Starting a podcast is no walk in the park; it takes a lot of research, preparation, and setup before you ever even sit down to hit record. One of the first things you’ll have to do is pick the best podcast platform for your needs.
To help with your research, we’ve created a brief intro, highlighted key features, and covered pricing plans for 9 of the best podcast platforms. We’ve ranked the platforms based on cost, upload and bandwidth limits, monetization tools, and more. Let’s get started!
Our list of the 9 best podcast hosting platforms:
With over ten years of experience, PodBean boasts an impressive 650,000 podcasters on its platform. PodBean gives users access to easy-to-read analytics like downloads by time and day, trends, top 10 episodes, listener demographics, and user retention. This platform also lets you live stream to your audience and allows listeners and guests to call in to listen or participate.
When your podcast is published, PodBean can automatically share your episodes on connected social media accounts, helping you to promote your show. Regarding marketing, PodBean features native advertising, premium podcast, and patron features. These will let you offer paid access to additional content or directly match your show with the right sponsors. This platform is an excellent choice for new and experienced podcasters needing a wide range of tools.
Key features
- Available free plan
- Customizable podcast website on all plans
- Embeddable and customizable podcast player for your website
- Native tools for easy podcast monetization
- Auto-sharing on connected social media accounts
- Live streaming with the ability for listeners to call in and listen
Price range:
PodBean is one of the few platforms that offer a free plan. Their free plan supports mp3 file formats and includes 5 hours of storage (500MB) and 100GB of monthly bandwidth.
In addition to the free plan, PodBean offers 3 paid plans: Unlimited Audio ($9), Unlimited Plus ($29), and Network ($79). The unlimited Audio and Unlimited Plus plans feature unlimited storage space and bandwidth, while the Network plan limits bandwidth to 3TB with the option to pay for more.
If you want to add multiple administrators, upload video podcasts, or use any of PodBean’s monetization tools to make money from your podcast, you’ll have to opt for one of the paid plans, as each one offers a different combination of features.
Buzzsprout is the podcast hosting platform choice for over 100,000 podcasters. This platform offers advanced analytics that let you track how many people download your episodes, where they’re from, and how people access your show. They also give you access to a range of tools like an embeddable episode player for websites, optional episode transcription, and “Dynamic Content,” which lets you change pre and post-roll segments even after publishing.
By uploading to Buzzsprout, you’ll be able to list your podcast on all of the top directories, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Alexa, Castro, Podchaser, and more. The platform will also automatically optimize uploaded files, making your audio the best it can be.
Key features
- Available free plan
- Customizable podcast website on all plans
- Embeddable customizable podcast player for your website
- Ability to create chapter markers for episodes
- Advanced statistics for tracking your progress
- Dynamic content lets you change pre and post-roll segments after publishing
Price range:
Buzzsprout is also one of the few podcast platforms to offer a free plan. As for their paid options, they offer 3 plans: $12, $18, and $24 per month. They do not offer annual pricing at this time, so you’ll have to stick with the monthly pricing. The only difference between their paid plans is the available upload hours each plan includes.
RSS.com features a user interface that’s known for its ease of use. This platform gives users access to features like comprehensive analytics, episode scheduling, an embeddable episode player, social media sharing, and an included podcasting website.
Setting itself apart from other podcast hosting platforms, RSS.com offers a donation button you can enable/disable. This lets you access funding outside of the typical sponsorship and ad methods. But if sponsors and ads are more your style, they have that too. Podcasters can find sponsors with RSS.com’s Podcorn marketplace.
Key features
- Unlimited episodes and audio on all plans
- Customizable podcast website on all plans
- Embeddable podcast player for your website
- Native episode scheduler
- Optional donation button
- Ability to create episode chapters, soundbites, and transcripts within the platform
Price range:
While it looks like RSS.com officially offers 3 plans, most users will only be eligible for the All in One Podcasting plan at $12.99 per month. Students and Non-government Organizations can use a plan just for them at $4.99 a month. The Student plan includes the same features as the All in One plan, but you’ll have to be approved. Anyone with over 10,000 daily downloads will be eligible for the Podcast Networks plan, but you’ll also have to contact the platform first.
Captivate is an excellent choice for beginning podcasters. Its hosting dashboard is well-known in the industry for its straightforward interface. This platform will help you to easily distribute your episodes on all major podcast directories, market with built-in marketing tools, and monetize with private podcasting.
And if you’re truly starting a podcast without an audience or any podcasting knowledge, Captivate Growth Labs is included in all plans. This is both a full video library and a community for podcasters to learn everything they need to know about podcasting.
Key features
- Customizable podcast website on all plans
- Unlimited podcasts, uploads, and storage on all plans
- Embeddable customizable podcast player for your website
- Optional Captivate Sync™ WordPress Plugin for flexible hosting control
- Premium/private podcasting on all plans
- Unlimited team members with customizable roles
Price range:
Captivate offers 3 plans: Personal ($19), Professional ($49), and Business ($99). While there is no free plan available, you can enjoy a free 7-day trial for any plan. The main differences between paid plans are in the number of networked podcasts, private podcasts, and subscribers for private podcasts you can have. Outside of these variable features, the plans are identical.
Transistor is a high-quality podcast hosting platform that includes big-name podcasts like Cards Against Humanity. They offer comprehensive analytics, private podcasts, and 1-click distribution to all of the most popular directories. They also provide 1-click distribution to Listen Notes and The Podcast Index, 2 popular search engines dedicated just to podcasts.
Transistor is an excellent choice if you have multiple podcasts. The platform offers unlimited shows on all plans. And they don’t limit podcasters by storage or bandwidth, only by monthly downloads, which makes understanding limits much easier.
