Winds 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 | Winds | Tiny Tiny RSS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,092 | ★ 3,000 |
| First released | 2017 | 2005 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Feedly, Google Reader |
What are Winds and Tiny Tiny RSS?
Winds
Winds is an open-source RSS reader and podcast application with a polished interface. It can be self-hosted and offers personalized recommendations powered by activity feeds.
- RSS and podcast reader
- Polished modern interface
- Recommendation feeds
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
Winds vs Tiny Tiny RSS: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Winds's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Tiny Tiny RSS is actively maintained. Winds is written in JavaScript, while Tiny Tiny RSS is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Winds versus GPL-3.0 for Tiny Tiny RSS. Tiny Tiny RSS is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Winds. Tiny Tiny RSS is the more established project (first released 2005), while Winds arrived in 2017. Winds has the considerably larger community, at 9,092 GitHub stars versus 3,000.
Why pick each one
Choose Winds if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.1k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Choose Tiny Tiny RSS if…
- Highly configurable
- Mature and stable
- Strong filtering
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Setup is opinionated
Frequently asked questions
Is Winds or Tiny Tiny RSS better?
Neither is universally better. Winds has the larger community, while Tiny Tiny RSS is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Winds and Tiny Tiny RSS free and open-source?
Yes. Winds is licensed under MIT and Tiny Tiny RSS under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Winds and Tiny Tiny RSS with Docker?
Winds: yes. Tiny Tiny RSS: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Winds or Tiny Tiny RSS?
Tiny Tiny RSS has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Winds. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.