RSS Guard 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 | RSS Guard | Winds |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,761 | ★ 9,092 |
| First released | 2013 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly |
What are RSS Guard and Winds?
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
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
RSS Guard vs Winds: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Winds's repository is archived and no longer developed, while RSS Guard is actively maintained. RSS Guard is written in C++, while Winds is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for RSS Guard versus MIT for Winds. RSS Guard is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Winds. RSS Guard is the more established project (first released 2013), while Winds arrived in 2017. Winds has the considerably larger community, at 9,092 GitHub stars versus 2,761. Winds lists first-class Docker deployment; RSS Guard does not.
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 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 RSS Guard or Winds better?
Neither is universally better. Winds has the larger community, while RSS Guard is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are RSS Guard and Winds free and open-source?
Yes. RSS Guard is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Winds under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run RSS Guard and Winds with Docker?
RSS Guard: check the project docs for container support. Winds: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, RSS Guard or Winds?
RSS Guard has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Winds. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.