UsenetCentral Review
Last Updated: November 3, 2026
- Rating
- Status
- Closed
- Retention
2575 Days
- Closed to New Members
- Closed Since at Least November 2019
- Merger Notice Only
UsenetCentral is closed to new members. The service was acquired by Fast Usenet, and its website no longer sells accounts. When we checked in November 2026, both the usenetcentral.com home page and its signup page showed the same notice: “Usenet Central is no longer accepting new members. We have been acquired by Fast Usenet and are in the process of merging our services.” This page is kept as a record of what UsenetCentral was, not as a buying guide.
What happened
- Closed to signups since at least November 2019. The same acquisition notice already appears in a Wayback Machine snapshot from November 15, 2019, and it has not changed since.
- The site stopped being updated. The footer still reads “(c) 2011 - 2021 Usenet Central”, and the newest notice on the server-status page is dated November 24, 2015.
- Same company. Our older contact details listed Usenet Services LLC for UsenetCentral, and the current fastusenet.org footer uses the same company name.
What UsenetCentral was
UsenetCentral was a US-based Usenet provider that sold limited and unlimited plans with SSL access, US and EU server hostnames, and a bundled, preconfigured GrabIt newsreader. The plan prices, trial terms, payment options and retention figures we listed in earlier versions of this review no longer apply, because none of them can be bought.
What to do now
- Looking for a provider: compare the alternatives below or see our best Usenet providers list.
- Former UsenetCentral members: we could not verify whether the old news servers still accept legacy logins. Check before relying on them.
- Newsreader settings: if you switch to another provider, replace the old usenetcentral.com server name, username and password in your newsreader with the new provider’s details.
Conclusion
UsenetCentral is no longer an option for new users. See the alternatives below.
Alternatives To UsenetCentral
| Name | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Newshosting | $5.99 | Best Overall / Fastest Speeds |
| Eweka | €6,99 | Leading EU Provider / Exceptional Retention |
| UsenetServer | $7.95 | Unlimited Access / NZB Search |
| Easynews | $9.98 | Comprehensive Solution / Usenet Search Capabilities |
| TweakNews | €7,50 | Exceptional Retention / High Completion Rates |
| PureUSENET | €5.97 | Exceptional EU Provider / Complimentary SSL Encryption |
| XLned | €7.49 | EU-Based Provider With Simple Tiered Plans / 4,100 Days Retention and 110,000+ Groups |
