NewsBlur vs Tiny Tiny RSS
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
Tiny Tiny RSS
Web-based news feed reader and aggregator
| Feature | NewsBlur | Tiny Tiny RSS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,627 | ★ 3,000 |
| First released | 2009 | 2005 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Feedly, Google Reader |
What are NewsBlur and Tiny Tiny RSS?
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
Tiny Tiny RSS
Tiny Tiny RSS is a free and open-source web-based news feed reader and aggregator with powerful filtering and plugins. It targets power users who want a highly configurable RSS reader. It is deployed via Docker.
- Powerful filtering rules
- Plugin ecosystem
- Multi-user support
- Mobile app available
NewsBlur vs Tiny Tiny RSS: key differences
NewsBlur is written in Python, while Tiny Tiny RSS is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for NewsBlur versus GPL-3.0 for Tiny Tiny RSS. Tiny Tiny RSS is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for NewsBlur. Tiny Tiny RSS is the more established project (first released 2005), while NewsBlur arrived in 2009. NewsBlur has the considerably larger community, at 7,627 GitHub stars versus 3,000.
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 Tiny Tiny RSS if…
- Highly configurable
- Mature and stable
- Strong filtering
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Setup is opinionated
Frequently asked questions
Is NewsBlur or Tiny Tiny RSS better?
Neither is universally better. NewsBlur has the larger community, while Tiny Tiny RSS is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are NewsBlur and Tiny Tiny RSS free and open-source?
Yes. NewsBlur is licensed under MIT and Tiny Tiny RSS under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NewsBlur and Tiny Tiny RSS with Docker?
NewsBlur: yes. Tiny Tiny RSS: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, NewsBlur or Tiny Tiny RSS?
Tiny Tiny RSS 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.