FreshRSS vs Selfoss
| Tagline | Self-hostable RSS aggregator with a clean multi-user web interface | Multipurpose self-hosted RSS reader and live stream aggregator |
| Category | Feeds & Read-Later | Feeds & Read-Later |
| Replaces | Feedly, Instapaper, Pocket | Feedly, Pocket |
| GitHub stars | 15k | 2.5k |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 4/5 Involved |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | yesterday | 17 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
FreshRSS
- No AI-driven article recommendations or smart filtering like Feedly Pro
- Read-later queue is basic; no article annotation or highlight export
- Mobile experience relies on third-party apps via the API rather than first-party apps
- Newsletter-to-RSS and email digest features absent
Selfoss
- No built-in article text extraction or offline read-later saving
- UI is dated compared to modern readers like Feedly; mobile experience is limited
- No native mobile apps; relies on third-party clients via API
- Social source plugins (Twitter/X, etc.) are fragile due to API changes
Bottom line
Choose FreshRSS if you want the lower-effort setup; choose FreshRSS for the larger community and ecosystem. FreshRSS has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.