head to head · open source
glance vs RedReader
glance has 37,086 GitHub stars, 1,463 forks, 318 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. RedReader has 2,661 stars, 526 forks, 457 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. glance leads on adoption by 1,294% (37,086 vs 2,661 stars). glance is written in Go under AGPL-3.0; RedReader is written in Java under GPL-3.0. glance has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, RedReader 20%. RedReader was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (reddit), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| glance | RedReader | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-05 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 526 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick glance if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick RedReader if
- You want the RedReader feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and RedReader fits your workflow better
About glance
Glance is a self hosted dashboard application written in Go and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It gathers feeds and status information from many sources into a single customizable page, so that a user can read news, follow channels and watch server health from one interface instead of opening a separate tab or application for each source. It lives in the self hosted and homelab ecosystem, alongside other Docker packaged services that users run on their own hardware. The project has been on GitHub for about two years, holds roughly 37,000 stars and 1,454 forks, and its topic list places it among aggregators,…
read the full glance overview →
About RedReader
RedReader is an unofficial open source Android application for Reddit, listed under Community & Social / Social Networking. The project is written in Java and released under the GPL 3.0 license. It lives in the Android ecosystem and targets Reddit, with topics that include android, android app, android application, and reddit.
read the full RedReader overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is glance or RedReader more popular?
glance has 37,086 GitHub stars and RedReader has 2,661. glance has the larger community by that measure.
Are glance and RedReader free?
Both are open source. glance is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and RedReader under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between glance and RedReader?
glance is written in Go and RedReader in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, glance or RedReader?
Choose glance if you want the larger community (37,086 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose RedReader if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.