Kill the Newsletter vs RSSHub
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
RSSHub
Generate RSS feeds for sites that lack them
| Feature | Kill the Newsletter | RSSHub |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,105 | ★ 46,308 |
| First released | 2020 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly |
What are Kill the Newsletter and RSSHub?
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
RSSHub
RSSHub is an extensible feed generator that creates RSS feeds for thousands of websites and services that do not provide one. It targets users who want feeds from feedless sites. It is deployed via Docker.
- Feeds for thousands of sources
- Hundreds of community routes
- Pairs with any RSS reader
- Highly extensible
Kill the Newsletter vs RSSHub: key differences
Both projects are written in TypeScript. Kill the Newsletter is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for RSSHub. RSSHub is the more established project (first released 2018), while Kill the Newsletter arrived in 2020. RSSHub has the considerably larger community, at 46,308 GitHub stars versus 3,105.
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 RSSHub if…
- Feeds from feedless sites
- Huge route catalog
- Active community
Watch out for
- Some routes break over time
- Not a reader itself
Frequently asked questions
Is Kill the Newsletter or RSSHub better?
RSSHub is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Kill the Newsletter if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Kill the Newsletter and RSSHub free and open-source?
Yes. Kill the Newsletter is licensed under MIT and RSSHub under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kill the Newsletter and RSSHub with Docker?
Kill the Newsletter: yes. RSSHub: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kill the Newsletter or RSSHub?
Kill the Newsletter has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for RSSHub. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.