9 of the Top Podcasting Platforms (2023)
To help with your research We've prepared a concise intro, highlighted key characteristics, and provided pricing plans for 9 of the top podcasting platforms. We've ranked the platforms based on cost, upload and bandwidth limits, monetization tools, and much more. Let's get started!
Our list of the 9 best podcast hosting platforms:
PodBean
With over 10 years of experience, PodBean boasts an impressive 650,000 podcasters on its platform. PodBean provides users with simple-to-read statistics like downloads by date and time, trends in top 10 episodes as well as demographics of listeners and user retention. It also allows you to live stream live to your audience and allows listeners and guests to call in to take part or listen to your broadcast.
Important Features
- Plan available for free
- Customizable podcast website on every plan
- A customizable and embeddable podcast player for your website
- Native tools that make it simple to podcast to monetize
- Auto-sharing is enabled on social media accounts
- Live streaming that allows for listeners to call in and listen
Price band:
PodBean is among the very few platforms offering the option of a no-cost plan. Their free plan supports the mp3 format and offers 5 hours of storage (500MB) and 100GB of bandwidth per month.
Alongside the free plan, PodBean has three plans for paid customers: Unlimited Audio ($9), Unlimited Plus ($29), and Network ($79). The unlimited Audio and Unlimited Plus plans include unlimited storage space as well as bandwidth, while the Network plan limits bandwidth to 3TB, with the option to pay for additional bandwidth.
Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout is the preferred podcast hosting platform that is used by more than 100,000 podcasters. It offers sophisticated analytics that let you track the amount of downloads you receive for your podcasts, from where they're coming from, as well as the number of people access your show. It also gives you access to a range of options, such as an embeddable player on websites, an the option of a transcript for your episode, as well as "Dynamic Content" that lets you edit posts and pre-roll segments after you've published.
By uploading your podcast to Buzzsprout, you'll be able to list your podcast on every major directories, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Alexa, Castro, Podchaser, and many more. The platform will also automatically optimize uploaded files, making your podcast as good as it can be.
The key attributes
- Free plan available
- Customizable podcast website on all plans
- Podcast player that can be embedded to your site
- The ability to create chapter markers for episodes
- Advanced statistics that track your progress
- Dynamic content lets you change posts and pre-rolls after publishing
Price price range:
Buzzsprout is also one of the few podcast platforms that offer a trial plan for free. As for their paid options there are three options available including $12, $18, and $24 per month. There is no annual pricing at this time therefore you'll need choose to use their monthly prices. Only difference between these paid plans is the available upload hours each plan includes.
RSS.com
RSS.com features a user interface that's well-known for its simplicity to access and use. The platform provides users with access to features like complete analytics, schedulers for episodes as well as an embeddable player for episodes, social media sharing, and a podcasting website that's included.
Different in comparison to other platforms hosting podcasts, RSS.com offers a donation button which you can activate or disable. The donation button lets you get funding beyond the usual sponsorship and ad methods. If ads and sponsors prefer your taste you can also get them. Podcasters will find sponsors using RSS.com's Podcorn marketplace.
The key features
- Unlimited audio and episodes for all plans
- Podcast website that can be customized for every plan
- Embeddable podcast player for your website
- Native episode scheduler
- Optional donation button
- The ability to make episode chapters, soundbites, and transcripts within the platform
Price price range:
Although it appears that RSS.com officially offers 3 plans however, the majority of users will be able to avail the All in One Podcasting plan priced at $12.99 per month. Students and Non-government Organizations can benefit from a separate plan that is just for them, at $4.99 a month. The Student plan has similar features to those in the All in One plan, but you'll have to be certified. Any person who has more than 10,000 daily downloads is eligible for this Podcast Networks plan, but you'll need to reach out to the platform prior to signing up.
Captivate
Captivate is an excellent alternative for those who are just starting out as podcasters. The hosting dashboard of Captivate is well-known in the industry for its easy-to-use user interface. The platform allows you distribute your episodes on all major podcasting directories, promote your show using built-in marketing tools, and make money with private podcasting.
Key features
- A podcast site that you can customize on every plan
- Unlimited podcasts, uploads, and storage on all plans
- Podcast embeddable, customizable player to your website
- Additional Captivate Sync(tm) WordPress Plugin for flexibility in hosting control
- Premium or private podcasting available on all plans
- Unlimited team members with customizable roles
Price band:
Captivate provides three plans which include: Personal ($19) as well as Professional ($49), and Business ($99). Although there's no free plan available, you can enjoy a free 7-day trial with each plan. The primary difference between paid plans lies related to the quantity of networks-connected podcasts and private ones, and private podcast subscribers you can have. Outside of these variable attributes, both plans are similar.
Transistor
Transistor is a high-quality podcast hosting service that hosts famous podcasts such as Cards Against Humanity. They offer complete analytics, private podcasts as well as 1-click distribution for each of the popular directories. They also provide 1-click delivery via Listen Notes and The Podcast Index, 2 popular search engines dedicated just to podcasts.
Transistor is a great option when you've got multiple podcasts. Transistor allows unlimited episodes across all plans. The platform doesn't limit podcasters on bandwidth or storage or downloads per month, but rather by monthly downloads, which helps to understand limits more easily.
