Newspipe 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 | Newspipe | selfoss |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 0 · At risk | 68 · Good |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7 | ★ 2,470 |
| First released | 2010 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Google Reader, Feedly |
What are Newspipe and selfoss?
Newspipe
Newspipe is a web-based news aggregator that lets you follow RSS and Atom feeds in a clean interface. It supports per-user feed lists, full-text search, and email notifications.
- Multi-user feed aggregation
- Full-text search
- Email notifications
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
Newspipe vs selfoss: key differences
Newspipe is written in Python, while selfoss is built with HTML. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Newspipe versus GPL-3.0 for selfoss. Selfoss is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Newspipe. Newspipe is the more established project (first released 2010), while selfoss arrived in 2012. Selfoss has the considerably larger community, at 2,470 GitHub stars versus 7.
Why pick each one
Choose Newspipe if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
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 Newspipe or selfoss better?
selfoss is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Newspipe if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Newspipe and selfoss free and open-source?
Yes. Newspipe is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and selfoss under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Newspipe and selfoss with Docker?
Newspipe: yes. selfoss: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Newspipe or selfoss?
selfoss has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Newspipe. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.