An RSS feed creator is a tool that generates an XML file containing your latest content, allowing readers to subscribe and receive automatic updates. If your website doesn't have a built-in RSS feed, this type of software is essential for keeping your audience engaged and for monitoring competitors' content without manual checks.
What is an RSS feed creator?
An RSS feed creator is a program that generates an RSS feed for your website or for external websites that lack one. It takes your content, titles, summaries, publication dates, and links, and structures it into an XML file that RSS readers can interpret. This is distinct from an RSS feed reader, which is software that collects and displays feeds from multiple sources. The creator produces the feed; the reader consumes it. Without a creator, a reader has nothing to fetch, so the creator always comes first in the content delivery chain.
Why you need an RSS feed for your website
Having an RSS feed provides three key benefits. First, it automates audience updates: every new post is pushed to subscribers instantly, so you don't rely on visitors returning to your site on their own. Second, it's a reliable alternative to email, unlike newsletters that can land in spam folders, RSS delivers directly to a reader's inbox-like interface, increasing the chance your content gets seen. Third, it enables competitor monitoring: you can generate feeds from competitors' sites to track their publishing trends and stay ahead in your niche.
How to create an RSS feed in 4 steps
Creating an RSS feed is straightforward if you follow these steps:
- Select an RSS feed creator, Choose a tool from the list below. If your CMS doesn't have built-in RSS, you'll need a third-party generator.
- Input the required information, Provide your website's main URL, then enter channel details like title, description, language, and copyright info. Add individual entries with titles, links, and descriptions.
- Save your XML file, The tool will prompt you to save the feed as an XML file (e.g.,
rss.xml). - Upload the XML feed into your website, Upload the file to your web server via FTP or your hosting control panel. The resulting URL (like
yourdomain.com/feed) becomes your permanent RSS link for readers.
12 best RSS feed creators for any website
Here are proven tools for generating RSS feeds, whether for your own site or for scraping feeds from others:
WebRSS
WebRSS lets you create a feed for your website and customize its widget with 170 color options to attract subscribers. It also lets you track external feeds (weather, news, stocks) and convert them into HTML, Java, PHP, or ActionScript formats for easy integration.
Surfing Waves
Surfing Waves is a simple feed creator: paste your URL, customize the widget, and copy-paste the HTML code onto your page. It supports including feeds from other websites, making it easy to curate content for your readers.
RSS Feed Generator
This free, keyword-based tool creates feeds without requiring XML knowledge. It lets you manage external feeds and even sends those feeds to your email, so you can stay updated without opening a reader.
FeedForAll
FeedForAll offers automated scheduling for feed releases, XML validation, and conversion to HTML, CS, or text. It supports iTunes-compatible podcasts and lets you enhance older feeds with advanced properties.
RepeatServer
RepeatServer is a free feed creator and host that supports multiple feeds in various languages (Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Russian). You can publish feeds to local or network drives and validate them with external tools.
Five Filters
Five Filters lets you customize metadata per feed (title, description, copyright, language, publication date) and segregate feeds by topic, so they appear in clusters for easier management.
Feedly
Feedly is a sophisticated feed manager with an AI research assistant called Leo. The premium version adds notes, highlights, automated searches, and Google Alerts. It requires no programming skills.
myRSScreator
myRSScreator helps you create a feed for your channel, add images/audio/photos to posts, and includes a unique "browser feed" button for your homepage. It automatically validates your feeds to ensure they work.
RSS.app
RSS.app creates feeds for your website or for external sites without visible feeds. It lets sponsors control feeds, modify metadata, and set word limits per article. Notifications are sent automatically to readers.
Feed43
Feed43 is a free, open-source tool that generates feeds from websites that don't have them. You input the main URL, sift through article titles, and the tool builds a clean feed for you.
Scrapy
Scrapy is a modern feed creator with design options for widgets and XML validation. It integrates with content management systems like WordPress and Blogger, making it versatile for different setups.
MySiteMapGenerator
MySiteMapGenerator is a sitemap generator that also creates RSS feeds. It collects feeds from up to ten websites at once to stream into your site, and both the generator and feed creator are free.
How to customize your WordPress RSS feed
If you use WordPress, you can enhance your RSS feed with SEO plugins. With Yoast SEO, go to Yoast SEO > Settings > Advanced > RSS to add custom content before and/or after each post. Use variables like %%POSTLINK%% and %%BLOGLINK%% to insert dynamic links, which helps protect against content scraping. Alternatively, Rank Math SEO offers similar customization under Rank Math SEO > General Settings > Others. Rank Math also includes an option to Remove Media Data from RSS feed, which prevents YouTube embeds and other media from being scraped. To limit word count, insert this code snippet into your theme's functions.php file:
function custom_rss_word_count($content) { $content = wp_strip_all_tags($content); $words = explode(' ', $content); if (count($words) > 50) { $words = array_slice($words, 0, 50); $content = implode(' ', $words) . '...'; } return $content;
}
add_filter('the_excerpt_rss', 'custom_rss_word_count');
A note on Google's Feedburner
Google's Feedburner is deprecated, but core feed management features like changing the URL, source feed, title, podcast metadata, and basic analytics still work.
Final thoughts on the best feed creators
The right RSS feed creator depends on your goal: use tools like WebRSS or RSS.app to generate feeds for your own site, or use Feed43 and Scrapy to create feeds from external websites for competitor monitoring. Both approaches keep your audience updated and help you track industry trends. Choose based on whether you need a simple widget or advanced customization, and always validate your XML to ensure smooth delivery.
