• Transistor. fm is one of our favorite podcast hosting platforms.
• It lets you pay one price and manage one or many podcast feeds.
• The drag-and-drop interface is clear and easy to use.
• Private podcast feeds are now available for all pricing levels. 
• You can automatically post your audio podcast to YouTube, with a static image. 
• There are no limits on the number of team members you can add to your podcasting account. 
• Responsive embedded players make sharing your podcast even easier.
• Transistor integrates easily with email newsletter software and social media.
• Pricing is reasonable and based on the amount of downloads and/or subscribers.
• For the full review, read on!

Transistor are one of our favorite media hosting platforms. We recommend them highly in our best media hosts roundup. But with more new podcast hosting providers appearing each month, this space is becoming increasingly competitive. With that in mind, it seemed like a good idea to revisit our dedicated Transistor.fm review.

Editor’s Note

Our Transistor.fm review was initially written in 2020. We update this post periodically to reflect changes in technology, our recommendations, and because we’re always learning new things.

Our Transistor.fm link is an affiliate because it’s a service we know and love. We’d earn a small commission should you choose to sign up, though never at any extra cost to yourself. Rest assured; affiliates never influence our content or conclusions – you’ll always get our honest thoughts, no matter what!

If you need a media host (yes, you do need a host for your podcast), Transistor is a great place to start. For the majority of independent podcasters, this could be your podcasts’ forever home.

Notice I said plural, podcasts, and I don’t mean episodes. Transistor lets you have multiple RSS feeds, whether public or private, for one price. Other than that, Transistor is so straightforward that writing a review of this podcast host is harder than using it.

Transistor.fm Is Easy to Start and Use

Transistor has a clear interface where all the steps are nice, big, and welcoming. You can drag and drop your audio and cover art files. The only confusing part about this media host is when you’re thinking, “It can’t be that simple.”

Additionally, there’s plenty of opportunity to try all aspects of hosting with Transistor and see how it works, before you commit financially. The 14-day free trial gives you time to test it thoroughly. 

In the past, I’ve used podcast hosting services where I was grateful for their customer support because I had to use it to understand the interface. While Transistor has a knowledge base one click away (and responsive customer service), you might not need it.

Transistor.fm & Audio Files

Unlike some other media hosting services, Transistor doesn’t compress your audio. Though Transistor has file size limits, they’re so big that they won’t affect the average independent podcaster. Transistor says, “We typically don’t recommend files any larger than 200MB… audio files (MP3 is preferred) should be encoded at 44100 Hz and around 128 kbps quality.”

If this doesn’t make any sense to you, consider this. Episode 6 of Jarnsaxa Rising runs just under 25 minutes and has at least eight voices and many tracks of music and sound effects. The audio file clocks in at 29.2 MB. In short, you’ll be fine.

Multiple Public and Private Podcasts

We all know that once you launch a podcast, you start thinking of other ones you can make. Transistor.fm will let you set up as many podcasts as you want for one membership fee. This is great if you want to make podcasts for your business and personal interests. It’s also excellent if you want to have one public podcast and a second private podcast with bonus content. Transistor now has private podcasting for all price tiers. At the Starter level, they’re simply unlisted and can have up to 50 members.

Transistor.fm helps your private subscribers access their podcast, and helps you keep it private. For the Professional and Business plans, each subscriber receives their own RSS feed, an onboarding email, plus a unique website player that tracks their progress through the episodes. If you’re teaching a course through your podcast, you can even see how far along your subscribers are in the process. 

Transistor and YouTube Auto-Posting

Transistor users who purchase the Professional or Business plan can automatically send every podcast episode to YouTube. Your audio files get converted to “video” files, which display your preferred static image.  And, Transistor only stores your secure access token in order to talk to the API. They don’t access any of your other Google or YouTube info. 

Unlimited User Logins for One Price

If you have help making your podcast, Transistor doesn’t make you swap around one login. Instead, they allow unlimited user logins for the same account, and with different permissions (either as admins or members). This is great for security.

Responsive Embedded Players

By default, Transistor.fm’s player has three buttons that only appear when the user hovers their mouse cursor over the player. The buttons’ options are “subscribe,” “share,” and “more info,” which provide the show notes in the embedded player window. The player is thoughtfully created to prevent autoplay from skewing your download data. 

A multi-episode player lets you showcase specific episodes. If you have a special montage episode, a trailer, or introduction episodes, you can highlight them for new listeners.

Transistor’s Integrations for Audience Engagement and Analytics

Transistor.fm integrates neatly with newsletter and mailing list sites like MailChimp, Convertikit, HubSpot, and more. You can share a link to your episode directly to Twitter/X, too.

Transistor provides all the basic analytics you need, such as how many downloads over time, and a “best guess” of the subscriber count.

Recently, Transistor added an Episode Comparison feature, which displays daily download numbers for different episodes as a table. This makes it easy to see which parts of your show or promotions have the most impact. 

And you can integrate your RSS feed with third-party analytics services. This means if you use a service like Gumball, Podder or Chartable to see your rankings and reviews in other countries, you can lock that into your dashboard with Transistor.

Transistor’s integrations can save you a lot of task switching.

Dynamic Audio Insertion

Not only does Transistor offer dynamic audio insertion but also dynamic show notes. If a part of your show notes doesn’t change, you can type it in once, and apply it to all or some of your episodes. Transistor isn’t integrated with an advertising network, but they recommend a few in their knowledge base. 

Transistor.fm Pricing

Transistor.fm is neither the most expensive nor the least expensive podcast hosting service on the Internet. After your 14-day free trial, pricing works like this:

• Starter: $19/month, or $190 a year
• Professional: $49 a month, or $490 a year
• Business: $99 a month, or $990 a year 

When you pay annually, you get two months for free. Considering its features, Transistor.fm is reasonably priced.

These pricing tiers are based on download and subscriber activity.

• Starter: 20K downloads a month and 50 private subscribers
• Professional: 100K downloads a month, 500 private podcast subscribers, plus dynamic ads and show notes, and auto-posting to YouTube
• Business: 250K monthly downloads, up to 3K private subscribers, dynamic ads and show notes, auto-posting to YouTube, and you can remove Transistor’s branding from the player.

If you’re an indie podcaster starting out, that first pricing tier is not a bad place to be. It’s unlikely that anyone would suddenly find their podcast went from 250 downloads a month to 250,000 in a matter of hours. Even if this does happen (congratulations!), Transistor’s policy is to work with the user and avoid surprise charges. Their FAQ says, “There’s no ‘automatic shut off;’ we’ll continue to serve audio for your listeners.”

They probably assume that if you want to auto-post to YouTube, you have monetization set up and are willing to invest the extra $30/month for convenience.

Is There a Downside to Transistor.fm?

Honestly, I tried to find one. The model of pricing based on downloads (not uncommon) might worry some podcasters, but you’d be surprised at how high these upper limits are when it comes to average podcast downloads. Put it this way: if your show gets that popular, you’ll have no problem monetizing and covering any increased hosting costs.

Since this article was first published, Transistor’s prices haven’t increased, but each pricing tier’s limits have expanded to allow even more downloads and subscribers. Plus, they’ve added dynamic audio insertion, which is a great feature, especially regarding calls to action. Now, independent podcasters get more for their money.

There are loads of great hosting options on the market these days, but Transistor.fm stands out as an excellent choice for simplicity, ease of use, and premium content. That said, if you’re still looking to shop around a bit, you might want to check out our ultimate podcast hosting roundup, which has a free “hosting chooser” tool to tailor your desired features.

• Easy of use 5/5
• Pricing 4/5
• Tools & Features 5/5

Affiliate Disclaimer

Our link to Podcastpage.io is an affiliate. If you choose to sign up and pay for the service via our link, we will earn a commission (at no extra cost to yourself). Affiliates help support our free content, though they never cloud our judgement or prevent us from giving you our honest opinions!

How Can a Podcast Website Update Itself?

When you create your podcast inside your podcast hosting account, it automatically generates an RSS feed for you.

You may already know how RSS feeds work. But if you don’t, imagine that your podcast is a train. The train cars are your episodes, full of exciting ideas. The train station is the directory where your audience goes to meet your episodes. In this metaphor, the RSS feed is the train tracks or the podcast’s route between your podcast hosting service and the station. 

Like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other directory is a station for that RSS feed to visit, the website you make with Podcastpage is a station. You don’t have to know how to code. RSS-fed websites ask you to fill out a short form; then, the interface is drag and drop. Podcastpage takes the information from your RSS feed and displays it in the template of your choice for your audience.

What Makes Podcastpage Different From Podpage?

It’s a little bit confusing because Podpage and Podcastpage have similar names, logos, and color schemes. But, Podcastpage offers many features with their basic tier that other website providers charge more for. Or, don’t provide.

For starters, Podcastpage’s templates provide more features and customization options. And, their websites can import episodes from your YouTube channel or playlist as easily as from your podcast host’s RSS feed.

Podcastpage has a page builder which lets you add additional pages for transcripts, host bios, or whatever content you need to add. A blog option rounds out your audio or video content.

The sticky audio player (like on Podchaser) allows users to listen to your show while browsing different parts of your site. They won’t have to navigate away from your episode player. Users can customize the Podcastpage default audio player, including time stamps. Or, embed a podcast episode player from any of 20 different podcast hosting services.

Podcastpage also integrates with Instagram and Podchaser.

Essentially, Podcastpage is equally easy to use as Podpage, but Podcastpage has more resources.

How Can Podcastpage Make It Easier For People To Find My Show? 

Podcastpage’s templates include a blog and custom pages to help you make your podcast website unique and valuable for your audience. This can help improve your podcast’s SEO.

Say you interview Neil Gaiman about his new book, and he also wants to discuss a charity he supports. In the course of the conversation, he happens to talk about how much he loves roasted beets. Your podcast website can include separate posts about the book, the charity, and his favorite recipe for roasted beet salad. Or, publish one blog post with all three topics. In the future, anyone looking up information about these topics could easily find your podcast. More informative content means more ways for people to find your show.

Not only can your podcast website have blog posts, but also Podcastpage helps you add custom pages to dedicate space for your media kit, host bios, a guide to how to listen to a podcast, or anything you want. Again, this is drag-and-drop editing; you don’t have to know how to code.

How Does Podcastpage Help Me Connect With My Audience?

Did you know that over 80% of podcasters wished they received more feedback from their listeners?

Podcastpage offers more ways for your audience to communicate with you. The service can automatically import your podcast reviews from Podchaser and Apple Podcasts. Plus, you can add a form for your audience to write a review on your website. What if you get a bad review? You can hide it.

A Voice Message widget makes it easy to run a voice feedback survey, or have your audience submit their questions.

And, of course, there’s always the usual contact form, too.

Pricing and Features

Podcastpage has a 14-day free trial. When you pay monthly, the tiers are:

• Podcaster: For $15 a month, you get a website that automatically imports your new episodes from YouTube or your podcast host, as well as any reviews from Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Plus, you get custom pages, a blog, a guest intake form, and up to 100 voice messages monthly, for one show and one team member login.
• Business: For $22 a month, you get everything at the Podcaster level, for “multiple” podcasts and/or YouTube channels, with three team member logins, built-in analytics, and up to 500 voice messages monthly.

These tiers work out at $12 and $18 when paid annually.

The only negative aspect is that you must pay for the Business level to get site analytics. Maybe they assume you’ll depend solely on your hosting provider for analytics if you only have one podcast. But, if you use the blog, it’s good to know how many people engage with it.

Yes, Podcastpage is a little more expensive than Podpage. But, it also has more features, even at the least expensive tier.

Podcastpage: Saves You Time, Expands Your Reach

Websites are supposed to be a set-it-and-forget part of your podcast workflow. It’s meant to take time and effort at the start, then a little maintenance later. As technology changes and tech companies compete, website software and podcast hosting software don’t always play nicely together. Integrations can expire or lose cohesion. But, Podcastpage depends on RSS feeds. This standard piece of code helps open podcasting and keeps your website up to date. You can rely on your RSS feed to ensure your new episodes reach your Podcastpage audience. Then, you can put your time and energy into engaging with your audience through Podcastpage’s other features.

Third-party podcast website services like Podcastpage and Podpage will be appealing to the majority of podcasters who seek simplicity and efficiency. If you’d still like to weigh up building a podcast website that you own and control 100%, though, then check out our handy guide. And once you get up and running with your fancy new site (no matter which platform you use), be sure to join us in the IndiePod Community where we’ll happily give you some feedback!

Well, we can’t change your voice, but we can tell you the best hosting options! There are some fantastic services out there: it’s not one-size-fits-all. But, here, we’ll give you the pros and cons, and help to find the best podcast hosting for you.

