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What is RSS Anything?
RSS Anything is a free web tool from Diffbot that turns a page full of links into an RSS or Atom feed. You give it a URL, it returns a feed URL you can subscribe to in any RSS reader.
It targets "old" sites that never offered feeds: link lists, news roundups, blogrolls, archives and similar pages where the main content is a series of links. Instead of checking the page manually, you paste the URL into RSS Anything, copy the generated feed URL, and add it to your reader. New links that appear on the page then show up as feed items.
Practical uses:
- Follow a department or community page that only posts links to announcements.
- Track a "what's new" or press-release index that has no feed.
- Monitor a link-heavy directory or archive page without visiting it daily.
Trade-offs to expect: it works best when the page structure is simple and stable, so heavily scripted or login-protected pages may not convert cleanly. The feed reflects the links on the page, not full article text, so you may still click through to read. If the site redesigns, the generated feed can break and need recreating.
A good next step: pick one page you check repeatedly, run it through RSS Anything, and subscribe to the result for a week to see whether it replaces your manual visits. If you need feeds from many sources or want more control over extraction rules, a dedicated feed-building service such as FetchRSS or RSS.app may suit you better.
How does RSS Anything turn a website into an RSS feed?
RSS Anything is a converter: you give it the URL of a page that contains a list of links, and it returns an RSS or Atom feed URL for that page. The page evidence describes exactly that flow — "Enter a URL / Get Feed URL" — and explains the motivation: turning "any old website with a list of links" into a feed, so someone can follow it in a feed reader instead of checking the site manually.
It does not appear to require the site to publish its own feed, and it is not a general article extractor. Its stated scope is link lists, which is why it suits index-style pages: a news section front, a blogroll, a "what's new" page, a forum board listing, a changelog, or a government notices page that only updates as a list of links.
H3 How the conversion works in practice
- You paste the page URL into RSS Anything.
- The service fetches and parses that page, looking for the links it contains.
- It generates a feed URL you can subscribe to.
- Your feed reader polls that feed URL, and new or changed links appear as feed items.
The practical consequence is that the feed reflects what is on the page at each check, not a hidden archive. If a site removes older links from its list, those items can disappear from the feed too. A reader who needs a permanent record should save or archive items as they arrive rather than assume the feed keeps everything.
H3 Who gets the most out of it
- Feed-reader users who want to follow sites that never offered RSS.
- Researchers or journalists monitoring a frequently updated list of links, such as tender notices or press releases.
- Anyone tracking a small site whose maintainer is unlikely to add a feed.
It is less useful when the target page is JavaScript-heavy, login-protected, or structured as prose rather than links; in those cases there may be little for the converter to find. It is also a third-party dependency: if the service stops working, the feed stops updating, so a reader who depends on it should keep the original page bookmarked.
H3 A concrete decision criterion
Try RSS Anything when the page you want to follow is public, has no feed, and presents updates as a list of links. If the page already offers RSS or Atom, subscribe to the site's own feed instead — it will usually be more complete and more reliable. If the page is a full article stream without a link list, a dedicated feed-building or scraping tool is a better fit.
Can I use RSS Anything for websites that require a login or have dynamic content?
No — RSS Anything is built for public pages that render a static list of links, not for sites behind a login or pages whose content arrives via JavaScript after load.
What it actually does
As the page describes it, the tool takes a URL and returns a feed URL: you enter an address, it converts a page containing a list of links into an RSS or Atom feed. That "list of links" framing is the key constraint. It works best on classic server-rendered index pages — a blog archive, a news section, a changelog, a directory listing — where the links are already present in the HTML the server sends.
Where logins and dynamic content break it
- Login walls: the tool fetches the URL you give it as an anonymous request. There is no place in the interface to supply credentials, session cookies or tokens, so anything past an authentication gate is out of reach. Even a public page that only shows full content to signed-in users will yield whatever the logged-out version contains.
- Dynamic content: if the link list is injected by client-side JavaScript, the initial HTML may be nearly empty. A converter that reads the delivered page rather than executing scripts can end up with few or no items.
- Personalised or infinite-scroll feeds: content that changes per user, or loads only on scroll, won't map cleanly onto a one-shot page fetch.
Practical next step
Test before you commit: paste the target URL, open the generated feed, and check that items appear and update. If it comes back empty or stale, the page is almost certainly script-rendered or gated.
For those cases, look at alternatives with a different mechanism:
| Situation | Better fit |
|---|---|
| Public static list of links | RSS Anything RSS Anything |
| JavaScript-heavy page | A browser-based change-detection or feed builder that executes scripts |
| Login-required content | A self-hosted feed generator running with your own session, or the site's own newsletter/API |
Concrete scenario: you want to follow a small magazine's "latest stories" page. If that page is plain HTML, this tool is a fast, no-setup answer. If the same magazine loads stories with a JavaScript framework, you'll likely need a tool that renders the page in a real browser — or check whether the publication offers its own feed or email digest first.
Is RSS Anything free to use, or does it require a paid plan?
