Best Podcast Hosting Platforms
Podcast hosting platforms provide storage and distribution services for podcast audio files, making them available on top podcast directories and streaming services. These platforms are used across industries, primarily by content creators, media companies, educational institutions, and businesses looking to expand their customer base.
Podcast hosting platforms offer features like audio file hosting, automatic RSS feed generation, episode scheduling, and integration with various podcast directories like Apple and Google. They have the substantial server storage space required to house large audio files, which can then be embedded elsewhere on the internet, fed into podcast directories, or played back by direct visitors to the site.
For podcasters, podcast hosting solutions remove the need to find file hosting for their content. Given the size of the audio files, using a personal server could be incredibly expensive. Some podcast hosting sites also provide content analytics software components so hosts can discover insight into how their episodes perform.
To qualify for inclusion in the Podcast Hosting Platform category, a product must:
Best Podcast Hosting Platforms At A Glance
G2 takes pride in showing unbiased reviews on user satisfaction in our ratings and reports. We do not allow paid placements in any of our ratings, rankings, or reports. Learn about our scoring methodologies.
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
SoundCloud is the world’s largest open audio platform, powered by a connected community of creators, listeners, and curators on the pulse of what's new, now and next in culture. SoundCloud empowers th
- Music
- Marketing and Advertising
- 82% Small-Business
- 17% Mid-Market
2,191,996 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Storyboard is a private podcasting platform for enterprises and organizations. Teams can record and share audio in private, secure channels to streamline internal communications and boost employee eng
- Education Management
- Marketing and Advertising
- 48% Small-Business
- 44% Mid-Market
567 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
RSS.com is the easiest podcast hosting platform to start, grow, track and monetize a podcast. RSS.com podcasters enjoy unlimited episodes, a free podcasting website that displays your latest episodes,
- Broadcast Media
- Entertainment
- 92% Small-Business
- 3% Mid-Market
14,954 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Castos is a podcast hosting and anlytics platform that enables brands to grow their audience through public podcasts, and to provide exclusive content to their premium members through private podcasts
- Media Production
- 92% Small-Business
- 5% Mid-Market
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Start podcasting today with free podcast hosting from Buzzsprout, the easiest podcasting software for hosting, promoting, and tracking your podcast.
- Entertainment
- Marketing and Advertising
- 80% Small-Business
- 16% Mid-Market
141 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Simple and modern podcast hosting and analytics. Record your audio and upload it to Transistor. We'll help you distribute your podcast to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
- Computer Software
- 77% Small-Business
- 13% Mid-Market
4,481 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Anchor is the company that makes it easy for anyone to start a podcast through award winning apps for iOS, Android, and web. Through easy-to-use tools, straightforward analytics, one-touch distributio
- Entertainment
- 93% Small-Business
- 3% Mid-Market
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
The Smart Podcast Player is the only customizable web-based player designed to make binge listening easy—while keeping listeners on your website.
- Broadcast Media
- 70% Small-Business
- 27% Mid-Market
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Casted is the only content marketing platform built to empower marketers to access, amplify, and attribute their podcast content to fuel their content marketing strategy. With Casted, marketers can ha
- Computer Software
- Marketing and Advertising
- 48% Small-Business
- 48% Mid-Market
695 Twitter followers
- Overview
- Pros and Cons
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Podbean has been providing innovative podcasting and social audio services as an industry leader since 2006. Podbean integrates hosting, publishing, management, distribution, monetization and analysis
- 88% Small-Business
- 13% Mid-Market
29,550 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Rumble Studio is a one-of-a-kind tool for recording asynchronous audio for podcasts. We are a technology startup based in Paris, France. We work with startups, corporates & brands, media compa
- Founder
- Marketing and Advertising
- E-Learning
- 95% Small-Business
1,340 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
PodOmatic provides tools that enable users to create and find audio and video podcasts.
- 82% Small-Business
- 9% Mid-Market
7,004 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Firstory is the all-in-one podcast platform for podcast creators from production, to hosting, and promotion. Join over 10,000 worldwide users and enjoy unlimited storage and downloads (bandwidth) for
- 64% Small-Business
- 36% Mid-Market
206 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
A Platform For Every Podcaster From The Start. Libsyn gives podcasters the freedom they need to deliver the kind of podcast they want. Your podcasting story is best written when you have the freedom
- 96% Small-Business
- 4% Mid-Market
18,639 Twitter followers
- Overview
- User Satisfaction
- Seller Details
Captivate has been planned out from the start by podcasters, tested by podcasters and made easy for you - no more frustration with your podcast interface.
- 69% Small-Business
- 23% Mid-Market
2,231 Twitter followers
Learn More About Podcast Hosting Platforms
What are podcast hosting platforms?