Below, you’ll find 17 of the best hosting platforms out there, with a full breakdown of features, price and special offers. Plus, further down, you’ll find three good free podcast hosting options, just in case you want a no-risk dabble, first…

If you’re short on time and looking for more of an at-a-glance guide, then check out our handy new podcast hosting chooser tool instead. Click here to jump straight in and find your ideal podcast hosting provider in less than a minute.

And remember, if you’re still at the start of the journey, check out our full guide to getting launched:

Learn How to Start a Podcast: Every Single Step

Editor’s Note

Our ‘Best Podcast Hosting Platforms’ guide was originally written in 2017. We update this post periodically to reflect changes in technology, our recommendations, and because we’re always learning new things!

We also use affiliate links to some of the podcast hosting platforms mentioned here. That means we get a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you (in fact, sometimes you even save), but, this doesn’t impact our reviewing process. Affiliate income helps to support the free content we put out to help you. Thanks for supporting!

Free Podcast Hosting Chooser Tool

If you already have a basic understanding of how hosting works, as well as a rough idea of your needs and wants, then our podcast hosting tool can help you choose a service quickly and easily.

With just a few clicks, you can see exactly what platforms and tiers have what you need and how much they’ll cost.

Alternatively, if you’re looking for a deeper dive into these offerings, jump forwards towards our main post.

PS We’d love to hear your feedback on our new hosting picker.

Captivate

Huge, Excellent Feature-Set incl. Powerful Website, Network Features, Growth Tools & more

Features to Note

• Calls to action in the podcast player.
• Unlimited team members – share the burden of running your show.
• Run as many shows as you like under one account and monthly fee.
• Run a private podcast, on all payment tiers.
• Extensive listen/subscribe link options, incl. Attribution Links & Single Promotional Link.
• Well-designed, highly customisable and mobile-friendly website, built-in
• Transcription feature
• WordPress plugin option for connecting to your own website.
• Tools to connect and grow your email list.
• Custom trackable Attribution Links for your sponsorships, social media, or affiliates.
• Collections feature – hand-pick episodes to create shareable playlists
• Guest booking tool
• Captivate doesn’t make any changes or alterations to your episode files.
• Audio mastering and Dynamic Ad insertion
• Run a podcast network inside your normal account

Captivate is a hosting platform that concentrates on helping you to grow your audience. Their tagline is ‘the only growth-oriented’ podcast host, and they have a feature-set built to live up to that.

Let’s not run before we can walk, though, they’re great for new podcasters too! Captivate’s interface and dashboard make things easy for beginners and folks who’d consider themselves “non-techy”. They walk you through the process of creating your podcast and uploading your first episode. This is perfect for keeping things ultra-simple in the early stages.

Once you get settled into your podcasting stride, you can then start to dabble with Captivate’s growth & monetisation tools, like their ‘One-Click Sponsor’ kit, great ‘Calls to Action’ in their podcast players and an excellent Single Promotional Link that you can link to anywhere. They also enable you to easily connect and grow an email list so you can stay in touch with your audience in various other ways.

The podcast website you get for your show via Captivate looks slick and professional, and has a tonne of features. There are 3 fully responsive templates to choose from, all of which you can customise to the nth degree. You can pin episodes or trailers on the page, reorder the episodes and blocks, add email optins (and lead magnets!), team bios and offer up a great search tool for easy binge-listening. Alternatively, you can also link your podcast up to your existing WordPress site using their Captivate Sync plugin.

You can start an unlimited amount of podcasts from your Captivate account, and add team members to each one. Sharing-wise, they give you a one-page solution for driving subscribers to your podcast. And their detailed analytics dashboard lets you track your growth in a well-laid-out and easy-to-understand interface.

In October 2020, Captivate announced AMIE (Audio Mastering & Integration Engine) which gives users the option to dynamically insert ads or time-sensitive offers into their episodes. AMIE can also help podcasters polish up the sound quality of their content through automatic audio processing and mastering.

You can even run your own Podcast network on Captivate, which includes network analytics, team, website, etc. Their ‘feed drop’ feature allows you to publish episodes from one show to another within the network. This type of cross-promotion can be really effective at growing a range of shows in tandem.

You can also run private (or members-only) podcasts with Captivate. You can start one for your team, business, or organisation even if you’re on Captivate’s lowest payment plan of $19 a month.

Go Deeper: How to set up a private podcast

Finally, Captivate is a publish destination for Alitu, and they make it nice and easy to link up, showing your API login details right in the dashboard.

Special Offers

Get a 7-day free trial to look around the Captivate dashboard by signing up below.

Sign up for Captivate

How Much Does it Cost?

Captivate’s competitive pricing is based on ‘downloads per month.’ You can host as many shows as you like on one account, and pay based on the total downloads accumulated by all of them.

• $19 per month ($204 when paid annually) for up to 30,000 downloads per month
• $49 per month ($528 when paid annually) for up to 150,000 downloads per month
• $99 per month ($1,080 when paid annually) for up to 300,000 downloads per month

As a rough guide, one podcast we run has approx. 2500 weekly listeners and around 150 episodes, and it gets around 8500 downloads per month. So, even at that stage, it’s still on the bottom tier.

Read our full Captivate review here, or…

Alitu

Recording, Editing, Production, Hosting (& More!) All in One Single Place

Features to Note

• One login and one subscription fee for everything you need to podcast
• Call recording for remote conversations
• Solo recording
• Podcast editing – quickly and easily chop out mistakes
• Episode builder – add in music, transitions, and other segments
• Merge double-ender recordings from alternative call recording software
• Automatic post-production – Alitu cleans up your audio, fixes the volume levels, and optimises your sound
• Free podcast music library
• Auto-generated podcast transcripts

Looking for the least possible amount of subscription plans, tools, and logins to streamline your workflow? Then look no further than Alitu. This podcast maker tool has everything you need to record, produce, and publish your show. New features are being added all the time, too.

Whether you run a solo show, podcast with a co-host, or do remote interviews, you can record directly into Alitu. Editing is easier than navigating your average social media app, and production (noise reduction, levelling, etc) happens for you automatically. Once you’re happy with your episode, you just hit publish, and you’re done.

Whilst Alitu has everything you need, it also plays well with other services. If you still want to use one of the other podcast hosting platforms here, then it’ll automatically connect to most of them, so you can still publish from within Alitu’s interface. Or, you can easily download your finished episode and upload it elsewhere manually.

If you prefer to use other remote recording software, it’ll automatically merge double-enders, too, and give them the usual post-production TLC.

Podcast transcription is essential for audience accessibility, and Alitu now has an auto-transcription feature in Beta. This helps you to deliver written versions of your episodes at no extra cost.

Alitu is an all-in-one tool that suits busy people, non-techy folks, and people looking to save money on their overall podcast spend.

Special Offers

Get a 7-day free trial to test out Alitu for yourself.

Sign up for Alitu

How Much Does it Cost?

With Alitu, you get access to ALL of its features for a flat rate of $38 per month. If you pay annually, you get two months free.

Pricing allows for up to 1000 total downloads per month, which is typically more than enough for most podcasters. But if you’re lucky enough to be getting a few thousand per month, then the cost would rise by $10.

Castos

Great for WordPress Integration & Their Podcast Editing Service

Features to Note

• Integrate with WordPress via the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin.
• Create unlimited podcasts with no cap on downloads.
• Built-in episode transcriptions.
• Option to create private podcasts.
• Option to outsource your editing to Castos Productions.

Castos are the media host behind the popular Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin, which you can use to integrate Castos hosting with your own WordPress website.

You simply install the WordPress plugin, and from then on you can upload and publish podcast episodes from directly inside your website. No need to log into your hosting. Read our full guide on how to set up your own Podcasting website for more details.

Go Deeper: How to Set up your own WordPress Website

Another thing Castos specialises in is tools for private or “membership” podcasts and premium content. This can be run right inside your Castos Dashboard, and also integrates with Seriously Simple Podcasting to run a private or members-only show direct from your WordPress site.

Castos has a handy tool in the form of their transcription service. This helps you create a more accessible podcast and offers a text version of every show for listener revision or skimming.

Castos even offer a podcast editing and production service which you can add on to your hosting. With regards to your files, Castos doesn’t alter your bitrates or metadata in any way.

Read our full Castos review here.

How Much Does it Cost?

You can podcast on Castos from $19 a month. There are two higher tiers at $49 a month and $99 a month. With the middle one, you can republish your show to Youtube, whilst the higher one lets you host video podcasts.

Special Offers

Get a free month by using our coupon code TPH22

Read our full Castos review here, or…

Transistor.fm

Private Podcasting & Flexible Player Options

Features to Note

• Private podcasting tools, built-in, to create a members-only podcast for your members or your company team.
• Single episode, latest episode, multi-episode & dark mode players.
• Publish your show to YouTube automatically.
• Invite multiple team members to manage your show.
• In-built website integrates with many email providers (Convertkit, Drip, etc).
• Free podcast website builder tool

Transistor is another host that aims to make things easy and offers all of the normal tools a podcaster might need. One area in which they excel is their private podcast feed feature, and in the range of players they offer.

Private podcasting has long been an effective way to monetise your show or to engage an existing community. Imagine running a public show, with a ‘premium content’ option alongside, which your real fans pay for. Or, create a community-based show, only available for members. Or an internal staff podcast which updates your company’s team on a weekly basis. Transistor makes it really easy to run a private show, in any form. You simply invite your users, and they do the rest.

Transistor recently released their multi-episode player, which is a great way to showcase your back-catalogue. You can show off your most recent episode, alongside your 25 latest episodes. It’s a great way to entice listeners into your older episodes, encouraging a bingeing session and increased loyalty.

Special Offers

Transistor runs a 14-day free trial, so you can set up a show, and experiment with it for a couple of weeks before spending a penny.

Sign up with Transistor

How Much Does it Cost?

Transistor’s pricing plans are based on ‘downloads per month.’ You can host as many shows as you like on one account, and pay based on the total downloads accumulated by all of them.

• $19 per month for up to 20,000 downloads per month
• $49 per month for up to 100,000 downloads per month
• $99 per month for up to 250,000 downloads per month

As a rough guide, one podcast we run has approx. 2500 weekly listeners and around 150 episodes, and it gets around 8500 downloads per month. So, even at that stage, it’s still on the bottom tier.

Read our full Transistor review here, or…

Buzzsprout

Great for Simplicity, Video Promotion & Automation

Features to Note

• Unique “Listeners” stat: gives you an estimate of your total listener numbers based on past trends.
• One of the nicest-looking embeddable podcast players around
• Multiple episode players available.
• Transcription feature
• “Magic Mastering” helps the inexperienced producer automate their sound.
• Dynamic ad capabilities to automate elements of editing
• Easily automate ‘video soundbites’ for sharing on YouTube or social.
• Add chapter markers right inside the episode interface.

Buzzsprout is a podcast host that prides itself on simplicity and speed. They make it super easy and super quick to upload and publish your show, and their import tool can transfer you from another host in no time at all.

Buzzsprout offers a few unique features built around automation, all of which can save you, as a podcaster, a lot of time. The first is the ability to create a video ‘highlight’ right inside the episode dashboard. You can select a section of your show, and they’ll create a video version of that so you can share it out on social. It’s a great way to give people a glimpse into what your show’s all about.

Another is their “Magic Mastering” tool, which offers users the ability to have their audio polished up automatically prior to hitting publish. They describe this as “like an Instagram filter for your audio”. Definitely not something for experienced podcasters, but a great option for folks with no interest or clue about the production side of things.

Buzzsprout automates adverts or cross-promotions, too, by offering dynamic ad capabilities. This means that you can easily add up-to-date and relevant ads to the beginning and end of all of your existing episodes. You can use these to promote, announce, or share anything you like, and change them whenever you want.

They also offer the option to add chapter markers, which is becoming more common inside podcast players. This gives listeners the ability to pop back to an episode in future and listen to a particular part to review the content. Great for learning shows in particular!

How Much Does it Cost?

You need one paid account per podcast, and pricing is based on how much you upload, every month:

• Free – Upload 2hrs of new content each month. Episodes are deleted after 90 days.
• $12/month – Upload 3hrs of new content each month. Episodes are hosted indefinitely as long as you’re on any paid plan.
• $18/month – Upload 6hrs of new content each month. Episodes are hosted indefinitely as long as you’re on any paid plan.
• $24/month – Upload 12hrs of new content each month. Episodes are hosted indefinitely as long as you’re on any paid plan.

Read our full Buzzsprout review here or…

Other Great Podcast Hosting Services

Through the combined experience of our team, we’ve arrived at a general consensus for our top four recommended podcast hosts right now. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a tonne of other fantastic services out there. If you’re in a shopping around mood, then one of the following might look like a perfect fit for you and your content.

RSS.com

RSS.com is an easy-to-use podcast hosting platform. They offer unlimited episodes and unlimited downloads with no alteration to audio files. They are fully localized in three languages (English, Spanish, and Italian), which includes their customer support.

