NewsBlur vs RSSHub
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
RSSHub
Generate RSS feeds for sites that lack them
| Feature | NewsBlur | RSSHub |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,627 | ★ 46,308 |
| First released | 2009 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Feedly |
What are NewsBlur and RSSHub?
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
RSSHub
RSSHub is an extensible feed generator that creates RSS feeds for thousands of websites and services that do not provide one. It targets users who want feeds from feedless sites. It is deployed via Docker.
- Feeds for thousands of sources
- Hundreds of community routes
- Pairs with any RSS reader
- Highly extensible
NewsBlur vs RSSHub: key differences
NewsBlur is written in Python, while RSSHub is built with TypeScript. RSSHub is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. NewsBlur is the more established project (first released 2009), while RSSHub arrived in 2018. RSSHub has the considerably larger community, at 46,308 GitHub stars versus 7,627.
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 RSSHub if…
- Feeds from feedless sites
- Huge route catalog
- Active community
Watch out for
- Some routes break over time
- Not a reader itself
Frequently asked questions
Is NewsBlur or RSSHub better?
RSSHub is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider NewsBlur if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are NewsBlur and RSSHub free and open-source?
Yes. NewsBlur is licensed under MIT and RSSHub under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NewsBlur and RSSHub with Docker?
NewsBlur: yes. RSSHub: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, NewsBlur or RSSHub?
RSSHub has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.