Fusion vs Winds
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Fusion | Winds |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,184 | ★ 9,092 |
| First released | 2024 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Inoreader | Feedly |
What are Fusion and Winds?
Fusion
Fusion is a lightweight, self-hosting-friendly RSS reader with a fast reading workflow, unread tracking, bookmarks, and full-text search. It can extract full article content and deploys as a single binary or Docker container.
- Full-text article extraction
- Unread tracking and bookmarks
- Built-in search
- Single-binary or Docker
Winds
Winds is an open-source RSS reader and podcast application with a polished interface. It can be self-hosted and offers personalized recommendations powered by activity feeds.
- RSS and podcast reader
- Polished modern interface
- Recommendation feeds
Fusion vs Winds: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Winds's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Fusion is actively maintained. Fusion is written in TypeScript, while Winds is built with JavaScript. Fusion is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Winds. Winds is the more established project (first released 2017), while Fusion arrived in 2024. Winds has the considerably larger community, at 9,092 GitHub stars versus 2,184.
Why pick each one
Choose Fusion if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
Choose Winds if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.1k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Fusion or Winds better?
Neither is universally better. Winds has the larger community, while Fusion is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Fusion and Winds free and open-source?
Yes. Fusion is licensed under MIT and Winds under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Fusion and Winds with Docker?
Fusion: yes. Winds: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Fusion or Winds?
Fusion has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Winds. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.