Monetization opportunities via sponsorships are available through Podcorn and via Dynamic Ads Insertion (the latter is available for podcasts with more than 10k downloads per month).

How Much Does it Cost?

You can sign up and upload one episode for free without a credit card. After you’ve tested the water though, you’ll need to sign up fully to keep on podcasting.

RSS.com have a great value tier for students and educators costing only $4.99 per month. Their general podcaster tier costs $12.99 per month, and you can save 35% by paying annually.

Read our full RSS.com review for a deeper dive.

Special Offers

Use the promo code THEPODCASTHOST to get two free months on the standard monthly subscription.

Visit RSS.com

Podbean

Podbean have made huge strides in recent years to provide a range of brilliant tools to help Podcasters grow and monetise their shows. Their hosting is great quality, and can be easily tied in with their sponsorship marketplace, their dynamic ad insertion and their premium content service.

How much Does it Cost?

Their flagship plan is the $14 per month (or $9 per month if paid annually) ‘Unlimited Audio Plan’ which would suit most podcasters. From there, you can upgrade for extra design options, their Podads and Patron programmes.

Read our full Podbean Monetisation Guide here for more info.

Special Offers

Get a month’s free hosting with Podbean when you sign up using the coupon code podcraft

Visit Podbean’s website

RedCircle

RedCircle promises unlimited storage to host your podcast, and supports running multiple shows. Their features include the ability to take donations, subscriptions to premium content, cross-promotion with other RedCircle podcasters, dynamic ads, and YouTube distribution.

What Does it Cost?

RedCircle has a free tier which includes unlimited storage, exclusive content, and the ability to take donations. Upgrading to their $20 a month Growth plan though (annual savings are available) will let you host unlimited podcasts (actual shows, not episodes), get advanced statistics, and ad-free webpages.

Visit RedCircle’s website

Spreaker

Spreaker is a podcasting platform that offers a lot more tools than most, with apps for live broadcasting, offline recording and some parts of production. You can see more about them, and other options, in our best podcast-making apps article.

Spreaker have a great distribution platform, which publishes you to all of the main directories without leaving the Spreaker platform. Finally, they have a good monetisation option in the form of dynamic ads insertion, if you’re happy to outsource the ad content.

Recently the platform has launched a new Enterprise package, a turnkey platform for enterprises, thought for high-volume content creators who have their own relationships for in-audio advertising.

What Does it Cost?

Their base package is $7 per month, for 100 hours of audio in total and basic stats. $20 per month gets you advanced stats and much more audio storage, at 500 hours.

You can host as many shows as you like within either type of account, providing it stays within the 100 or 500-hour limit.

Special Offers

Get one month for free if you sign up via our link, below:

Visit Spreaker’s Website

Blubrry

Blubrry have been part of the podcasting world since the early days, providing quality hosting to tens of thousands of users. They’re also well known for their excellent Powerpress plugin which allows anyone to run a podcast from their own website. You can learn how to set up Powerpress or a new podcast website here.

Blubrry were one of the first independent podcast hosting services to be given IAB certification, meaning they comply with official podcast measurement guidelines. That can be a help if you’re looking for sponsorship.

Blubrry doesn’t alter your uploaded files in any way.

How Much Does it Cost?

If your show is on the short side, you might get away with their $12/month plan, for 125MB of uploads every month. Otherwise, their $20/month 400MB storage plan should suit longer shows.

Special Offers

Get a month’s free hosting with Blubrry when you sign up using the coupon code: podcraft

Visit BluBrry here

Libsyn

Libsyn is one of the old-guard of the podcast hosting world – similar to Blubrry, serving tens of thousands of happy customers, with a quality, reliable and extremely knowledgeable service.

Libsyn pride themselves on empowering you to be found anywhere that podcasts are consumed, and with their Destinations you can publish to any day/time in the future to the minute to each directory, independently of each other.

Also, what you upload is what your listener downloads. They don’t change your files at all – though they do provide tools to add metadata to your episodes if you choose to.

How Much Does it Cost?

Libsyn starts at $5 a month for 162MB of uploads per month (approx three hours).  Their 324MB plan is more suitable for most weekly podcasters, though, and runs at $15 per month.

Libsyn is also well known for its Enterprise offerings, catering to professional podcasters, podcast networks, celebrities, government agencies, and big media companies. You’ll have to get in touch to get a quote based on what exactly you’re looking to do.

Special Offers

Get a month’s free hosting with Libsyn when you sign up using the coupon code podhost

Visit Libsyn’s website

Podcast.co

Podcast.co is a company, like their name, that aims to make things as simple as possible. They offer a platform with lovely design and great ease of use, including all the standard tools you’d expect in your hosting.

One unique feature is that Podcast.co also offers launch, growth and production services. So, if you think you’ll need extra help at any stage, you can add this on to your package.

Finally, they also offer a private podcasting service, but only on the $49 package and upwards. If you’re looking to do a members-only or internal team podcast, though, it could be a nice add-on.

How Much Does it Cost?

Podcast.co follows the ‘monthly downloads’ model and starts at $19 per month and 15,000 downloads. That ramps up to $49 for 75k downloads and $99 for 200k. Podcasts.co now offers unlimited podcast feeds on all tiers.

• Read our Podcast.co review
• Visit the Podcast.co Website

Acast

Acast is a well-known podcast hosting platform with some handy monetisation, promotion, and transcription features.

Acast’s interface is clear, clean, and straightforward. They offer embeddable podcast players and snippets which make it easy to promote your show. On top of that, you can add dynamically inserted adverts into your episodes, too!

How Much Does it Cost?

Acast offers a free tier with all the basics. Unlimited uploads, basic analytics and a basic podcast website.

The $25 a month “Influencer” tier offers advanced analytics & website, integration with Patreon, as well as other monetization options.

On Acast’s $40 a month “Ace” tier you get transcriptions, along with professional workshops, more customer support, and team and network management.

You can save on the $25 and $40 monthly payments by paying annually.

• Read our full Acast review
• Visit Acast.com

Podcast Websites

Podcast Websites is a service built on the Captivate podcast hosting platform I mentioned above. It’s the highest-priced product here at $97 per month (or $77 annually), but it sets you up with what amounts to your own self-hosted WordPress website, equipped with a range of really powerful plugins to help you engage your listeners and grow your show. If you want to run a powerful, customisable podcast website, but you’d like someone else to take care of it, Podcast Websites could be well worth the extra cost.

How Much Does it Cost?

Podcast Websites likes to keep it simple, with just one unlimited premium tier, at a monthly cost of $99. But, you can pay annually, at $77 per month to save $240 over the year.

Special Offers

Use our coupon code – HOSTME – to get $10 OFF the monthly cost for life.

Visit Podcast Websites

Simplecast

Simplecast markets itself as “the modern independent podcast hosting and analytics platform”. They offer great stats and sharing options for podcasters, giving you the tools to help you grow your show and to track the progress of that growth.

Read our full review of Simplecast

File-wise, Simplecast will re-encode MP3s that are over 128kbps to that bitrate, but they won’t alter anything uploaded at a rate of 128kbps or lower. Stereo/mono encoding is kept as-is at all times. If you’d really like to run your podcast at a higher bitrate though, they’re happy to discuss that with you.

How Much Does it Cost?

You can run an account from $15 a month, which puts a soft limit of 20,000 total monthly downloads on your show. You can upgrade to their 50,000 package for $35 a month, or their 120,000 package for $85 a month. Discounts are available when paying annually.

Special Offers

Get 50% off your first two months on Simplecast when you subscribe with the promo code ONSIMPLECAST.

Visit the Simplecast Website

Ausha

French podcast hosting platform Ausha has recently expanded to the US and is now IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement 2.1 certified. Founded in 2018, they had become the leader in hosting and broadcasting native podcasts in France by the beginning of 2020. Check out our full Ausha podcast hosting review for the lowdown.

What Does it Cost?

Their “Launch” tier costs $156 a year or $15 when billed monthly. This gives you unlimited storage, episodes, and downloads, along with a newsletter feature of up to 1000 contacts. If you upgrade to their “Boost” tier ($35/month) you can get 5000 newsletter contacts and distribute to Youtube.

CoHost – Podcast Hosting for Brands & Agencies

CoHost is built specifically for brands and agencies to better measure the impact of branded podcasts. Their primary focus is on providing valuable, actionable data that helps a brand better understand what is and isn’t working in their audio efforts.

How Much Does it Cost?

CoHost has launched with a $59 package, but if you’re an agency or network, they’ll create a custom, discounted rate depending on the number of shows you’re looking to onboard. Get in touch with their team for a demo and to discuss pricing! 

Visit the CoHost Website

Free Podcast Hosting: Is it a Good Idea?

The eternal question! Yes, there can be a place for free podcast hosting, as long as you know the downsides and it suits the stage you’re at.

Using a free hosting platform can be a decent way to test the waters when you’re starting out. Podcasting isn’t for everyone, after all, so being able to try out the medium for a month or more, for free, can be nice.

But, you know what they say – if you’re not paying, then you’re the product. The upside is obviously saving some money. But, here are the downsides:

• Free podcast hosts often add in advertising, for the hosting company or others
• The host might add advertising on your podcast website, or players
• Options for analytics or customisation tend to be severely limited
• You can give up a lot of control (eg. Anchor owning your feed on Apple Podcasts.)
• Free podcast hosts can struggle to monetise and either change their approach rapidly or go out of business, either way affecting your show
• Support can be limited
• Free hosting has created some podcast piracy issues

The upsides of paying for podcast hosting are huge, including, depending on your host, all the features you need to grow your show, full ownership over your feed and content, detailed analytics, reliable support, and all the other things we’ve talked about in the recommendations above.

But, there are three free options which can be a good starter – as I said, to test the waters – and that’s Podbean, RedCircle and Buzzsprout. Plus, there’s Spotify for Podcasters, which I don’t necessarily recommend, but I’ll let you know why, below.

Podbean’s Free Podcast Hosting

Podbean’s free package has the following limits:

• 5 hours of audio, maximum, forever
• 100GB monthly bandwidth

And that’s it! This is interesting because it means that you could run short episodes for a few months, inside that limit. Let’s say 15 episodes of 20 minutes each.

If you decide, at that point, that you don’t like it, you just stop. But, because of the limits here, your show is still available, forever.

RedCircle’s Free Hosting

RedCircle have a great free tier which lets you host one podcast with unlimited storage and distribution. Instead of charging a fee upfront, they provide tools for podcasters to earn revenue and then take a cut if/when they do. You can learn more about this in our dedicated RedCircle review.

Buzzsprout’s Free Podcast Hosting

Buzzsprout offers a free package, with the following conditions:

• You can upload up to 2hrs of audio each month
  (enough for a weekly 30min show).
• But episodes go offline after three months of publishing

The 3-month episode shutdown means it’s not a viable option for running a long-term podcast. You’ll want your back catalogue available permanently.

But this works as a great free trial for Buzzsprout, and can help you decide if you want to keep going with them and sign up to their $12-per-month plan.

Spotify for Podcasters’ Free Podcast Hosting

Spotify for Podcasters (Anchor) is the big dog of free podcast hosting. Their platform has made it easy and accessible for ‘toe-dippers’ trying podcasting out to see if it’s for them or not.

The downside of this is that it has created a lot of ‘one-episode then gone’ clutter in the podcasting realm. That said, almost half of the podcasters we surveyed said they didn’t care about this (though a third of them did). The Podcast Index also re-evaluated what they considered to be a valid podcast, too, as their total number was grossly inflated by a lot of 20-second “hey, is this thing on?” shows.

Of course, if you’re simply curious about podcasting then none of this will matter much to you. But if you want to test the water with free podcast hosting on a platform that can grow with you, then opt for RedCircle or Podbean.

Podcast Hosting FAQs

If you’re still deciding, here are a few questions you might have about finding the best podcast hosting.

What is Podcast Hosting?

Podcast hosting does two things. First, it’s the place on the web where you upload your podcast episodes. Second, it generates the RSS feed which you submit to listening platforms – eg. Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, etc – and which allows people to subscribe to your show.

Podcast hosting is generally a subscription service. You sign up for a monthly fee, and you can upload your new episode files every week. There are a bunch of extra features that come with hosting, such as stats, marketing tools, podcast websites and more, but the basic principle is that it’s a place to put your audio files.

Go Deeper: What is a podcast host, and why do I need one?

How Do I Choose the Best Podcast Host?

Good question! There isn’t a one-size-fits-all, so it’s worth going through the strengths and weaknesses of the best in the business.

For this roundup, we’ve run through all of our experiences with every host and drawn thoughts from many others we know and trust. Our top picks are all hosts that we actively use, either with our own shows or with other shows we work on. And, the ‘best of the rest’ are all hosting platforms we’ve at least used in the past.

Can I Host My Podcast on My Website?

