NewsBlur vs RSS reader nono Leed
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
RSS reader nono Leed
Free and minimalist self-hosted RSS feed aggregator
| Feature | NewsBlur | RSS reader nono Leed |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 75 · Good |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,627 | ★ 236 |
| First released | 2009 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Google Reader, Feedly |
What are NewsBlur and RSS reader nono Leed?
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
RSS reader nono Leed
Leed is a minimalist self-hosted RSS feed aggregator written in PHP. It is designed to be fast and simple, automatically updating feeds via cron and presenting articles in a unified list.
- Minimalist PHP aggregator
- Cron-based feed updates
- Fast unified reading list
NewsBlur vs RSS reader nono Leed: key differences
NewsBlur is written in Python, while RSS reader nono Leed is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for NewsBlur versus CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 for RSS reader nono Leed. RSS reader nono Leed is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. NewsBlur is the more established project (first released 2009), while RSS reader nono Leed arrived in 2012. NewsBlur has the considerably larger community, at 7,627 GitHub stars versus 236. NewsBlur lists first-class Docker deployment; RSS reader nono Leed 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 RSS reader nono Leed if…
- Released under the CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in PHP
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is NewsBlur or RSS reader nono Leed better?
Neither is universally better. NewsBlur has the larger community, while RSS reader nono Leed is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are NewsBlur and RSS reader nono Leed free and open-source?
Yes. NewsBlur is licensed under MIT and RSS reader nono Leed under CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NewsBlur and RSS reader nono Leed with Docker?
NewsBlur: yes. RSS reader nono Leed: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, NewsBlur or RSS reader nono Leed?
RSS reader nono Leed has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.