Are you dreaming of starting the next successful podcast and sharing your audio content with the world? That’s great!
Podcasting isn’t as simple as recording some audio and uploading it to iTunes, first: you have to host your audio files with a podcast hosting.
With more then 100 million+ podcast listeners in the US, all podcasters have to start by choosing their podcast hosting provider of choice.
How do you pick the best one?
In this guide, I compared and reviewed the best podcast hosting based on price, reliability, technical support, monthly upload volume, compliance, storage, monetization, ease of use, marketing features, integrations with apps, and more.
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What is the Best Podcast Hosting Platform?
Here are the top picks for the best podcast hosting platforms:
1. Buzzsprout.
Best Podcast Hosting for Beginners (Free – $12/month).
Buzzsprout is the #1 pick for many reasons.
They are a host that is been in business since 2009 and are trusted by more than 100,000 podcasters. They are one of the only companies that offer a totally free plan with unlimited team member accounts.
The free plan allows you to upload two hours of content hosted for 90 days. If you are serious about podcasting, you can scale up and start upgrade your plan based on how many hours of content you need to upload per month.
When you start upgrade to their paid plans from $12 to 24 per month, Buzzsprout podcasting hosts your files indefinitely then will give you the unlimited storage and 250GB of bandwidth/month (enough for 20,000 to 40,000 downloads).
Let’s move to some of their standout features.
Buzzsprout allows you to embed a podcast player right on your website, and you can feature just one episode or a whole playlist of episodes:
They offer an analytics dashboard with an algorithm that estimates how many listeners each episode receives within the first 90 days. Also you can view which countries your listeners are tuning in from to help you understand your audience.
These analytics features are helpful and better than most other tools on this list.
Audio quality is great as you can upgrade to 128k stereo optimization for better sound. Not only that, but they offer podcast transcription services as an extra add-on.
They make it easy to upload and schedule your podcast too. You upload your audio file, change the episode title and description, and submit your podcast to all significant directories:
Another benefit is that you can add episode chapter markers. This feature helps listeners for better understand the details about your episodes at a glance. These aren’t required (and don’t appear on every podcast app), but are a very nice feature nonetheless:
Ultimately, with their month to month pricing and an easy to use dashboard, Buzzsprout is the #1 choice.
I recommend that you get started for free and then upgrade to any plan you want based on how many hours of content you plan to upload each month.
2. Spreaker.
Best Content Management System and Monetization (Free – $120+).
Spreaker is a one-stop-shop for podcasters. Starting from newbies to publishers developing a lot of content, Spreaker has a solution for making any podcasters journey a smooth and profitable one.
The podcast platform connects podcast creators, tlisteners, and advertisers in one place (web and mobile apps) and makes it very easy for any type of content creator to monetize their entire podcast catalog.
The content management system is what sets the Spreaker apart. It allows podcasters of any “level” to automatically enable the distribution on the major listening platforms (Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, iHeartRadio, Deezer, etc.)
The Spreaker’s CMS enables users to manage and schedule multiple podcasts under the same account, and to set the monetization feature (provided via dynamic ads insertion) at the episode and show level.
Publishers can improve the team management by adding collaborators and trafficking their own audio ads within the use of the Campaign Manager. Very important it is to notice that Spreaker statistics are certified by IAB, which makes their data very trustworthy.
The most popular plan is the Broadcaster Plan at $18/month. With this plan, you can get 500 hours of audio storage, advanced stats, and the monetization feature.
Spreaker podcast cen be the perfect tool for podcasters looking for a solid podcast hosting platform with good statistics, a user friendly CMS for managing your podcast catalog, and advanced monetization technology.
3. Transistor.
Best Built-In Podcast Analytics ($19-99/month).
Transistor.fm is a high-quality, professional service that hosts some of very popular podcasts including: Drift, Honeybadger, and Cards Against Humanity.
They are known to provide podcasters with built-in analytics and absolutely everything you need to grow your podcast audience.
Their tools include managing multiple users per account, hosting unlimited shows, generating branded websites with your own domain name, distributing your podcast, and good viewing advanced analytics.
Transistor.fm analytics tools are where they stand out. Their dashboards show you trends, stats like average downloads per episode, number of subscribers, and downloads over time.
If you use another hosting platform like Anchor or Libsyn, you can import your existing feed into Transistor with simple migration tools.
Here are some details on their pricing plans:
- Starter Plan ($19/month): Provides unlimited podcasts and episodes, up to 2 users, and 10,000 downloads per month.
- Professional Plan ($49/month): Everything in the starter plan, but now with up to five team members and 50,000 downloads per month.
- Business Plan ($99/month): All features in the previous plans, but with up to 10 team members and 150,000 downloads per month.
Transistor podcast publishing platform allows you to scale your podcast (and pricing) as your audience grows.
Your pricing plan choice will most likely depend on the number of downloads you need per month, so you can get started with their Starter Plan and upgrade when you need to.
