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.
Not the right match-up?
Kill the Newsletter
Convert email newsletters into RSS feeds
VS
Newsboat
Terminal RSS and Atom feed reader for text consoles
| Feature | Kill the Newsletter | Newsboat |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ★ 3,076 | ★ 3,874 |
| First released | 2020 | 2007 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly |
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
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.