I use self hosted FreshRSS. I has:
- news straight from the section I care about in chronological order order
- new blog updates
- music review updates
- Bandcamp releases from artists/labels I follow
- open source software releases I follow
- YouTube updates from channels I follow.
- etc
It is by far the best way to get updates about just the things you care about.
I started using FreshRSS around the same time Reddit killed their API, it has rapidly become one of my favorite self-hosted apps.
Also,
open source software releases I follow
You have just taught me that I can add github release pages to my feed, I love FreshRSS even more now.
Yes. Monitoring GitHub for releases is great (especially if the project posts change logs). Also, if you are a developer and need to monitor library updates for any deps you app might have, many of those sites also have rss feeds. For example: https://libraries.io/
I use Feeder on android, which just lives on my phone instead of on my server.
Would you say there are distinct advantages to self hosting an RSS reader? Most of the time when im browsing sites and reading it’s on my phone, not my desktop.
I’m at my laptop all day for work so I use it on my laptop, desktop, and phone so syncing is important. Since it support Google reader api, there are a ton of different clients for it too.
I’ve also set my wife up with her own account and it makes sharing articles and feeds with her easy.
I’m a big self hoster and already have an environment set up for it. I don’t know if it is worth setting up servers and vpns and security just for rss.
The hardest part is when you have to curate by yourself. To me RSS feels like a lot of work upfront. Is there a tool to help discover items to add to your feed aligned with your interest?
You start with vlogs you like.
Then see who they have in their blog roll.
More seriousl, I have literally used RSS regular since like 2006 or so. And I will NEVER forgive Google for killing Reader.
Anyway, what I mean to say is, its just a growing process. Someone links an article and you say, “Well, this sote seems interesting” and you stick it in your RSS reader.
Next thing you know you are pulling 1000-2000 articles a day, even with limiting filters.
One last bit of advice. Most systems let you export your subs.
DO THIS FROM TIME TO TIME BECAUSE YOU WILL HATE YOUR PAST SELF WHEN SOMETHING GOES WRONG AND YOU LOSE ALL YOUR SUBS.
I went the Local RSS Reader -> Google Reader -> Feedly -> Self-hosted FreshRSS myself. Kinda went full circle on this.
Sometimes I wonder if we’re all just the same person
This is where I’ve struggled. I’ve gone and tried once or twice and just kinda got confused and lost and came back to reddit, at that time.
- Look around in your online communities and see what publications get shared.
- Once you find some sites you like, search the web/communities for alternatives with the same topic/vibe.
- If you find journalists you like, see where else they publish their works, or what publications they used to work at. For bloggers / content creators, see who they collaborate with.
Hey, Joey, don’t say that shit out loud. Once they realize that there is a way to access content that isn’t sufficiently monetized, they will block it. Keep it secret!
The content creators should be shouting about RSS from the rooftops. The only people that lose out are social networks, and startups. It would be more difficult for a new person to get a foothold, but at least we decide what we want to read on our own.
I remember youtube creators recommending other creators small channels and stuff like that. I want that back.
Hard agree. I’ve had Gamers Nexus introduce me to a few channels but none have been small. I entirely skipped YouTube for most of my life so I missed the small town feel.
this is by far my favorite way of browsing the internet nowadays. if they find a way to monetize or kill RSS, i’m getting off the internet
I think it would be hard to re-invent RSS for money, it’s part of why it’s so simple.
RSS as a service makes sense for backend, not front end where most of the money would be made.
And killing RSS is… Kinda here? It’s difficult to get a RSS feed on most websites, unless you can scrape it or find someone who’s done it for you.
Man I should use RSS more…
I get that the idea of rss is sort of a universal protocol for publishing articles, which is really cool, but damnit if you make me parse XML in 2025. As a developer, I would be ok if they modernized RSS feeds.
Is there a project to quickly scrape and rssify and website?
If you want to quickly find RSS feeds without having to view source:
Want My RSS for Firefox
openfeeds for Qutebrowser
Apparently Google has an RSS extension but I haven’t looked into it.
Some RSS tools that are useful:
MoRSS (worked for like, one niche website I look at, but still might be useful)
EDIT: By the way, Facebook has been working very hard to fight RSS at every corner, but most other platforms still support it.
Also, if you use Kontact like I do, it supports RSS feeds through Akregator
Thanks because I have no idea how to even start but this is something I would like to try and see if it’s a good fit for me.
Small tip for anyone using Thunderbird as a mail client, it supports RSS feeds! And you can import/export them too.
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I’m using feeder on android and it’s working well for me. On desktop I use Firefox extension but can’t remember the name
https://search.f-droid.org/?q=rss&lang=en
Personally, Feeder.
Inoreader does this web and Android/Apple clean controls and responsive UI.
Paid version has a ton of enhancements including trending things among other users.
Android: Read You
Is it available from an app store? I only found the apk on GitHub but I’d rather not update manually.
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Newsblur in desktop web browser, 36 USD / year
It has a FLOSS version and a more limited free version hosted by them, but the 2.5 GBP / month was worth the QoL increase for me.
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I use https://miniflux.app/. It’s pretty small, costs $15/year. I do this because I want to keep my feed status across different devices.
I’m not perfectly happy with it. Perhaps it’s a bit too minimal. When I subscribe to an aggregate like Hacker News, it pretty much floods my feed and I get swamped.
If anyone has a slightly better alternative in mind, I’d be happy to hear.
I remember Google Reader back in the day. I miss that a lot. Is there something comparable that I don’t have to host?
There are good RSS reader web browser extensions. Firefox has a few. Check out Feedbro.
Thanks, bro.
Newsblur is the one I migrated to and haven’t looked back.
I had the same idea two years ago, this seems like a more involved and detailed take
I miss Firefox’s Live Bookmarks feature.
Algorithms have the advantage of finding stuff for me that i wouldn’t have even thought to look for. Is there any thing with RSS that sufficiently mimicks this?
No. They’re two different tools. the article misses the point
I mean you have to subscribe to a feed to be able to see it and I don’t see how RSS could sync a feed you don’t even know about. I suppose if someone started a platform that everyone used to sync their feeds then people could uncover content from the RSS feeds of other users but that seems to take the really simple out of really simple sync (RSS)
I built https://startyparty.dev for just this reason
Very cool! Thanks for making this and sharing.
Looks sick, bookmarked!
Thunderbird has RSS channels you can use and set-up (if you use the e-mail client, it is convenient).
I used Feedly since Google Reader was shut down. Then 1.5 years ago, as Feedly was getting more paywalls and AI-crap, I switched to Newsblur, and have been a happy user ever since. I love its Intelligence Trainer that lets me hide posts with certain tags/authors/keywords.
Great post, thanks!
