Coldsweat vs Tiny Tiny RSS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Tiny Tiny RSS
Web-based news feed reader and aggregator
| Feature | Coldsweat | Tiny Tiny RSS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | SCSS | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 146 | ★ 3,000 |
| First released | 2013 | 2005 |
| Replaces | Google Reader, Feedly | Feedly, Google Reader |
What are Coldsweat and Tiny Tiny RSS?
Coldsweat
Coldsweat is a self-hosted, web-based RSS aggregator and reader designed as a Google Reader replacement. It implements the Fever API so that compatible mobile clients can connect.
- Fever API compatibility
- Works with mobile apps
- Lightweight aggregator
Tiny Tiny RSS
Tiny Tiny RSS is a free and open-source web-based news feed reader and aggregator with powerful filtering and plugins. It targets power users who want a highly configurable RSS reader. It is deployed via Docker.
- Powerful filtering rules
- Plugin ecosystem
- Multi-user support
- Mobile app available
Coldsweat vs Tiny Tiny RSS: key differences
Coldsweat is written in SCSS, while Tiny Tiny RSS is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Coldsweat versus GPL-3.0 for Tiny Tiny RSS. Coldsweat is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Tiny Tiny RSS. Tiny Tiny RSS is the more established project (first released 2005), while Coldsweat arrived in 2013. Tiny Tiny RSS has the considerably larger community, at 3,000 GitHub stars versus 146.
Why pick each one
Choose Coldsweat if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in SCSS
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Tiny Tiny RSS if…
- Highly configurable
- Mature and stable
- Strong filtering
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Setup is opinionated
Frequently asked questions
Is Coldsweat or Tiny Tiny RSS better?
Neither is universally better. Tiny Tiny RSS has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Coldsweat and Tiny Tiny RSS free and open-source?
Yes. Coldsweat is licensed under MIT and Tiny Tiny RSS under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Coldsweat and Tiny Tiny RSS with Docker?
Coldsweat: yes. Tiny Tiny RSS: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Coldsweat or Tiny Tiny RSS?
Coldsweat has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Tiny Tiny RSS. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.