The short answer is: no. With caveats. It’s all about bandwidth. Audio files can be pretty big: let’s say 30mb for an average kind of episode. Then, if you do well, you might get a few thousand downloads of your new episodes, every week. 3000 x 30mb is nearly 100,000MB per week, not counting downloads of your back catalogue too.

While most web hosts claim they run unlimited, unmetered bandwidth, they generally have fair use policies that disallow this volume. So, it’s common for self-hosting podcasters to be kicked off their hosting, or forced to upgrade.

Worth knowing, that you can still treat your main website as the home of your podcast (maybe a category within it), but you’ll upload audio files to the podcast host, and then embed the player on your own episode blog posts.

Remember, you do get a basic website as standard with your podcast hosting account (some of them look pretty good, too), and you can even get custom domains to point to them. For some, this is a quick and easy alternative to setting up a WordPress site.

Go Deeper: Can I just host my podcast on my website?

How Does Podcast Hosting Storage and Bandwidth Work?

It depends on who you opt for. But there are two common ways of working.

The first is that a hosting provider will charge you a monthly fee and limit the amount of content you can upload that month. BUT, you could suddenly become the most famous person on the planet and get a billion downloads the next day, and you’d still be golden.

The second is that a hosting provider will charge you a monthly fee and you can upload as much content as you like. BUT, there will be a cap on how many times it can be downloaded.

A caveat on this is that, firstly, the download ‘cap’ number is usually set very high. Far higher than the average new podcaster is going to have to worry about hitting any time soon (and if they do, what a nice worry to have, eh?).

Secondly, no decent podcast hosting platform is likely to cut you off the minute you reached such a limit. Instead, they’ll tend to reach out to you to discuss upgrades to your account. If you’re doing really well, they will want to take good care of you!

Podcast Host Pricing: Is It Better to Be Charged for Uploads or Downloads?

The promise of “unlimited bandwidth” can be confusing, because it might mean uploads, downloads, or both.

But the good news is that few podcasters need to worry about upload or download limits in their podcast hosting account.

Libsyn is a host that charges by uploads. Their lowest tier of $5 a month still allows for around three hours of monthly storage to be added. So if you’re running a weekly show of 30-45mins, you should be totally fine. They don’t put any cap on downloads either.

If we take Captivate, by contrast, you have unlimited storage space. You can host as many podcasts and publish as many episodes as you like for $19 a month. Captivate charges based on downloads, so your limit here is 30,000 per month, spread across all of your shows and episodes.

30,000 monthly downloads is massive. Even if you have a few popular shows with big back catalogues, they might not quite hit that lofty number.

In summary, upload or download limits probably aren’t a reason to choose one particular podcast hosting provider over another.

Does Hosting Handle Podcast Distribution?

Not directly, but most of the good hosts give you a lot of help when it comes to distributing your podcast. For example, both Captivate and Transistor have a podcast distribution page for every show you host with them.

These pages give direct links to the top podcast directories, so you can list easily. And, in some cases, they can submit for you. Captivate and Transistor registers your show on Spotify with one click. They’ll also help you submit to Apple, whilst Google Podcasts just finds you automatically (that’s what they do, after all!).

Once you have your podcast hosting set up, head over here for our complete podcast distribution guide to make sure your podcast gets found by potential listeners.

Go Deeper: Complete Guide to Podcast Distribution

Can I Upload Video Podcasts to My Podcast Host?

Video podcasts can be confusing. The vast majority of podcasters who run a video component to their show will upload their episodes to YouTube, and a YouTube channel technically isn’t a podcast feed.

That said, YouTube has now rolled out a dedicated “podcasts” section to US-based users, so things are changing. But video podcasting in the technical sense (where you can subscribe to shows inside many major listening platforms) is a bit more niche.

Podbean is a podcast host that lets you upload videos and run a video podcast. Whether you should run a video show alongside the audio version is another matter. Some argue that this can split your downloads and subscribers over two different content streams, and this can affect your “searchability” in podcast apps.

As it stands, it’s probably best just to create a YouTube channel and upload your video episodes there. Whether YouTube’s official venture into podcasting comes to anything or not is irrelevant. Tonnes of people are “listening to podcasts” on there, even if that’s often not technically correct.

Do Podcast Hosting Providers Offer Transcriptions?

Some podcast hosts have advanced features where they can auto-generate transcripts of your episodes for you. Alitu and Castos do this.

Many other hosting providers will provide a space to upload or copy in transcriptions, but you’ll need to use another service to create them. Here’s how and where to get your podcast transcribed.

Which Hosting Provider Has the Best Embeddable Podcast Player?

Your podcast hosting provider will offer an embeddable player for your episodes. This means you can add them to your website and blog posts.

Most of these players are pretty customisable in terms of their colours, and the buttons you can add to them. There are a lot of nice attractive options out there these days, too. Check out our full guide to podcast players right here.

Do Hosting Providers Have Podcast Production Tools?

Alitu is one of the few “all-in-one” services that has both podcast hosting and editing and production built-in. It’s important to differentiate between “editing” and “production” because the latter can be used as a term to describe enhancing your audio, but not necessarily chopping out mistakes and unwanted segments.

Captivate and Buzzsprout are two podcast hosts offering mastering tools that fall into the “production” bracket. These can help sharpen up the sound of your uploaded files. But if you’re looking for full editing and production options, opt for Alitu or Spotify for Podcasters.

Can I Have Separate Hosting Accounts for Team Members?

If you have a team of people working on your show then some hosting providers give you the ability to have individual logins and accounts for each one. The most notable options here are Captivate and Transistor.

Are Podcast Hosting Sites the Same as Podcast Networks?

No, in almost all instances, they are different things. Some podcast networks may have criteria that their podcasts are hosted on a particular platform, but your host is your host, and your network (if you are on one) is your network.

Many hosting providers do have special tools and features allowing you to create and run a full podcast network on their platform. Notably, Libsyn and Captivate.

Can My Hosting Provider Help Me Run a Successful Podcast?

A podcast hosting provider can give you all the tools you need to run a world-class show, but they can’t do it for you. Ultimately, your podcast success will depend on your topic, consistency, passion, and willingness to succeed.

What’s the Best Podcasting Hosting for You & Your Content?

Loads of information there, but hopefully that’s helped you to find a service that looks like a great fit for your show. Or, at the very least, helped you to whittle all the options down to a shortlist! Here, again, are our top choices for podcast hosting solutions right now:

If you’re looking for growth, private pods, network features & a great site:

Choose Captivate

If you’re looking for simplicity & automation:

Choose Castos

If you’d like private podcasting feeds & a variety of players:

Choose Transistor

If you’d like recording, editing, and hosting all in one place:

Choose Alitu

In this article, we’ll walk you through how to upload and publish a podcast, making it available to everyone. After all, the podcasts you listen to are available in many different places, from Apple/iTunes and Spotify, to Google Podcasts and TuneIn. So how do you do the same?

Uploading and publishing a podcast is a step that foxes nearly every new creator. That’s totally understandable, too. It’s not intuitive. You don’t upload it to iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or any other directory. You don’t upload it to your own website. Instead, you upload your podcast somewhere else entirely and then publish it out to those places from your show’s one “home” online.

So, where DO we upload our podcast files? How do you publish a podcast? Where do podcasts live?!

Let’s dive in and find out. After running through this quick guide you’ll have podcast followers and subscribers in directories and apps you didn’t even know existed.

Editor’s Note

‘How to Publish a Podcast’ was originally written in 2017. We update this post periodically to reflect changes in technology, our recommendations, and because we’re always learning new things!

Where You DON’T Upload Your Podcast

To understand how we DO publish a podcast, we first need to talk about how we DON’T. Because there’s some understandable confusion, here.

Many years ago, before I had published a single podcast episode, I usually found shows on iTunes (now Apple Podcasts). Sometimes I even found shows on their own individual websites and listened to them there.

So when I started learning to record and mix audio, I noted that I’d “need to figure out how to upload my podcast to iTunes”.

I also planned on getting my own website and uploading my podcast episodes there. These two platforms, to me, were where podcasts lived.

Well, on both fronts, I was a little off the mark because:

1. You don’t upload podcast files to Apple or any other directory
2. You don’t upload podcast files to your own website

On the second point, it is possible, but here’s why you shouldn’t upload podcast files to your own site. Enough of the don’ts, though… you’re here to learn how to upload a podcast…

So Where DO I Upload My Podcast To?

There are 3 main steps when it comes to publishing your podcast online and making it available to everyone.

1. Upload your podcast files to a podcast hosting service
2. Submit your entire show to iTunes/Apple Podcast, Spotify, etc, just once
3. Publish episode players, from your host, to your own website

Simple, eh? Well, it sort of is, but only if you know how. So, let’s find out how!

First, you need to sign up for a podcast hosting service, also known as a “podcast host”, “media host”, or “hosting provider”.

Quick Recommendation? Use Captivate

Captivate is a hosting platform with tonnes of brilliant tools and features. These include private (members-only) podcasting, one-click sponsor kit, and their Submit to All button instantly submits your podcast to every single-click directory, too.

Alternatively, you can get podcast hosting, recording, editing, production, & more, all in one single place by using Alitu.

Or, if you’d like to do some shopping around, try our free podcast hosting chooser tool, below.

Podcast Hosting Chooser Tool

What Is a Podcast Host & How Do They Work?

Podcast hosting services are companies that are designed to do exactly what it says on the tin: host your podcast audio files. Here’s a brief outline of how they work:

• you create an account with a podcast hosting service
• you enter all your podcast’s details, and your show is born
• you upload your audio (episodes) to your hosting account
• they store those audio files
• they organise them all into a podcast ‘feed’ that people can subscribe to
• they deliver the audio files to your listeners on-demand, to all and any listening apps

It’s worth mentioning here that podcast hosting services aren’t responsible for actually growing your show. They’ll give you the tools to do it, but the rest is up to you.

Now, there are two ways to use a podcast hosting service.

1. They can host your entire podcast website
2. They can host just your audio files, and you have your own website

Option 1 is very easy – the host provides a website with space for show notes and players that show up automatically. But these sites tend to be relatively simple, and you won’t have much control.

Option 2 takes a little more setup, but it gives you way more flexibility and control. In this case, you’ll be uploading audio files to your podcast host, and then publishing the show notes and the audio players on your own website. There are a lot of advantages to this, and the setup isn’t that complicated.

Read our full guide on setting up your own podcast website

In a moment, we’ll look at how to upload a podcast and run your website through your hosting account. First up, though, another frequently asked question…

What Is the Difference Between a Podcast Hosting Platform and a Podcast Directory?

We’ve already dissected this a bit, but to break it down even more simply, a podcast hosting provider or platform is where your audio files live. Some hosts are paid services, some are free, and most offer tiered pricing structures based on extra features and download limits. Some podcast hosting sites even provide built-in analytics as well. Essentially this is your cloud storage platform for your podcast.

As we’ve already highlighted, directories, on the contrary, are places like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and TuneIn. Most automatically list your content by aggregating RSS feeds from Apple, so if you’re in there, you’re in most other directories by default.

You don’t upload audio files to a directory; you submit your podcast feed to a directory to provide potential listeners with a searchable platform to find you. These directories have podcast players built-in. They often have an accompanying mobile app or podcast apps for ease of use on the go.

Creating Your Host-Provided Podcast Website

Okay then, back to the website stuff. When you create an account with a podcast host you’ll have the opportunity to fill in all the details about your podcast series. The name of the show, a description, the category that best suits it, and you can upload your own cover art too.

Publishing episodes is a similar process. Uploading audio is no different to uploading images on social media. You create a new episode page within your hosting account, then enter your episode title and that particular episode’s show notes. Podcast ‘show notes’ are a description of what’s in the episode, as well as links to any websites mentioned. After that’s done, you hit ‘Publish’.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll have a live podcast episode, and your media host will have created a simplistic website for your show.

At this point, your podcast won’t appear on your own website (if you run a separate WordPress site, for example) or in directories like Apple/iTunes. That’s what we’ll sort out next.

And, if you’d like to see an example before we get there, check out Podcraft. That’s our own ‘how to podcast’ show which we host with Alitu. We publish episodes to our own website, here at thePodcastHost.com/podcraft-podcast/, but you can also see how the Podcraft site on Alitu looks.

How Do I Get My Podcast Into Apple/iTunes or Spotify?

Imagine if the answer to “how to upload a podcast” was that you spent an entire day publishing new episodes to over 100 different listening platforms. Well, the good news is that’s not the case.

Rather than uploading to Apple/iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else, you’ll instead simply submit your podcast to their directory.

You only have to submit your show once.

You’d do this after publishing your very first episode. It doesn’t even need to be a “proper” episode either – you could upload a short promo trailer or episode zero. The bottom line is that you just need to have one single episode published in order to appear in all the podcast directories.

