CommaFeed

Last reviewed Sep 13, 2026 · 773 words

CommaFeed exists to be Google Reader, and it succeeds at that more completely than any other self-hosted reader: the three-pane layout, the j and k keyboard flow, the grey-on-white density, the mark-as-read-on-scroll behaviour. If you have been chasing that feeling since 2013, install it and stop reading. If you never used Google Reader, the honest verdict is that FreshRSS does more and Miniflux does it lighter, and CommaFeed's reason to exist is a specific taste rather than a feature lead.

The feel is the feature

Most modern readers went card-based or magazine-style. CommaFeed kept the list: one line per article, expandable in place, unread counts in the left tree, folders you can collapse, and a mark-all-as-read that respects what you have scrolled past. Keyboard shortcuts cover everything: j and k move, o opens, v visits the original, s stars, r refreshes. Expanded and list views, a compact width option and a dark theme cover the remaining taste. There is a fair mobile layout, though no first-party app; the responsive site in a browser tab is what you get, and that is a real gap against Miniflux's broad third-party client support.

Java means 512 MB, not 50

The listed minimum of 512 MB is honest and it is the number that separates CommaFeed from its rivals. Miniflux runs happily in under 50 MB; FreshRSS in around 100 MB with PHP-FPM. CommaFeed is a Java service and idles at 300 to 400 MB with a couple of hundred feeds, more during a fetch cycle. On a 2 GB VPS that is a quarter of the box for one reader. On a home server with 32 GB it is irrelevant. The upside of the JVM is that fetching is threaded and quick; a few thousand feeds refresh without the single-worker stall PHP readers can hit. Startup takes 10 to 20 seconds, which matters only if you restart it a lot.

Pick the database tag before the first run

The image ships in variants and the tag decides the database. athou/commafeed:latest-h2 uses an embedded H2 file and needs nothing else, which is correct for one user with a few hundred feeds. latest-postgresql and latest-mysql are for multi-user or large installs. Switching later means an export and re-import, so choose once:

services:
  commafeed:
    image: athou/commafeed:latest-h2
    ports:
      - "8082:8082"
    volumes:
      - ./commafeed-data:/commafeed/data
    restart: unless-stopped

Log in as admin with password admin on port 8082, change the password immediately, and disable public registration in the admin settings unless you intend to host for others. The settings page also exposes the fetch interval and thread counts; the defaults are sensible and the main knob worth touching is the refresh interval if you are on a small box. Import your OPML from Feedly or anything else on the settings page.

Multi-user is real, the API is modest

CommaFeed has always supported several users on one instance with per-user subscriptions, which is why it is a reasonable family or small-team reader. The REST API is documented at /api on the instance and is what the web client itself uses, so anything the UI does you can script. What it is not is a broad compatibility server for third-party mobile apps in the way FreshRSS is; check the current release notes if a specific client matters to you, because that has been the most-requested item for years and support has arrived piecemeal.

Where it sits in the category

Rank the three usual picks by what you want. Miniflux if you want a single-binary, opinionated, fast reader and are fine with its plain look. FreshRSS if you want extensions, the widest client compatibility and multi-user with the most knobs; the FreshRSS vs Miniflux piece covers that split. CommaFeed if the interface is the point. All three are mature, all three are Docker-first, and none of them will lose your subscriptions; the case that RSS is not dead applies equally to each.

What I'd do

If Google Reader's layout is what you miss, run the latest-h2 image, give it 512 MB, close registration, and enjoy it; it is the most faithful recreation available and it has been maintained continuously since 2013. If you are choosing an RSS reader with no nostalgia in play, start with FreshRSS instead and keep CommaFeed as the one to try if the FreshRSS interface grates.