Newsboat vs Winds
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 | Winds |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | C++ | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,913 | ★ 9,092 |
| First released | 2007 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly |
What are Newsboat and Winds?
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
Winds
Winds is an open-source RSS reader and podcast application with a polished interface. It can be self-hosted and offers personalized recommendations powered by activity feeds.
- RSS and podcast reader
- Polished modern interface
- Recommendation feeds
Newsboat vs Winds: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Winds's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Newsboat is actively maintained. Newsboat is written in C++, while Winds is built with JavaScript. Newsboat is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Winds. Newsboat is the more established project (first released 2007), while Winds arrived in 2017. Winds has the considerably larger community, at 9,092 GitHub stars versus 3,913. Winds lists first-class Docker deployment; Newsboat does not.
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 Winds if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.1k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Newsboat or Winds better?
Neither is universally better. Winds has the larger community, while Newsboat is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Newsboat and Winds free and open-source?
Yes. Newsboat is licensed under MIT and Winds under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Newsboat and Winds with Docker?
Newsboat: check the project docs for container support. Winds: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Newsboat or Winds?
Newsboat has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Winds. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.