Podcast hosting platforms play a vital role in making podcasts accessible to listeners worldwide by handling the technical aspects of hosting and delivering audio content. They have the technology infrastructure to host, store, and distribute audio files online. Once a user uploads their podcast files onto the platform, it generates an RSS feed, which is submitted to podcast websites and directories to make the episodes available worldwide.
Podcast hosting platforms also come with features of analytics tools to give perspectives into listener demographics, engagement, and episode performance. They can also schedule episodes, ensuring consistent content delivery to audiences through distribution technology.
What are the common features of podcast hosting software?
Different podcast hosting platforms have different features, but here are some common ones that help users create and distribute their podcasts:
- Hosting. Users can upload, organize, and host all their audio content in one place, knowing they own the rights to all their work. This way, users avoid purchasing separate cloud storage software or CMS tools.
- Distribution. Most podcast hosting platforms allow users to easily distribute their podcasts to all major podcast networks, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.
- Monetization. These platforms offer several monetization options so that users can make money from their podcasts. Options include asking listeners to pay for one-off content, creating subscription plans, requesting donations from listeners, and running advertisements in their podcasts. The platform manages payment information, including listener names, email lists, and credit card information.
- Analytics. This feature gives podcasters a look into the performance of their podcasts. They can learn about listener engagement, traffic, downloads, and audience demographic breakdowns. Some platforms also provide SEO recommendations. This information helps users understand their audience and create content to improve listener experience and retention. It also helps with advertising efforts, which many podcasters primarily carry out through social media.
- Creation. Certain software tools let users record, upload, and edit unlimited audio directly on the platform. Users can trim audio clips, rearrange segments, add music, transitions, intros, and outros, and collaborate with co-hosts to produce episodes that suit their format of preference.
- Optimization. To make the publishing process more efficient, some podcast hosting platforms automatically optimize podcast episodes to ensure that the correct file types, bitrates, and ID3 tags are used.
- Transcription. Some platforms offer transcription services to make the content more accessible to search engines and people who are hard of hearing.
- Web hosting. Some platforms offer web hosting capabilities so users can use a website builder to create their own website to accompany their podcasts. These websites are customizable so that they can match podcasts’ branding. Listeners can play episodes directly on the website through the embedded player or click on the links to popular podcast apps. Creating a website is particularly useful if users want to make a private podcast for a limited audience, such as a business or educational institution.
- Mobile app. Accessing the platform on a mobile device is especially useful when users want to record audio on the go and put the episode together later on.
Why do you need a podcast hosting platform?
Most websites don’t have the bandwidth to support large audio files, which means without a podcast hosting platform, creating and distributing such files hurts website performance. Hosting platforms are built to handle this load, and make sure your podcast is always accessible.
Podcast hosting platforms simplify the technicalities of podcasting and help expand your audience by improving user experience and letting you focus on creating great content. They provide a centralized location for managing and organizing episodes, access to analytics about your audience’s listening behavior, and monetization options.
What are the benefits of podcast hosting software?
While there are alternatives to how podcasters can create and distribute podcasts, podcast hosting platforms make it more beneficial in a number of ways.
- One-stop shop: If a podcaster wanted to be scrappy and use separate applications for each part of the podcast creation and distribution process, they could. However, navigating between different apps that aren’t compatible with each other results in wasted time and frustration. Podcast hosting platforms give users the functionality they need to easily create, distribute, analyze, and monetize their podcasts.
- Additional resources: Once users become part of a podcast hosting community, they can connect with other podcasters for advice or access tutorials and guides to help them improve their content.
- Lower storage costs: Hosting solutions handle the cloud storage needed to host large audio files. Some even offer unlimited bandwidth and storage, which is included in the hosting plan that the user selects. This is a lot cheaper than purchasing cloud storage from external providers.
- Security: Putting in place security measures to protect a podcast is costly and complicated, so taking advantage of the built-in security measures that hosting sites come with is a major plus.
Who uses podcast hosting platforms?
The majority of podcasts are operated by individuals, but a number of them are part of a larger organization. Both of them benefit from using podcast hosting companies.
- Independent podcasters: These individuals are often beginners to podcasting and have limited resources at their disposal. Podcast hosting platforms make it easy for them to manage all the steps involved in producing their new podcast.
- Business podcasters: These users are professional podcasters who have been in the game for some time or individuals who work for a larger organization. They benefit from the organizational features of podcast hosting platforms since they have numerous podcasts, lots of episodes, larger content files, and many subscribers to keep track of.
Podcast hosting platform pricing
The storage capacity you need for your content, the bandwidth you require based on your listeners, the add-on features and integrations you have, and the number of people using your podcast for team collaborations all factor into determining the price of podcast hosting platforms. If you want the best podcast hosting services that support unlimited team members with unlimited uploads and monthly downloads, the price rises higher.
