Miniflux vs Newsboat (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Miniflux grades higher than Newsboat: 3.2 against 2.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Miniflux grades higher on ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and features.
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 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
Pick Newsboat if
- Fits if you live in a terminal and want feeds there too
- Works for people who like scripting what happens to an article
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a point-and-click app, because it's text only
- Not for you if you use Windows, as the docs list Linux, FreeBSD and macOS and don't mention it
- Too light for phone reading, since there's no mobile version
- Watch out: setup is by config file and key bindings, and NetBSD is unsupported
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAMinifluxVery good | 2.8GPANewsboatGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | AFree under the MIT license, distributed as source and through package managers, against a $2.50 start for the cheaper quarter of reading apps. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | AThe whole program is free, with no paid plans and nothing held back. |
| Features | 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. | BFilters, killfiles, a built-in HTML renderer, scripts, bookmarking, macros, podcasts and client mode for outside services. Nothing in the listing is missing for feed reading. |
| Ease of use | 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. | DNo rating on record. It's a command-line program set up by config file and key bindings, which takes some editing. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | CLinux and macOS, plus FreeBSD per the docs, and text only. No Windows, graphical, web or phone version. |
| Best for | a plain, private feed reader for $15 a year | an RSS reader that runs in the terminal |
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: Miniflux and Newsboat. How we grade
Price against what you get
Miniflux starts at $1.25 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Newsboat has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
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 Miniflux for less, and none scores higher than Newsboat 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.
- Newsboat also covers bookmarks.
At a glance
| Miniflux | Newsboat | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $15 per year (hosted version) | Free |
| Free 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. | None |
| Free trial | 15-day free trial of the hosted version; the account and its data are removed if you do not subscribe | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Frédéric Guillot | Newsboat project |
| Price read from | miniflux.app | newsboat.org |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Newsboat
- It is a text interface only; there is no graphical, web or mobile version.
- The documentation lists Linux, FreeBSD and macOS as tested; Windows is not mentioned and NetBSD is unsupported.
- Setup is by config file and key bindings, which takes some editing.
Key features
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.
Newsboat
- Built-in HTML renderer
- Text-only entries display inside the terminal, so there is no need to start a web browser to read them.
- Filters and killfiles
- Drop articles by title, author or contents, and build meta-feeds that gather articles by any criteria you write.
- Service client mode
- Connects to The Old Reader, NewsBlur, FeedHQ, BazQux, Feedbin, FreshRSS, Tiny Tiny RSS, Inoreader, Miniflux and others.
- Scripts and bookmarking
- Pipe links or whole articles to bookmarking scripts, and run feeds through transforming scripts before display.
- Macros and podcasts
- Chain several actions behind two keystrokes. Podboat, a companion tool, gives basic podcast downloading.
Plans
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.
Newsboat
Free$0
Free software under the MIT license, distributed as source and through package managers; no paid plans.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Miniflux or Newsboat?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Newsboat is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $1.25 a month when paid by the year for Miniflux. Miniflux starts at $15 per year (hosted version), and Newsboat is free.
Which has a free plan, Miniflux or Newsboat?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Miniflux and Newsboat have a free plan.
Which platforms do Miniflux and Newsboat run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Miniflux lists a web app and only Newsboat lists macOS and Linux apps. 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.