RSS is dying. I am still using it

Although I’ve spent several years browsing the internet, I actually got into it a bit later than most people my age. It was only about three years ago that I started noticing certain buttons—usually found in the footer or placed in social sections of websites. These buttons are usually labeled “RSS” or “Feed”—which you can also find on this site. But what exactly are these buttons?

Back when I first saw these buttons, there was nothing about them that seemed interesting or understandable for non-technical people. When clicked, the browser would open a page full of characters that looked like a summary of the content I had just seen on the actual site. Why would I need to read an article I just read, but in this format?

Fast forward a few years later, after doing some more internet browsing and searching for apps with the keyword “RSS” in the app store, I finally understood what RSS was all about. It’s actually a standardized web format used to publish frequently updated information—like blogs, news articles, podcasts, and so on. RSS is a standard that websites and podcasts can use to offer a feed of their content to users, something that many computer programs can understand.

However, despite its usefulness, RSS has become somewhat obscure today. For example, after Google shut down Google Reader in 2013, many users moved on to social media or newsletters. Interest in RSS has declined ever since, as you can see in this Google Trends chart.

I’m familiar with technologies like newsletters, which—being from a generation that grew up during the transitional tech era—are easy to understand. Newsletters are like newspapers or magazines that my family used to subscribe to. The concept is just made digital—rather than receiving a newspaper in the mailbox, we receive a newsletter in our email inbox. This analogy is similar to what RSS actually is, although the concept is slightly different.

Once I understood what RSS actually is, I started comparing it with something I was already familiar with—email newsletters.

Newsletter or RSS?

In this section, I’ll highlight a few differences between newsletters and RSS. I use both, but for different purposes.

I pay a lot of attention to privacy. Because of this, I don’t casually share my personal email with others or organizations. I’ve experienced moments when my Gmail inbox was bombarded with emails from sources I didn’t remember subscribing to. RSS doesn’t require us to give our email to anyone. Instead, we subscribe to the RSS feed and are ready to receive updates when the content of that feed is updated. Indeed, this requires very little technical knowledge. I’ll mention some apps or software I use and recommend for doing this later.

On the other hand, newsletters behave like typical emails. They come into your inbox and can easily get buried or overwhelmed by other emails. For instance, if you have a long list of newsletters, and you also receive emails from your coworkers, or updates from services you use (like password resets, invoices, etc.), it’s possible that you won’t immediately notice an email from, say, The “Foo” newsletter because it’s been buried under other emails. You might also receive an email from a coworker but not realize it right away. Here, the problem is evident. There’s a chance the emails you care about get lost. You don’t have control over what you see and when.

RSS doesn’t work like that. You know the content of articles from the websites you care about. You know what you’ve subscribed to and (in some apps) you can organize everything into multiple folders. Maybe you only care about “what new articles have been posted on this site,” but you don’t have much time to visit the site and wonder, “Did I already read this?”

But despite all the advantages of RSS I mentioned, there are also advantages to newsletters. Newsletters are easy to subscribe to and are great for curated editorial content. Newsletters are also interactive—you can reply, forward, or engage with the writer easily.

Feature RSS Newsletter
Privacy ✅ Private, no tracking ❌ Often includes tracking (opens, clicks)
Real-time updates ✅ Instant or near-instant ❌ Scheduled, may have delays
Inbox clutter ✅ Separate from email ❌ Can clutter inbox
Organization ✅ Readers support folders/tags ❌ Little to no built-in organization
Platform independence ✅ OPML export/import supported ❌ Often locked to email provider or platform
Requires email ❌ No email needed ✅ Requires email
Setup complexity ❌ Requires finding & configuring a reader ✅ Just enter your email
Curation & editorial input ❌ Usually raw article content ✅ Often curated or includes personal notes
Interactivity ❌ Limited ✅ Can reply, forward, or engage

Based on my experience using both, I’ve come up with a few personal rules that help me decide which one to use for different situations.

When to use RSS vs Newsletter

I use both. I receive newsletters from creators, and I also have a list of bloggers whose articles I want to read. With what I’ve mentioned above, I have a few considerations I’ve set for myself when choosing whether to use newsletters or RSS:

  • Do I absolutely need the latest updates from this site right away?
  • Is the author an individual creator and not an organization with lots of ads or marketing campaigns?
  • Am I okay with giving my email to someone or an organization?
  • Is the frequency of the newsletter rare?
  • Is my inbox not too crowded, and will the newsletter not bury other important emails?

If all those answers are “yes,” then I’ll choose a newsletter. Otherwise, I’ll go for RSS.

If you’re curious to try RSS yourself, here are some tools I personally use and recommend.

RSS software I recommend

Screenshot of NetNewsWire app showing a feed from Brad Frost's blog
How my NetNewsWire looks like, using Flexoki theme.

Here are some software I recommend for managing your RSS feeds:

  • NetNewsWire– I use it on my Mac and iOS devices.
  • Twine– I use it on my Android device.
  • Thunderbird– Mail, calendar, and RSS client from Mozilla.
  • Fiery Feeds– Mac, iOS, and iPadOS RSS reader.
  • Feeder– Free to use and runs locally on your device.
  • FeedMe– Simple and full-featured offline RSS reader.

You can also check out other recommendations in this GitHub Gist.


If you’ve never tried RSS, give it a shot using one of the apps above—and let me know how it goes! You can also subscribe to this site’s RSS feed.

RSS may not be mainstream anymore, but for those who value simplicity, control, and privacy, it’s still a gem.