On April 13, 2021, Google announced that it would discontinue the FollowByEmail widget for Blogger from July of that year.

That widget let Blogspot owners offer a free email signup. Visitors got new posts in their inbox. When Google pulled it, a lot of us went looking for a replacement that did not turn a personal blog into a marketing platform.

Feedburner Alternatives for Blogger With Email Subscription Widget

I used Follow.it for a while. It works. I do not use it on COMPROMATH anymore. I switched the signup box to Sendrist. The list stays mine. Readers confirm from their inbox. New posts go out as a letter that sends them back to the article. No ads in the mail. No open pixels.

What I use instead of Feedburner

Sendrist is the one I recommend if you want Feedburner’s old job: a form on the blog, a confirm link, and RSS to email. Free plan is one feed, one list, a few widgets, and 100 confirmed readers. That is enough for most personal Blogger sites.

Other tools still exist if you want a full marketing suite:

  • Follow.it. Still a common Feedburner stand-in. Fine if you already have a list there. I would not start a new blog on it.
  • Mailchimp. Full email marketing. Free and paid tiers. Heavier than a blog signup box.
  • MailerLite. Simpler marketing tool. Has RSS-to-email if you want campaigns plus a list.
  • AWeber. Old-school email marketing with RSS-to-email.
  • Brevo. Marketing suite with a free tier. More than most Blogspot sites need.

Set up Sendrist first

Do this on sendrist.com before you touch Blogger.

  1. Create an account. They email a sign-in link. There is no password to invent.
  2. Open Feeds and paste your Blogspot URL. Sendrist looks for the feed. If it misses, paste https://yourblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.
  3. Open Lists, make a list, attach that feed. Name it something you will recognize.
  4. Open Widgets, new widget, pick the list. Set the heading (I use “Get new posts by email”). Save, then Publish. Drafts do not show on the live blog.

Copy Script (Blogger, most sites). Use the https:// snippet only. Do not paste the iframe and the script in the same gadget.

Add the Sendrist widget to Blogger

  1. In Blogger, open Layout.
  2. Choose Add a gadget where the form should sit: sidebar, footer, or under the posts.
  3. Choose HTML/JavaScript.
  4. Paste the script. Save the gadget. Save the layout.
  5. View the live blog, not only the Layout preview.

One post only: open the post, HTML view, paste the script, publish.

For a modal or a bar on every page, set that layout in Sendrist, then put the same script in a gadget that is not hidden on any page. The script decides when the form appears. You do not add a second button. Closing it hides it for the rest of that visit.

If the script does not run, check the widget is Published. Then try the Iframe snippet in that same HTML/JavaScript gadget. You will get an inline box, not a popup over the page.

After the form is live

Subscribe with your own address. You should get a confirm mail, not an instant “you are on the list.” Click the link. Pending stays pending until you do.

Then in Sendrist open RSS email, pick the list and a template, and save. The widget only collects people. That setting is what mails a new post.

Export the list as CSV whenever you want. If you already have addresses in Follow.it, export them there and add people the honest way: ask them to confirm again on your new form. Do not dump an old list into a new tool and call it consent.

Conclusion

FollowByEmail is gone. Follow.it filled the gap for a lot of Blogspot sites, including this one for a time. I now point people to Sendrist because the list is exportable, confirm is required, and the letter sends the reader back to the post.

If you later need automations, landing pages, and a full campaign builder, Mailchimp or MailerLite will do that. For a blog that just wants “new posts by email,” you do not need that stack.