FreshRSS vs selfoss
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
FreshRSS
Free, self-hostable RSS feed aggregator
VS
selfoss
Multipurpose RSS reader and web scraping aggregator
| Feature | FreshRSS | selfoss |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 68 · Good |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 16,116 | ★ 2,470 |
| First released | 2013 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Inoreader, Google Reader | Google Reader, Feedly |
What are FreshRSS and selfoss?
FreshRSS
FreshRSS is a free, self-hostable RSS and Atom feed aggregator that is fast, lightweight, and highly customizable. It targets users who want full control over their news reading. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- Fast feed aggregation
- Multi-user support
- Mobile app API compatibility
- Extensions and themes
selfoss
selfoss is a multipurpose RSS reader and aggregation web application. It pulls in content from feeds, Twitter, and other sources, presenting them in a clean unified stream.
- Unified content stream
- Mobile-friendly interface
- Plugin sources beyond RSS
FreshRSS vs selfoss: key differences
FreshRSS is written in PHP, while selfoss is built with HTML. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for FreshRSS versus GPL-3.0 for selfoss. Selfoss is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for FreshRSS. FreshRSS has the considerably larger community, at 16,116 GitHub stars versus 2,470.
Why pick each one
Choose FreshRSS if…
- Lightweight and fast
- Works with many mobile apps
- Actively maintained
Watch out for
- Requires a database
- Interface is functional, not flashy
Choose selfoss if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is FreshRSS or selfoss 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 selfoss free and open-source?
Yes. FreshRSS is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and selfoss under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run FreshRSS and selfoss with Docker?
FreshRSS: yes. selfoss: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, FreshRSS or selfoss?
selfoss has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for FreshRSS. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.