Folo vs FreshRSS
Folo and FreshRSS are both RSS reader software. Folo is open source under AGPL-3.0, with 39k GitHub stars. FreshRSS is open source under AGPL-3.0, with 16k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick Folo when
- You want a modern feed reader that also pulls in sites without native RSS and offers AI summaries.
- Pick FreshRSS when
- You want your own feed server that syncs read state across phone and desktop apps, on cheap PHP hosting.
Side by side
An RSS reader for web, desktop and mobile that follows feeds, RSSHub routes and social sources, with AI summaries and translation.
A self-hosted RSS and Atom aggregator in PHP with multi-user support, WebSub, extensions and APIs that mobile reader apps can sync with.
Tied to the Folo cloud service for sync and AI features, and AGPL licensed.
You run and update the server yourself, and the default UI looks dated.
Usable
Production-ready
Cloud service, desktop app and mobile app
Self-hosted server
TypeScript, React, Swift and Vite
PHP, SQLite, PostgreSQL and MySQL
Open source, AGPL-3.0 (network copyleft) (both)
Use inside your business is unrestricted. If you change it and let customers use it over the internet, you must publish your changes. (both)
39k GitHub stars
16k GitHub stars
Established: started 2 years ago, latest release desktop/v1.17.0.
Established: started 14 years ago, latest release 1.30.4.
Other comparisons
More RSS readers
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from each project's README and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.