Fetching, parsing and storing many feeds turns the periodic update job into the meaningful workload, especially when remote sites respond slowly.
Heavy information-monitoring users.FreshRSS Hardware Requirements: RAM, Database & Feed Updates
Learn FreshRSS PHP, database, feed-update, storage and large-feed requirements, then choose suitable ZimaOS hardware.
FreshRSS requirements at a glance
FreshRSS upstream says its requirements are 'really low' and that it can run on shared hosting or an old computer, but it does not publish a numerical CPU or RAM minimum. Current recommended software is Apache 2.4, PHP 8.1+ and PostgreSQL 10+; SQLite, MariaDB 10.6+ and MySQL 8.0+ are also supported. Feed/article count, update jobs, scraping and database choice drive scaling.
- CPU
- No numerical official minimum. Normal reading is light; feed fetching, XPath scraping and large refresh jobs create the main CPU/network bursts.
- RAM
- No numerical official minimum. FreshRSS is explicitly designed to be lightweight, but large databases and many simultaneous update jobs need more headroom.
- PHP
- PHP 8.1+ is the current recommended version.
- Database
- PostgreSQL 10+ recommended; SQLite, MariaDB 10.6+ and MySQL 8.0+ are also supported.
- Feed updates
- Automatic updates use actualize_script.php; official docs say a particular feed will not be updated more often than roughly every 20 minutes through that mechanism.
- Best Zima starting point
- ZimaBoard 2 832 is enormous headroom for normal FreshRSS. Larger Zima tiers only make sense for many co-hosted apps, very large databases or broader storage needs.
From official requirements to the right setup
FreshRSS sizing starts with feeds/articles/users and update behavior.
-
Official requirements
Choose a supported database. SQLite is simple for a small deployment; PostgreSQL, MariaDB or MySQL can be appropriate when the database is managed separately or the deployment grows.
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Confirm your needs
Estimate feed count, retention and users. More articles increase database size/search work while multiple users multiply unread/state data.
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Leave room to grow
Configure feed updates responsibly. FreshRSS uses actualize_script.php for scheduled updates and discourages overly frequent polling of remote feeds.
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Run it on ZimaOS
Install FreshRSS from ZimaOS, import the real OPML set, run scheduled refreshes and monitor database size/update duration before considering larger hardware.
Check every playback client
- Feed count
- Article retention/history
- Number of users
- PHP 8.1+
- SQLite versus PostgreSQL/MariaDB/MySQL
- Cron/actualize schedule
- XPath/full-text scraping
- Database and data backups
Official minimum requirements
FreshRSS does not publish numerical host RAM/CPU minimums, but its current Server Requirements page clearly documents supported software.
Do not invent a 128/256/512 MB FreshRSS minimum. Upstream only states that requirements are very low and focuses on PHP/database compatibility.
| Requirement | Official minimum | What this supports |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | No numerical minimum published | FreshRSS says requirements are very low. |
| RAM | No numerical minimum published | No host-memory floor is documented. |
| Web server | Apache 2.4 recommended | nginx and lighttpd also work. |
| PHP | PHP 8.1+ recommended | Current stable requirement guidance. |
| Database | PostgreSQL 10+ recommended | SQLite, MariaDB 10.6+ and MySQL 8.0+ also supported. |
| GPU | Not required | FreshRSS is a PHP/database/network workload. |
When to upgrade your hardware
Upgrade FreshRSS when update/database workload—not the reading UI—becomes measurably slow.
Hundreds or thousands of feeds create long refresh cycles
XPath/full-text scraping increases per-feed work
A large multi-user article history stresses the database
FreshRSS can scrape websites that do not provide complete feed content; this adds HTTP parsing/extraction compared with simple RSS ingestion.
Users relying on full-text extraction or scraped feeds.Long retention and many users can make database/search performance more important than PHP process memory.
Teams or long-lived archives.Plan hardware growth with confidence
Scale FreshRSS primarily through database/update configuration and retention discipline.
Use SQLite for simple deployments
SQLite is officially supported and keeps a small single-host FreshRSS deployment operationally simple.
Keep ./data on reliable local persistent storage.Move to PostgreSQL/MariaDB/MySQL when database operations justify it
FreshRSS officially supports external databases and provides backup/migration tooling.
Size and back up the database service separately.Avoid wastefully frequent polling
Official feed-update docs explain that individual feeds are not refreshed more often than about every 20 minutes via the scheduled updater.
