RSS Feed for a Newsletter: Email-to-RSS Without Custom Code

Most newsletter platforms expose an RSS feed for free — you just have to know the URL pattern. Substack, Beehiiv, Ghost, and Mailchimp all do this. Here’s how to find the feed for the most common platforms, plus the workaround for the few that don’t expose one.

Substack

https://yourname.substack.com/feed

Append /feed to any Substack URL. Works for free and paid newsletters (paid posts in the feed link to the paywall page).

For specific publications under a custom domain:

https://customdomain.com/feed

Beehiiv

https://yourname.beehiiv.com/feed

Same pattern. Custom-domain Beehiiv newsletters expose the same path.

Ghost

https://yourdomain.com/rss/

Ghost auto-generates an RSS feed at /rss/ for every site. Most Ghost sites have it linked in the footer too.

Mailchimp Campaign Archive

Mailchimp’s archive feature exposes an RSS feed:

https://us1.campaign-archive.com/feed?u=USER_ID&id=LIST_ID

The user and list IDs are in your Mailchimp dashboard under Audience → Settings → Public settings.

ConvertKit / Kit

No public RSS feed. Workaround: enable “RSS to Email” in reverse — use Kill the Newsletter (free, below) or pipe via Zapier.

Buttondown

https://buttondown.com/yourname/rss

Revue (deprecated, but legacy)

Revue shut down in 2023. If you find an old Revue link, the RSS no longer works.

Newsletters that don’t expose RSS: workarounds

Kill the Newsletter

kill-the-newsletter.com gives you a unique email address. Subscribe to the newsletter with that email. Kill the Newsletter generates an RSS feed from incoming emails. Free, dead simple.

Feedrabbit

Reverse: turns RSS into email. Useful when you want a daily email digest of an RSS source. Not the right tool for email-to-RSS.

FetchRSS

Builds RSS from any web page. If a newsletter has a public archive, FetchRSS can scrape it into an RSS feed.

RSS-Bridge

Self-hosted, open source. Bridges for many platforms (including some that don’t natively expose RSS). For technical users.

What’s in an RSS feed item

  • Newsletter title
  • Issue title
  • Publish date
  • Excerpt or full content (varies by platform)
  • URL to the issue’s web version

Substack and Beehiiv typically include the full content. Ghost depends on the site’s RSS settings.

How to subscribe

  1. Copy the RSS feed URL.
  2. Open your reader (Feedly, Inoreader, NetNewsWire, etc.).
  3. Add subscription → paste URL.
  4. Done.

Why use RSS for newsletters?

  • No more inbox flood. Newsletters in their own reader, not buried under work email.
  • Cross-platform. Same RSS reader for blogs, YouTube, podcasts, newsletters.
  • No tracking. RSS doesn’t load tracking pixels by default.
  • Archive. Reader keeps every issue; you don’t lose old ones to inbox cleanup.

Trade-offs

  • Premium content. Paid newsletters often only show titles in RSS — full content requires logging in via the platform.
  • Polling lag. Most readers poll every 1-6 hours. Email is faster.
  • Replies and feedback. RSS is read-only. To reply, you have to go to the web version.

RSS for podcast newsletters

Podcasts already have RSS feeds. For newsletter-podcast hybrids (e.g., Substack podcasts), the RSS feed includes both written posts and audio episodes. Use a reader that supports both, like Inoreader.

Combine with email-to-RSS

For newsletters without public RSS:

  1. Get a Kill the Newsletter address.
  2. Subscribe to the newsletter with that email.
  3. Kill the Newsletter forwards each email as an RSS item.
  4. Subscribe to the resulting RSS in your reader.

Works for any email newsletter, even ones with no public archive.

Common mistakes

  • Adding the homepage URL instead of the feed URL. Most readers can auto-detect feeds, but not always. Use the explicit /feed or /rss URL.
  • Trying to get RSS from gated content. Paid newsletters with no public archive can’t be turned into RSS.
  • Polling too aggressively. Setting your reader to fetch every 5 minutes can get IP-throttled.
  • Expecting full content from every feed. Some publishers truncate. Their choice, your annoyance.

FAQ

Is RSS dead?

No. Quietly thriving. Most blogs, podcasts, and newsletters still expose feeds — it’s just not in marketing copy.

Can I use RSS to subscribe to YouTube channels too?

Yes. Every channel has a free hidden RSS feed. See how to convert a YouTube channel to RSS.

What’s the best RSS reader?

Feedly (web, free), Inoreader (web, paid for advanced), NetNewsWire (Mac/iOS, free), Reeder (Mac/iOS, paid). Self-hosted: FreshRSS, Miniflux.

Will my RSS reader notify me of new issues?

Most do. Some support push notifications (Inoreader’s mobile app). Email digests of RSS are also possible.

Can I share an RSS feed?

Yes — the URL itself. Anyone with the URL can subscribe.

Generate the RSS link in seconds

The RSS link generator covers YouTube channels and platforms with predictable feed patterns. For newsletters, use the URL formats above and paste into your reader. Pair with a QR code if you want offline subscribers.