XML Sitemap Generator - Free, No Sign-Up

This XML sitemap generator crawls a website from the starting URL you enter and builds a sitemap file listing the pages it finds. It is built for site owners, bloggers and developers who need a sitemap for Google and Bing without installing a plugin. Set a URL limit, change frequency and priority, then copy the XML or save it as a file.

What Is an XML Sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs on your site you want search engines to crawl and index. It follows the sitemaps.org protocol, so Google, Bing and other search engines can all read the same format. Search engines still find pages by following links, but a sitemap gives them a direct list to work from.

Each page is wrapped in a url entry inside a urlset container. The only required field is the page address (loc). Three optional fields can sit beside it: the last modified date (lastmod), the change frequency (changefreq) and the priority (priority).

Why it matters for SEO

A sitemap helps most when a site is new, large, or has pages with few internal links pointing to them. Without one, a crawler may take longer to reach a deep product page or a fresh blog post. With one, the page is on a list from day one. A sitemap does not guarantee indexing, and it does not boost rankings by itself.

Protocol limits to know

A single sitemap file can hold up to 50,000 URLs and must stay under 50 MB uncompressed. Larger sites split their URLs across several files and tie them together with a sitemap index. This page's tool lets you generate up to 5,000 URLs per run, which covers most blogs, business sites and small stores.

How to Use the XML Sitemap Generator

You can generate a sitemap in about a minute by filling in six fields and starting the crawl. Here is the process step by step.

1. Type your starting address into the Website URL field, for example https://example.com. If you leave out the protocol, the tool assumes https.
2. Pick how the last modified date should be handled. To use your own value, choose the custom date option and type it in dd/mm/yyyy format, such as 01/01/2026.
3. Choose a change frequency: None, Always, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly. Weekly is preselected.
4. Choose a priority from None, or from 0.0 to 1.0. The default is 0.5.
5. Select the URL limit: 50, 100, 200, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2500, 3000, 4500 or 5000. The default is 500.
6. Press the generate button and watch the progress panel. When the crawl finishes, review the URL list and XML preview, then use Copy or the save link to get the file.

Worked Example: A Small Business Site

Say you run a plumbing company at https://example.com with a home page, 6 service pages, 4 location pages, a contact page and about 40 blog posts. That is roughly 52 pages. You enter the address, keep Weekly and 0.5, and leave the limit at 500.

While the crawl runs, the panel updates four counters: URLs Found, Pages Crawled, Time Elapsed and Sitemap Size. Suppose it ends at 52 URLs found. That matches your own count, so the crawl reached everything you expected. The XML preview begins with the standard declaration and a urlset line, followed by one entry per page.

Now suppose it had stopped at 31 URLs. That gap is useful information: about 20 pages are not reachable through links from the pages the crawler visited. Those are often orphan pages, such as old blog posts that no menu or related-post block links to. Add internal links to them and run the generator again.

How to Read the Results and What to Do Next

The results panel tells you how complete the sitemap is and gives you the file itself. Check these items in order.

URLs Found versus what you expect

Compare the count with the number of indexable pages you know you have. A close match is a good sign. A much lower number means pages are not linked, and a much higher number usually means the crawl picked up filtered, tracking or duplicate versions of pages. Open the URL list and scan it for anything you would not want in search results.

Frequency, priority and last modified

These three optional settings apply to every URL the tool outputs. Google's Search Central documentation says it ignores priority and changefreq, and that it uses lastmod only when the dates are consistently accurate. Other search engines may treat them differently, so the defaults are harmless. If you do set a last modified date, use a real one. A single date stamped on every page is not accurate for a site with many pages.

Sitemap Size

This shows the size of the generated XML in KB. A few hundred KB is normal for a few thousand URLs. It stays far below the 50 MB protocol limit unless you are working at the largest scale.

After you save the file

1. Upload it to your site's root so it loads at https://example.com/sitemap.xml.
2. Add a line to your robots.txt file: Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml.
3. Submit the address in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
4. Run the file through a sitemap validator to catch format problems before the search engines do.

Who Should Use This Sitemap Tool?

Anyone who needs a sitemap fast and does not have a plugin or framework feature that builds one automatically will get value here. Common situations include:

• Static and hand-built sites: plain HTML sites have no CMS to produce a sitemap.
• Blogger and hosted platforms: some platforms limit what you can install, so a generated file you can copy is a practical option.
• Site migrations: generate a sitemap of the new site after launch and submit it so crawlers find the new URLs sooner.
• SEO audits: the URL list is a quick way to see which pages a crawler can reach by following links.
• Developers: grab a starting file for a custom site, then edit it or clean it up with an XML formatter.

For more utilities in this area, browse the on-page SEO and meta tags tools.

Best Practices, Common Mistakes and Troubleshooting

Most sitemap problems come from the starting URL or from what ends up in the list. These are the cases you are most likely to meet.

Start from the canonical address

Use the exact version of your site that you want indexed: https or http, with or without www. If your site redirects www to non-www, start with the final address. Listing URLs that redirect wastes crawl effort and sends mixed signals. When your canonical choice is unclear, check it with a canonical tag checker, and set up redirects with an .htaccess redirect generator if needed.

Fix the error messages

• Enter a valid HTTP or HTTPS starting URL: the address needs a real domain with a dot, and it cannot include a username or password. Remove typos and spaces.
• Date error: the custom date must be a real calendar date in dd/mm/yyyy. 31/02/2026 fails, and so does 2026-01-01.
• URL limit reached: the crawl stopped because it hit your chosen cap. Raise the limit, up to 5,000, and run it again.
• No URLs could be verified: the starting page probably did not load or returned an error. Open it in your browser, check for a redirect or a blocked page, and try again.
• Crawl failed or a retry message: the request did not complete. Wait a moment and run it again.

Keep junk out of the sitemap

Only list pages that return a normal page, are meant to be indexed and are the canonical version. Leave out login pages, internal search results, cart steps and pages marked noindex. After generating, scan the URL list for parameters like ?sort= or ?utm_source= and remove those lines before you upload.

Regenerate when the site changes

A sitemap is a snapshot. Create a new one after you add a section, delete old pages or change URL structures. A stale file that lists deleted pages produces errors in Search Console.

Limitations to Keep in Mind

The tool discovers pages by following links from your starting URL, so it only sees what a crawler can reach. Pages that exist only behind a login, a form or a script-driven menu may not appear. It outputs one sitemap file per run, with a ceiling of 5,000 URLs, so a very large site needs a different approach, such as splitting by section. It does not create image or video sitemaps, and it does not decide which pages should be indexed. That judgment is yours, so review the URL list before publishing.

Use the generator on this page to build your sitemap, compare the URL count with what you expect and download the XML. Then upload it, add it to robots.txt and submit it. If you work with the data in other formats, the XML to JSON converter can help, and our web developer tools cover related jobs.