Key features
- Customizable podcast website on all plans
- Unlimited podcasts in all hosting plans
- Dynamic Ad tool for intuitive and automatic ad insertion
- Automatically upload each episode to YouTube
- Unique RSS feeds for every show you have
- Embeddable podcast player for your website
Price range:
Transistor offers 3 pricing plans: Starter ($19), Professional $49), and Business ($99). There are only three features that change from plan to plan. They are the number of team members you can add, the number of private podcast listeners you can have, and the monthly download limit. Luckily, the Starter plan allows up to 10,000 monthly downloads, which is more than enough for most podcasters just starting out.
Audioboom is a reasonably standard platform for most users, offering distribution to popular directories, unlimited episodes, and a high 15,000 download limit per month on their entry-level plan. The platform’s approach to monetization is what sets this platform apart from the others. Podcasters can access the monetization marketplace once they reach 10,000 monthly downloads. For users with a large following, this won’t affect your podcast much. But if you’re a smaller show, it could mean missing out on the potential to monetize until you reach that pivotal milestone.
Key features
- Unlimited episodes per month
- 15,000 downloads per month on entry-level plan
- Distribution to all popular directories
- IAB compliant analytics dashboard
- Access to global advertising marketplace once you reach 10,000 monthly downloads
Price range:
Audioboom’s pricing plans are simple! They offer 2 monthly plans, the Standard Plan ($9.99) and the Plus Plan ($19.99). The Standard plan allows for up to an incredible 15,000 downloads per month. If you need more, the Plus Plan allows up to 50,000. And if that still isn’t enough, you’ll have to contact them for a custom Podcast Pros Account.
Resonate is an excellent podcast hosting platform for those needing a one-stop shop. While their hosting plans offer a few of the standard features, they’re noticeably missing a customizable website, private/premium podcasting, and customer support on their lower-priced plans. But where Resonate lacks in common hosting features, it may make up for with add-on services.
Resonate offers a wide range of podcast services, including producer, launch, production, video production, podcast marketing, and enterprise services. These additional services allow podcasters to create a high-quality, heavily produced show all within the same platform.
Key features
- Automatically generated podcast microsite
- Embeddable podcast player for your website
- Detailed analytics from embedded player
- Built-in Dynamic Ad insertion with time-sensitive announcements and timed campaigns
Price range:
Resonate offers 2 ready-to-go monthly plans: Basic ($25) and Premium ($49). Both of these include unlimited episodes, downloads, and show users. Unfortunately, the microsite is only available on the Premium plan, separating Resonate from platforms that include websites in their most basic plans. If neither the Basic nor the Premium plan fits your needs, consider the Professional plan, which grants you more microsite and support features.
Unlike other podcast hosting platforms, Castos is a WordPress plugin. It’s designed to sync with Seriously Simple Podcasting and allows podcasters to manage their podcast hosting directly from a WordPress site. Castos also allows users to create customized podcast websites and detailed analytics.
Compared to Buzzsprout, their audio transcription services are much cheaper, at only $0.10 per minute. If you’re looking to start a podcast on YouTube, Castos will also automatically upload episodes to YouTube in certain plans. The platform is focused on improvement and developing new features that will deliver analytic reports tailored to potential sponsors and playback duration metrics, so you’ll know how long listeners are tuned in.
Key features
- Customizable podcast website on all plans
- Unlimited podcasts episode uploads
- Private podcasting feature for premium content
- Pre-built web page templates
- Automatic podcast transcriptions (optional)
- YouTube republishing
Price range:
Castos offers 4 pricing plans: Starter ($19), Growth ($49), Pro ($99), and Premium ($499) per month. Opting for annual payments will save you around 17% in total. While the starter plan includes your general features, only the Growth plan and above include YouTube republishing.
Going all the way back to 2004, Libsyn is a long-time player in the podcast industry. It’s a great platform for new creators, hosts with short episodes and a low episode count, or monetized podcasts. It’s important to note that this platform limits uploads and bandwidth, which may lead to issues for podcasts with a large library of content or a lot of listeners. To increase storage and bandwidth, you’ll have to opt for larger plans, which is why this platform is best suited for small audiences or shows generating profit.
Key features
- Customizable podcast website on all plans
- Built-in monetization with ads and private podcasting
- Integrated visual-builder with Canva
- Custom iOS and Android app for your show
- Distribution to all popular podcast directories
Price range:
Libsyn offers a grand total of 6 plans, 3 for audio podcasts and 3 for video podcasts.
Audio Podcasts
The audio pricing plans start at $5 and go up to $15 and $20 per month. Unfortunately, Libsyn limits the number of audio hours you can upload per month and total storage, unlike other platforms on this list. Opting for a more expensive plan will get you more of both.
Video Podcasts
Video podcast plans start at $40, then increase to $75 and $150 per month. At this level, the analytics remain the same, and only the upload and bandwidth limits change, again increasing as you pay more.
Final thoughts
And there you have it! Nine of the best podcasting platforms. Picking a platform is the first of many decisions you’ll have to make as a podcaster. As you continue to research the best platform, make sure to consider your own unique podcasting needs. Look first at your basic needs like uploading, bandwidth, downloads, and budget. Then consider things like your monetization strategy and social media connectivity once you’ve narrowed the list down to your top choices.
Want more resources on starting a podcast? Check out our other podcasting posts:
- How to Promote Your Podcast
- How to Start a Podcast with No Audience (Steps & Examples)
- How To Start A Successful Podcast (Step By Step Guide)
- How To Make Money Podcasting