – €7,29 a month
• 100 mbit – €8,99 a month
• 150 mbit – €9,99 a month
• 200 mbit – €13,99 a month

I hope you’ve enjoyed our list of the top European (Dutch) Usenet providers.  If you have others you’d like to recommend please contact us via Twitter.  We’ll continue to test services and update our list.