Kill the Newsletter vs Stringer
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 | Stringer |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,105 | ★ 4,133 |
| First released | 2020 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly, Google Reader |
What are Kill the Newsletter and Stringer?
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
Stringer
Stringer is a self-hosted, anti-social RSS reader with no external dependencies on third-party services. It targets users who want a private, no-frills feed reader. It is deployed via a Ruby stack or Docker.
- No third-party dependencies
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Simple unread-focused view
- Self-contained
Kill the Newsletter vs Stringer: key differences
Kill the Newsletter is written in TypeScript, while Stringer is built with Ruby. Kill the Newsletter is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Stringer. Stringer is the more established project (first released 2013), while Kill the Newsletter arrived in 2020.
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 Stringer if…
- Private and minimal
- Easy reading flow
- No external services
Watch out for
- Slow development
- Basic feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Kill the Newsletter or Stringer better?
Neither is universally better. Stringer has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kill the Newsletter and Stringer free and open-source?
Yes. Kill the Newsletter is licensed under MIT and Stringer under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kill the Newsletter and Stringer with Docker?
Kill the Newsletter: yes. Stringer: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kill the Newsletter or Stringer?
Kill the Newsletter has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Stringer. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.