RSS Guard vs RSSHub
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
RSSHub
Generate RSS feeds for sites that lack them
| Feature | RSS Guard | RSSHub |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,761 | ★ 46,308 |
| First released | 2013 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly |
What are RSS Guard and RSSHub?
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
RSSHub
RSSHub is an extensible feed generator that creates RSS feeds for thousands of websites and services that do not provide one. It targets users who want feeds from feedless sites. It is deployed via Docker.
- Feeds for thousands of sources
- Hundreds of community routes
- Pairs with any RSS reader
- Highly extensible
RSS Guard vs RSSHub: key differences
RSS Guard is written in C++, while RSSHub is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for RSS Guard versus MIT for RSSHub. RSS Guard is the more established project (first released 2013), while RSSHub arrived in 2018. RSSHub has the considerably larger community, at 46,308 GitHub stars versus 2,761. RSSHub 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 RSSHub if…
- Feeds from feedless sites
- Huge route catalog
- Active community
Watch out for
- Some routes break over time
- Not a reader itself
Frequently asked questions
Is RSS Guard or RSSHub better?
Neither is universally better. RSSHub has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are RSS Guard and RSSHub free and open-source?
Yes. RSS Guard is licensed under GPL-3.0 and RSSHub under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run RSS Guard and RSSHub with Docker?
RSS Guard: check the project docs for container support. RSSHub: yes.