Riverside.fm Pros and Cons

The whole "record locally and upload" approach is great at making sure I have the high quality recordings I need. The AI editor does a pretty good job of getting to a starting point from which you can produce a final edit if you're an editor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

They have good "entry tier" models if you're a single user - no producer/editor/other team members and you're going to record, edit and publish yourself. If you want literally anything advanced, it jumps from $29/month to $5,400/year MINIMUM with no ability to grow into it. Which means if you get started with them at a starter tear you can't actually stay with them as you grow. I'm now evaluating alternatives that will be affordable for a small team - and frankly I'm aggravated enough about the fact that I have to that I will likely not come back if/when I grow my business to the point where the $5,400+ price tag would be justified. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We were originally using Zoom to record coaching calls and create content, but the quality just wasn’t cutting it—especially as we prepped to launch a podcast. After testing a few platforms, we chose Riverside.fm, and it's been a major upgrade.

What I like most is how complete the platform is. The AI tools, short-form content creation, branding, and multi-platform live streaming have all made our process smoother and more professional. I also love the Producer Mode—it lets me bring in my partners and handle the session without them needing to worry about any of the tech. It’s truly built for content creators. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only downside is that sometimes the editing process can be a little slow, since it’s browser-based. It’s not a dealbreaker, but if you’re doing a lot of post-production in the platform, you might feel it lag from time to time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's very intuitive to create new projects, set up planned recording sessions, edit videos and short clips. I haven't reached the limits of it's capabilities yet and I've recorded hours of content and edited dozens of clips. Their service was also above average for a SaaS platform. The issue was resolved quickly with good response times and collaboration. Riverside was recommended by a close friend, and I will be recommending it to other friends. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I haven't found any significant issues other than that occasionally, I find that guests on my sessions have difficulty following the invite link and getting the session to open. I'm not sure why this is and we've been able to work through it easily, but it's a small inconvenience. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that I can export individual audio tracks. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have struggled a LOT with getting the studio set up for recording an in-person podcast with remote guests. We have a professional audio engineer on staff and we could not figure out how to get the audio set-up correctly. We're fairly tech-savvy people and really struggle for hours with getting started, and even then, the end result was not good. I work in tech and I'm a professional videographer, and I am blown away by how much we are struggling with the platform.

Furthermore, it takes an obscene amount of time to export clips.

The first test clip we did was 1 minute long and it took over 20 minutes to export. The next test was 4 minutes long and it took over an hour.

Our show is ~2 hours long, so I'm expecting the exporting to take a full 24 hours.

There are help articles online, and live chat feature on the website, but it really puts the onus of onboarding on the end user.

I understand how popular this tool is, and I see the potential, but it's starting to feel like maybe it's not the best option for a hybrid in-person/remote podcast. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

As a content marketing manager on a scrappy, lean startup team, Riverside is the total package. As someone with limited video experience, the platform makes it easy to record case study interviews and turn them into video snippets to share on social media. Not to mention, the transcripts make it super easy to turn your recorded content into written assets.

I learned to use the system in 1 day: it's super easy to use and all of our external guests have found it very easy to navigate.

The help articles and demo videos are great, and I seldom have to reach out to their support team because they've already created everything I need.

Another great perk: Riverside will use AI to auto-generate video snippets from your longer recordings. The quality is great, I can get 3-5 short video clips in under an hour. This is a huge time and cost savings for our team!

This is the first role that I've had a tool like Riverside, and I'm now using it weekly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I wish it worked on other browsers besides Google Chrome. We are a google-based team, but it may require extra downloading/set up for other users. Other than that, I've got no suggestions for improvements. The team has built an incredible product. bravo! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Riverside is built for virtual recording sessions, and it’s very easy for the “guests” to use, even if they aren’t very comfortable with video technologies, so I like to use it with my clients. The quality of the audio and video is good, and the new AI tools make it easy to clean up and assemble clips. Riverside’s editing tools have all the digital editing tools that are table stakes like multi-track editing, plus text-based editing and auto-generated captions and transcripts. What sets Riverside apart from similar video editing software is that it’s super intuitive and easy to use. Using Riverside increased efficiency for my video production and my clients are happy because I can turn professional video around so quickly (and inexpensively).

