Self-Hosted Alternatives to Feedly

Feedly’s pricing tells the story: $6/month for basic features, $8.25/month for “Pro”, and $18/month for “Enterprise” — all for something that reads RSS feeds, a technology that’s been free and open since 1999. When Feedly’s AI features push you toward a $99/year subscription to follow 1,000+ sources, self-hosting starts looking like the obvious move.

Why Replace Feedly?

Cost. Feedly’s free tier caps you at 100 sources and 3 feeds. The Pro tier ($8.25/month, $99/year) raises that to 1,000 sources. Power users need Pro+ or Enterprise. Self-hosted RSS readers handle unlimited feeds for zero ongoing cost.

Privacy. Feedly tracks your reading habits, interests, and sources. This data powers their “Leo” AI features and advertising partnerships. A self-hosted reader keeps your reading list entirely private.

Control. Feedly decides the interface, the features, and the pricing. They’ve repeatedly moved features behind higher-priced tiers. When you self-host, you control everything — and features don’t disappear behind paywalls.

No AI tax. Feedly increasingly bundles AI features (topic tracking, board summaries, threat intelligence) that most users don’t need. You’re paying for AI whether you use it or not.

Best Alternatives

FreshRSS — Best Overall Replacement

FreshRSS is the closest experience to Feedly. It has a polished web interface with card and list views, keyboard shortcuts, tagging, and the ability to follow thousands of feeds without breaking a sweat. It supports the Google Reader API, which means mobile apps like FeedMe, NetNewsWire, and ReadYou work with it out of the box.

Docker Compose:

services:
  freshrss:
    image: freshrss/freshrss:1.28.1
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    volumes:
      - freshrss_data:/var/www/FreshRSS/data
      - freshrss_extensions:/var/www/FreshRSS/extensions
    environment:
      TZ: America/New_York
      CRON_MIN: "1,31"                    # Feed refresh every 30 minutes
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fSs http://localhost || exit 1"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3

volumes:
  freshrss_data:
  freshrss_extensions:

Key strengths: Supports 10,000+ feeds without performance issues. WebSub/PubSubHubbub for instant updates. Extensions system. Built-in user management for multi-user setups. SQLite default (no database server needed), PostgreSQL/MySQL optional.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host FreshRSS

Miniflux — Best Minimalist Option

Miniflux is an opinionated RSS reader that prioritizes reading over managing. The interface is intentionally sparse — no folders, no tags, no social features. Just your feeds, your articles, and a clean reading experience. It’s written in Go and uses almost no resources.

Docker Compose:

services:
  miniflux:
    image: miniflux/miniflux:2.2.18
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: postgres://miniflux:CHANGE_THIS_PASSWORD@db/miniflux?sslmode=disable
      RUN_MIGRATIONS: "1"
      CREATE_ADMIN: "1"
      ADMIN_USERNAME: admin
      ADMIN_PASSWORD: CHANGE_THIS_ADMIN_PASSWORD     # Change this
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - miniflux_db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: miniflux
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: CHANGE_THIS_PASSWORD         # Must match DATABASE_URL above
      POSTGRES_DB: miniflux
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U miniflux -d miniflux"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

volumes:
  miniflux_db:

Key strengths: Fastest RSS reader available (~20 MB RAM). Keyboard-driven interface. Fever and Google Reader API for mobile apps. Full-text content fetching (grabs the full article even when feeds only send excerpts). Built-in scraper bypasses truncated feeds.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Miniflux

Tiny Tiny RSS — Best for Power Users

Tiny Tiny RSS (TT-RSS) is the oldest actively maintained self-hosted RSS reader. It has the most features — plugins, themes, article labels, smart feeds (saved searches), and a comprehensive API. The learning curve is steeper, but power users appreciate the flexibility.

Key strengths: Plugin ecosystem for extending functionality. Feed categories with nested folders. Article labels (similar to Gmail labels). Published feeds (share curated article lists as RSS). Smart feeds with complex filter rules.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Tiny Tiny RSS

Migration Guide

Exporting from Feedly

1. Go to Feedly → click your profile icon → Organize Sources
2. Click the three-dot menu → Export to OPML
3. Save the .opml file — this contains all your feed subscriptions organized by category

Importing into Self-Hosted Readers

FreshRSS: Settings → Import/Export → Import OPML. Categories are preserved.

Miniflux: Settings → Import → Upload OPML file. Feeds import flat (no categories in Miniflux).

Tiny Tiny RSS: Preferences → Feeds → Import OPML. Full category hierarchy preserved.

What Transfers

Data	Transfers?
Feed subscriptions	Yes (via OPML)
Categories/folders	Yes (except Miniflux)
Read/unread status	No
Saved/starred articles	No
Boards and collections	No
AI training data	No (and good riddance)

Feedly does not export your reading history, saved articles, or board data. Only feed URLs and their organization transfer via OPML.

