Run your own RSS reader with Docker. Compare NewsBlur, FreshRSS, Miniflux, and Tiny Tiny RSS for self-hosting. Only NewsBlur lets you start hosted and switch to self-hosted whenever you want.
| Feature | NewsBlur | FreshRSS | Miniflux | Tiny Tiny RSS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Docker Support | ✓ Docker Compose | ✓ Docker or manual | ✓ Docker or binary | ✓ Docker or manual |
| One-Command Install | ✓ make nb |
✓ Single container | ✓ Single binary or container | ✗ Manual config required |
| Official Hosted Option | ✓ newsblur.com | ✗ Self-host only | ✗ Self-host only | ✗ Self-host only |
| Mobile Apps (Native) | ✓ iOS & Android | ✗ Third-party only | ✗ Third-party only | ✗ Third-party only |
| Intelligence / Filtering | ✓ Train by author, tag, title, text, URL, regex | ✓ Basic filters | ✓ Category-based rules | ✓ Label-based filters |
| AI Features | ✓ Ask AI with Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Resource Requirements | Higher (full-stack: 2+ GB RAM) | Low (PHP + SQLite: 256 MB) | Minimal (Go binary: 128 MB) | Moderate (PHP + PostgreSQL: 512 MB) |
| Database | PostgreSQL + MongoDB + Redis + Elasticsearch | SQLite or MySQL/PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL |
| Third-Party App Sync | ✓ Reeder, ReadKit, Unread, etc. | ✓ Google Reader API, Fever API | ✓ Fever API, Google Reader API | ✓ Own API, Fever plugin |
| Active GitHub Community | ✓ Active since 2009 | ✓ Active community | ✓ Solo maintainer | ✓ Solo maintainer |
| Full-Text Search | ✓ Elasticsearch-powered | ✓ Database search | ✓ PostgreSQL search | ✓ Database search |
| Social Features | ✓ Public blurblog, comments, sharing | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ Shared articles |
| Email Newsletters | ✓ Forward to NewsBlur | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 | Apache 2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
All four readers support Docker, but the complexity varies. Miniflux is the lightest: a single Go binary plus PostgreSQL, consuming minimal resources. FreshRSS runs on PHP and can use SQLite for a zero-config database, making it easy to deploy on even the smallest VPS. Tiny Tiny RSS requires PHP and PostgreSQL with some manual configuration. NewsBlur is the most full-featured self-hosted option. It uses Docker Compose to orchestrate multiple services: a Django web app, Celery task workers, Node.js services, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch, HAProxy, and Nginx. You run make nb and the entire stack comes up, but you will need a server with at least 2 GB of RAM. The tradeoff is clear: more resources in exchange for a dramatically richer feature set.
NewsBlur is the only self-hosted RSS reader that also offers a fully managed hosted service at newsblur.com. This gives you a unique migration path that no other reader can match. You can start with the hosted version, read your feeds without managing any infrastructure, and export your data via OPML whenever you are ready to self-host. Or go the other direction: run your own instance first, and if you decide you would rather not maintain a server, move to the hosted service and bring all your feeds and training with you. FreshRSS, Miniflux, and Tiny Tiny RSS are self-host-only. If you want to stop running a server, you have to switch to a completely different product.
All four readers support OPML import and export, so you can move your feed list between them freely. NewsBlur goes further by giving you access to the full application source code under the MIT license. Your stories, intelligence training data, saved searches, and blurblog posts all live in databases you control when self-hosting. There is no vendor lock-in at any layer. If you use the hosted service, you can export your OPML at any time and stand up your own instance with the same open source code that powers newsblur.com.
NewsBlur uses more server resources than the alternatives, and that is because it does more. Intelligence training lets you highlight and hide stories by author, tag, title keyword, full text, URL, or regex pattern. Ask AI lets you query any story with Claude, GPT, Gemini, or Grok. Native iOS and Android apps connect to your self-hosted instance just as they do to the hosted service. You get email newsletter ingestion, web feeds for sites without RSS, full-text Elasticsearch, story change tracking, social sharing with blurblogs, and third-party app sync with Reeder, ReadKit, Unread, and more. If you want a minimal, lightweight reader, Miniflux or FreshRSS are great choices. If you want the most capable self-hosted RSS reader available, NewsBlur is it.