RSSHub 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.
RSSHub
Generate RSS feeds for sites that lack them
VS
selfoss
Multipurpose RSS reader and web scraping aggregator
| Feature | RSSHub | selfoss |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 68 · Good |
| Category | RSS & News Readers | RSS & News Readers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 46,308 | ★ 2,470 |
| First released | 2018 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Feedly | Google Reader, Feedly |
What are RSSHub and selfoss?
RSSHub
RSSHub is an extensible feed generator that creates RSS feeds for thousands of websites and services that do not provide one. It targets users who want feeds from feedless sites. It is deployed via Docker.
- Feeds for thousands of sources
- Hundreds of community routes
- Pairs with any RSS reader
- Highly extensible
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
RSSHub vs selfoss: key differences
RSSHub is written in TypeScript, while selfoss is built with HTML. Licensing differs — MIT for RSSHub versus GPL-3.0 for selfoss. Selfoss is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for RSSHub. Selfoss is the more established project (first released 2012), while RSSHub arrived in 2018. RSSHub has the considerably larger community, at 46,308 GitHub stars versus 2,470.
Why pick each one
Choose RSSHub if…
- Feeds from feedless sites
- Huge route catalog
- Active community
Watch out for
- Some routes break over time
- Not a reader itself
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 RSSHub or selfoss better?
Neither is universally better. RSSHub has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are RSSHub and selfoss free and open-source?
Yes. RSSHub is licensed under MIT and selfoss under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run RSSHub and selfoss with Docker?
RSSHub: yes. selfoss: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, RSSHub or selfoss?
selfoss has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for RSSHub. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.