FreshRSS vs Liferea
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?
| Feature | FreshRSS | Liferea |
|---|---|---|
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | C |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,716 | ★ 912 |
| First released | 2013 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Inoreader, Google Reader | Feedly, Google Reader |
Why pick each one
Choose FreshRSS if…
- Lightweight and fast
- Works with many mobile apps
- Actively maintained
Choose Liferea if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is FreshRSS or Liferea better?
Neither is universally better. FreshRSS has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are FreshRSS and Liferea free and open-source?
Yes. FreshRSS is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Liferea under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run FreshRSS and Liferea with Docker?
FreshRSS: yes. Liferea: check the project docs for container support.