NewsBlur vs RSSBox
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
NewsBlur
Personal news reader with training and sharing
VS
RSSBox
Generate RSS feeds for sites without native feeds
| Feature | NewsBlur | RSSBox |
|---|---|---|
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,577 | ★ 814 |
| First released | 2009 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | RSS-Bridge |
Why pick each one
Choose RSSBox if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Ruby
Frequently asked questions
Is NewsBlur or RSSBox better?
Neither is universally better. NewsBlur has the larger community, while RSSBox is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are NewsBlur and RSSBox free and open-source?
Yes. NewsBlur is licensed under MIT and RSSBox under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NewsBlur and RSSBox with Docker?
NewsBlur: yes. RSSBox: yes.