Yarrharr 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 | Yarrharr | yarr |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 69 · Good | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3 | ★ 4,049 |
| First released | 2014 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Feedly, Google Reader | Feedly, Google Reader |
What are Yarrharr and yarr?
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
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
Yarrharr vs yarr: key differences
Yarrharr is written in Python, while yarr is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Yarrharr versus MIT for yarr. Yarr is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Yarrharr. Yarrharr is the more established project (first released 2014), while yarr arrived in 2020. Yarr has the considerably larger community, at 4,049 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 yarr if…
- Extremely simple to run
- Tiny footprint
- No dependencies
Watch out for
- Single-user only
- Minimal feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Yarrharr or yarr better?
yarr is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Yarrharr if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Yarrharr and yarr free and open-source?
Yes. Yarrharr is licensed under GPL-3.0 and yarr under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Yarrharr and yarr with Docker?
Yarrharr: yes. yarr: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Yarrharr or yarr?
yarr has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Yarrharr. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.