From then on, once the directory knows your podcast exists, they’ll check in regularly for new episodes, and send them on to all your subscribers on that platform.

Step by step: How to get your podcast in iTunes / Apple Podcasts.

Step by Step: How to get your podcast into Spotify

A full list of the best directories to submit to

You might still be panicking that there are still so many directories and apps to submit your podcast to, even once. More good news though! You only really need to submit to the top 4/5, and your show will appear everywhere else automatically. Check out our full podcast directories guide to get the finer details.

How Do I Make My Podcast Appear on My Website?

For me, it’s nearly always better to send listeners to your own website, rather than a host-provided one. It means you then have complete control and ownership of what they experience. This can be a better option if you plan to run sponsorships or monetise your podcast.

If you already have a website for yourself, your company or your brand, you can use that! No need to create a new one, unless you really want a separate site for your podcast. Just create a ‘Podcast’ section within that site. On WordPress, you might just create a new category called ‘Podcast ‘and use that for podcast posts, for example.

If you don’t have your own site yet, we have a ‘create your own podcast website‘ guide here that walks you through the process of setting one up. It’s a surprisingly easy and low-cost thing to do!

Once you have a website, you can start publishing podcast episodes there. For this, you’ll just need an embed code for your player. As an example, I’ve embedded a Pocket-Sized Podcasting episode below. The episode is hosted on Alitu, but by embedding it here, we can send people to our own site, instead.

To find it, go to your episode inside your podcast host and look for the episode’s link/embed options. Here you’ll find some HTML code. On your own website, create a new post, and copy this embed code over from your media host.

In WordPress, you can use the ‘Custom HTML’ block to post in the code directly. If you hit ‘Preview’ or ‘Publish’, your episode should then appear in the post as a player.

A Heads up on WordPress.com Embedding Issues

If your site is on WordPress.com this might not work. WordPress.com sites are ‘lite’ versions of WordPress, with much less flexibility and control.

Long term, you’re better to move from WordPress.com to your own self-hosted WordPress website. This means you’ll be able to properly link the site up with your podcast hosting account and get the maximum benefits of both. Again, our podcasting websites guide walks you through this entire process for free.

Related Article

Best Podcast Hosting Sites: Choose Quick & Easy With Our Free Tool!

Looking for the best podcast hosting service on the planet? Here are the best platforms, broken down, to save you hours! Find out more »

How to Upload a Podcast – Downloads & Delivery

Still curious as to how the magic of podcast hosting works?

You don’t need to understand this, so skip it if you want! But, in case you’re interested…

When you create your podcast inside your hosting account, you’ll be given a unique URL called an “RSS Feed“. This link is the “signal” that’s used to send your episodes to places like Apple/iTunes and Spotify. Remember, the show isn’t technically ‘hosted’ on these platforms.

Instead, episode files are pulled from your podcast host via your RSS feed whenever someone requests them. A request could be someone hitting ‘play’ or ‘download’.

If you think of your own website as the shopfront, then Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the other directories are catalogues in which you list your product. That means your media host is like the warehouse where all the products are delivered.

In that case, to stretch the analogy, your RSS feed is the delivery driver. Someone comes to your site or Apple/iTunes, requests your podcast, and it’s delivered to them from the warehouse via RSS. Of course, this process only takes a matter of seconds for the user, and they don’t need to know (or care) about how it works. Thankfully!

What About Publishing Private Podcasts, or Selling Podcast Episodes?

The vast majority of podcasts are available freely to everyone – but there are exceptions.

Some folks want to create private podcast feeds. This might be for an internal company podcast, as a way of communicating with employees. Or, it might be done as premium content alongside an existing show. In any case, here’s our full guide on how to create a private podcast.

And speaking of premium content, too, here’s our guide on how to sell podcast episodes, if you’re looking to go down that route.

How to Combine Recording & Editing With Uploading & Publishing a Podcast

‘Podcast maker’ tool Alitu lets you do every podcast-related task from within its dashboard. Alitu is designed for folks who know little or nothing about audio production (or, are too busy to spend hours editing) but still want to put a great-sounding podcast out there in as simple a way as possible.

You can record episodes inside Alitu (either solo, or remote calls), easily chop out mistakes, and build your episode, adding in things like music and other segments using simple drag-and-drop tools.

Alitu does automatic processing on your recordings to clean them up, enhance them, and make them all consistently the right volume level for optimal listener experience.

Then, you can publish your episode directly from within Alitu, meaning that’s just one place to log in to do everything you need to do to get new episodes out there. Or, you can quickly and easily connect it to a separate hosting account (like Captivate).

There’s a 7-day free trial available with Alitu, and be sure to check out our guide on how to make a podcast with Alitu, too.

What Is the Ideal Tool/Software Stack for Podcasting?

You’ve probably realised by now that a podcast software stack can grow quite quickly unless you’re using an all-in-one tool like Alitu. But for some experienced podcasters having the flexibility and robust tools at each level of the podcast-making journey can be valuable. This flexibility goes beyond things like unlimited episodes or detailed analytics and instead turns a podcast into more of a business. Podcasters at this level can have as many as five to ten subscriptions to podcast-related software and equal numbers of marketing tools. 

Rather than head off on a tangent now that we’re wrapping up this article we’ll leave you with further reading materials, and you can pick and choose what you want to get stuck into.

• Podcast software: the complete guide, from plan to edit
• 8 podcasting tools: software and hardware to streamline your podcasting
• Best podcast recording software to save time, money or both
• 6 Tools to grow and earn from your podcast

How to Publish a Podcast – Next Steps

Remember, the key to uploading a podcast is to find yourself a good podcast hosting service.

My favourite one at the moment is Captivate, a growth-oriented service with loads of brilliant tools and features.

We’ve also talked about ‘Podcast Maker’ tool Alitu which now has podcast hosting included. This is perfect if you want to do all of your recording, editing, and publishing in one single place.

And, if you want to explore the other hosting options, here’s our list of some of the best Podcast Hosting companies around right now. There’s a free “hosting chooser” tool over there, designed to help you choose the best publishing fit, quickly, easily, and at-a-glance.

Of course, there’s more to making a podcast than the act of publishing too. If you’re a little further back in the process, or maybe even still at the ideas stage, then our Step by Step Guide on How to Start a Podcast might be the ideal place to begin!

As of July 2022, 44% of all podcasts were hosted on Anchor (now Spotify for Podcasters). This makes the platform attractive to advertisers because the company has a lot of ad placement inventory (podcast episodes). Ad sales make investors happy. Unfortunately, Spotify isn’t helping podcasters make great audio. Spotify has little to no room to negotiate with music labels. They prefer to make up their margin via podcast ads. The following review makes clear why, despite its accessibility as a podcasting tool, Spotify for Podcasters is limited.

Why Has Anchor Rebranded as Spotify for Podcasters? 

In essence, Spotify wanted to paint over or erase Anchor’s reputation. Those who use Spotify regularly for podcasting will know Anchor. Anchor was the first combined podcast maker and hosting service. One could create, edit and publish content to appear on Spotify and beyond. Anchor has always been a good platform for new podcast creators who want to try it before spending money.

But Anchor was rife with problems. Before 2021, users couldn’t control their RSS feeds, preventing them from fully understanding their show’s performance. Moreover, because the barrier to entry was so low, the tool was prone to podcast piracy. In addition, people would start shows there and abandon them, rendering Anchor a podcast graveyard.

The average number of episodes per podcast is 21.7; and the average number of episodes for shows hosted by Anchor is 13.6 (a third fewer).

Podcast Index also automatically removes many inactive shows from Anchor; so the difference may be even higher.

Are Anchor podcasts different?

Although Spotify purchased Anchor in 2019, it didn’t change anything about the tool’s interface or security. Even in March of 2023, when Spotify absorbed Anchor into Spotify for Podcasters, the underlying tool remained the same. 

In short, Anchor is a rudimentary tool, and Spotify hasn’t improved it. 

Does Spotify for Podcasters Have New Features? 

Spotify says, “We have a new look, but we’re still offering the same podcasting tools you love. We’re always working hard in the background to make your experience better.” Other than changing the logo and name, however, there aren’t any additional features.

Does Spotify for Podcasters Have a Mobile App With an Episode Builder? 

Yup. Straight away, The Spotify for Podcasters app guides you from recording to adding music, then previewing, publishing, and setting up monetization. The app makes me nervous because it prompts you to record and asks you to publish before they know your podcast’s name, which feels a little cart-before-the-horse to me.

Is the Sound File Recorded in My Mobile App Available on the Desktop Version?

Spotify’s mobile app holds your library of audio files in cloud storage. You can record using your phone’s microphone and then edit it on your computer or another device.

How to Start a Podcast on Spotify for Free

If you’re used to podcast editing software like Audacity or Reaper, Spotify for Podcasters is a different user experience. But, if you’re used to the editing tools in Alitu, you may find the process familiar. Whether you use the mobile app or the browser site, Spotify for Podcasters guides you through recording, trimming and publishing a podcast.

Recording in Spotify for Podcasters

In Spotify for Podcasters, you record your dialogue into files.

With the mobile app, use your phone’s mic, attach a microphone, or record on the desktop version with your preferred mic.

If you make a mistake, you can tap “Add Flag.” This marks the track so you can return and trim your sound files around the mistake.

Editing in Spotify for Podcasters

You can either:

• trim, removing the beginning and end of the audio you want to keep
• split, so that you break the audio file into several clips

Each clip that you keep goes into your Spotify for Podcasters Library. Then, you arrange the audio clips in the order you want them in the episode and preview it. Again, the interface is somewhat similar to Alitu, except it can’t polish your audio. I saw a button with a picture of a magic wand that said, “Enhance.” I tapped it but couldn’t hear a difference in the sound quality.

Even Spotify’s guide to editing doesn’t hide the fact that their editing tools don’t help you improve the audio. Their editing guide says, “Spotify for Podcasters’ editing tools are an example of a DAW you can use.” High praise.

You can also create your episode with your own recording and editing software. Then you can upload the finished file to Spotify for Podcasters.

Here’s an excerpt from a sample episode I made. It shows what’s possible using their free, easy recording and editing tools.

Can I Add Music and Sound Effects to My Podcast’s File?

Spotify for Podcasters has music loops to add to each section of your podcast episode. The editing interface will automatically lower the volume to accommodate the dialogue. For each sound file in the episode, that music loop starts over. It’ll sound like you’re signalling a new or different idea.
You can upload any sound recorded separately to your library to add your own music files or sound effects.

Can I Add Spotify Music to My Podcast?

If you use Spotify for Podcasters for hosting, then yes. Link your Spotify (listening) account to your Spotify for Podcasters (podcasting) account, and you can create a Music+Talk Episode. The guidelines adhere to copyright law. Your episode has to contain a substantial amount of talking, and you can’t use Spotify’s monetization options on that episode. You can use Spotify’s music tracks as background music but not as the primary focus.

Spotify Music + Talk is intended for Spotify’s artists to promote their music.

What Marketing Tools Does Spotify’s Platform Offer?

Spotify for Podcasters offers a long article on ways to promote your podcast. They include innovative strategies such as posting about your podcast on social media or having a guest on your show.

Their Q&As, Voice Messages, and polls prompt the audience to think more about what’s in your show. This feature is in the episode’s show notes, so it’s not extra work for the audience. It’s a really useful option that more podcast apps should adopt.

Despite a commitment to cool engagement tactics, Spotify for Podcasters only offers transcripts for audiograms. “You can’t generate transcriptions of entire episodes.” Transcripts improve accessibility and SEO. Surprisingly, Spotify for Podcasters hasn’t provided such a broadly requested engagement tool.

Other than that, Spotify for Podcasters’ creators have the freedom to find listeners however they can.

Is Spotify for Podcasters a Quality Service? 

Any software is as “good” as how people use it. If you script your episodes ahead of time and don’t need multi-track editing, then you can make a reasonably good-quality podcast.

You will need to record in a space that’s treated to reduce reverb and eliminates or reduces background noise. Make sure you’re not dehydrated or overhydrated, practice your mic technique, and use a pop filter, to prevent mouth noises. In other words, if something goes wrong, you won’t have many options to “fix it in post.”

Related Article

How to Upload a Podcast to Spotify – Quick & Easy Walkthrough!

Spotify is one of the biggest podcast listening platforms on the planet. Here’s how to get your show involved.  Find out more »

Does Spotify for Podcasters Use My Email Address in My Podcast’s RSS Feed?

Yes, they do. Formerly, many podcasting hosting services would put the email address used at sign-up in your RSS feed to identify ownership. Media hosts still use email to contact members. But they’ve stopped keeping email addresses in the RSS feed to prevent spam and security issues. (Spammers scrape RSS feeds for email addresses and then sell them in bulk.) At the time of writing, Spotify still keeps email addresses in its RSS feed.

Can Other Media Hosts Help Me Put My Podcast on Spotify? 

