Podcast RSS Feed Quality Audit

Check one public podcast RSS feed for episode and show metadata problems before submitting it to a directory or changing hosts. The Actor returns a summary and one actionable dataset row per finding. Export the results as JSON, CSV, or Excel, or run the audit from the Apify API or a scheduled Task.

Try an audit

1. Click Try for free. The input form includes a public example feed. To audit your own show, replace it with your public RSS 2.0 URL; no login or podcast-host access is needed.
2. Choose how many episodes to inspect (1–500). The Actor also reports the feed's total episode count. Leave media-header checks off for a quick metadata audit, or enable them to check artwork and the first three audio URLs with bounded HTTP HEAD requests.
3. Start the Actor. Read the summary row first, then sort or export the finding rows by severity and episode. Each finding explains what to fix.

Example input for the public feed used in the prefilled form:

{
  "feedUrl": "https://www.nasa.gov/feeds/podcasts/curious-universe",
  "maxEpisodes": 10,
  "checkMediaHeaders": false
}

The example feed was reachable as RSS 2.0 on October 17, 2026. Live feeds change, so its findings may change. Replace the example URL with your own feed when you are ready.

What the audit checks

• Show title, description, artwork URL, language, author, category, and explicit-content declaration.
• Presence of at least one episode.
• Episode titles, stable and duplicate GUIDs, audio enclosures and duplicate audio URLs, enclosure byte lengths and MIME types, publication dates, and descriptions.
• Optional response headers for show artwork and the first three episode audio URLs. Audio files are never downloaded.

The first dataset row summarizes the audit. Later rows contain findings such as this shortened example:

{
  "recordType": "finding",
  "severity": "error",
  "code": "ENCLOSURE_LENGTH_INVALID",
  "message": "The audio enclosure length is missing or not a positive byte count.",
  "fix": "Set enclosure length to the file size in bytes."
}

Each full finding also includes the affected episode and feed URL. A feed that cannot be fetched or parsed does not trigger the custom feed-audited event.

Price and limits

The Store price is $0.10 per completed feed audit; platform usage is included. Apify's Pricing tab shows the current charge and any plan-specific allowance. The Actor reads up to 5 MB, follows at most three redirects, and uses no proxies or paid third-party APIs. Enter only public, unauthenticated feed URLs. Private feeds, embedded credentials, and common tokenized query parameters are rejected.

This is a practical preflight check, not Apple Podcasts' own validator or a guarantee of directory approval. It inspects up to the selected episode limit and does not inspect audio contents, artwork dimensions, all XML syntax rules, or directory account settings. Some hosts block HEAD requests even when audio playback works; those responses are reported as warnings.

Rules are informed by Apple's podcast RSS requirements and episode guidance. If a result looks wrong, include the Apify run ID and a public example feed URL in an Actor issue.