Kill the Newsletter vs Newsboat
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Kill the Newsletter | Newsboat |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,105 | ★ 3,913 |
| First released | 2020 | 2007 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly |
What are Kill the Newsletter and Newsboat?
Kill the Newsletter
Kill the Newsletter is a self-hostable service that gives you an email address whose incoming messages are turned into an RSS feed. It lets you read email newsletters in your feed reader instead of your inbox.
- Newsletters to RSS
- Disposable feed addresses
- Self-contained mail handling
- Lightweight
Newsboat
Newsboat is an RSS and Atom feed reader for the text console. It is highly configurable, supports podcasts via podboat, and can synchronize with services like Tiny Tiny RSS and Nextcloud News.
- Highly configurable TUI
- Podcast support via podboat
- Syncs with TT-RSS and others
Kill the Newsletter vs Newsboat: key differences
Kill the Newsletter is written in TypeScript, while Newsboat is built with C++. Newsboat is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Kill the Newsletter. Newsboat is the more established project (first released 2007), while Kill the Newsletter arrived in 2020. Kill the Newsletter lists first-class Docker deployment; Newsboat does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Kill the Newsletter if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Watch out for
- Needs inbound mail config
- Per-newsletter feed setup
Choose Newsboat if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Kill the Newsletter or Newsboat better?
Neither is universally better. Newsboat has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kill the Newsletter and Newsboat free and open-source?
Yes. Kill the Newsletter is licensed under MIT and Newsboat under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kill the Newsletter and Newsboat with Docker?
Kill the Newsletter: yes. Newsboat: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Kill the Newsletter or Newsboat?
Newsboat has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Kill the Newsletter. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.