Subscribing to blogs / RSS feeds via email is one of those questions I’ve run into a bunch of times over the years. I’ve ended up trying a handful of email subscription tools over the years to follow my favorite blogs (or even my own) and have seen a many tools come and go.
I had been using two different RSS-to-email tools recently and was frustrated at my inability to find more, so I figure I’d at least document what I’ve found and then add to it as I find more or better ways to follow blogs via email.
1) Feedrabbit
Feedrabbit so far is probably my favorite. Email alerts for new blog posts are clean, show the category the post came from, and include a link to the main blog as well. There are paid options for this rss-to-email service but I’ve found the free does plenty for my needs. Alerts usually come within an hour or two of posts being published and include the title, date, and a snippet from the original post.
That said, I’ve heard reports of Feedrabbit being really slow lately. So if you are trying to subscribe to a feed with their service and seeing things hang for a long time, have no fear, there are other RSS-to-email options out there.
2) Blogtrottr
Blogtrottr has a name that’s a little confusing to spell but the service is solid. While there are paid plans, the free plan does everything I hoped simply and easily. That said, it does include ads which clutters up things quite a bit considering the actual reference to the new post is buried halfway down the email. I totally get the need to cover email / server costs with some ads, but it does feel a little over the top for a simple blog post alert email especially given there’s no real effort to push me toward a paid plan which makes me think that RSS-to-email services are tough to monetize with users paying directly.
That said, it alerts me via email every time a new post is published on my favorite blogs so there’s not really anything to complain about.
3) FeedMail
FeedMail is a newer blog-to-email alert service, but I’ve been impressed. The timing hasn’t been quite as consistent as the first two but as you can see the email contents are clean, to the point, and include a the same snippet of the contents like some of the others do. All things considered, I think I’ll use this feed alert email service more in the future. FeedMail gives you 400 free credits and then charges a small fee to reload credits one those run out.
How many credits is 400? Let me put it this way, I’ve been receiving RSS-to-email alerts via FeedMail for over a year and I still have 300+ credits left. Unless you follow blogs or creators that post really frequently, you’ll find these email alert credits go a long way.
4) RSS by Email
RSS by Email is hands down the simplest and, honestly, easiest RSS-to-email service I’ve tried. The reason for the simplicity comes from the fact that there is no interface or login required. You simply send an email with the URL of the feed you want to follow via email to add@rss.email and a few seconds late you get a confirmation that you’re subscribed. If you want to unsubscribe, the address is unsubscribe@rssby.email (once again including the URL of the feed in the body of the email). It’s free, doesn’t have ads, and the easy of use makes it an RSS-to-email tool I plan to use more going forward.
Quick update on this one, I’ve started to use this one more and more. It’s just so simple to subscribe to RSS feeds without having to leave your inbox. That said, I sometimes forget which address to use to subscribe even though it’s pretty simple. Maybe a reminder at the bottom of these alerts would be helpful for folks like me.
Four Ways to Solve the RSS-to-Email Challenge
There are other tools out there, but those are the four that I’ve used the most and found the simplest and most effective. Have a favorite you’d like me to add? Just shoot me an email and I’ll give that tool and look and see if it’d be a good one to include on this list.
By the way, I grabbed the screenshots for all of these emails with my new email screenshot generator tool. Even though this is a pretty short post, it made it a lot easier to put together.
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