RSS Guard vs selfoss
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 | selfoss |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 68 · Good |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C++ | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,761 | ★ 2,470 |
| First released | 2013 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Google Reader, Feedly |
What are RSS Guard and selfoss?
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
selfoss
selfoss is a multipurpose RSS reader and aggregation web application. It pulls in content from feeds, Twitter, and other sources, presenting them in a clean unified stream.
- Unified content stream
- Mobile-friendly interface
- Plugin sources beyond RSS
RSS Guard vs selfoss: key differences
RSS Guard is written in C++, while selfoss is built with HTML. Selfoss is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for RSS Guard. Selfoss 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 selfoss if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is RSS Guard or selfoss 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 selfoss free and open-source?
Yes. RSS Guard is licensed under GPL-3.0 and selfoss under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run RSS Guard and selfoss with Docker?
RSS Guard: check the project docs for container support. selfoss: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, RSS Guard or selfoss?
selfoss has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for RSS Guard. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.