Kill the Newsletter vs Tiny Tiny RSS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Tiny Tiny RSS
Web-based news feed reader and aggregator
| Feature | Kill the Newsletter | Tiny Tiny RSS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,105 | ★ 3,000 |
| First released | 2020 | 2005 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly, Google Reader |
What are Kill the Newsletter and Tiny Tiny RSS?
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
Tiny Tiny RSS
Tiny Tiny RSS is a free and open-source web-based news feed reader and aggregator with powerful filtering and plugins. It targets power users who want a highly configurable RSS reader. It is deployed via Docker.
- Powerful filtering rules
- Plugin ecosystem
- Multi-user support
- Mobile app available
Kill the Newsletter vs Tiny Tiny RSS: key differences
Kill the Newsletter is written in TypeScript, while Tiny Tiny RSS is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Kill the Newsletter versus GPL-3.0 for Tiny Tiny RSS. Kill the Newsletter is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Tiny Tiny RSS. Tiny Tiny RSS is the more established project (first released 2005), 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 Tiny Tiny RSS if…
- Highly configurable
- Mature and stable
- Strong filtering
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Setup is opinionated
Frequently asked questions
Is Kill the Newsletter or Tiny Tiny RSS better?
Neither is universally better. Kill the Newsletter has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kill the Newsletter and Tiny Tiny RSS free and open-source?
Yes. Kill the Newsletter is licensed under MIT and Tiny Tiny RSS under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kill the Newsletter and Tiny Tiny RSS with Docker?
Kill the Newsletter: yes. Tiny Tiny RSS: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kill the Newsletter or Tiny Tiny RSS?
Kill the Newsletter has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Tiny Tiny RSS. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.