4. PodBean.
Best Easy Podcast Hosting ($29/Month + 1 Month Free).
PodBean is the #4 recommendation, with unlimited hosting services, distribution, and promotion on Google Play, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Alexa, and all the major apps and directories.
PodBean has been in the podcasting hosting services for over 10 years and is touted as one of the easiest to use hosts on this list.
To get started, they have a free plan. You can upload up to 5 hours of content per month and are only allowed 100GB of bandwidth. This open source plan gives you some basic stats and you need to upgrade to their $9/month plan to get more detailed analytics.
They boast a vast amount of episodes hosted, podcasters, and over 7.1 billion downloads on their platform:
I recommend podcasters about running their professional show and get the $29 per month PodBean Unlimited Plus Plan. This plan is better than the free option and gives you all of their great video features.
With this plan, you can get unlimited audio hosting and video storage.
You can dynamically add your own sponsored ad campaigns into your new episodes to monetize your podcast much faster. This plan also allows you for a Patreon program to accept recurring revenue from the listener support.
Another feature for PodBean users is a free YouTube version of their podcast. This version is auto uploaded to your YouTube channel once you sync your channel when you are publishing.
Finally, PodBean provides analytics reports a mobile app, and automatic posting to Twitter and Facebook too.
PodBean is the #4 choice and the best podcast host with great video and YouTube features.
5. Simplecast.
Industry-Leading Features Powering Top Brands ($15/Month).
Simplecast is known for is its industry-leading best features starting at just $15 per month.
They live up to their very name and state on their website:
“From the first listener to your first million, Simplecast provides you with powerful tools needed to share, manage, distribute, and grow your podcast.”
Simplecast it is around for over six years now and powers some of the biggest brands in podcasting, including HBO, Nike, Kickstarter and Facebook.
Simplecast give their podcasters powerful tools at any stage of podcasting with different web players, one-click publishing, advanced analytics tools and a fully-functioning website.
Another standout feature is their Recast™ tool, which allows you to share clips and schedule of your podcast on social media. Here’s the example of that feature from The Pilot Podcast on Instagram:
Another feature is the ability to collaborate with multiple podcast managers in one account. You also get unlimited uploads, unlimited storage, and distribution to all major platforms.
Simplecast has three paid plans to choose from:
- Basic Plan ($15/month): Unlimited storage and uploads, two member accounts, customizable show website, 20k downloads per month, an embeddable web player, and email support.
- Essential Plan ($35/month): All basic plan features, plus two extra user seats, additional web players, location (country and state/region) and technology (apps, browsers) analytics, 50k downloads per month, and the addition of chat support.
- Growth Plan ($85/month): All features of previous plans, plus 5 more extra user seats (9 total), ISP analytics, detailed metro area location analytics, and 120k downloads per month.
If you are just starting out, the Basic Plan will work out for you just fine. While the analytics tools are cool, you only need to upgrade just if you need more downloads per month or more users.
6. Captivate.
Best for Marketing and Growing Your Audience ($17/Month).
Captivate is a brand new podcast host that is focused on growing podcast audiences. They are created by Rebel Base Media, which also runs Podcast Websites.
This new addition is not their best product yet, as they took everything they have learned from years of podcast experience and putting into one new podcast hosting product.
All podcast pricing plans come with an unlimited team members, unlimited number of podcasts, advanced analytics, a new podcast player, and marketing tools.
A few standout features are their built-in calls to action and automatic podcast website. All podcast hosting plan comes with a customizable, mobile-friendly website with donation support built-in.
You can build your own email list and start to generate leads with podcast player calls to action. Example: if someone start listening to your podcast player, they can sign-up directly to your email list via an opt-in form.
Captivate podcast hosting is also constantly upgrading its analytics software. They are working with Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) to create more insightful intelligence to monitor the performance of your show.
You can import your show from another podcast host like Blubrry with one simple import tool. Their podcast marketing tool allows you to automatically generate links to places like Pocket Casts and Overcast, which helps the new subscribers to find your show easily.
Captivate podcast hosting offers pricing plans based on your number of monthly downloads:
- Podcaster Plan ($19/month): Up to 12,000 downloads per month.
- Audio Influencer Plan ($49/month): Up to 60,000 downloads per month.
- Podcast Brand Plan ($99/month): Up to 150,000 downloads per month.
With many of their best podcasting features, every simple pricing plan that scales as you grow, Captivate is starting on going to make waves as a new player in the space.
If you are looking for a podcast host with lots of marketing features, get a 7-day free trial of Captivate.
7. Castos.
Best WordPress Podcast Hosting Solution ($19/month).
Castos podcast hosting is a fully-featured podcasting plugin for WordPress and if you have an WordPress site, here’s how it works:
- Go to Castos website and start your 14-day trial.
- Install their WordPress plugin.