Key attributes
- Podcast website that can be customized for every plan
- Unlimited podcasts with every hosting plan
- Dynamic Ad Tool for easy and efficient insertion of advertisements
- Upload each episode automatically to YouTube
- Unique RSS feeds for every show that you can watch
- Embeddable podcast player for your website
Price band:
Transistor provides three pricing plans including Starter ($19), Professional $49) and the Business plan ($99). The only features that vary from plan to plan. These are the team members you are able to add and the amount of podcast listeners who are private you have the option of having, and the limit on monthly downloads. The good news is that the Starter plan allows unlimited monthly downloads of 10,000 that is enough for the majority of podcasters who are who are just beginning their journey.
Audioboom
Audioboom is a reasonably standard platform for most users, providing distribution to directories that are well-known with unlimited episodes and an impressive 15,000 download limit per month on their entry-level plan. The platform's approach to revenue generation is what makes this platform apart from the others. Podcasters have access to the market for monetization when they've reached the 10000 monthly downloaded. For those with a substantial audience, it won't impact the quality of your show. But if you're a smaller show, it may mean losing out on the opportunity to make money once you've reached that pivotal milestone.
The key Features
- Unlimited episodes per month
- 15,000 downloads per month on entry-level plan
- Distribution to most well-known directories
- IAB compliant analytics dashboard
- The ability to access the global marketplace for advertising after you've reached 10,000 downloads per month
Price range:
Audioboom's pricing plans are simple! The company offers two plans per month which include which are the Standard Plan ($9.99) and the Plus Plan ($19.99). The Standard plan allows for up to an incredible 15,000 downloads each month. If you're looking for more then The Plus Plan allows up to 50k. And if that still isn't enough, you'll have to contact them for a custom Podcast Pros Account.
Resonate
Resonate is an excellent podcast hosting service for those looking for a complete solution. Their hosting plans provide a few of the standard attributes, they're not offering a customizable website, private/premium podcasting and support for customers in their less expensive plans. However, where Resonate does not have the standard features for hosting, it could be able to make up the difference with extra features.
Resonate offers a wide range of podcasting services. These include producer, launch, production videos, marketing, and enterprise services. The additional features allow podcasters to make a premium production, highly-produced shows all within the same platform.
Key features
- Automatically generated podcast microsite
- Embeddable podcast player for your website
- Comprehensive analytics and statistics from embedded player
- Built-in Dynamic Ad Insertion with time-sensitive announcements and timed campaigns
Price price range:
Resonate has two ready-to-go monthly plans The Basic ($25) as well as Premium ($49). Both of these include Unlimited episodes, unlimited downloads, as well as show viewers. Unfortunately, the microsite can only be found on the Premium plan, separating Resonate from platforms with websites included in their most basic plans. If neither the Basic or the Premium plans meet your needs, consider the Professional plan that gives you more microsites and support features.
Castos
As opposed to other podcasting platforms, Castos is a WordPress plugin. It's designed to sync to Seriously Simple Podcasting and allows podcasters to control their podcast hosting directly from their WordPress site. Castos lets users build custom podcast sites as well as detailed statistics.
In comparison with Buzzsprout, their audio transcription service is much less expensive and cost only $0.10 for each minute. If you're planning to launch a podcast on YouTube, Castos will also instantly upload your podcast episodes to YouTube when you subscribe to certain plans. Castos is focused on improvement and developing innovative features that can provide analysis reports specifically tailored to prospective sponsors and playback duration metrics to let you have a better idea of the time that listeners stay watching.
The key features
- Customizable podcast website on every plan
- Unlimited podcasts episode uploads
- Private podcasting feature for premium content
- Templates for web pages that are pre-built
- Automatic podcast transcriptions (optional)
- YouTube is republishing
Price range:
Castos has four pricing options: Starter ($19) and Growth ($49), Pro ($99), and Premium ($499) each month. Paying annually will save you around 17% in total. Although the basic plan offers your general features, only the plan for growth and beyond includes YouTube republishing.
Libsyn
All the way back to the year 2004, Libsyn has been a long-time participant within the field of podcasts. It's an excellent platform for new creators and hosts who have short episodes and a low episode count or podcasts with monetization. Important to know that this platform is limited to uploads and bandwidth. This may lead to issues for podcasts with a large number of episodes or large numbers of viewers. In order to increase the storage capacity and bandwidth, you'll have to choose larger plans that's why this platform is ideal for small audiences or shows producing revenue.
The key attributes
- Podcast website that can be customized for every plan
- Built-in monetization with advertisements and podcasting in private
- Integrated visual-builder that integrates with Canva
- Custom iOS and Android app for your show
- Distribution to the most of the most popular directories for podcasts
Price band:
Libsyn offers a grand total of 6 options, including 3 for audio podcasts, and 3 to support video-based podcasts.
Audio Podcasts
Pricing for audio starts at $5 and go up to $15 and $20 each month. However, Libsyn limits the number of audio hours that you can upload per month and total storage space, which is different from other options on this list. If you choose to go with a higher-priced plan can give you more of both.
Video Podcasts
Video podcast plans start at $45 and increase to $75 and $150 monthly. When you pay this amount, the statistics remain the same but only upload and bandwidth limits change with each month, increasing once the cost increases.
Final thoughts
And there you have it! Nine of the best podcasting platforms. Selecting the right platform is just the first of many decisions that you'll face as a podcaster. While you're researching for the right platform, be sure you consider your particular needs in the field of podcasting. Look first at your basic demands such as uploading, bandwidth downloads, and budget. Next, think about the strategy to monetize your website and social media connectivity once you've narrowed the list down to your top choices.
Need more help in starting a podcast? Check out our other podcasting posts: