FeedReader vs NewsBlur

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureFeedReaderNewsBlur
CategoryRSS & News ReadersRSS & News Readers
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageValaPython
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentbinarydocker
GitHub stars★ 767★ 7,577
First released20142009
ReplacesFeedlyFeedly, Google Reader

Why pick each one

Choose FeedReader if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in Vala
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
FeedReader details

Choose NewsBlur if…

  • Smart story highlighting
  • Good mobile apps
  • Social features
NewsBlur details

Frequently asked questions

Is FeedReader or NewsBlur better?

Neither is universally better. NewsBlur has the larger community, while FeedReader is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are FeedReader and NewsBlur free and open-source?

Yes. FeedReader is licensed under GPL-3.0 and NewsBlur under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run FeedReader and NewsBlur with Docker?

FeedReader: check the project docs for container support. NewsBlur: yes.

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