RSS Anything is free to use. The page presents it as a straightforward utility: you enter a URL, and it returns a feed URL, with no pricing page, plan tiers or payment flow mentioned. It's built by Diffbot, and the page's own framing (a note about wanting to read everything in RSS) reads like a small side tool rather than a commercial product.
For practical purposes, treat it as a no-cost converter rather than a service with a free tier that later pushes you to upgrade.
What that means in use
- Best fit: reading a site that publishes a list of links but offers no feed — a news page, a blog index, a changelog, or a community links page.
- What you do: paste the page URL, take the generated feed URL, and add it to your RSS reader.
- The trade-off: automatic conversion depends on the page's structure. Sites that render content with JavaScript, hide links behind logins, or change layout often produce incomplete or broken feeds. A hand-built feed from the publisher is usually more reliable when one exists.
- If you need more control: dedicated feed-building tools such as Feed43 or OpenRSS let you define extraction rules, and RSS.app offers a hosted alternative. Self-hosted readers like FreshRSS can also generate feeds for pages you follow.
Quick decision guide
| Situation | Reasonable choice |
|---|---|
| One-off conversion of a simple links page | RSS Anything |
| Site needs custom extraction rules | A rule-based feed builder |
| You want feeds managed alongside your reading | A reader with built-in feed generation |
Next step: try it on the specific page you care about and open the resulting feed URL in your reader. If the entries look empty or garbled, the page's structure is the likely cause, and a rule-based tool is the better path.
What are the limitations of RSS Anything compared to traditional RSS feed generators?
RSS Anything is a narrow tool: it converts a page that already contains a list of links into an RSS or Atom feed. That makes it useful for sites that never offered a feed, but it also means it behaves differently from a traditional feed generator in several practical ways.
Where it differs
- Scope: It works on pages with a list of links, not on arbitrary content. A traditional generator often extracts full articles, summaries or media enclosures; RSS Anything is aimed at link lists.
- Feed type: It produces RSS or Atom from that list, so the feed reflects the links on the page rather than a publisher-curated stream.
- Maintenance: Because it depends on the page's structure, a redesign or a change in how links are marked up can break the feed. A feed published by the site itself is maintained by the publisher.
- Content fidelity: You get the links and whatever metadata the page exposes, not necessarily clean titles, dates, authors or full text. Traditional generators often include more of that metadata because they parse article pages or use site-provided feeds.
- Freshness and completeness: The feed is only as current and complete as the page it reads. If the page paginates, hides older links or loads them with JavaScript, the feed may miss items that a native feed would include.
A concrete use case
Suppose a local government office publishes meeting notices as a plain HTML page of PDF links. There is no feed and no CMS. RSS Anything can turn that page into a feed you subscribe to in your reader. The trade-off is that you are subscribing to a link list, not to a polished news feed: if the office reorganizes the page, your feed may go quiet until the tool can read the new structure.
How to decide
Use RSS Anything when the source is a stable, server-rendered list of links and no official feed exists. Prefer a traditional feed generator or the site's own feed when you need article text, reliable dates, or a feed that survives site redesigns. If the page is JavaScript-heavy or paginated, test it first and expect gaps.
How do I subscribe to the generated RSS feed in my feed reader?
Once RSS Anything has produced a feed URL for the page you submitted, subscribing works like any other RSS feed. The tool itself does not manage subscriptions; it just gives you the feed URL, and your reader handles the rest.
The basic steps
- Copy the generated feed URL from RSS Anything.
- Open your feed reader and find its "Add subscription," "Add feed," or "Follow" option.
- Paste the URL where the reader asks for a feed address, rather than the original website address.
- Confirm, then give the reader a moment to fetch the items.
If your reader has a browser extension or share sheet, you can often open the generated feed URL directly in the browser and let the extension detect it. Some readers also accept a pasted URL on their web dashboard and will look up the feed automatically.
Common snags
- Pasting the original site URL instead of the feed URL. The original page may not advertise a feed, which is the whole reason you generated one. Use the URL RSS Anything returned.
- The reader shows nothing. Some readers cache aggressively or need a manual refresh. Wait a few minutes and refresh the feed before assuming it failed.
- Duplicate items. If you subscribe to both the generated feed and an existing feed for the same site, you may see the same links twice. Pick one.
- Feed stops updating. Generated feeds depend on the source page still having a recognizable list of links. If the site is redesigned or the list moves, the feed can go quiet.
Choosing where to subscribe
| Reader type | Good fit when | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop or web reader | You read feeds on a computer and want folders, search and keyboard shortcuts | Less convenient for quick phone reading |
| Mobile reader app | You mostly catch up on a phone | Setup and full-text reading may be more limited |
| Self-hosted reader | You want your subscriptions and read state under your own control | You handle hosting, updates and backups |
| Email-based feed service | You already live in your inbox | Feeds arrive mixed into email rather than a dedicated reading view |
For a concrete example: suppose an old research group page lists new papers only as plain links. You generate a feed from it, paste that URL into a desktop reader, and file it in a "Research" folder. Each morning you skim the folder instead of remembering to check the page.
A useful next step: subscribe first in whichever reader you already open daily. If you are unsure, try one feed in two readers for a week, compare how each handles full text and read state, then keep the one you actually return to.
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