- When you are ready to host your episodes, you add them into the new Podcast section inside of WordPress:
Start uploading your audio file, type in your description, and the podcast will go live on your site with a customizable media player:
Well that’s it. When you are ready to add your podcast to directories, grab your URL and add it to any publisher you’d like.
Their pricing plans starts from $19 to $49 per month. With the higher tier podcast plans, you can republish to YouTube and get full podcast video hosting.
Another great feature is automatic transcription: when you upload your audio file, it returns a transcription to your Castos dashboard within just a few minutes. You can either download the PDF version and add it to your site or copy and paste this transcription into WordPress.
If you’re looking for podcast hosting with great WordPress integration, Castos is the best choice.
Get started with a free 14-day trial and save with 2-months free on annual plans.
8. Podcastics.
New Podcast Hosting with Unlimited Episodes (Free – $39/month)
Podcastics is a new podcast hosting platform option that’s very easy to use and offers competitive features.
Same like PodBean, their dashboard is very intuitive. When you get started, you can set your podcast details with just a few clicks and quickly manage user permissions. If you have a podcast, you can automatically import it from any RSS feed or Apple Podcasts
And if you are a podcaster with multiple podcasts, you can start to build teams within the dashboard, which is great for studios and agencies.
Some of their other main features include:
- Podcast analytics, including plays, days and hours, sources, and locations.
- Live streaming capabilities.
- Podcast and episode editing tools.
- The ability to schedule episodes.
- Smart features like QR codes, smart links, surveys, and heat maps.
Podcastics podcast hosting has 5 pricing plans: all offering unlimited episodes. The unlimited bandwidth and storage start at their $8/month Pro Plan.
Podcastics is a new, easy-to-use podcast hosting tool with great UX, smart features, and analytics.
Get started with Podcastics a 30-day trial.
9. Fusebox.
The Best Toolbox of Podcasting Software ($15.83/Month).
Fusebox is a best invention created by the famous podcaster Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income. After many years of podcasting, he was looking for the best possible podcast player for your website that your visitors will love.
Who better to create the perfect best podcasting product than a prolific podcaster himself?
Fusebox has ton of best features, including email capture (one of the only podcast players to offer this) and other top notch features.
Fusebox have a transcript plugin with SEO friendly live text that automatically adds podcast transcripts to your own website. If you are interested in how the player works, it’s very straightforward.
Start by installing the Fusebox WordPress plugin and add your RSS feed. Then next: enter your subscription URLs to push your show to the major directories. You can customize the colors of your podcast player, and then add the player to your posts and pages.
Well, then if you want to host your files, send them to podcast networks, and display them on your WordPress website, try Fusebox.
If you’re looking to add some best podcasting tools, get started with Fusebox.
10. Podcast Websites.
Best Podcast Hosting Platform for Website Builders ($77/month).
This podcast hosting service features a simple podcasting workflow that allows podcasters access security and to an fully responsive website hosting, built-in statistics, daily backups, and 24/7 support.
As a Podcast Websites member, you receive digital marketing support to help promote your podcast, ads, and podcasting advice from real, experienced podcasters.
Their academy features media, video tutorials, and a very helpful community forum to discuss strategies with other podcasters too.
Additionally you can start to use Builder: a drag and drop website builder with themes unique to podcasters. These themes are mobile-friendly, and you can add landing pages when you need to market your podcast.
You are looking for high-quality podcast hosting option then get started with Podcast Websites.
11. Audioboom.
Best for Dynamic Ads and Monetization ($9.99/month).
Audioboom is a popular site that gives you simple poscast hosting, distribution, and an embedded player. What they are primarily known for their help with podcast monetization.
Once you hit 10k plays per episode, they provide you with the best tools: sponsorships for your show and to create dynamic ads.
Some other features include analytics broken down by geographic region, an embeddable player with social media integrations, app, and device.
To get started, their $9.99 plan gives you:
- Unlimited episode uploads per month
- Up to 10k per month with their standard plan and 25,000 plays per month with their plus plan
- Advanced analytics that provides breakdowns by geographic area, app, and device
- Embeddable players for a website or social media integration
Overall, Audioboom is a solid podcast host with very good monetization features.
What is the Best Free Podcast Hosting?
There are low cost and even free options you can pick from if your budget is very tight. Many of the free podcast plans come with limited functionality, but if you’re just starting, free hosting services a great way to test out their features.
If you are not able to host many hours of content on your podcast hosting server, a free plan or a free trial can get your feet wet in how podcast hosts work.
Here are my picks for the best free podcast hosting.
1. Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout’s free podcast hosting plan provides you withr the most best features compared to every other host on this list.
With Buzzsprout podcast free plan, you can get hosted episodes for up to 90 days, two free hours of upload time, and a complete podcasting dashboard. If you are just getting started in podcasting, the Buzzsprout free podcast plan is the perfect way to get in podcasting and learn the ropes.
When they say they are the “easiest way to start podcasting” they are not lying at all. With Buzzsprout, you can easily upload your file, add them to every major directory, and just start tracking your listeners with their advanced analytics.
