# I built a self-hosted RSS reader with TTS + AI podcasts — here's how it stacks up against FreshRSS and Miniflux 🎧

> Source: <https://dev.to/blacksheeppy123/i-built-a-self-hosted-rss-reader-with-tts-ai-podcasts-heres-how-it-stacks-up-against-freshrss-j3j>
> Published: 2026-11-11 06:38:32+00:00

I'll be honest: I paid for Readwise for years and loved the reading experience. So when I started building my own reader, I borrowed its homework — the desktop layout uses Readwise-style typography and reading flow as the reference point. Then I got TTS and AI podcasts working, and quietly cancelled my subscription. Oops 😄

This is **Readaria**, an AGPLv3-licensed RSS reader. There's a hosted version, but this post is about the self-hosted one. Everything runs from a single `docker compose up -d`.

|  | Readaria | FreshRSS | Miniflux | 
|---|---|---|---|
| TTS / listen | ✅ server-side, multi-provider | ❌ | ❌ | 
| AI podcast from feeds | ✅ scheduled or on-demand | ❌ | ❌ | 
| AI summaries / Q&A | ✅ BYOK | ❌ | ❌ | 
| Reading experience | Readwise-inspired desktop layout | classic web UI | minimal UI | 
| Mobile | installable PWA | PWA / third-party apps | third-party apps | 
| Self-host | one-command Docker | Docker | single binary / Docker | 
| License | AGPLv3 | AGPLv3 | Apache 2.0 | 

FreshRSS and Miniflux are excellent at what they do — this is not a takedown. Readaria is for a specific situation I kept hitting: my reading backlog had quietly become a *listening* backlog.

My daily drive is 2–3 hours, and I wanted that time back — to catch up on news and on the authors I follow. Readwise and Instapaper are great at saving articles, but none of the tools I tried would turn followed authors' new posts into a playlist, let alone a podcast that *discusses* them. So I built it.

If any of this sounds like you — the commute, the dog walk, the "I'll read it later" pile that mostly delivers guilt and eye strain — that's exactly the use case. (Unexpected side effect: it genuinely helps with my ADHD. A queue I can listen to is a queue I actually finish.)

```
git clone https://github.com/Blacksheeppy123/readaria.git
cd readaria
cp .env.example .env
# set a database password and strong SECRET_KEY / JWT_SECRET_KEY values
docker compose up -d
```

Prefer to try before self-hosting? [https://demo.readaria.com](https://demo.readaria.com) has pre-generated podcasts and doesn't require signup to browse.

Issues and PRs welcome. Things I'm chewing on: better podcast script control, more TTS providers, and an API surface so agent tooling can subscribe and listen on your behalf.