FreshRSS

TAS Score: S3/3 — D5/5 — A3 / T2

Brief Description

Self-hosted RSS/Atom feed aggregator. Subscribe to websites, blogs, and news sources without algorithms deciding what you see. Supports OPML import/export, full-text extraction, and mobile apps via Google Reader API.

Architectural Role

Information layer: replaces Google News, Twitter feeds, and algorithmic timelines with a chronological, user-controlled feed. You choose what to read, in what order, with no tracking or engagement optimization.

Technical Autonomy

✅ Works without internet (reads cached articles offline)
✅ Stores all data locally (articles, subscriptions, read status)
✅ Does not require external accounts
✅ OPML export — portable subscription list
⚠️ Needs internet to fetch new articles from RSS feeds

Philosophical Assessment (whose.world criteria)

Criterion	Status	Comments
Pause	✅	Stop container, articles stay. Resume fetching when ready.
Exit	✅	OPML export gives you all subscriptions. Import into any RSS reader.
Recoverability	✅	SQLite database, simple backup/restore.
Visibility	✅	AGPL-3.0, fully auditable.
External Dependencies	✅	Fully self-hosted. No cloud dependency.

Configuration (Minimal)

services:
  freshrss:
    image: freshrss/freshrss
    container_name: freshrss
    ports:
      - "8082:80"
    volumes:
      - ./data/freshrss/data:/var/www/FreshRSS/data
      - ./data/freshrss/extensions:/var/www/FreshRSS/extensions
    environment:
      - TZ=UTC
      - CRON_MIN=2,32
    restart: unless-stopped

Privacy-First Homelab

Alternatives

Alternative	Autonomy	Notes
Miniflux	A3 / T2	Minimalist RSS reader in Go. PostgreSQL-backed. Faster, fewer features.
Tiny Tiny RSS	A3 / T2	Older, feature-rich. PHP-based. More complex setup.
Feedly	A0 / T0	Cloud-only, freemium. Tracks reading habits.

Trajectory

Direction: stable.

FreshRSS has been consistently maintained since 2013. Active development, regular releases, growing extension ecosystem. No signs of commercialization or feature gating.

Signal assessment:

Signal	Status	Evidence
License	✅	AGPL-3.0, unchanged since inception.
Feature gating	✅	No paid tier. Everything is free.
Self-hosting	✅	Docker, native PHP, extensive docs.
Governance	✅	Multiple active maintainers. Healthy community contributions.

Signal key: ✅ opening · ➖ neutral · ⚠️ closing

Sources

Website: freshrss.org
Repository: github.com/FreshRSS/FreshRSS
Docker image: freshrss/freshrss