Pricing: Free – $24/month
Website: buzzsprout.com
2. Libsyn
Libsyn is a popular podcast hosts focused on helping everyone from novices to podcasting pros looking to monetize their work very quickly. They are one of the original podcast hosts, launching in 2004.
With over 62 million+ audience members, 35,000 hosted podcasts and 4.6 billion podcast downloads in 2016, they are a prominent player. Like other podcast platforms, they give users between 50 and 1500MB of monthly storage, provide RSS link generation, premium content, analytics reports, and their app.
They aren’t 100% free but their plans start at $5, as for that value, I had to add them to the list.
Pricing: $5 – $75 per month
Website: www.libsyn.com
3. SoundCloud
SoundCloud is the world’s biggest music, audio hosting site and they introduced its hosting platform in 2015. They have over 175 million unique monthly visitors and an incredible 12 hours of content uploaded every minute on their website.
Using their podcast hosting services, you get access to Twitter cards, all of their embedded players, and timed comments. With SoundCloud free account, you can upload 3 hours of content per month and get basic reporting.
With SoundCloud Pro Unlimited podcast plan you can get: embed controls, unlimited upload time, scheduled releases, and the ability to pin five podcasts to your profile.
Price: Free to $16 per month ($12 when paid annually)
Website: www.soundcloud.com
4. Podomatic
Podomatic allows podcast creators to upload,, record and promote your new audio content, all in one dashboard. One of Podomatic strengths is the ability to create your podcast advertising and crowdsourcing with the help of Advertisecast and Patreon.
Podomatic has social sharing options, and your podcast can be played directly on Twitter feeds and Facebook. They have partnered with Weebly to help you create a website and you can have your free podcast app for iOS and Android.
In addition to their podcast free plan, they have four hots pro plans ranging from $9.99 to $24.99 per month.
Pricing: Free to $60+ per month
Website: www.podomatic.com
5. Blubrry
Best WP Podcast Hosting Runner-Up ($12-80/month).
Blubrry is a podcast hosting that offers not only hosting but managed WordPress hosting with PowerPress, the #1 WordPress plugin for podcasters. With over 75,000+ active installs, this plugin is free to use, consistently maintained, and offers MP3 tagging, and SEO options.
The Blubrry says, “Blubrry believes we should provide you the great best tools and not interfere,” is highlighting their creator first approach. They offer a podcasting manual, which gives you a lot of detailed information on using their services, tips and advice to succeed with your new podcast.
Their lowest podcast plan option is $12/month and offers 100MB of storage. If you want unlimited podcast hosting, you can upgrade to their professional plan.
In addition to their professional podcast plan with custom pricing, they have four pricing plans ranging from $12 to $80, which offer you starting from 100MB to 1,000MB/month of storage space.
Blubrry is fast becoming one of the top best choices because of its customer first approach. They are IAB compliant according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links form podcast hosting platforms that I receive a small commission for at no cost to you. These are the tools I fully recommend when it comes to podcast hosting services. You can read the full affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy.
What is Podcast Hosting?
Podcast hosting provides the RSS feed and the file hosting for your podcast. Hosting platforms companies upload your audio files, tell the hosting platform your show’s details, and generate your feed. When a new user subscribes to your podcast, the podcast host sends the media and audio files to the platforms directly.
Inclusive, a podcast is a series of audio files that are bundled into a only single file. Naturally, is required a lot of space and bandwidth to be stored. Still the personal website servers don’t have the amount of storage needed for files that large.
Podcast hosting platforms offer you the space to store files so that your audience can easily download them.
In conclusion, it’s a simple setup. Is made from an webserver to allow file downloads, the mp3 files themselves, and an RSS feed describing audio file. The best podcast services providers do much more than that.
What Are Podcast Directories?
Podcast directories are services like Google Play iTunes and Spotify. They receive your RSS feeds and podcast files, and push them to their front end systems.
These podcast directories easily allow your audience to find your show with a iPhone, podcast app, their computer, or Android device.
Here’s how it works.
You upload your audio files, and when the podcast directory detects something new in your feed, it downloads the file and displays the latest episode to its users.
Source: transistor.fm
What Podcast Platforms Should I Publish My Podcast On?
So after you’ve chosen a podcast hosting platform, how do you release your podcast? It’s very simple. Once you upload your files to your podcast host, you’re ready to decide where you want your audience to find you.
These podcast directories ensure you get in front of the most listeners and your feeds are updated automatically after each episode. Here’s a list of some of the top best podcast platforms.
1. How to Submit Your Podcast to iTunes.
iTunes is one of the most popular podcast apps. In March 2018, Apple Podcasts passed over 50 billion all-time podcast downloads and over 550,000 shows. Very impressive numbers!
Here’s how to get your podcast uploaded:
1. First, make sure you have an active Apple ID to submit your podcast.
2. Sign in to iTunes Connect.
3. Click on the top left area of the podcast dashboard and enter your RSS feed into the text box.
4. All of your podcast’s information will load from your podcast host and show you a feed preview. Make sure that all of your text and artwork looks ready to go.
