CommaFeed vs Fluent Reader
CommaFeed
commafeed.comFluent Reader
hyliu.meSide by side
| Figure | CommaFeed | Fluent Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · RSS Reader Software | 8.3 (#12) | 8.8 (#5) |
| Purpose | CommaFeed is a Google Reader inspired, self-hosted personal RSS reader. | Fluent Reader is a local, cross-platform news aggregator and desktop RSS reader. |
| Security | CommaFeed blocks access to local resources by default to help prevent SSRF attacks; the project cautions against disabling this when users are untrusted. | The official site says XSS is blocked in an isolated context and a strict Content Security Policy is enforced. |
Plans
In their own words
CommaFeed
CommaFeed is a free personal RSS reader inspired by Google Reader, available through a public instance or self-hosted deployment. Its responsive interface works on mobile and desktop, with four layouts and light and dark themes. Readers can import and export OPML files and set rules to mark articles as read automatically. It supports keyboard shortcuts, right-to-left feeds, and more than 25 languages. CommaFeed provides a REST API plus Fever and Google Reader APIs for native mobile apps, and lists push notifications and a browser extension. Self-hosted installations support H2, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB; Docker images and downloadable packages include Linux and Windows builds. The public instance costs nothing and allows 1,000 feeds per account, up to 500 entries per feed retained for 365 days. Public feeds are fetched every 10 minutes to 24 hours. Feeds over 5 MB are ignored, and push notifications are disabled on the public instance. Accounts inactive for 30 days do not have feeds refreshed until the user interacts again.
Fluent Reader
Fluent Reader is a free, open-source news aggregator and RSS reader for desktop, built for local, distraction-free reading. Its built-in article view handles RSS full text and can use Mercury Parser to load full text; webpages can also open inside the app or externally. Search spans titles and article contents, with regular expressions available for searches and rules that can mark, hide, or star articles. Subscriptions can be grouped, imported or exported as OPML, and included in backups. Desktop versions are distributed for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It supports Inoreader, Feedbin, and services compatible with Fever or Google Reader API, alongside listed compatibility with services such as FreshRSS, Miniflux, The Old Reader, BazQux Reader, and Tiny Tiny RSS. Fluent Reader Lite offers iOS TestFlight access and Android APK downloads. The project says it does not collect, store, or share personal information. However, a connected RSS service may see activity through its API, and connecting one removes local articles with matching source URLs while retaining rules and preferences.