NewsBlur vs FeedHQ
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
NewsBlur
Personal news reader with training and sharing
VS
FeedHQ
Web-based feed reader with Google Reader API support
| Feature | NewsBlur | FeedHQ |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 14 · At risk |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,627 | ★ 579 |
| First released | 2009 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Google Reader, Feedly |
What are NewsBlur and FeedHQ?
NewsBlur
NewsBlur is a personal news reader that brings together feeds with intelligent training to highlight stories you care about. It targets readers who want a smart, social feed reader. It is deployed via Docker Compose.
- Story training and filtering
- Social sharing of stories
- Original site view
- Mobile apps
FeedHQ
FeedHQ is a web-based feed reader that you can self-host, with support for the Google Reader API. This makes it compatible with many third-party mobile and desktop reader apps.
- Google Reader API compatibility
- Works with many apps
- Keyboard-driven interface
NewsBlur vs FeedHQ: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — MIT for NewsBlur versus BSD-3-Clause for FeedHQ. FeedHQ is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. NewsBlur is the more established project (first released 2009), while FeedHQ arrived in 2012. NewsBlur has the considerably larger community, at 7,627 GitHub stars versus 579.
Why pick each one
Choose NewsBlur if…
- Smart story highlighting
- Good mobile apps
- Social features
Watch out for
- Complex multi-service stack
- Heavy to self-host
Choose FeedHQ if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is NewsBlur or FeedHQ better?
Neither is universally better. NewsBlur has the larger community, while FeedHQ is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are NewsBlur and FeedHQ free and open-source?
Yes. NewsBlur is licensed under MIT and FeedHQ under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NewsBlur and FeedHQ with Docker?
NewsBlur: yes. FeedHQ: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, NewsBlur or FeedHQ?
FeedHQ has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.