Download RSS Bandit
A free, open-source feed reader for Windows — RSS, Atom, and NNTP in one place, with podcast downloads built in.
Originally released in 2003 as a code sample in Dare Obasanjo’s “Extreme XML” column on MSDN, RSS Bandit grew into a full open-source reader with a three-pane interface modeled on desktop email clients — feed list on one side, item list and reading pane alongside it. It picked up coverage over the years from outlets including Ars Technica and CNET’s Download.com.
Highlights
What it does
RSS, Atom, and NNTP feeds in a single reader • Podcast downloads built in • Search folders across all feeds and unread items • OPML import/export for moving subscriptions between readers • Feed sync via FTP or WebDAV across multiple machines
The full list is on the Features page.
Recommended
Get it from the Microsoft Store
The actively distributed build of RSS Bandit for Windows 10 and 11 — installs and updates the way any modern Store app does.
Get from Microsoft StoreRunning an older version of Windows?
Legacy installer
The last standalone release, v1.9.0.1002, is still hosted on SourceForge for systems that can’t run Store apps: Download RssBandit1.9.0.1002installer.zip (10.5 MB).
Requires the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 — if you don’t already have it, get it from Microsoft first.
RSS Bandit was originally developed by Dare Obasanjo and Torsten Rendelmann, first released in 2003, and distributed under the BSD-3-Clause license. The source is on GitHub.
RSS Bandit was released as open source in 2010. The code is still on GitHub.