Feedbin vs RSS-proxy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Feedbin | RSS-proxy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 20 · At risk |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,778 | ★ 1,923 |
| First released | 2013 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Feedly |
What are Feedbin and RSS-proxy?
Feedbin
Feedbin is a web-based RSS reader that is also offered as a hosted service, with the full source available for self-hosting. It supports newsletters, podcasts, and a clean reading interface.
- Polished reading experience
- Newsletter and podcast support
- Full API for clients
RSS-proxy
RSS-proxy is an open-source tool that generates RSS, Atom, or JSON feeds from websites that do not offer them, by analyzing page markup to detect article lists. It runs as a self-hosted service via Docker; its successor project is feedless.
- Creates feeds from any page
- JSON and Atom output
- Self-hosted aggregation
Feedbin vs RSS-proxy: key differences
Feedbin is written in Ruby, while RSS-proxy is built with TypeScript. RSS-proxy is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Feedbin. Feedbin is the more established project (first released 2013), while RSS-proxy arrived in 2019.
Why pick each one
Choose Feedbin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Ruby
Choose RSS-proxy if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Feedbin or RSS-proxy better?
Neither is universally better. Feedbin has the larger community, while RSS-proxy is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Feedbin and RSS-proxy free and open-source?
Yes. Feedbin is licensed under MIT and RSS-proxy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Feedbin and RSS-proxy with Docker?
Feedbin: yes. RSS-proxy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Feedbin or RSS-proxy?
RSS-proxy has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Feedbin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.