5. Click submit and wait for the approval.
2. How to Submit Your Podcast to Google Play.
Google Play is another one of the most popular apps, with 1 billion monthly active users. They have a new service called Google Podcasts, which is a way to discover free and trending podcasts.
Here’s how to submit your podcast to Google Play:
1. First, make sure you have an active Google account and go to Podcasts in Google Play Music.
2. Click the Publish button, login to your Google account, and accept their terms of service.
3. Next, enter the URL for your RSS feed.
4. Click submit and check your inbox for a verification email, proving you own the podcast.
5. Click publish and wait for the approval.
3. How to Submit Your Podcast to TuneIn.
TuneIn is a growing site with 75 million listeners and over 120,000 live radio streams. They also have a ton of live sports, music, news, and global Internet radio stations.
Here’s how to submit your podcast to TuneIn:
1. Fill out the TuneIn contact form and add all of your podcast information.
2. Accept their terms and condition.
3. Click submit and wait for the approval.
4. How to Submit Your Podcast to Stitcher.
Stitcher is an on demand radio service that is focused on podcasts, informational news and broadcasts.
Here’s how to submit your podcast to Stitcher:
1. Apply on their content provider page and enter your information.
2. Once logged in and approved, add your new show.
3. Add your podcast’s RSS feed and click submit.
4. Wait to get approved.
5. How to Submit Your Podcast to Spotify.
Spotify is becoming one of the largest podcast platforms, boasting an impressive 191 million active listeners and 87 million paid subscribers. Spotify premium plan is $9.99/month and allows users to play any song with unlimited skips, download music, listen ad-free, and feature higher quality podcast audio.
In the old days, you couldn’t get your podcast on Spotify within their website itself. Alternately, you were forced to use your host and push your podcast to Spotify that way. Anyway, that has changed now.
They released their beta plan Spotify for Podcasters where you can learn how to upload your podcast to Spotify and get started straight away. What do you have to do is just log in to your Spotify account (through Spotify or Facebook), submit your RSS feed and Spotify does the rest.
If you’d like to go the old fashioned way, this article will help you get your podcast on Spotify as your hosting provider.
What is the Best Podcast Equipment I Need for My Show?
If you are ready to start recording your episodes, you will need to purchase some podcast equipment. All you need to start a podcast is a computer and a microphone. But that’s kind of like saying all you need to start an ecommerce business is a website there are a lot of different options.
Here are my top best picks for the best podcast equipment.
1. Blue Yeti: Best Podcast Microphone.
Don’t use your computer microphone. Start with a USB microphone instead, they are affordable and easy to use. Just plug in your microphone into your laptop or computer, switch your audio input settings, and record.
The only consideration for microphones is whether you choose a condenser mic or dynamic. Commonly a condenser mic is best for one person shows, and dynamic mics are useful for recording a group.
- A fantastic and highly-rated condenser podcast microphone is: Blue Yeti
- A high dynamic mic is: Audio-Technica ATR2100
2. MacBook Air: Best Laptop for Podcasting.
You don’t need the greatest and latest generation of laptop to start a podcast. Most computers or laptops will do just fine. Just make sure that your machine was built at least in the last three years. It will also need to be able to handle well your audio software.
3. Logitech C920S: Best Webcam for Streaming.
If you’re starting into podcasting, you need a good webcam. The webcam can be used to record video podcasts and upload them to YouTube. Very important it is that your webcam will be used to look professional in meetings.
For the audio podcasters, a video may not be important for your episodes themselves, but more for meetings, you’ll have with interviewees, influencers, and potential sponsors.
And you don’t have to shell out thousands or hundreds for an expensive camcorder or DLSR camera. You need just a good webcam for streaming in at least 1080p.
4. Audio-Technica ATH-M50x: Best Headphones for Podcasting.
Because audio quality is one of the most critical aspects of your show, a good pair of headphones can listen for distortion, p-pops, feedback, and other issues. You’ll want a good pair of closed-back headphones so that none of the sound coming through the headphones gets picked up by your microphone.
5. Mackie PROFX8V2: Best Mixer for Podcasting.
A USB mixer helps manage effects, levels, outputs, and inputs. Reverb, flanging, echos, delays, and other effects are not only fun to mess around with, but give your show a professional sound.
What is the Best Podcast Software to Record Episodes?
After you have chosen a podcast hosting platform and you know where to publish your show, it’s time to start recording your audio with a podcast software. It’s very easy. With a good quality microphone and some podcast recording software, you can quickly get your media recorded, edited, and launched like a pro.
Here are some of the best podcast software options to start recording your high-quality audio.
1. Anchor.
Anchor proclaim themselves as the easiest way to start a podcast. Ever.
