Newsboat vs Wallabag
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Newsboat
Terminal RSS and Atom feed reader for text consoles
VS
Wallabag
Self-hosted read-it-later application
| Feature | Newsboat | Wallabag |
|---|---|---|
| Category | RSS & News Readers | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | C++ | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,874 | ★ 12,884 |
| First released | 2007 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Pocket, Instapaper |
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 Wallabag if…
- Great read-it-later experience
- Own your reading list
- Apps available
Frequently asked questions
Is Newsboat or Wallabag better?
Neither is universally better. Wallabag has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Newsboat and Wallabag free and open-source?
Yes. Newsboat is licensed under MIT and Wallabag under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Newsboat and Wallabag with Docker?
Newsboat: check the project docs for container support. Wallabag: yes.