RSS Guard 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 | RSS Guard | osmos::feed |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 14 · At risk |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | binary | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,761 | ★ 989 |
| First released | 2013 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly |
What are RSS Guard and osmos::feed?
RSS Guard
RSS Guard is a simple but powerful desktop feed reader supporting RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds. It synchronizes with Tiny Tiny RSS, Nextcloud News, FreshRSS, Google Reader API, and more.
- Supports many sync backends
- RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds
- Cross-platform Qt app
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
RSS Guard vs osmos::feed: key differences
RSS Guard is written in C++, while osmos::feed is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for RSS Guard versus MIT for osmos::feed. Osmos::feed is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 256 MB for RSS Guard. RSS Guard is the more established project (first released 2013), while osmos::feed arrived in 2021. RSS Guard has the considerably larger community, at 2,761 GitHub stars versus 989.
Why pick each one
Choose RSS Guard if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
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 RSS Guard or osmos::feed better?
Neither is universally better. RSS Guard has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are RSS Guard and osmos::feed free and open-source?
Yes. RSS Guard is licensed under GPL-3.0 and osmos::feed under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run RSS Guard and osmos::feed with Docker?
RSS Guard: check the project docs for container support. osmos::feed: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, RSS Guard or osmos::feed?
osmos::feed has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for RSS Guard. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.