And I have to agree. The free podcast recording software from Anchor allows you to record high-quality audio. You can record an unlimited amount of episodes and distribute them to all major websites with one click.
Anchor makes it very easy to drag and drop different audio clips and to rearrange segments in your episodes. They also give you a free landing page with a custom URL for your own show.
With Anchor HI-FI free unlimited hosting, recording capabilities from anyplaceand one click distribution, Anchor is the one of best podcast software on the market.
Try Anchor recording software today.
2. Zencastr.
Zencastr grant new and professional podcasters likewise the ability to record themselves and their remote guests in studio quality right from a web browser. To record your guest podcast in another location, you send them a link and then receive a separate audio track.
That live recording via a VoIP connection connects users through the microphones. Just as the podcast host, you press record, and each person’s audio logs from the web browser, without any compression or artificial sounds decreasing the audio quality.
Zencastr is also best for collaboration, as you can share your audio files via Dropbox and Google Drive.
With Zencastr free plan, you get: 8 hours of audio recording per month, up to two guests, and only pay per use in post-production. If you upgrade to Zencastr Professional plan at $20/month, you get: a live editing soundboard unlimited guests and recordings, and 10 hours of automatic post production every month.
Try Zencastr podcast software.
3. Avid Pro Tools.
Avid Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) from Avid Technologies. It is a sophisticated audio product with shocking amounts of power.
You don’t really need this powerhouse to record your podcast. After all, if you want the best tool or want studio-quality podcast software, Pro Tools is your #1 choice.
The one year subscription plan it costs $299, and you get $850 in bonus gifts, including Avid Pro Sound Effects, royalty free music and tutorials. You can also buy it on Amazon.
If you’d like to check out more software essential options, check out my guide to the best podcast software to use this year.
What Are the Benefits of Podcast Hosts and Why Do You Need One?
Podcasting has become a best way to make money from your show and build an online brand. Such as, Joe Rogan’s JRE podcast is estimated to make him an unthinkable $30,000 per episode.
Podcasting is something to take seriously, so don’t scrimp out on your host. Here are some of the most significant benefits of using podcast hosting sites:
1. No Compromise in Quality.
Mostly, personal servers have limited space to spare.
If you choose to store a podcast in your own server, you’ll have to make a compromise between speed, quality and storage space. This bring about to deterioration in the quality of the podcast since you need to cram a large number of files within a limited space.
Podcast hosting platforms, after all, have inbuilt servers that are able to host large podcast files while maintaining the highest quality. By yhis means that you don’t have to worry about quality any longer.
2. Podcast Hosting Sites Can Handle Data Transfer.
Your podcasts are delivered via RSS (rich summary site) feeds. When you store your podcast in your personal account, the users need to download the files directly from there, which necessitates the expenditure of data for every download.
Now imagine this:
You start to have millions of followers, and everyone is downloading files from your account.
It swallow up massive bandwidth since your account is using up the bulk of the allotted data for your website host. Coming from a single account, it might be too much data transfer to handle for your host.
That’s why leaving it to dedicated podcast website hosts to take care of this for you is a great option.
3. You Save Money on Storage.
Deciding to host your podcast yourself can be costly. For example, to host a one hour audio podcast three times/week, you need around 200MB of storage space. And then publishing a video podcast once every week at an estimated 500MB per episode, you’ll need 2 GB space every month.
With all that said, podcast hosts take care of cloud storage for you, which comes with a lot of advantages.
After all, if you’ve chosen a host that doesn’t provide unlimited bandwidth, and your audience continues to grow, you’ll either need to upgrade your plan or pay the added fees.
Your storage needs consistently always continue to grow with your audience and number of published episodes.
Fortunately, podcast hosting platforms come with fixed pricing plans so you already know how much you will spend based on your storage requirements.
4. Faster Speed.
Conceivably, an required aspect of the need for podcast hosting is ensuring and providing speed.
How long do you attend to wait for a Dailymotion video to run? one minute? two minutes? I will give it only 30 seconds to start playing. If it doesn’t start playing, I simply leave the video.
Idendical and the same is true for podcasts. Too much buffering or low speeds won’t keep users captivated for long time. Eventually, they’ll move on to a competitor’s podcast.
When you host podcasts on your website, speed becomes an very issue. There is only so much speed that an average web host for sure can provide. When more listeners start to download your podcast, web hosts have no other option but to use data throttling.
Because of, users who want to download your podcast will struggle to do so.
Gratefully, with a fully dedicated host for your podcasts, you seldom run into these snags. Podcast hosting give unlimited access to your podcasts, as there’s no conflict regarding bandwidth or speed.
5. Robust Analytics.
The right analytics tool gonna help you to generate actionable insights and make better decisions.
Before you start planning out your podcasting schedule, you should determine how your podcasts are performing.
This is where podcast hosting analytics importance come into the picture.
Almost all podcast platforms come with an great built-in data analytics tool that can help you track your number of downloads per episode, where they are located and how long listeners are staying engaged.
