RSS-Bridge vs RSS-proxy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
RSS-Bridge
Generate RSS feeds for websites that lack them
VS
RSS-proxy
Turn any website into an RSS, Atom, or JSON feed
| Feature | RSS-Bridge | RSS-proxy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 20 · At risk |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | Unlicense | MIT |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,249 | ★ 1,923 |
| First released | 2014 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly |
What are RSS-Bridge and RSS-proxy?
RSS-Bridge
RSS-Bridge is a PHP project capable of generating RSS and Atom feeds for websites that do not provide them. It includes hundreds of bridges for social networks, news sites, and more.
- Creates feeds for feedless sites
- Hundreds of built-in bridges
- No database required
RSS-proxy
RSS-proxy is an open-source tool that generates RSS, Atom, or JSON feeds from websites that do not offer them, by analyzing page markup to detect article lists. It runs as a self-hosted service via Docker; its successor project is feedless.
- Creates feeds from any page
- JSON and Atom output
- Self-hosted aggregation
RSS-Bridge vs RSS-proxy: key differences
RSS-Bridge is written in PHP, while RSS-proxy is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Unlicense for RSS-Bridge versus MIT for RSS-proxy. RSS-Bridge is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for RSS-proxy. RSS-Bridge is the more established project (first released 2014), while RSS-proxy arrived in 2019. RSS-Bridge has the considerably larger community, at 9,249 GitHub stars versus 1,923.
Why pick each one
Choose RSS-Bridge if…
- Released under the Unlicense license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.2k GitHub stars
Choose RSS-proxy if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is RSS-Bridge or RSS-proxy better?
RSS-Bridge is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider RSS-proxy if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are RSS-Bridge and RSS-proxy free and open-source?
Yes. RSS-Bridge is licensed under Unlicense and RSS-proxy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run RSS-Bridge and RSS-proxy with Docker?
RSS-Bridge: yes. RSS-proxy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, RSS-Bridge or RSS-proxy?
RSS-Bridge has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for RSS-proxy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.