Here is a quick overview of podcast hosting platforms' pricing.*
- Minimum annual price per license: $60
- Maximum annual price per license: $1800
- Average annual price per license: $610
* The pricing shared is based on G2 data as of December 2023.
The pricing models for these podcast hosting platforms are straightforward. Most providers don’t require buyers to sign a contract so that they can purchase monthly plans instead. While most providers offer free podcast hosting, free plans have less storage and come with basic features. Buyers can opt for one of the paid plans that offers unlimited storage space, advanced audio editing, monetization, and analytics capabilities. Most providers will also offer a 7 or 14-day free trial.
Other types of pricing models include the following.
- Freemium: Under this model, platforms offer a basic set of services for free; the advanced features or greater storage capacity come with a cost. This is a good starting point for beginners or businesses testing out their podcasting needs.
- Unlimited plan: Some platforms may offer flat-rate subscription plans with unlimited downloads and uploads, perfect for power users creating daily content.
- Tier-based subscription: Most podcast hosting platforms offer this pricing model to their users. The cost increases depending on the number of features you use. This is a good fit for meeting distinct business needs and budgets.
What are the alternatives to podcast hosting software?
While there aren’t any platforms that can completely replace these solutions, podcasters can use various other tools in tandem to create their own makeshift podcast hosting platform.
- Audio hosting software: Podcasters need somewhere to store their audio files. Oftentimes, raw files contain hours of audio, so storage software or CMS that can accommodate large audio files is necessary.
- Audio editing software: Audio editing features that podcast hosting sites include can also be accessed through actual audio editing software.
Which companies should buy podcast hosting platforms?
The growing popularity of podcasts has created an opportunity for companies across industries to use podcast hosting platforms and elevate their business presence. Some examples of companies that should buy this software include the following.
- Media companies: These companies constantly produce content across various digital mediums, and podcasting is no different. With podcast hosting platforms, media companies can create, store, and distribute content that expands their digital horizons through a growing form of entertainment.
- Entertainment industry: Professionals in the entertainment industry can use podcast hosting platforms to engage with their audience and fan base. The tools make podcast creation, distribution, and management much easier.
- Broadcasting networks: Podcasting platforms help broadcasting networks diversify their content offerings and take advantage of the on-demand and digital media space.
How to choose podcast hosting platforms
Choosing the right podcast hosting platform affects not only your content creation process but also the reach of your work. To guarantee smooth production and launch, consider these factors before finalizing your choice.
Bandwidth and storage
Evaluate your current needs and consider your future goals and growth when choosing your podcast hosting platform's bandwidth and storage requirements. Some providers offer free services for the first episode, while others have tiered plans with different costs depending on your desired features.
Ease of use
From uploading episodes to managing and tracking your audience’s listening activity, the user interface of a podcast hosting platform needs to be easy to use. Pick the platform with a friendly and intuitive UI for the best experience.
Distribution and analytics
As important as the creation process is, content distribution is equally essential for podcasting. Your chosen platform should support easy distribution to top podcast directories, make the submission process simple, and ensure your podcast is discoverable. The platform should also give you insights into your audience, like the number of listeners, location, or average listening time.
Monetization
Your podcast hosting platform should support your revenue generation goals down the road. It should offer features like dynamic ad insertion, sponsorship management, and integration with crowdfunding services.
Technical support
It's always a good call to check whether your chosen provider offers an adequate customer support team to answer any queries or challenges you may encounter during your use. User reviews can help make that call.
Challenges with podcast hosting platforms
These platforms are relatively easy to set up and use, but they can still pose challenges.
- Integration with other analytics sources: These platforms have podcast analytics and insights. However, if users also track their performance using external solutions, such as Google Analytics, it may be challenging to merge the different sources to get a holistic view of performance.
- File optimization: Not all platforms automatically optimize audio files for publishing, so this is an extra step for podcast hosts. They must ensure that the correct file types, bitrates, and ID3 tags are used every time a new episode is published because some listening apps have specific compatibility.
- Learning curve: Some of the more advanced features of these platforms are unfamiliar to beginner podcasters, and the lack of documentation and training materials on some platforms makes it difficult for new users to take advantage of all these features.
Podcast hosting platform trends
- A drastic increase in listenership: It’s no secret that the podcast industry is booming. More listeners mean more analytics. Podcast hosting providers are investing in advanced analytics capabilities to give users an accurate picture of who is listening to their podcasts, where they come from, how long they are listening, what they like or dislike, and their demographics. This data is invaluable when there is so much room for growth in the podcast industry.
- Advertising: More and more brands are turning to podcasts as a lucrative place to advertise. Not only can they target specific demographics, but they do it effectively. Podcasters often read these advertisements to their listeners in the same familiar voice they are used to hearing.
Researched and written by Priya Patel
Reviewed and edited by Aisha West