This insightful data helps you make very quick decisions on the types of content and show formats that your audience enjoys most.
6. Additional Security.
Cyber-attacks are a very severe problem today.
Although running a podcast, you simply cannot afford to manage your own security. Hosting podcast files on your server requires you to have the best security system in place, replete with security measures like SSL certificates and firewalls.
Furthermore, you need to regularly update and test their functionality and perform daily back-ups.
Podcast hosting platforms s, on the other hand, come in-built with all the security measures that you need. the availability of tools save and back-up your files and take care of security for you.
How Do I Choose from the Best Podcast Hosting Sites?
12 million people listened to a podcast for the first time within the last year. To tap into this growing market and choose the best option, you have to consider some different questions.
- What is the right amount of storage needed?
- How much audio storage and content will you be uploading/month?
- Do you need a new WordPress website or align each episode with a blog post?
- Can you work along with video podcasts or any video format?
- What kinds of analytics would you like to view?
- Is it easy to add advertisements and sponsorships throughout your podcast episodes?
- How much you plan or do you want to spend on hosting services?
These are the questions you’ll have to answer when you start choosing from the best. Acknowledge these questions before finalizing your podcast episode’s cadence and length.
For instance, if you’re running a weekly 1-hour podcast, you’ll need less storage than if you’re running a half hour show 5 days/week. After all, don’t let prices limit your show’s options.
Source: thenextweb.com
Here are some tips for choosing the best podcast website:
1. Know how many hours of monthly audio hosting you need/month.
Many podcast hosts only give you 2 hours of upload time per month, while others provide unlimited uploads.
2. Look into server reliability, bandwidth options, and uptime guarantees.
Look into upgrade plan options if scalability is essential. With premium plans, you can get easy access to unlimited storage, upload times, and monthly downloads.
3. Research signup prices vs. renewal prices, as they may be different.
You can save money by paying annually vs. monthly, so do your homework. Start with a free trial to test the product’s ease of use.
4. Make sure the host has a lot of essential features.
Look for things like media validation, no-fault overages, ID3 tagging and FTP uploading.
Taking that into consideration, my recommendation for new podcasters is to get started with BuzzSprout.
7 Effective Steps to Start a Podcast.
From that day forward when the revolutionary iPod release on 2001, podcasts have been growing in popularity. And there it looks like to be no sign of stopping.
Alike to the report of Nielsen, 50% of US households are podcast fans. That’s more than sixty million homes in the United States alone.
Where do they listen to these podcasts? It looks like: everywhere, apparently.
With the popularity of podcasts at an record-time high, there hasn’t been a better time to start your first podcast.
If you want to start your first podcast, you need to follow a series of steps, including:
- Choose a name for your podcast
- Select a cover image
- Introductory music
- Get the necessary equipment
- Create an environment and process
- Record your first podcast and release
- Promote and market your podcast
1. Choose a Name For Your Podcast.
Out There are three significant naming conventions that you could follow to name your podcast:
- Creative – Ex: ‘Podfast’
- Descriptive – Ex: ‘Startup Your Blog’
- Personal – Ex: ‘The StatUpAm Show,’ #AskStartUpAm
The naming convention you gonna choose to follow should depend on your own preference. For example, if you want to highlight your core topic, a descriptive name would give a fair idea.
Adding a tag line to the podcast name is also something that accentuates your brand value. For instance, ‘Podfast’ – simply the fastest.
If this doesn’t work for you could try out some other ways to name your podcast.
Souuce: CoSchedule
2. Add a Cover Photo.
An good cover photo helps create an image of your brand in the mind of the consumer. It has to be catchy, communicative and should uphold the niche of the podcast.
The great news is that lots of the covert art specifications are taken care of by podcasting hosting platforms. You can as well customize them to align with your expectations.
3. Add Your Intro Music.
Start your podcast with a theme song to captivate the interest of the listeners.
Opening theme music is likewise an element of the broader branding of your podcast, and listeners will identify your channel right away based on that music.
As usual, it should be about 5-10 seconds long.
All you need to do is create something very unique that aligns with your niche so that your listeners begin to associate it solely with your brand.
4. Get The Necessary Equipment.
For a smooth podcasting experience, you need the best equipment.
The best part is that you don’t need to fork out a massive budget to produce excellent quality podcasts.
The simple basic are:
- A good podcasting host
- Recording software
- Good microphone
Some of the best microphones in the market are Audio Technica and Blue Encore.
You can as well as to check out what some popular podcasters are using. For example, here’s a list of equipment Gary Vaynerchuk uses for his podcast.
It is much easier to produce engaging podcasts if you’re working with the right set of equipment.
5. Create Your Environment.
You’ve got to create the excellent environment to attract listeners. This is where you need to get very creative and market your podcast to reach your target audience.
For beginners, you need an appealing welcome message to start off the monologue on a positive note. You’ll basically talk about who you are and what are you aiming to do in your own podcast.