Yes, any media host can get you listed in Spotify’s directory. Spotify always wants more content to entice people to use their platform. Here’s our full list of podcast hosting options, including costs, benefits, and features.

Alitu vs Spotify for Podcasters

I mentioned Alitu earlier, which is our own all-in-one podcast maker. Spotify for Podcasters’ user interface looks much like it. Making a podcast with Alitu is analogous to Spotify for Podcasters’ process. There are a lot of similarities between the two. The differences aren’t immediately obvious but vital in the long run. They are:

• Alitu automatically performs noise reduction, so your voice stands out.
• Volume levelling: Alitu manages loudness to keep your volume level stays consistent.
• Video podcast episodes: Alitu can create a video version of your full episode with an image, a title and a moving waveform. Spotify for Podcasters can generate a video from a minute-long segment. Or, you can upload a video made elsewhere.
• Alitu can transcribe all your content: Spotify for Podcasters only does this for the 1-minute video clips.
• Spotify has a mobile app and a desktop interface. Alitu is desktop-only.
• Alitu’s editing tools are more fluid and intuitive.
• Alitu is a subscription package, whereas Spotify for Podcasters is free.

Related Article

How to Make a Podcast With Alitu: Save Time, Hassle, & Tech Stress

Know little or nothing about audio production? Or, just interested in saving as much time as possible without scrimping on quality?  Find out more »

You can start a podcast quickly and easily with either Spotify for Podcasters or Alitu. Spotify’s free model makes it a good choice for someone dipping their toe and testing out podcasting for the first time. For those planning to stick at it long-term and really grow their audience and brand, Alitu’s going to be the better option, though.

How Much Does Spotify Pay Podcasters?

Not much. In 2021, The Verge reported that Spotify was paying “tens of thousands of dollars” to Anchor podcasters to run ads. But, none of the podcasters who spoke to The Verge could show they’d made more than a thousand dollars per year.

Spotify wants to ensure they have a lot of inventory, which makes advertisers and investors happy. Travis Hoium of Riiv Investing recently opined that “Spotify aims to ‘own your ears’ by connecting creators, listeners, and advertisers on a single platform… The key to Spotify’s success comes down to building a thriving user-generated content ecosystem, much like what YouTube did with video.”

Hoim also pointed out that “Spotify charges a monthly fee to subscribers and shares a percentage of that fee with record labels (who then pay artists). Unfortunately for Spotify, there are only three major record labels, and losing any label would be devastating to Spotify’s business. So, the company has little negotiating leverage and shares about 70% of its revenue with labels.”

Podcasters make up the difference in Spotify’s margin. Spotify for Podcasters’ goal is to get as much content as possible on the platform, fast, and put advertising on it. They want you to make and consume content (and ads) on their platform alone.

Spotify for Podcasters: As Easy as Falling Off a Log.

Since 2008, when Spotify first started making podcasts available to their followers, the US population that listened to podcasts routinely grew from 9% to 38%, or an estimated 109 million people. That’s just one country. Spotify has worked hard to increase awareness of podcasts worldwide. As much as “Apple” and “iTunes” were once synonymous with podcasts, Spotify wants that coveted brand association. But in trying to become “the place for podcasts,” their walled-garden mentality is at odds with open podcasting. This isn’t a sustainable plan for any platform. Luminary tried, and now Apple Podcasts has Luminary’s subscription channel. Recently, Spotify has released some of their Gimlet shows outside of Spotify, including ads for newer Spotify-exclusive content.

Anchor, now Spotify for Podcasters, has always been a minimalist tool. Ease of use and the price tag (or lack of it) makes it a good starter choice for people who need to decide if podcasting is right for them.

However, Spotify for Podcasters doesn’t try to sustain podcasters’ efforts long-term. For example, they don’t have transcripts, and the monetization program’s success is chancy. Spotify for Podcasters’ interface has a few basic editing tools. But when you bake cookies, the shape of the cutter doesn’t affect the flavor.

Using Spotify for Podcasters to make your podcast is fine, but you won’t have much support. When a service is free, you are the product, not the customer. For now, indie podcasters and musicians are the creators keeping Spotify green.

• Still shopping around to find the right podcast hosting service for your show? Check out our full roundup.
• Still on the lookout for recording and editing software? Here are your full range of options.

That should be it, right?

‘Fraid not! Here’s a question we got last week to kick us off.

Can you advise me on my podcasting website. How should show notes work? Do I just set them up like a blog? Unsure how this works. Don’t want to set something up only to have to re-do it.

The short answer is yes. Podcast show notes are nothing more than a blog post with an audio file attached. But they’re also so much more than that. Let’s delve a little deeper – what are podcast show notes for, and how do we put them together?

What are Podcast Show Notes For?

Podcast show notes serve three main purposes. The first two serve existing listeners:

1. To offer a summary of the show content – either to persuade someone to listen, or to remind a previous listener what was covered.

2. To offer links to resources, people or products that were mentioned. You can’t link within the show itself, so you offer the links on the show notes.

The last serves you, and those who have yet to listen:

3. To attract new listeners through search traffic.

That last one is the one most podcasters neglect. You’ll find a lot of podcasters throwing up show notes that are nothing more than a very quick introduction paragraph and then a list of the resources that were mentioned. That’s fine, as a minimum. It serves your listener, covering #1 and #2. But, if that’s all you do, you’re missing a trick in growing your audience.

How Show Notes Can Grow Your Audience

A good set of show notes can attract legions of potential new listeners by appearing in the search results.

How do you do that?

By writing a blog post that covers the same topic as the podcast.

That blog post acts as a written version of the show. Not a direct transcript, but something created to be read. It contains the same valuable information as the podcast, and encourages readers: “If you liked this, then listen to the podcast episode for even more.”

Often in the podcast, you’ll tell more stories about it, give more examples, and that might be the extra value that gains you a new listener. Even if you don’t add anything extra, many people will appreciate being given an audio version to listen to at another time.

Example Show Notes: a Best Practice Format

Here’s the best practice show notes format we often use, and which you can build from:

1. Episode Summary – a paragraph or bullet points
2. Episode Player – embed from your host
3. Timecode guide – list highlights and timecodes to skip to
4. Full Topic guide – a blog post, essentially, covering the same topic
5. Resources mentioned – summary & links to all resources and transcription

Let’s cover each element in a little more detail.

1. Episode Summary

Start with a brief summary of the episode – either a one or two paragraph introduction or a set of bullet points. This gives the listener the lowdown on what you’re covering and can help casual visitors decide whether it’s worth listening to. This is important – show the problem you’re solving to really engage with the listener, and persuade them to listen!

2. Episode Player

Then below that, we’ll have the audio player, generated in whatever podcast host you normally use. This allows easy listening for casual visitors, or a simple way to review the content for subscribers.

3. Timecode Guide

This takes a bit of effort, so it’s more “icing on the cake” than essential, but it’s hugely useful to listeners. And anything useful to listeners is a thing worth doing for audience growth!

A timecode summary picks out the highlights of the episode, and lists when they happen, in the audio. This allows casual visitors to pick out the most relevant parts and get value immediately. If they can do that, they’re far more likely to subscribe or follow!

And for followers? It allows them to go back to the episode and re-listen to the parts they really engaged with. Again, most value for the listener, more success for the listener, and more loyalty to you!

For example, an excerpt here from This Week in Startups, a podcast that does a great summary every week:

• …
• 39:02 OurCrowd – Sign up for a free account at https://www.ourcrowd.com/twist
• 40:46 Dick Costolo’s responds to infamous & now-deleted tweet on Acquired’s recent Twitter episode – was taking the tweet down the right move?
• 45:57 Thoughts on the proper way to do civil discourse at work
• 54:23 Jason in hot water with Bernie Bros due to recent pro-gig economy tweet, thoughts on Prop 22 & more
• 1:07:07 DOJ antitrust lawsuit against Google, Apple ramps up development of their own search engine as Google partnership in hot water
• 1:10:40 Acquired’s Top 10 Acquisitions of all time
• 1:15:34 Deep dive on the Google/Apple partnership, how the Android acquisition saved Google billions of dollar per year
• …

3. Full Topic Coverage (Blog Post)

Next, below the player, you go into full detail, covering the episode’s main points and a little explanation around them. Within that extra detail, link to resources mentioned within the show. That means people can easily find anything you say in the audio.

The purpose of this is two-fold.

First, it means the article is genuinely useful on its own, even without the audio. So, searchers are much more likely to find it via Google, skim the content, and perhaps end up subscribing to the show. This is one of your biggest growth opportunities since text search reaches a wider audience than podcast search.

Second, this makes your show notes so valuable to existing subscribers or followers. They can, at any time, visit this page to review all the material, re-learn it, and pick out elements to put into action right away. With all of this info right on the page, easily skimmable, you help your listeners so much more. And that’s what builds loyal fans!

4. Resource List

I mentioned resource links above, but it’s great to include a list of the main resources and links right at the start or the end of the blog section so that links are all nicely collated and easily found. This is one of the biggest uses of shownotes for existing subscribers – to pop in and find out exactly what “That amazing app he mentioned…” was and to nip over there.

Including great resource links, every time, will encourage repeat visits to your shownotes.

Other Elements, Like Video?

You can go further than this, turning your podcast show notes into a massive fan-building, conversion-creating multi-media experience. Read about that full content stacking approach here. If you can put the time into this, it can be a game-changer for your business.

Keeping Show Notes Short: Sacrifice Content for Sustainability?

Some people can’t find the time to do full blog-post style show notes every week. So, an alternative is to keep ’em shorter and forget about the search engine benefits. Just focus on giving value to your existing subscribers.

In this case, do the 50-word intro paragraph or bullet points, and then some resource links and related descriptions. You could even dispense with the descriptions altogether and just list links. If you can, the timecode summary is super-useful, even if you find two or three of the big highlights to allow your visitors to skip through.

Comparing the two, the long blog-post style format offers much more value in content marketing. The show notes, acting like blog articles, start to gain traffic since they’re much more likely to be found and indexed well in the search results. On the other hand, there’s no point getting that extra value if it’s unsustainable.

If the effort of full-blog show notes stops you from podcasting altogether, then you get absolutely no benefit at all. In that case, it’s better to do less and get the show out regularly. This is a balance between time and total benefit.

I think it can depend a lot on the context, particularly whether the podcasting website is brand new, or whether the podcast is being added to an existing website. In the case of a brand new podcasting website, the show notes are even more worth investing time into as they’ll start to build out the written content and give the site some meat. Adding very thin podcast show notes pages to an already thin website will unlikely help the site gain any authority.

In contrast, a well-established site can stand to gain a few thin pages, and you can spend time on your wider blogging instead for that content benefit. On the other hand, if you tie your blogging and podcasting efforts together through a content stacking approach, I’d argue that you can do both for more benefit and less effort in the long run!

Can you use a Transcription as your Podcast Shownotes?

Here’s a third possibility. If you’re really short of time, transcriptions might be worth considering. You can pay around $1.50 per minute to get a full human transcription of any show from Rev. If you’re doing quite short, focused episodes, these transcriptions can be very useful and readable for your listeners. As a bonus, they provide nice, long, meaty content for the site with little extra time and effort – just a bit of cost. Of course, you can create AI-generated transcriptions for much less (sometimes, free), but the trade-off is that they’ll take more editing time.

If you did that, you’d only have to write a 50-word intro para yourself, then add the transcription after the player. You can go through the transcription and add links where appropriate to make sure the listener can find the relevant resources. Although, in this case, a collated resource link list may be useful so the reader doesn’t have to trawl a long transcription.

On the downside, the spoken word often doesn’t translate well into a written form. Unedited transcriptions can often be long, rambling and made up of terrible English. It’s surprising how often we don’t speak in complete or correct sentences! In this case, a transcription might not offer much value.

It depends on your speaking style, though, and how you present. Solo shows tend to provide more useful transcriptions, while a conversation can just look like a confusing mess on paper. It’s an approach worth trying, but it won’t work for everyone!

Hiring a Podcast Show Notes Writer

If you don’t have the time, or simply don’t want to write your own podcast show notes, then you might want to outsource them altogether. If that’s the case, then we recommend mediasips or mabendroth15 on Fiverr. You can get thorough and excellent show notes there for as little as $13.

Our Fiverr links are affiliates, but these are show note writing services we’ve used ourselves and were really happy with the results. That’s why we recommend them!

Using ChatGPT to Create Draft Show Notes

AI tools are on the rise, and ChatGPT is the biggest of them all.

There are many different ways ChatGPT can be useful to podcasters, and drafting show notes is one of them.

This doesn’t excuse you from writing anything, though. The value is all in the prompt, so the more info you can give ChatGPT about the episode’s content, the better its output will be.

