RSS Guard vs yarr
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
yarr
Yet another RSS reader as a single binary
| Feature | RSS Guard | yarr |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,761 | ★ 4,049 |
| First released | 2013 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly, Google Reader |
What are RSS Guard and yarr?
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
yarr
yarr is a minimal, self-contained RSS and Atom feed aggregator that runs as a single binary with an embedded web UI. It targets users wanting the simplest possible feed reader. It is deployed as a binary or via Docker.
- Single self-contained binary
- Embedded web interface
- SQLite storage
- Cross-platform
RSS Guard vs yarr: key differences
RSS Guard is written in C++, while yarr is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for RSS Guard versus MIT for yarr. Yarr is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for RSS Guard. RSS Guard is the more established project (first released 2013), while yarr arrived in 2020. Yarr 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 yarr if…
- Extremely simple to run
- Tiny footprint
- No dependencies
Watch out for
- Single-user only
- Minimal feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is RSS Guard or yarr better?
Neither is universally better. yarr has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are RSS Guard and yarr free and open-source?
Yes. RSS Guard is licensed under GPL-3.0 and yarr under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run RSS Guard and yarr with Docker?
RSS Guard: check the project docs for container support. yarr: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, RSS Guard or yarr?
yarr has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for RSS Guard. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.