Once that’s done, now you’ve got to get ready with the content you gonna need for each episode :
- The topic
- Outline of the episode
- Key takeaways
Podcasting involves various methods. Whether it be pre-planned, banter, segments, or an interview, devising a proper structure for your podcast is essential.
Source: Coshedule.com
Planning ahead before you start makes for a better performance, which simply rubs off on your podcast delivery and other people in the room.
6. Record and Release.
How do you want to record your podcasts depends entirely upon you. Some podcasters record more than 5-10 podcasts in one go, although some believe in producing one podcast at a time.
To be able to reach the right audience, you need to upload your podcasts on popular podcast platforms like Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, iTunes, and more.
Even more better, if you already have a YouTube channel or a blog, you can share your podcast on those channels as well.
That way, you can invite your regular viewers and readers to check out your new podcast.
7. Promotion and Marketing.
It’s difficult and challenging to record a large number of streams immediately after you start.
Using social media like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and running ad campaigns could be the best way to promote your podcasts in the market.
You can connect with industry leaders, and tie up with radio stations to spread the word at a fairly lower cost.
You can invite a celebrity or an industry stalwart with a considerable following on your show. That’s a best way to reach out to new listeners.
Take the CEO of Foundr, Nathan Chan’s podcast, for instance.
He regularly invites guests like Neil Patel, who is a familiar name in the marketing niche. A well known guests not only add tremendous value to the show but also help him gain new followers.
Not to mention, with good content and valuable guests, and as your market penetration increases, you’ll be able to start monetizing your podcast.
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links form podcast hosting platforms that I receive a small commission for at no cost to you. These are the tools I fully recommend when it comes to podcast hosting services. You can read the full affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy.
Podcast Hosting FAQ.
Is starting a podcast worth it?
Starting a podcast is worth it if you have all of the needed and unique skills for podcasting.
You need to be a good speaker, entertainer, self-promoter, digital marketer, and be willing to spend a lot of time marketing your podcast and building your audience.
If you started a podcast exclusively to make money online, there are some easier alternatives out there like learning how to start a blog. Anyway, you can be successful but the odds are stacked against you.
The most majority of podcasts aren’t successful because podcasters don’t have digital marketing knowledge or relationship-building skills to make it successful.
Where can I host a podcast?
To host a podcast, there are a lot of services to choose from. You need to host your podcast with one of the best podcast hosting platforms. Here are my top picks:
- Buzzsprout.
- Spreaker.
- Transistor.
- PodBean.
- Simplecast.
- Captivate.
Where can I host a podcast for free?
Yes positive, you can host a podcast for free. Anyway, free services come with a lot of limitations compared to their paid alternatives.
When you start a podcast and need to host your audio files, you should pay for a high-quality option rather than a free, less feature-rich alternative.
Do I need podcast hosting?
Yes, you need podcast hosting to store your podcast files and publish them on platforms like iTunes and Stitcher.
Sadly, you can’t just record an audio file and upload it directly to iTunes or Stitcher, you need a podcast hosting platform to manage that for you.
Can you make money podcasting?
Yes, you can make money podcasting but you need first to build an audience. Once you build your audience, you can’t make money from sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and product sales.
The major way to make money with a podcast is to sell sponsorships (ad slots) to companies that want to be mentioned on your own show.
You can sell these ad slots in increments of 5, 10, 20, or even a full year to make sure your slots are filled.
Another considerable way to make money is to partake in affiliate programs.
By just mentioning a webpage to visit over the air and linking to it in the show notes, you can drive sales for other companies and make a commission.
How often should you publish a podcast?
The frequency of your podcast publishing schedule should be dictated by your niche, audience, and the length of each episode.
You gonna need to provide the best possible experience for your listeners and make sure they keep coming back for more.
For instance, if your episodes are just 15 minutes long, you may want to publish a daily podcast. If your episodes are longer then (60 minutes or more), you can get away with a weekly podcast.
Conclusively, it depends on your industry, topics, and audience base.
Summary.
There you have it: the list of the best podcast hosting to try this year.
When making your choice, first dig very deep into the podcast platform’s features. You should be able to upload as much content as needed, be compliant, view analytics, and have enough storage space.
Second, you have to decide if you want free unlimited hosting, or are willing to pay extra to get more features.
Third, do you need your own website? Look for best options that couple web hosting and email marketing software with WordPress or Weebly so you can add show notes and blog posts.
Ensure your hosting platform works with the best podcast networks.
Finally, examine which podcast hosts can promote you with marketing, crowdsourcing, ads, monetization, expert guidance, and support.
These podcast platforms take the guesswork out of storing your podcast, distributing your audio content to the right places, and supporting you on your podcasting journey.
My recommendation for the freshly new podcasters is to get started with Buzzsprout.
So pick the best option tailored just for you and a very happy podcasting!
And if you’re looking to incorporate video into your monetization strategy, read my reviews of the best online course platforms and this article covering how to make money on YouTube.
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