The application is consistent and doesn’t crash, so say goodbye to the “spinning ball of doom” we all remember from Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro. From a marketing POV, it allows you to add bumpers, branding, music, resize the aspect ratio, so Riverside will suit many creators and marketers perfectly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Riverside’s editing suite contains the essentials for video and audio production. Designed for podcast producers (i.e. interviews), the trade off for folks who want to make very elaborate videos, is that it comes with a streamlined set of tools. Professional editors might find the tools too limited. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I used to own a video production company pre-digital (back when we were using physical video tape), so I've seen a lot of technical changes over the past four decades. But until Riverside came along, I never was truly impressed by any of the video editing software that--not even Adobe Premier. But I absolutely adore Riverside.fm! It's intuitive and they keep coming out with new features to meet every videographer's wish list. I tell everyone that it's my go-to platform for interviewing people and for creating podcasts. It's just the best. I also adore the tech support team for pulling me back from disaster one weekend when I had made a major mistake. So the perfect software is backed by the perfect tech support team. I also adore Stephen Robles. His YouTube video library of Riverside tips is a life saver and his monthly tips live-stream with Bridget O'Rourke is priceless. You guys are all fantastic and I recommend this software to everyone! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I had a real fright when I accidentally deleted the original file for an interview. Everything was suddenly gone and the help documentation said there was no way for me to retrieve it. All I could do was send an email to tech support and pray for the best. It happened on a Saturday, so I was pretty discouraged and didn't expect any assistance until Monday. Fortunately, Riverside's tech support folks were amazing and restored the deleted file. But the agony of thinking all was lost isn't something I ever want to experience again. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Riverside.FM has completely transformed my remote production workflow. The ability to record high-quality video and audio locally means I never have to worry about poor internet affecting the final product. The interface is intuitive, and features like multi-track recording and 4K video support make editing a breeze. I also love the automatic transcription feature—it saves me so much time bouncing files around from different apps. Overall, Riverside.FM makes remote collaboration smooth, efficient, and genuinely enjoyable, no matter where my team is located. Being able to produce high quality content remotely has changed how we look at the creative assets we are putting out into the world. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sharing links to recording sessions could be much smoother. Being able to click on a session or a "..." menu on a scheduled session and be able to get a link would be much easier than having to enter a session and pull the link from there Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I learned about Riverside when I was a guest on a podcast that used it. I saw then how stable the environment was, and my host extolled its virtues. When the time came to start my own podcast, I signed up for my own account. As someone brand new to creating a podcast, I was incredibly impressed with the easy operation of the program. Riverside provided great "how to" videos to get me started. Also, when I made a few rookie mistakes and accidentally deleted files that I actually needed, Riverside customer service was incredibly gracious in helping me. Not only did they restore the deleted files, but they treated me as a valued customer, without any sense at all of "talking down" to me. Also, I have found editing a recording on Riverside to be an absolute joy compared to any other tool I have used. Once you get the hang of a few basics, editing on Riverside is simple, straightforward, and frankly fun. I now produce weekly episodes through Riverside, and I also use it to record lectures for university courses I teach online. I have recommended Riverside to colleagues as the very best tool for starting a podcast! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Riverside is not widely known outside of the podcast scene, so I always have to spend a bit of time explaining it to my guests before proceeding with an episode recording. This isn't a huge problem, but it's the only "downside" I can think of. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I am completely new to Podcasting and Video creation and i was really getting fustrated trying to learn all the video editing software. I was literally taking me forever after recording my episodes to edit them and i was pulling out my hair. But i can honestly say Riverside has made recording and editing my podcast simply amazing and so easy to integrate into my workflow. I honestly enjoy making my podcast now and look forward to it each time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

To be honest i cant find anything because the one feature i was kinda missing just got added with Video overlays. Now i can completly record and edit my podcast all inside of Riverside from start to upload. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.