Coldsweat 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 | Coldsweat | yarr |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 5 · At risk | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | SCSS | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 146 | ★ 4,049 |
| First released | 2013 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Google Reader, Feedly | Feedly, Google Reader |
What are Coldsweat and yarr?
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
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
Coldsweat vs yarr: key differences
Coldsweat is written in SCSS, while yarr is built with Go. Yarr is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Coldsweat. Coldsweat is the more established project (first released 2013), while yarr arrived in 2020. Yarr has the considerably larger community, at 4,049 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 yarr if…
- Extremely simple to run
- Tiny footprint
- No dependencies
Watch out for
- Single-user only
- Minimal feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Coldsweat or yarr better?
yarr is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Coldsweat if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Coldsweat and yarr free and open-source?
Yes. Coldsweat is licensed under MIT and yarr under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Coldsweat and yarr with Docker?
Coldsweat: yes. yarr: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Coldsweat or yarr?
yarr has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Coldsweat. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.