TileSet or build it yourself
Fetching a feed once is quick. What a hand-rolled feed also has to build and keep running, how long that takes, and when building it yourself is the better call.
Fetching a YouTube feed or a set of reviews once takes a few lines of code, and an AI agent can write them in a minute. The work starts afterwards. Something has to fetch it again on a schedule, keep a copy for when the platform fails, renew the access token, serve the images, answer the platform’s deletion requests and keep the page fast. That is the part TileSet runs for you.
What each part takes
| What a feed needs | Building it yourself | With TileSet |
|---|---|---|
| A schedule | A cron job or scheduled function on a host you keep paying for and watching, with retries when it fails | Each source updates at its own speed, from every 15 minutes to weekly, or on days and times you choose. Nothing to host |
| A cache | Storage for the last good copy, an expiry rule, and clearing it when the content changes | The last good copy is kept for 30 days. Widget content is cached at the edge for 60 seconds, and a changed widget shows on every page without re-embedding |
| A platform outage | Deciding what the page shows when the platform is down or limits your requests, and building it | The widget keeps showing the last good copy, with no error on the page. The credits for a failed update are refunded |
| Images | A proxy or resizer, because image links are signed and stop working after a while | YouTube tiles load thumbnails from TileSet, 480 px for small tiles and up to 1,080 px for large tiles and high-density screens, with a blurred placeholder first |
| Access tokens | Storing tokens encrypted and renewing tokens before they expire | Stored encrypted and renewed for you. The source says Needs reconnect if a connection ever needs you |
| Keys and quotas | Your own YouTube key and its daily quota. Google’s own Places API returns at most five reviews per business | No key on your side. TileSet holds the keys and keeps more reviews than that |
| Fewer wasted requests | Remembering what changed since the last fetch | Sources that support it ask the platform “changed since?” and skip the work when nothing did |
| Platform approval and rules | A Meta developer app, App Review for each permission, a privacy policy, and deauthorize and data-deletion endpoints that remove the content when asked | TileSet’s app and endpoints. You approve once on Meta’s own screen, and a deletion request removes the content and its thumbnails within 7 days |
| API changes | Meta retires each Graph API version about two years after it ships, and fields change in between | TileSet moves to each new version and follows the field changes |
| Page speed | Lazy loading, keeping tiles from jumping while images arrive, a small script | One script under 10 KB compressed. Each widget loads as it nears the screen, and tiles keep their shape. Give the div a min-height and nothing moves |
| Accessibility and dark mode | Labels, keyboard support, reduced motion and a dark theme, for every layout | Labelled controls, star ratings read as text, a lightbox you can use with the keyboard, reduced motion respected, and light, dark or automatic themes |
| Every site builder | A version for each platform the site might move to | The same two lines on WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, Odoo, Lovable, React and plain HTML, plus an MCP server so an agent can install it and check the page |
How long it takes
Rough numbers, to plan with:
- Google reviews beyond five: not possible with Google's own Places API.
- Every extra source and every extra site repeats some of that work.
With TileSet, the same job is one call from an AI agent (setup_widget), or a few minutes in the dashboard. See Your first widget.
When building it yourself is the better call
- You need the raw data in your own database, or rendered by your own components. TileSet shows content through its widget and is not a data API, so build that against the platform’s own API.
- The platform is not one TileSet connects. The sources in these docs are the full list.
- The content never changes. Plain HTML is simpler than any feed.
TileSet has a free plan with no card, and showing a widget never costs credits. See Plans and credits.