When comparing NewsBlur vs Tiny Tiny RSS, the Slant community recommends Tiny Tiny RSS for most people. In the question“What are the best news readers?” Tiny Tiny RSS is ranked 3rd while NewsBlur is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose Tiny Tiny RSS is:
The main way to customize Tiny Tiny RSS is via functionality plugins. Some come with the basic installation, but many additional ones are available from third parties. Users can also change the way information is shown, create themes or skins using CSS or download ones created by the community. All this is possible because Tiny Tiny RSS is open-source--anyone can create modifications for it and publicly share them. You just have to look out for possible bugs and security issues with user-made content.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Recommended articles that improves over time
NewsBlur has a discovery algorithm that users can "train" to show stories they are interested in and hide ones they don't care about.
Pro Keyboard shortcuts for fast navigation
By default arrow keys and spacebar are used to quickly navigate stories, but they can be rebound for premium accounts.
Pro Multiple layout & style options
NewsBlur allows users to customize the font size, line spacing, story layout, and type faces.
Pro Fast to use
Very fast to navigate around the UI and load articles.
Pro View content the way it is originally displayed
NewsBlur offers an option of reading articles just like they are displayed on the original site.
Pro Organize feeds into folders
Feeds can be grouped into folders for easier management and to allow users to separate feeds for work, comics, research, etc.
Pro Share stories with comments
Burblog is a simple, customizable website for sharing stories with comments that people can subscribe to.
Pro Aggregates email newsletters
You can forward email newsletters to a user-specific email address to have them aggregated in your feed reader along with your RSS content.
Pro Free / Libre software
NewsBlur is FOSS, so it can be freely modified & redistributed.
Pro Freemium service
Free version has a limit of 64 sites. Upgrading to unlimited sites costs $1/month.
Pro Highly customizable via plugins
The main way to customize Tiny Tiny RSS is via functionality plugins. Some come with the basic installation, but many additional ones are available from third parties. Users can also change the way information is shown, create themes or skins using CSS or download ones created by the community. All this is possible because Tiny Tiny RSS is open-source--anyone can create modifications for it and publicly share them. You just have to look out for possible bugs and security issues with user-made content.
Pro Full control of the service
Since this reader is open-source and self-hosted, users can have full control of the service and its data when used on a private server. This means they don’t need to rely on a third party service that can be discontinued anytime. It also ensures the cost for using the reader will not increase and it protects user privacy by not giving up personal data.
Pro Multiple users per installation
One instance of Tiny Tiny RSS can be used by as many people as necessary.
Pro Organize by tags and labels
Browse and organize feeds and posts by tags and labels.
Pro Android client available
An Android app is available on the Google Play store.
Pro Integrates with a media center
Feeds can be viewed on a TV or dedicated media box.
Pro E-mail digest
Users can request an e-mail to be sent at a set interval with news posts.
Cons
Con Freemium
This service is free, but can cost up to $24 per year for premium users.
Con Can't have unread items older than a 14 days/month
This is a premium feature.
Con Has to be set up manually, tech-savviness and patience required
Using Tiny Tiny RSS is not as simple as creating an account on another service. Merely completing the installation procedure will take at least a few hours.
Main requirements include a physical server or a web host supporting PHP and MySQL. The know-how’s also needed, but there are several guides online that explain all the steps quite well. Anyone familiar with computers, even not being an expert, who is willing to spend some hours reading and learning should be able to set up this software.