More CPU does not make remote publishers allow aggressive polling.Back up data and external databases correctly
FreshRSS requires ./data backups; external MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL databases need their own backup path, while SQLite is included under data.
Use separate backup storage and test restoration.Can it run on ZimaOS?
FreshRSS is currently available in the ZimaOS App Store under Productivity.
Install FreshRSS from ZimaOS
Use the packaged RSS/Atom aggregator and persist application/database data.
Open FreshRSS in the ZimaOS App StoreUse current PHP/database requirements
FreshRSS currently recommends PHP 8.1+ and PostgreSQL 10+, with SQLite, MariaDB 10.6+ and MySQL 8.0+ also supported.
Read FreshRSS server requirementsSchedule feed updates instead of relying on manual refresh
FreshRSS documents actualize_script.php and cron/systemd approaches for automatic feed updating.
Read FreshRSS automatic feed updatesChoose Zima hardware for FreshRSS
FreshRSS is deliberately lightweight; almost every current Zima server exceeds its typical needs by a large margin.
Is FreshRSS a personal feed reader or part of a larger self-hosted information server?
Personal/family FreshRSS
ZimaBoard 2 832 provides huge headroom for FreshRSS and its database.
- Normal FreshRSS hostZimaBoard 2 832
- More productivity apps / larger databaseZimaBoard 2 1664
Large self-hosted information/archive stack
Use ZimaCube only when other storage/database/archive workloads justify it.
- Integrated app/database/backup serverZimaCube 2 Standard
No fixed feed count, users or update-duration guarantee is implied. Remote site latency, scraping rules, article retention, database choice and update schedule all matter.
| Zima hardware | Best for | Example workload | Core configuration | Recommended boundary | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZimaBoard 2 832 | A personal or family FreshRSS deployment. | Hundreds of feeds, scheduled refreshes and normal article history. |
|
FreshRSS is unlikely to exhaust this hardware; database/update configuration matters more. | Get Now |
| ZimaBoard 2 1664 | FreshRSS plus more productivity/database apps. | More users, longer retention and larger shared container stack. |
|
16 GB is whole-server headroom, not a FreshRSS requirement. | Get Now |
| ZimaCube 2 Standard | A larger self-hosted information/archive server that also runs FreshRSS. | FreshRSS plus database, backups and other storage-heavy applications. |
|
Choose it for the surrounding storage/application stack. | Get Now |
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Frequently asked questions
FAQ topics follow query fan-out around RAM, Raspberry Pi/old PC use, SQLite versus PostgreSQL, feed refresh frequency, large feed counts and backups. Community discussion is used to identify performance concerns, while official docs define requirements.
How much RAM does FreshRSS need?
FreshRSS does not publish a numerical RAM minimum. Its official docs say requirements are very low and it should run on shared hosting or an old computer.
Can FreshRSS run on a Raspberry Pi or low-power NAS?
Yes in practice on supported PHP/container platforms. FreshRSS is intentionally lightweight, so feed/database scale matters more than raw CPU class.
Should FreshRSS use SQLite or PostgreSQL?
Both are officially supported. SQLite is simple for a small single-host setup, while PostgreSQL is the current recommended database and can be useful for larger/managed deployments.
How often should FreshRSS update feeds?
Automatic updates use actualize_script.php. Official admin docs say a particular feed will not be updated more often than about every 20 minutes through that updater.
Why does FreshRSS get slow with many feeds?
Large update cycles involve network fetching, XML/HTML parsing, database inserts and potentially XPath/full-text scraping; the bottleneck may be remote sites or database work rather than CPU alone.
Does FreshRSS need an external database?
No. SQLite is supported. PostgreSQL, MariaDB and MySQL are alternatives when you deliberately want an external database.
Can ZimaBoard 2 832 run FreshRSS?
Easily. Its N150 and 8 GB RAM provide far more compute/memory than normal FreshRSS requires.
How should FreshRSS be backed up?
Official docs require backing up ./data; external MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL must also be backed up separately. FreshRSS provides database export/restore tools.
What sources and further reading informed this FreshRSS hardware guide?
FreshRSS' official Server Requirements, Feed Updates and Backup pages define its low-resource positioning, PHP/database compatibility, update scheduling and recovery model. Reddit discussions were used for large-feed/database performance fan-out, while ZimaOS confirms the current Productivity app.