You’ll also still need to do a bit of editing to the draft ChatGPT creates for you. It would be bad practice to copy and paste this right into your show notes field without putting a bit of your own spin on it first. But it’s undoubtedly a huge helping hand for folks who hate writing show notes, or just hate writing in general.

Need More Help?

If you’re keen to master show note writing yourself, check out Podcraft Academy. There you can download The Podcast Show Notes Cookbook – your ultimate guide to writing podcast show notes of all kinds.

And you’ll find loads more in the Academy on top of that. We hold weekly live Q&A sessions and have courses on everything from planning and presenting to monetisation and promotion. It’d be great to see you there!

The question of whether or not your podcast needs a website is entirely up to you. But a podcast website is a marketing tool that could prove extremely useful. 

For example, a website houses all the crucial information about your podcast in one place, so it’s easy for your listeners to find. Podcast websites also make it much easier to promote your show and attract new listeners.

For this guide, we’ll look at how you can use Wix to create a new website for your podcast. In this article, we’ll cover:

• The initial setup process
• How the basic design user interface works
• Wix’s library of templates, images, and other visual assets
• How to get help, if necessary

Read on to find out how to build a website for your podcast on Wix.

Heads up: We use a Wix affiliate link in this guide. This means we may earn a small commission should you choose to sign up through it, never at any extra cost to yourself. Affiliates help support all our helpful free content!

Initial Setup for a Wix Website

After you register an email and password, all you need to do is click “Create a New Website.” This will lead you to a page where you can tell Wix what type of website you want to build.

For the sake of this article, I’ll choose the “Art & Culture Blog & Podcast, “but you can choose one that best fits your show. Once you choose an option, you’ll be redirected to a page in a new tab. Make sure you don’t have a popup blocker activated, as this will block the new page from opening. On this new page, you’ll see several website template options to pick from. 

Click “View” to see any site design in full and how a visitor might interact with the website. Click on “Edit this site” once you find a template you like, and you can start customizing it to suit your podcast brand.

Customizing your Wix Website

I would suggest having your podcast’s logo design ready before making your website on Wix. This will make it easier to coordinate your website colors with your logo colors. 

Click on “Site Design” then “Customize,” and here you can alter the color scheme of the website template. 

You can choose an existing color theme that’s closest to your podcast logo, but there’s also an option to change the color template for full customization that will apply to the background colors and text.

Customizing Page Elements From a Wix Template

Almost everything on the Wix template is customizable. So, you’ll want to take your time to mold the template into a design that best reflects your podcast. A Wix website page is made up of page elements, which can be anything from headers and text boxes to images and audio. You can easily add, delete or move elements around the page until you have the structure that you want.

A feature called “Text Ideas” can be handy if you aren’t completely confident writing your own copy.  However, I found this feature a bit glitchy in that the window wouldn’t populate properly in my browser. In theory, it would auto-generate text for you based key word or idea prompts.

Customizing Text for Your Podcast Wix Site

Each text box can be customized independently by clicking on the placeholder text to bring up all the options available to you. You can customize:

• Color
• Highlight color of text
• Orientation, line spacing and font size
• Effects (blur, glow, outline color, etc…)
• Add hyperlinks.

All of these text settings can be saved as a “theme” for sections for easy recall. By “sections”, I mean a theme setting for paragraphs or headings.

Note: You can alter the line spacing (the space between lines of text) and font size but keep in mind the templates are designed with these in mind. Be careful not to overdo it and make the design “messy” if you decide to get into the nitty gritty of text customization.

The Wix Content Manager

The content manager feature in the site editor is what you use to create new content pages for your site that will all have the same layout. So, for example, if you have a new podcast episode on a particular topic, you might want to create a blog-like post that contains some information about the show, guest, and topic, as well as include a link to the audio. For continuity flow, this can be a handy tool to use once you finish with the design of the home page.

New content pages form part of a “collection.” For example, “Team Members,” “Latest News,” and “Projects” (which could be used to collect multiple shows or individual episodes, as mentioned above). Presets can be super useful for a podcast-related site, because they can save time when you make posts in the future.

Each preset collection is customizable, so you can choose which fields appear in the CMS collection (which you fill out with the relevant info). You don’t have to stick with the preset fields that you see displayed. 

You can also drag and drop the different fields to decide which order you want the fields to appear in:

These presets will adhere, or can apply, to any text themes you’ve saved along with your colour theme. You can use more than one preset to create multiple pre-designed pages based on your podcast website needs. All you’ll need to do is change the text to make it relevant to you and your show. 

Just be sure to save any color or text themes before adding more pages from the content manager so that your changes appear on the page template.

Wix Apps for Your Podcast Website

You can add any of over 250 integrations or add-ons (that Wix calls ‘apps’) to your websites, such as comment boards, forums, and more. However, not all of them are free – some require a certain tiered plan. To add an app to your site, simply click on the “install” button, and it will appear on your site. You can drag these to exactly where you’d like them to be on the page.

For a podcast website, you should add an RSS feed app or the Podcast Player. This way, your media host can store your files while your website remains easy to load and uncluttered.

Why Don’t I Upload My Podcast on Wix?

Though you could upload your podcast episodes to Wix, you definitely shouldn’t.

Audio files are big, and, if you create good content, then the demand to download them will be high. Even if you pay for unlimited bandwidth, this really isn’t designed for podcast hosting and delivery. Fortunately, there are loads of quality dedicated Podcast Hosting Services out there. Just sign up for the one that seems the best fit, and it will work in harmony with your podcast website to create the best experience for you and your listeners.

Images for Your Wix Podcast Website

There are plenty of free images you can pick from if you don’t have your own. To swap out an image from an existing template:

1. Click on the image
2. Select “Replace Image”
3. Select “Media from Wix”
4. Choose the image
5. Select “Add to Page”
6. Hit “Done.”

This will set an image border to keep the overall page design intact and looking nice and clean. You can customize the border by clicking the image and then the Design icon, which looks like a little pen.

Wix’s media editor also offers stock images to purchase, video backgrounds, vector images, and fonts to make your text stand out.

Get Help or Hire a Wix Professional

Almost every design feature has a “help” section, either in text or video, that you can use if you ever get stuck. If you have the funds, Wix offers a “Hire a Professional” option through the Wix Marketplace. They can do all the heavy lifting for you, then you can make adjustments on your own. If this is something you’d like to look into, be sure to read on Wix’s website exactly what it entails.

Wix Pricing

You can create a Wix podcast website for free, but you’ll be limited in many ways, and they will run ads on your site. For some podcasters, upgrading to one of their premium tiers will make sense.

Connect Domain – £4/month

The most basic paid tier. Here, Wix ads will still be displayed on your site. You can connect your custom domain, get 1GB of Bandwidth, and 500MB of storage space.

Sign up

Combo – £7.50/month

For personal use. Now your site will be ad-free, and you get a free domain for a year. You get 2GB of Bandwidth and 3GB of storage space. You can also access ‘Video Hours’ to showcase and stream your videos online, as well as offer subscriptions to your content.

Sign up

Unlimited – £11/month

For entrepreneurs and freelancers. You get everything in Combo with unlimited Bandwidth and 10GB of storage space. You also get the Site Booster App and Visitor Analytics App free for a year.

Sign up

VIP – £21/month

The first priority support tier. You don’t need to wait in line for any support on this plan. You get everything in Unlimited with unlimited Bandwidth and 35GB of storage space. You also get access to their professional logo and social media logo files designer.

Sign up

Wix Alternatives for Podcast Websites

If you’re looking to run a website for your podcast, but still want to do some shopping around, then check out our full Podcast Websites Guide.

Wix Podcast Websites: Conclusion

In under an hour, I created a basic custom-themed podcast website with designed content pages.  All that’s left would be for me to change the text to say what I’d want it to say and swap out any images with my own or from Wix where relevant. 

All the features I went through in this guide are available on a free account.  However, for more advanced features, such as eCommerce, you will need to look at a paid plan. Coding knowledge is not a requirement to create a professional-looking website for your podcast, and not a penny spent either should you wish to stick to the free tier.

What if you could schedule your social media posts through your media host? Some media hosts (such as Libsyn) help you post to Twitter or Facebook. But what if you could see your posts’ performance, too? What if your host could send a newsletter to a subscription list with any episode you publish? Ausha, a media hosting service, has some options that can help simplify your workflow and still engage your audience.

What Is Ausha?

Ausha is already the #1 hosting service in France. With over 7,000 podcasts, they’ve just launched in the US. What sets them apart from other tools is the emphasis on social sharing and promotion. Their analytics are more granular and closer to what a third-party analytics service like Chartable provides.

Not only does Ausha have monetization and a YouTube integration, but you can also publish, schedule, and analyze your social media posts’ impact. Ausha’s newsletter feature, in the same system as publishing, grabbed my attention. I haven’t seen a hosting service offer to email your subscribers on publication. Ausha also offers unlimited uploads and downloads for a flat rate monthly fee.

Statistics and Analytics

Ausha’s statistics help you compare at least 3 episodes at a time. There are the usual data sets, such as device type or country. At higher pricing tiers, you can compare up to 7 episodes. Plus, you can see unique listeners and get your Apple Podcasts ratings and reviews. At the top price tier, you can get your listeners’ age and gender info via Deezer.

How Does Ausha Manage Files?

Some web hosts (such as Simplecast or Buzzsprout) re-encode your files to a lower bitrate or convert them from stereo to mono. Some people believe that bitrate and file size doesn’t matter because “nobody’ll notice anyway.” If your podcast has a multi-layered sound design, such as narrative documentaries or audio drama podcasts, you do notice the difference.

Ausha offers unlimited uploads and downloads at all price tiers, and the maximum file size is 300 MB. For context, most podcast episodes (even multi-layered immersive shows) are about 31 MB. So you can load on the sound effects and music!

Website & Web Players

Ausha’s standard hosting website looks nice and, again, emphasizes social sharing. Each episode preview includes buttons to share a link to the episode on social media.

On the web player, users can download, share or get more info about your show. You can also add a call-to-action button so they can contact you, go to your crowdfunding site, or whatever you want listeners to do next.

Ausha provides a pixel to add to your podcast website, so you can track visitors on Google analytics and re-target them on Facebook.

What Are Ausha’s Social Sharing Options?

Ausha offers a few different features that make sharing episodes, generating social media posts, and creating newsletters pretty convenient.

Smartlink

Ausha’s Smartlink feature makes it easy for your audience to listen on their preferred platform. It’s the visual equivalent of saying, “wherever you get your podcasts.” This page has buttons to link your podcast in the directories where you’ve published it. This is especially good to use on mobile-optimized sites like Instagram and Twitter.

Twitter, Facebook, and More

When you publish an episode, you can schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, and (depending on your price tier) Instagram and LinkedIn too.

In the Communications tab, Ausha also shows you how your social media posts perform.

In the screenshot above, you can see that a post is scheduled for Instagram, and in draft form for Facebook. Since these have different requirements, you want those to be queued separately.

Up top is a LinkedIn post, and the symbols show different kinds of engagement. From left to right, you’ll see the post has:

• 158 impressions (how many times a social media screen displayed it)
• 98 views (how many times someone clicked on the post to read it)
• 2 clicks (how many times someone clicked on the link provided, played the episode, etc.)
• An engagement rate of 4.49%.

Ausha automatically generates a new version of your podcast cover art when you share your podcast on YouTube, and transcribes your episode automatically.

Your Podcast Newsletter

But what about audiences who don’t use social media? On publication, you can email a newsletter (in the same window) to your newsletter subscribers. You can send this newsletter to up to 1K subscribers, even at the entry level. It’s saved as a .csv file that you can export later if necessary.

Ausha and Private Podcasting

To make a podcast with a private RSS feed: you can select “private,” “unlisted,” or “public” on each episode at publication.

Monetization

To support your podcast, you can link your player to crowdfunding websites. You can also sign up for automatic monetization, which starts at 5,000 downloads per episode. They find the advertisers for you, and you keep 60% of the revenue. Manual monetization with 100% of the revenue at higher tiers.

How Much Does Ausha Cost?

All levels come with a 14-day free trial. If you decide to start paying for the software after the trial, you have a choice of three pricing tiers:

• Launch, $13 per month billed annually, or $15/month: Unlimited uploads and downloads, distribution to 20 directories, social media manager for Twitter and Facebook, four audiograms a month, website, smart player, SmartLink, a newsletter for 1K contacts per month, analytics for downloads per episode, by directory, device type, and country, episode comparison for 3 episodes, for 1 active and 2 archived podcasts.
• Boost, $29 per month billed annually, or $35/month: All of the above, plus, Private episodes, distribution to YouTube and Soundcloud, Instagram, and LinkedIn, 12 video clips a month, 5k newsletter contacts/month, 12 video clips a month, analytics can measure unique listeners by the operating system, browser, peak time, Apple Podcasts ranking, episode comparison for up to 5 episodes, for one active and five archived shows.
• Supersonic, $69/month billed annually or $83 month: all of the above, and 24 video clips/month

The Pros and Cons of Ausha

Ausha is another podcast-hosting service that makes me think, “what’s not to love?” Many podcasters find promotion and monetization the most difficult aspects of making a podcast. Ausha can clearly provide the tools to help with that, and right in your publishing system. You don’t have to open another browser window, app, or software.

