Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Fraidycat VS Miniflux

Compare Fraidycat VS Miniflux and see what are their differences

Fraidycat logo Fraidycat

A desktop app or browser extension for Firefox or Chrome. You can use it to follow people (hundreds) on whatever platform they choose - Twitter, a blog, YouTube, even on a public TiddlyWiki

Miniflux logo Miniflux

Miniflux is a minimalist web-based RSS reader. It's very easy to use.
  • Fraidycat Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-11
  • Miniflux Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-11

Fraidycat features and specs

  • Simplified Subscription Management
    Fraidycat provides an easy way to manage various content streams from different platforms in a single interface, eliminating the need to check multiple apps or websites.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    It works as a browser extension across major browsers, ensuring users can access it on any system that supports these browsers.
  • Minimalistic Design
    The interface is clean and minimalistic, helping users focus on content rather than getting distracted by excessive UI elements.
  • Categorization
    Allows users to categorize feeds by priority or interest, helping them to quickly access important updates.
  • Privacy-Conscious
    Fraidycat operates on the client-side without storing user data on external servers, thus ensuring greater privacy.

Possible disadvantages of Fraidycat

  • Limited Interaction
    Fraidycat only supports reading and does not allow interaction with content, such as liking or commenting, which can limit user engagement.
  • Learning Curve
    New users might find the unique approach to feed management and the interface slightly confusing at first, requiring some adjustment.
  • Feature Limitations
    While it covers many basic needs, it lacks some advanced features found in other feed aggregators like filters or keyword alerts.
  • Dependency on Browser
    As a browser extension, its functionality is limited to supported browsers, and it may not work as seamlessly in alternative web environments.
  • Manual Updates
    Users may need to manually refresh or check updates for some feeds, as it doesn’t always automatically refresh in real-time.

Miniflux features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Miniflux is designed to be a minimalistic and lightweight RSS reader, which ensures fast performance and low resource consumption.
  • Self-hosted
    Users have the option to self-host Miniflux, providing full control over their data and the ability to customize the setup as needed.
  • Privacy Focused
    By self-hosting and using a minimalistic design, Miniflux offers a high level of privacy compared to third-party services that may collect user data.
  • Open-source
    Miniflux is open-source software, allowing users to inspect the code, contribute to its development, and verify there are no hidden security issues.
  • Supports Multiple Formats
    Miniflux supports various feed formats including RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds, making it versatile for different content sources.
  • Responsive Design
    The web interface is optimized for both desktop and mobile devices, ensuring a pleasant user experience across different platforms.

Possible disadvantages of Miniflux

  • Requires Technical Knowledge
    Self-hosting Miniflux may require a certain level of technical skill, particularly in setting up a server environment and managing updates.
  • Basic Feature Set
    While its minimalism is an advantage for some, it might be considered too basic for users seeking more advanced features like complex filtering or integrations.
  • Self-Hosting Costs
    Although the software itself is free, there could be associated costs with self-hosting, such as server hosting fees and domain registration.
  • Limited Community
    As a niche, minimalistic tool, Miniflux has a smaller user community, which might result in fewer available third-party plugins, community guides, or peer support.
  • No Native Apps
    Miniflux does not offer native applications for mobile devices, relying on its responsive web interface instead, which might not satisfy users looking for dedicated apps.

Fraidycat videos

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Miniflux videos

Tiny Tiny RSS vs Miniflux

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Fraidycat and Miniflux)
RSS Reader
26 26%
74% 74
RSS
17 17%
83% 83
RSS Client
100 100%
0% 0
News & Books
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Fraidycat and Miniflux

Fraidycat Reviews

  1. Stan
    · Founder at SaaSHub ·
    A great way to follow RSS

    I was looking for something like this for quite some time. I've been using Fraidycat for about 2 months now. It's very simple and easy to use. I love the you can organize your feeds by simple "emoji" tags. Also, the idea of setting an importance/frequency level per feed is great.

    If only more websites had RSS feeds...

    🏁 Competitors: Feedly, The Old Reader
    👍 Pros:    Simple|Unique

Miniflux Reviews

We have no reviews of Miniflux yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Miniflux should be more popular than Fraidycat. It has been mentiond 52 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Fraidycat mentions (30)

  • Reading RSS content is a skilled activity
    There are a couple readers that avoid that by providing a calmer experience without a firehose and without background fetching. https://blogcat.org (I made this one) https://fraidyc.at (this is the inspiration for many calm readers) https://cblgh.itch.io/rad-reader (multiplatform and super calm). - Source: Hacker News / 4 days ago
  • Show HN: Artemis, a Calm Web Reader
    For reference, and not implying it's better or worse than your work OP, I've pleasantly used Fraidycat (https://fraidyc.at/) in the past. It's a webextension, so completely local, and also incorporates the idea of having a "calmer" experience: no infinite list of links to check, different update rates, ... I love your philosophy page, OP ! (https://jamesg.blog/2024/11/30/designing-a-calm-web-reader/). - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Did rachelbythebay.com block my IP address because of my feed reader?
    I'm using Fraidycat (https://fraidyc.at/) which I enjoy a lot, but given her recent crusade against feed readers, I suspect that that's the reason that my IP address got blocked or so. (At least, that's what my ISP is leading me to believe because there is no issue on their end). Anyone else out there on the blacklist? - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • MeTube: Self-Hosted YouTube Downloader
    There's the fraidycat extension that I use to do exactly that: https://fraidyc.at/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds
    I went years without consuming RSS until I discovered Fraidy Cat[1] here at Hacker News. 1. https://fraidyc.at. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
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Miniflux mentions (52)

  • Reading RSS content is a skilled activity
    My problem with RSS is that I tend to subscribe to too many things and then it's too much. Also I wanted a solution that was free or self hosted, but I realized it's much better if someone manages the complexity for me, so I just ended up going with the paid hosting for miniflux (https://miniflux.app/). Now I've just subscribed to a few things I care about, I open the website from time to time, quickly mark as... - Source: Hacker News / 4 days ago
  • Small Tech
    I'll add miniflux to the list. It's been my RSD aggregator for like 5~ years now: https://miniflux.app/. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Ask HN: Which RSS reader do you use?
    Self-hosted Miniflux, https://miniflux.app/ Super minimal, I have MANY feeds, and it just does the thing very well. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Ask HN: Which RSS reader do you use?
    Self-hosted Miniflux, and ReadKit on my Apple devices to access it. https://miniflux.app. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Convert Markdown files to RSS feed
    I have some like this http://rec.mro.name/podcasts/zuendfunk/broadcasts.atom (and .rss, too) which plays the audio nicely e.g. In https://miniflux.app but I remember having trouble with iTunes on MacOS and the Apple podcast iOS app. But his is mostly try-and-error and merely no specs. Apple doesn't talk about atom AFAIK. Racket is interesting, I'm into Ocaml, but create those feeds via... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Fraidycat and Miniflux, you can also consider the following products

Feedly - The content you need to accelerate your research, marketing, and sales.

Tiny Tiny RSS - Web-based news feed aggregator, designed to allow you to read news from any location, while feeling...

1Feed - 1Feed is your quiet place on the internet, where you can focus on the people and content you care about.

Lenns.io - The feed reader for people that want to be in control

BazQux Reader - Fast, clean and unique feed reader

Inoreader - Dive into your favorite content. The content reader for power users who want to save time.