NewsBlur vs Coldsweat
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
Coldsweat
Web RSS aggregator and reader with a Fever API
| Feature | NewsBlur | Coldsweat |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 5 · At risk |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | SCSS |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,627 | ★ 146 |
| First released | 2009 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Google Reader, Feedly |
What are NewsBlur and Coldsweat?
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
Coldsweat
Coldsweat is a self-hosted, web-based RSS aggregator and reader designed as a Google Reader replacement. It implements the Fever API so that compatible mobile clients can connect.
- Fever API compatibility
- Works with mobile apps
- Lightweight aggregator
NewsBlur vs Coldsweat: key differences
NewsBlur is written in Python, while Coldsweat is built with SCSS. Coldsweat is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. NewsBlur is the more established project (first released 2009), while Coldsweat arrived in 2013. NewsBlur has the considerably larger community, at 7,627 GitHub stars versus 146.
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 Coldsweat if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in SCSS
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is NewsBlur or Coldsweat better?
Neither is universally better. NewsBlur has the larger community, while Coldsweat is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are NewsBlur and Coldsweat free and open-source?
Yes. NewsBlur is licensed under MIT and Coldsweat under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NewsBlur and Coldsweat with Docker?
NewsBlur: yes. Coldsweat: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, NewsBlur or Coldsweat?
Coldsweat has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.