NewsBlur vs Newsboat
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
Newsboat
Terminal RSS and Atom feed reader for text consoles
| Feature | NewsBlur | Newsboat |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,627 | ★ 3,913 |
| First released | 2009 | 2007 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Feedly |
What are NewsBlur and Newsboat?
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
Newsboat
Newsboat is an RSS and Atom feed reader for the text console. It is highly configurable, supports podcasts via podboat, and can synchronize with services like Tiny Tiny RSS and Nextcloud News.
- Highly configurable TUI
- Podcast support via podboat
- Syncs with TT-RSS and others
NewsBlur vs Newsboat: key differences
NewsBlur is written in Python, while Newsboat is built with C++. Newsboat is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. Newsboat is the more established project (first released 2007), while NewsBlur arrived in 2009. NewsBlur lists first-class Docker deployment; Newsboat does not.
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 Newsboat if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is NewsBlur or Newsboat better?
Neither is universally better. NewsBlur has the larger community, while Newsboat is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are NewsBlur and Newsboat free and open-source?
Yes. NewsBlur is licensed under MIT and Newsboat under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NewsBlur and Newsboat with Docker?
NewsBlur: yes. Newsboat: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, NewsBlur or Newsboat?
Newsboat has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.