Fraidycat vs Miniflux (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Miniflux grades higher than Fraidycat: 3.2 against 3.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Fraidycat grades higher on ease of use. Miniflux grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and the free plan.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Miniflux
Minimalist open-source feed reader, self-hosted or hosted
Which one is for you
Pick Fraidycat if
- Fits if you want to keep up with a few people more than with every post they write
- Works for a computer-only reader who is happy with a small free tool
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a phone app: mobile apps are only on the wish list
- Not for you if you want a tool that is kept up: the extensions were last released in May 2021 and the desktop apps in September 2020
- Watch out: the Mac, Windows and Linux apps have no online sync
- Watch out: Twitter, Instagram and SoundCloud pages are read by scraping, so they may break when those sites change
Pick Miniflux if
- Fits if you want a plain reader with no ads, tracking or telemetry, driven from the keyboard
- Works for people who'd rather pay $15 a year than look after a server
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want native apps, as it runs in a browser and leans on third-party phone apps
- Not for you if you keep old articles, since the hosted version removes read ones after 30 days and unread after 60
- Too light for you if you want a reader you never administer, because the free route is a PostgreSQL server you run
- Watch out: hosted accounts have no password reset and are deleted 30 days after a subscription lapses
- Watch out: the 15-day hosted trial account is removed if you don't subscribe, and hosted feeds refresh every 1 to 2 hours
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAFraidycatVery good | 3.2GPAMinifluxVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree to download and run, with no paid plan listed anywhere on the site. The reading category's middle price is $4 a month. | AThe hosted version is $15 a year, which is $1.25 a month. Reading apps here start at $2.42 a month in the cheapest quarter, so it's under almost every price in the category, and it isn't renewed automatically. Run it on your own server and the software costs nothing. |
| Free plan and trial | AEverything is free, with no paid tier on the site. | AThe whole reader is free and open source under Apache 2.0, with nothing held back for payers. The catch is where you put it: there's no free hosted plan, only a 15-day trial, and that account is removed if you don't subscribe. |
| Features | CIt follows people, not posts, across many source types, with importance levels and tags. That is a smaller job than a full reader, and the site lists mobile apps and keyword filters only as things it would like to add. | BIt covers the feed-reading job: RSS, Atom and JSON Feed, OPML in and out, original-article fetching when a feed is summary-only, your own scraper and rewrite rules, tracker stripping, full-text search, regex filters and saving to 25-odd services. No apps of its own, though, and hosted only keeps starred articles. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record. You install an extension and start adding people, with little to set up. | CNo store rating on record. The hosted version is sign up and read, but self-hosting means running PostgreSQL, the only database it works with, and either way you lean on a third-party phone app because Miniflux has none. The hosted version has no password reset either. |
| Platforms and integrations | CBrowser extensions and desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux only, with no phone app, and the desktop apps have no online sync. | BA web app with no native apps, which is what keeps it off an A. What it has is the plumbing: a REST API with Go and Python clients, webhooks, Fever and Google Reader compatibility so phone apps can sync, and saving on to Instapaper, Wallabag, Notion and Pinboard. |
| Best for | following people across sites without a feed | a plain, private feed reader for $15 a year |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Fraidycat and Miniflux. How we grade
Price against what you get
Fraidycat has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Miniflux starts at $1.25 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7.
Miniflux scores higher, and starts $1.25 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other read-later and bookmark apps on the chart, none scores higher than Fraidycat for less, and none scores higher than Miniflux for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Miniflux is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Fraidycat also covers bookmarks.
At a glance
| Fraidycat | Miniflux | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $15 per year (hosted version) |
| Free plan | Everything: the site lists no paid plan. | The software is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license when run on your own server. The hosted version has no free plan, only a 15-day trial. |
| Free trial | None listed | 15-day free trial of the hosted version; the account and its data are removed if you do not subscribe |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Kicks Condor | Frédéric Guillot |
| Price read from | fraidyc.at | miniflux.app |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Fraidycat
- The extensions were last released in May 2021 and the desktop apps in September 2020, according to the site.
- The Mac, Windows and Linux apps are marked as having no online sync.
- The site lists mobile apps and keyword filters only as things it would like to add.
- Pages for Twitter, Instagram and SoundCloud are read by scraping, so they may break when those sites change.
Miniflux
- There are no native apps: Miniflux runs in a browser and relies on third-party mobile apps through the Fever or Google Reader API.
- Self-hosting requires PostgreSQL, the only database Miniflux works with.
- On the hosted version, read articles are removed after 30 days and unread ones after 60; only starred articles are kept.
- The hosted version has no password reset feature, and accounts are deleted 30 days after a subscription lapses.
Key features
Fraidycat
- People, not posts
- The main page lists each follow as a two-line summary of their recent activity, rather than a feed of individual posts.
- Many source types
- Reads RSS, Atom and JSON Feed, plus Twitter, Instagram and SoundCloud by picking details out of their pages. It also finds the feeds for Pinboard, YouTube and Reddit.
- Importance levels
- Each follow is set to real-time, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, which controls how often it is checked and whether it stays on the main page.
- Tags
- Follows are grouped by tag, and a tab bar on the main page filters the list by tag.
- Sync through your browser
- Follows sync between computers by way of the browser's own sync, with no central Fraidycat server.
Miniflux
- Feed reading
- Reads Atom, RSS and JSON Feed, imports and exports OPML, handles podcast, video and image enclosures, and plays YouTube videos inside the reader.
- Original article fetching
- When a feed shows only a summary, Miniflux can fetch the original page and extract the article with a local Readability parser. Custom scraper and rewrite rules are supported.
- Privacy protections
- Removes pixel trackers and tracking parameters from URLs, proxies media, blocks external JavaScript and sends no referrer. There is no telemetry or advertising.
- Keyboard-driven interface
- A minimal, responsive web interface with a wide range of keyboard shortcuts, optional touch gestures, light, dark and system themes, and custom stylesheets.
- Categories, search and filters
- Articles are organized with categories and bookmarks, searched in full text through Postgres, included or excluded by regex filters, and can be shared publicly one at a time.
- Integrations and API
- Saves articles to more than 25 services, sends webhooks, offers a REST API with Go and Python clients, and works with mobile apps that support the Fever or Google Reader API.
Plans
Fraidycat
Free$0
The Firefox and Chrome extensions and the desktop apps, with no paid tier listed.
Miniflux
Self-hostedFree
The complete open-source reader on your own server, shipped as a single binary, Debian and RPM packages or a Docker image.
Paid Hosting$15
per year, not renewed automatically
Run by Miniflux's developer on a server in Finland, with feeds refreshed every 1-2 hours and email support in English or French.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Fraidycat or Miniflux?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Fraidycat is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $1.25 a month when paid by the year for Miniflux. Fraidycat is free, and Miniflux starts at $15 per year (hosted version).
Which has a free plan, Fraidycat or Miniflux?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Fraidycat and Miniflux have a free plan.
Which platforms do Fraidycat and Miniflux run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Fraidycat lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and a browser extension and only Miniflux lists a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.