Newsboat vs osmos::feed
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Newsboat | osmos::feed |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 14 · At risk |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | C++ | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,913 | ★ 989 |
| First released | 2007 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly |
What are Newsboat and osmos::feed?
Newsboat
Newsboat is an RSS and Atom feed reader for the text console. It is highly configurable, supports podcasts via podboat, and can synchronize with services like Tiny Tiny RSS and Nextcloud News.
- Highly configurable TUI
- Podcast support via podboat
- Syncs with TT-RSS and others
osmos::feed
osmos::feed is a tool that turns a list of feeds into a self-hosted static RSS reader website using GitHub Actions. It requires no server and rebuilds the reader on a schedule.
- Static site RSS reader
- Runs on GitHub Actions
- No server required
Newsboat vs osmos::feed: key differences
Newsboat is written in C++, while osmos::feed is built with TypeScript. Newsboat is the more established project (first released 2007), while osmos::feed arrived in 2021. Newsboat has the considerably larger community, at 3,913 GitHub stars versus 989.
Why pick each one
Choose Newsboat if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Choose osmos::feed if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 32 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Newsboat or osmos::feed better?
Neither is universally better. Newsboat has the larger community, while osmos::feed is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Newsboat and osmos::feed free and open-source?
Yes. Newsboat is licensed under MIT and osmos::feed under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Newsboat and osmos::feed with Docker?
Newsboat: check the project docs for container support. osmos::feed: check the project docs for container support.