Newsboat vs Tiny Tiny RSS (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Newsboat and Tiny Tiny RSS share a 2.8 GPA, both are free, so the choice depends on which platforms you need.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
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
Pick Tiny Tiny RSS if
- Fits if you already run services with Docker and want your reader alongside them
- Works for people with a heavy feed load who'll write regex filters and scoring rules to sort it
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't run Docker, as the site says support may be limited any other way
- Not for you if you don't want to run, back up and update a server, since there's no hosted version
- Not for you if you want a phone app: the Android client is no longer maintained and its APKs are gone
- Watch out: the original project was retired on 1 November 2025, and the current code is a fork by a long-time contributor
- Too light for linking up other apps, as the listing names no integrations beyond a JSON API
How we grade them
| 2.8GPANewsboatGood | 2.8GPATiny Tiny RSSGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree under the MIT license, distributed as source and through package managers, against a $2.50 start for the cheaper quarter of reading apps. | AFree software under the GNU GPLv3, with no paid plan and no hosted version from the project, against $3.33 a month in the middle of this category. The only bill is for whatever server you run it on. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe whole program is free, with no paid plans and nothing held back. | AThe complete reader is free with no cap and nothing kept back for payers, because there isn't a paid tier to keep it for. You do need somewhere to run it. |
| Features | 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. | BIt covers the whole feed-reading job: folders inside folders, OPML, deduplication, regex filters that act on articles, scoring that pushes them up or down the list, almost any view republished as an Atom or JSON feed, plugins for full-text extraction and sharing, and a daily email digest. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. It's a command-line program set up by config file and key bindings, which takes some editing. | DSelf-hosted only, so you run, back up and update the server yourself, which is the hardest start in this category. Installation expects Docker, and the site says support may be limited if you do it any other way. |
| Platforms and integrations | CLinux and macOS, plus FreeBSD per the docs, and text only. No Windows, graphical, web or phone version. | CThe web interface, and that's it. The Android client is no longer maintained and its APK downloads are gone, the listing names no integrations, and a documented JSON API for third-party clients is the only way out of the browser. |
| Best for | an RSS reader that runs in the terminal | heavy feed loads on your own server |
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: Newsboat and Tiny Tiny RSS. How we grade
Price against what you get
Newsboat has no paid plan and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Tiny Tiny RSS has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
On this chart the two sit in the same place: the same score for the same starting price. Of the other read-later and bookmark apps on the chart, none scores higher than Newsboat for less, and none scores higher than Tiny Tiny RSS 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
- Tiny Tiny RSS is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Newsboat also covers bookmarks.
In commonFree planOpen sourceRSS reader
At a glance
| Newsboat | Tiny Tiny RSS | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | None | Free software under the GNU GPLv3 license, run on your own server. There is no paid plan and no hosted version from the project. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Newsboat project | tt-rss contributors; created by Andrew Dolgov |
| Price read from | newsboat.org | tt-rss.org |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Tiny Tiny RSS
- The original project was retired on 2025-11-01; the current code is a fork begun on 2025-10-03 by a long-time contributor.
- Installation expects Docker, and the site says support may be limited if you run it any other way.
- The Android client is no longer maintained and its APK downloads are gone, so reading happens in the web interface.
- It is self-hosted only: you run, back up and update the server yourself.
Key features
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.
Tiny Tiny RSS
- Folders, OPML and deduplication
- Feeds are organized into folders and subfolders, imported and exported as OPML, and deduplicated, with a plugin that uses perceptual hashing for repeated images. Podcasts are supported.
- Content filters and scoring
- Filters match articles against regular expressions and then apply actions. Score-changing filters move articles up or down the headline list and can mark very low scores as read.
- Generated feeds and publishing
- Almost anything shown in the headline list, such as a feed, label or category, can be re-published as an Atom or JSON feed protected by a random key.
- Share anything
- A bookmarklet shares arbitrary web pages into your Published feed, and combined with Readability this lets tt-rss work like a read-it-later site.
- Plugins and themes
- Plugins share articles to other sites, extract full article text with Readability, change hotkeys or handle unusual feeds, and themes restyle the interface.
- Email digests and JSON API
- Users can opt into a daily email digest of unread headlines, and a documented JSON API is available for third-party clients.
Plans
Newsboat
Free$0
Free software under the MIT license, distributed as source and through package managers; no paid plans.
Tiny Tiny RSS
Tiny Tiny RSS$0
The complete reader, self-hosted from the project's Docker images and kept current from the main branch.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Newsboat or Tiny Tiny RSS?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Newsboat and Tiny Tiny RSS are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Newsboat or Tiny Tiny RSS?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Newsboat and Tiny Tiny RSS have a free plan.
Which platforms do Newsboat and Tiny Tiny RSS run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Newsboat lists macOS and Linux apps and only Tiny Tiny RSS 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.