One small thing gives me pause: the Google and Facebook tracking pixel. This is mentioned in their pricing guide but not elsewhere. The pixel circumvents permission to be tracked, which brings up privacy concerns. However, pixel tracking has become so ubiquitous in social media that people nearly expect it. iOS16 has an option to ask apps not to track your online activity.

Hosting For Those Averse to Social Media

Social media is something of a necessary evil for podcast growth. It can also be distracting, a time-suck, and can affect mental health. But it’s a free promotion tool if you use it correctly.

Media hosts like Ausha can take on tasks that some podcasters find tedious, such as transcription or re-purposing to YouTube. Newsletters are a targeted way to engage with your audience, and Ausha helps with this. No matter what kind of podcast you want to create, Ausha can help you engage with your audience and grow your show.

And we won’t even need to fight any roided-up turtles along the way. Hopefully…

I’ll cover the whole process around creating a website with WordPress, and it’ll work for your podcast, your blog, your videos and your brand.

Here’s How to Create your Podcast Website

Here are the steps we’ll follow to help you create a WordPress website and a blog for your podcast:

1. Choose and set up your Web Hosting
2. Get a domain for your website
3. Install WordPress on your hosting
4. Create your first content
5. Set up your WordPress navigation
6. Look & Feel: Choose a theme for your WordPress site
7. Set up your WordPress site for Podcasting

Who Is This For?

This course is for a range of people who want to create a website. Do you identify with any of these?

1. You’re a Podcasting beginner looking to publish your podcast
2. You’re an Existing Podcaster who wants to move to a self-hosted website for more control
3. You’re already self-hosting with WordPress, but want to really enhance your site
4. You just want to set up a website for any purpose!

About Our Links

I’ll be talking about a lot of different resources in this guide, from hosting providers to WordPress plugins. I’ll be using Affiliate links for nearly all of these, which means that, if you buy, we get a small commission on the purchase. It won’t cost you any extra, and I only recommend products we’ve used and love. Using the links helps support this free content we put out there to help you and others. We appreciate it!

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is nothing more, really, than a place on the web to store your own website. If you’re already running a podcast, it’s similar to podcast hosting, but in this case, it’s for web pages and images rather than audio.

Your “Web Host” stores all of the files that make up your site and makes them available to anyone who wants to find you.

When a visitor types in your web address, your Host sends those files to the viewer’s browser, and they can have a look at what you’ve got to offer.

How to Set up your Web Hosting

Let’s have a look at how we set up hosting in the video below. In this, we’ll use Bluehost as our hosting provider.

To me, they offer a great mix of value and reliability, and they’re super easy to use. They help you set up a WordPress website during signup which makes things really simple.

Buying a Domain

Luckily enough, buying a domain (like podcraft.net or thepodcasthost.com) is built right into the process of buying your hosting, so there’s no extra step here.

If you do that – buy the domain alongside the hosting – the domain will be set up to work with your hosting right away.

But, if you already have a domain name, then there’s a bit of extra setup. Nothing too complex, don’t worry! The video above points out where you would put an existing domain name if you have one.

Here’s What to Do

So, here are your steps:

1. Go to Bluehost here, and sign up for hosting. You can use the video earlier in this lesson to help.
2. If you already have a domain name, enter it into the Bluehost shopping cart. Otherwise, choose a new domain and buy it during the hosting purchase process.
3. That’s it; you now have a working home for your podcasting website!

Setting up Your WordPress Website

Next, it’s the big step: getting WordPress set up!

Have no fear; this is easy thanks to Bluehost’s tools. In fact, you’ll set up your WordPress website right away, during the signup process. Let’s take a look!

This video shows you how to set up WordPress during the Bluehost signup process. This means you’ll be ready to go, right away.

What is WordPress?

WordPress started out as a simple blogging tool, allowing anyone to run their own blog without technical knowledge. Nowadays WordPress is much more than blogging. But it has retained its simple roots and aims to allow anyone to run an entire website.

The main thing to know is that WordPress is an ideal platform for running a podcasting website, and you’ll find that the vast majority of self-hosted podcasts run on WordPress.

WordPress is Open Source, which means that it’s free to use, open to customisation and brings with it a huge community of users who develop new tools and support each other. You’ll start with a simple site now, but WordPress will grow with you, adding plugins, tools and themes, to create the perfect site for your small business.

Here’s What to Do

At the end of this task, you’ll end up with a working website. Follow on from the signup process and use the video above to help you to:

1. Give your website and a sub-title
2. Choose either a static front page or a list of recent episodes
3. Create your Contact page using the Bluehost setup template
4. Choose whether to install Woocommerce or not
5. Done! You now have a basic working website.

Your site isn’t quite ready to podcast yet – we need a podcast plugin first. But, we’ll come to that in the next section.

Creating Your First Content

WordPress is the content management system (CMS) that we’re using to manage your website. It’s the most widely used CMS in the world, thanks to its amazing combination of simplicity and power.

It can start off very simple, but grow into a fully functioning professional website. In this section, we’re going to learn how to use it.

To start us off in setting up your podcasting website, we’ll create a few bits of content. This will introduce people to your podcast and help you to create more elements of the site in future.

How to Use WordPress

One of the big upsides of WordPress is its simplicity! Millions of people, and plenty of them very non-technical, use WordPress to run their websites. So, here are a few tips on how to get started in building a customising your site.

Creating a Post

Posts are the basic building blocks of a WordPress site. They’re articles, podcast episodes, homes for videos, or any number of other things.

Just hit the Posts button in the left-hand nav, and then ‘Add New’ to create a new post.

Next, start typing! WordPress has a block for everything, from plain text, to HTML, to images, to video.

Creating a Page

Pages are used for anything a bit more general, that wouldn’t necessarily have a publish date on it, as an episode would.

For example, your contact page, or an email signup page, or an ‘About Me’.

Create pages the same way as a post, and test out the different formatting options available for pages.

Here’s What to Do

Now we’re going to create three pieces of content, a page and a post. These are the basic elements of content within WordPress.

Time to get your Podcast website working!

1. Create a new Page for your website, and name it About the Show. Write a few paragraphs in there that describe your Podcast and what you stand for.
2. Create a new Post and write up a short news story promoting the launch of your Podcast website. If the show isn’t released yet, build some hype, and if it is, talk about your future plans for the show.
3. Create another new page, and name it: “Contact Us”. Include on this page all of the different ways people can get in touch, such as an email address, Twitter, Facebook and any other platform you often use. (we’ll include more fancy contact tools on here later)

Setting Up Website Navigation

One of the most important elements of any website is navigation. After all, there’s no point in swimming in amazing content if no one can find their way to the material.

WordPress lets you set up a custom menu, showing links to pages, posts and categories. It also allows you to input links to external websites just by entering the web address.

How to Edit Your Website Navigation

WordPress allows you very tight control over your navigation, which is very handy. This control depends a little on the Theme you’re using. Some themes include one menu, and others include many more.

To edit your menus, click Appearance > Menus.

From there, you can use the built-in tools to add links to posts, pages or other websites.

Here’s What to Do

Your task for this unit is simple – set up your first menu.

For a basic podcasting website, I would recommend a minimum of 3 navigation links. That would be “Home”, “About the Show” and “Contact Us”. You’ll add more options later, such as links to particular categories or topics within your show, but that will do as a starter.

1. Create a link to Home – this is simply a link to your front page.
2. Create a link to your About Page – you’ll find that within the pages section.
3. Create a link to your Contact Page – again, found in the pages section.
4. Save the Menu, and then add it to the Main Menu location for the theme.

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How to Embed your Podcast

Final step, let’s create an episode!

This comes after posting the episode live on your hosting platform, so make sure the episode is out into the world first.

Then, find the embed code on your hosting platform. For example, in Buzzsprout you’ll click Episodes, then choose the episode to embed, then finally click ‘Embed this ONE episode’.

Copy the code provided, and head back to your WordPress site. Next, create a new ‘Custom HTML’ block in WordPress, by clicking ‘add block’ and choosing Custom HTML.

Finally, paste that embed code into the Custom HTML block. You can click the preview button to see if it’s working okay! But, it should look something like this.

To build out your shownotes, include a summary of the episode, resources mentioned, timecodes and much more. You can see our guide to podcast shownotes here for more ideas.

How to Make a WordPress Website: Next Steps

The next section covers the look and feel of your website.

Now that we’ve set up our website and have the basic tools in place, how do we make it our own?

How do we make it look good, and reflect our brand?

That comes down to choosing the right theme for you, and customising it with your own logo, your colours and some great images. It also comes down to finding the right plugins and widgets to showcase the people behind the website – you! – including things like social media, email newsletters and more.

Move on to Part 2: Themes, Design & Customisation to continue creating your own great podcast website!

Our Castos link is an affiliate which means we earn a small commission should you choose to sign up via it. This is never at any extra cost to you. In fact, you can get a free month on Castos by using our coupon code TPH22

Custom Website and Seriously Simple Podcasting

Castos owns the plugin for WordPress, Seriously Simple Podcasting, which makes it easy to manage your podcast via your WordPress site. But, if you’re not interested in making a website, your Castos account has a website included. This isn’t just a title, art, description and episodes, either. It includes a sub-page for host or creator profiles, and a sub-page with links to help your audience find your podcast on their favourite listening app. If I were making multiple podcasts and promoting a personal brand, I’d find this really helpful.

Your podcast brand remains unique too. Castos helps you pick custom colors in a palette (there’s a difference between #f70a0a and #fa0202!). If you’ve purchased a domain name, you can use that as the URL for your Castos website.

And, Castos’ website looks great on desktop or mobile devices. No pinching or zooming is required.

YouTube Republishing

The definition of “podcast” is changing, and YouTube’s got at least 2.6 billion active users. Castos has had YouTube republishing since its beginning, and user demand increased since then. Because Google owns YouTube, posting even just highlights from your podcast there can improve your podcast’s SEO. This feature is included in Castos’ Growth plan. If you’re already good at making a podcast and want to add YouTube to your directory list, Castos can help. They make a video using your podcast’s audio for you. Plus, you can set it up once, and let automation take the wheel for future episodes.

Transcribe Your Podcast

Many podcasters don’t have transcripts of their podcast, because it adds time and effort to their workflow. But, transcripts can:

• improve your podcast’s SEO
• expand your audience to more people
• enhance understanding of your content
• make it easier for journalists to write about your show
• help you re-purpose your content in the future.

With Castos, you pay an additional fee ($0.10/audio minute), and you can download and manage your transcripts in your Castos integrations. Or, if you have your own transcript (like if you make a scripted audio fiction podcast), you can upload your own transcript.

Private Podcasting

Private podcast feeds are great for education, businesses, law firms, non-profits, and anyone who wants to share a lot of information efficiently with a select group of people. Castos has different amounts of subscribers for different pricing tiers. You add their name and address within Castos and manage it there, instead of giving out an RSS feed and hoping no one leaks it.

Plus, private podcasts can take advantage of Castos’ mobile app feature. This way, they don’t have to use someone else’s listening app, and potentially get distracted by something else.

Castos’ Pricing and Feature Tiers

Castos has feature packages to cover podcasters from the indie solo artist to the Enterprise.

• Starter: For $19 a month, you can make an unlimited amount of podcasts and episodes. You can acquire up to 100 private subscribers and have 20K downloads each month. Great for people who are just beginning to build their audience.
• Growth: For $49 a month, you get everything at the Starter level, and YouTube republishing, integration with Headliner to make audiograms, up to 250 private subscribers, and up to 75K downloads per month. if you’ve built your core audience, feel stuck, and want to expand, this could be your tier.
• Pro: For $99 a month, you get all of the previously mentioned features, and video file hosting, up to 500 private subscribers, and up to 200K downloads per month. It seems this way you can make a private video podcast without having to rely on YouTube. Pretty snazzy.
• Castos Premium: For $499 a month, you get all of the aforementioned features, custom contracts and invoices, single sign-on, increased limits, and a dedicated account manager.

Castos Grows Through User Experience

As podcasting changes, Castos has enhanced their features to make sure that they can help podcasters satisfy their audiences and grow. If I were heading down to the shore for the weekend, and needed to manage a lot of areas of publishing and promotion (such as transcripts and YouTube), but didn’t want to bring my whole desktop and multi-monitor setup, Castos would help me manage a lot of tasks with just my laptop. Whether you want to make a daily podcast or build many shows into a podcasting empire, Castos has a solution to meet your needs.

Remember, you can get a free month on Castos by using our coupon code TPH22