Yarrharr vs Stringer
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted rss & news readers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Yarrharr | Stringer |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 69 · Good | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3 | ★ 4,133 |
| First released | 2014 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Feedly, Google Reader |
What are Yarrharr and Stringer?
Yarrharr
Yarrharr is a self-hosted RSS and Atom feed reader written in Python and Django. It offers a clean, mobile-friendly interface for reading feeds organized into labels.
- Mobile-friendly reading
- Label-based organization
- Django-based backend
Stringer
Stringer is a self-hosted, anti-social RSS reader with no external dependencies on third-party services. It targets users who want a private, no-frills feed reader. It is deployed via a Ruby stack or Docker.
- No third-party dependencies
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Simple unread-focused view
- Self-contained
Yarrharr vs Stringer: key differences
Yarrharr is written in Python, while Stringer is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Yarrharr versus MIT for Stringer. Yarrharr is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Stringer. Stringer has the considerably larger community, at 4,133 GitHub stars versus 3.
Why pick each one
Choose Yarrharr if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Stringer if…
- Private and minimal
- Easy reading flow
- No external services
Watch out for
- Slow development
- Basic feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Yarrharr or Stringer better?
Neither is universally better. Stringer has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Yarrharr and Stringer free and open-source?
Yes. Yarrharr is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Stringer under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Yarrharr and Stringer with Docker?
Yarrharr: yes. Stringer: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Yarrharr or Stringer?
Yarrharr has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Stringer. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.