Cost Comparison

	Feedly Free	Feedly Pro	Self-Hosted
Monthly cost	$0	$8.25/month	$0 (existing server)
Annual cost	$0	$99/year	$0
3-year cost	$0	$297	$0
Feed limit	100 sources, 3 feeds	1,000 sources	Unlimited
AI features	No	Yes	No (not needed)
Privacy	Tracked	Tracked	Full control
Mobile apps	Feedly app	Feedly app	Multiple third-party options
Data ownership	Feedly’s servers	Feedly’s servers	Your server

If you’re on the free tier and happy with 100 sources, there’s little financial reason to switch. If you’re paying for Pro or higher, self-hosting saves $99-216/year and gives you more feeds with better privacy.

What You Give Up

Feedly AI features. If you actively use Leo (AI research assistant), topic tracking, or threat intelligence boards, no self-hosted reader replicates these. Most RSS users don’t use them.

Feedly’s mobile app. Feedly’s native app is polished. Self-hosted readers rely on third-party apps (FeedMe, NetNewsWire, ReadYou, Reeder) via API compatibility. These apps are good — some are arguably better — but they’re different.

Discovery features. Feedly suggests new sources based on your interests. Self-hosted readers don’t recommend feeds.

Shared boards. Feedly’s team collaboration features (shared boards, annotations) don’t exist in self-hosted readers. For team research workflows, this is a genuine loss.

FAQ

Can I use my favorite mobile RSS app with a self-hosted reader?

Yes. FreshRSS supports the Google Reader API and Fever API, which work with popular mobile apps: FeedMe (Android), NetNewsWire (iOS/macOS), ReadYou (Android), Reeder (iOS/macOS), and lire (iOS). Miniflux supports its own API plus Fever and Google Reader compatibility. Tiny Tiny RSS has a dedicated Android app and API access. Your mobile reading experience can be as polished as Feedly’s.

How many feeds can a self-hosted reader handle?

Thousands. FreshRSS handles 1,000+ feeds comfortably on a $5/month VPS — far beyond Feedly’s free tier limit of 100 sources. Miniflux is even more efficient, managing hundreds of feeds in under 20 MB of RAM. Tiny Tiny RSS scales similarly. The bottleneck is feed polling frequency (how often you check for updates), not total feed count. Configure polling intervals to balance freshness vs. server load.

Will I lose my saved/starred articles when migrating from Feedly?

Unfortunately, yes. Feedly’s OPML export includes only your feed subscriptions and folder organization — not your saved articles, reading history, or boards. Before migrating, manually save any critical starred articles (export to Pocket, Wallabag, or copy the links). After importing your OPML into FreshRSS or Miniflux, your subscription list is intact but you start fresh on saved items.

Does FreshRSS look and feel like Feedly?

FreshRSS is the closest self-hosted equivalent to Feedly’s interface. It offers card view, list view, and compact view modes. Keyboard navigation works well. Themes let you customize the look. It won’t be pixel-identical to Feedly, but the reading workflow is similar: browse feeds by category, mark as read, star articles, and search across all content. Most Feedly users adapt quickly.

Can self-hosted RSS readers fetch full article content from truncated feeds?

Yes. Both FreshRSS and Miniflux include built-in full-content scrapers that fetch the complete article even when feeds only publish excerpts. FreshRSS uses its “Content Selector” and XPath rules per feed. Miniflux has a “Fetch original content” toggle per feed. This matches Feedly Pro’s “full article” feature without the subscription cost.

How much server resources does a self-hosted RSS reader need?

Miniflux is the lightest at roughly 20 MB RAM (Go binary + PostgreSQL). FreshRSS uses about 50-100 MB (PHP + SQLite or PostgreSQL). Tiny Tiny RSS needs around 100-200 MB (PHP + PostgreSQL). All run fine on a $3-5/month VPS shared with other services. A Raspberry Pi handles FreshRSS or Miniflux for personal use without issues.

Is there a self-hosted alternative to Feedly’s AI research assistant (Leo)?

No direct equivalent exists. Self-hosted RSS readers focus on feed reading, not AI-powered topic analysis. For research workflows, combine your RSS reader with Wallabag (save and tag articles for later), SearXNG (privacy-respecting search aggregation), or local LLMs for summarization. Most RSS users don’t use Feedly’s AI features — if you do, it’s the one genuine loss in migrating.

Related

• How to Self-Host FreshRSS
• How to Self-Host Miniflux
• How to Self-Host Tiny Tiny RSS
• FreshRSS vs Miniflux
• FreshRSS vs Tiny Tiny RSS
• Miniflux vs Tiny Tiny RSS
• Best Self-Hosted RSS Readers