14 Personalized Homepages Compared, Feature by Feature

We learned this week that Pageflakes is adding a social network, which seems to be the next evolution of the start page concept. Meanwhile, Facebook is looking increasingly like a startpage. We thought it was time to revisit the startpage market, and see whether the new features on each site would convince us to switch.

If you've super-lazy, skip straight to the feature grid at the bottom of the article.



Netvibes is without question the one to beat. Its customization is practically unrivaled. Not only that, Netvibes also provides social functionality by sharing modules with others. Netvibes, all in itself, could be your one stop solution to finding all your information on the internet. (Previous Coverage)



Pageflakes must be considered the main competition for Netvibes. It also integrates social features, like the ability to share content, as well as see public pages posted by other members called "Pagecasts." The modules (flakes) are all great quality. One little function I appreciate very much is that I can write an email from Gmail directly within the Pageflakes site. I use Pageflakes as my start page. It has potential to be even better than Netvibes in the future. (Previous Coverage)



The most popular search engine in the world has a start page as well. Unbelievably named iGoogle (Apple's lawyers may have been surprised), it allows you to add content to your start page from many third parties. But compared to the rest of the Google products, it just doesn’t look as polished to me. That said, the iGoogle is super-convenient if you already use a large number of Google products. iGoogle now pays successful "gadget" create through a scheme called Google Gadget Ventures, which could mean that the quality and volume of gadgets available increases. (Previous Coverage)



MyYahoo has one thing going for it: a huge audience. And if you use Yahoo services, there's no reason not to use the MyYahoo start page. There are a few features that are missing, however, like the ability to set four columns instead of only three. More generally, Yahoo seems to be playing catch-up with the startups. (Previous Coverage)



On the cutting edge of web technology; yourminis really does pull out all the stops with there unique interface, customization, and just all around coolness. The main attraction to yourminis is that it provides you with almost a virtual desktop to organize your information. Even if you do not use yourminis, it would is an interesting way to check out what web sites of the future might look like. It is, however, heavily Flash-based: not everyone is enamored by that fact. (Previous Coverage)



Offering more competition is WebWag. This site really is a no-nonsense start page. You pick the content you want, and it displays it to you in a nice clean interface. It feels like using MyYahoo in a way, but it is lacking in customization features. With time, it could become a more serious competitor. Most popular in France. (Previous Coverage)



Schmedley is like the younger brother of yourminis, but trying to emulate its big brother's success. It does have potential to be very good in the future. For now though, it just doesn't stack up against the competition in terms of features, and it has a few minor quirks and bugs. One thing missing is the support for multiple pages. The interface design is nice, especially with the dock-type feature from MacOS on the bottom, but everything else just needs more polishing and refining. (Previous Coverage)



If WebWag doesn't do it for you, then maybe eskobo will. Customization is lacking, but it makes up for that with simplicity. It's just a simple page to organize information. It appeared to be one of the fastest to load out of all the sites I tested. The flip side: hardly any features. (Previous Coverage)

Windows Live


Windows Live is really useful if you're a fan of Microsoft's Live services. I personally believe you are more likely to have this as your start page because you have not yet discovered the competition. The offerings from Windows Live are acceptable, but some of the other offerings have stronger developer ecosystems around them. It doesn't stack up well against it's main competitors, iGoogle and MyYahoo.



Favoor is one of the most disappointing of all. Not because of the design issues or anything of the sort - it's very simplistic, and it does what it promises to do. It's just the annoying bugs with the system. I could only add one feed at a time, where then I had to exit to the main page and then add another feed. It didn't really make sense to me. We wonder if Favoor, originally covered here in 2005, may have been abandoned. (Previous Coverage)



Gritwire is more of an RSS reader than a startpage. A virtual RSS desktop reader to be exact. I believe it started out as an RSS reader, and now they are trying to make it a virtual desktop like yourminis. It has much work to be done to win anyone over.



Inbox is unlikely to draw anyone to its start page offering - it is just an extremely simplified iGoogle. It's only truly useful if you use the other services Inbox provides, like its email services.



Protopage is another virtual desktop for information. You can create modules, drag them around the screen and organize them in any which way you choose. Color customization is a nice feature. It certainly will not win against yourminis, but against the other virtual desktops, it might turn a few heads. Regularly praised for being the best looking of the bunch. (Previous Coverage)



It'sAStart really does feel like it is just starting up: it's not there yet in terms of features or design. It currently lacks what it would take to compete with the much bigger and better offerings currently available.

So here is how everything stacks up in a convenient little chart:


Ultimately, there's no "best" startpage. Netvibes and Pageflakes are not short on content, and offer amazing customization. iGoogle and My Yahoo are great options if you already use those services. Schmedley and yourminis approach the market uniquely, and some people swear by them.

We would avoid the smaller, less featureless sites, however, especially those that lack a developer community: these are the most likely to fall into disrepair, forcing you to move house just as you get settled in.