A podcast is an excellent method to share your thoughts and grow an audience. A podcast is one of the best methods to share your expertise with the world, whether you want to broadcast one to assist boost brand awareness for your company or yourself.
Regardless of why you want to start a podcast, you’ll need to put some thinking and planning into it. Choosing a podcast hosting service is one of the most crucial decisions you’ll make since it will have a significant impact on the success of your podcast.
It’s crucial to note, however, that choosing the greatest podcast hosting provider isn’t the same as choosing the best web hosting service. This is because a podcast host gives all of the resources you’ll need to store and deliver a great and compelling podcast at your disposal.
Do you require some motivation? Take a look at our lists for the best podcasts.
What you will see here?
Which podcast hosting services are the best?
A podcast hosting service serves two important purposes. To begin with, it allows you to upload your podcasts so that they are all accessible from a single area. More crucially, the podcast hosting service automates the creation of RSS feeds. Uploads them to podcast directories like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and others allowing you to reach a larger audience.
The number of tools, add-ons, and conveniences that each podcast hosting service provides on top. These basic capabilities help to distinguish them.
Choosing a reputable podcasting hosting platform is crucial to your podcasting experience as the correct platform will not just help you handle the audio files, but also help you expand your following.
Another point of differentiation is price. While some services are free, a professional podcast hosting service will charge you a monthly price to host your podcast. Almost every good service offers monthly subscriptions as well as a discount for long-term subscribers.
Can you host podcasts on usual web host?
Why can’t you just upload the podcast to your existing website, you might wonder? Although there is no one stopping you from doing so, you won’t be able to provide your listeners with the same user experience that you can with a specialist podcast host.
Then there’s the issue of feasibility to consider. Podcasts are large files, and depending on the length of your program and how you encoded the files, a large number of episodes could quickly balloon to enormous sizes.
Your typical web host isn’t built to handle huge files. They design to send a large number of text files and images, as well as a moderate amount of multimedia material.
Indeed, some web hosts expressly forbid utilizing their hosting space as a repository for huge files and consider it a violation of their terms of service if you use them to host large multimedia files like podcasts.
Then there’s the issue of bandwidth. Streaming podcasts consumes a lot of bandwidth and depending on the size and popularity of your show, you’ll quickly use up your quota if you use a standard web hosting package.
Exhausting the bandwidth will not only make your website slower or inaccessible, but it may also earn you the wrath of your web host, who may push you out for taking all of the bandwidth, especially if you use a shared hosting plan.
This is why you need a specific podcast hosting platform that tailors to a podcaster’s needs and sensibility.
Best Podcast Hosting Services are here:
BuzzSprout
BuzzSprout has only been around since 2019, but it has rapidly established itself as one of the most user-friendly podcast hosting services. It prides itself on simplicity and quickness, making it ideal for new content creators just getting started with podcasting.
Automatic optimization tools are available in BuzzSprout. Simply upload your podcast and the platform will take care of everything else. Depending on the publishing schedule you’ve set, the service also automatically submits your uploaded podcasts to the main directories.
The site also can include chapter markers, which is a good choice for arranging your podcast, independent of the length of the episode. Listeners can swiftly skip between specific segments of the podcast based on their interests using chapter markers.
The ability to incorporate pre-and post-roll portions is one of BuzzSprout’s most intriguing features. This means you can simply update relevant content or advertisements at the start and finish of both new and previously published podcasts.
The premium “Magic Mastering” add-on from BuzzSprout is billed as “an Instagram filter for your audio.” Users can use this tool to clean and enhance their episode’s audio for a more professional final output.
The site offers a free plan with two hours of uploading per month. As well as three paid options with storage ranging from three to 12 hours per month. The most expensive premium package is $24 per month.
Captivate
Captivate promotes itself as a tool for growing and monetizing podcasts. Its user-friendly layout, which provides rapid access to frequently used functions without cluttering the screen, should appeal to both new and seasoned podcasters.
One of the most appealing features of Captivate is the ability to host an endless number of shows. There are no limitations on uploads or storage space. Captivate instead restricts accounts based on the number of downloads.
In addition, the platform provides complete analytics to assist you in tracking the reach of your shows. One of Captivate’s most well-known features is the ‘One-click sponsor pitch’ tool, which compiles analytics data into a professionally structured PDF media kit. This includes all of your podcast’s major metrics and analytics. All you need to know about monetizing your podcast.
Captivate also has some other monetization and growth capabilities. You can utilize the ‘Calls to Action’ function to add two custom links to your Pateron page in the podcast player, for example.
Captivate can also be used to offer private or members-only shows, which is an additional way to monetize your material.
Captivate has three pricing packages, all of which include all of the platform’s capabilities. The only difference is the number of downloads. The $19/mo plan permits 12,000 monthly downloads, while the $49/mo plan allows up to 60,000 monthly downloads, and the $99/mo plan, which is oriented for seasoned authors, allows 150,000 monthly downloads.
Transistor
The transistor is one of the newest entrants into the podcast hosting sector, and it caters to both novices and experts. To upload and publish your episodes, the platform includes all of the standard podcasting tools. Podcast analytics are also available through the site to help you track the performance of your episodes.
Transistor’s service is similar to Captivate’s in that both let users host an infinite number of podcasts while limiting accounts to a certain amount of monthly downloads. Both systems also allow you to host private podcasts, which is another resemblance. However, there are differences between the two in terms of the number of private podcasts they may host and the number of team members with whom you can share your podcasting responsibilities.
In terms of pricing, the two platforms are also comparable. The three Transistor plans are $19/mo, $49/mo, and $99/mo, just like Captivate. Transistor, on the other hand, allows for more downloads per month with each package, with 5,000, 75,000, and 200,000 downloads per month, respectively.
Podbean
Podbean is one of the most affordable podcast hosting services, despite its low price. It still manages to include all of the tools that a podcaster would require.
One of the service’s most appealing features is that it offers unlimited podcast hosting plans. All of which include unlimited bandwidth. This implies that you may use any of their paid plans to upload and keep an endless amount of shows of any length, and you won’t have to worry if the episodes become viral.
In addition to the standard podcasting functionality of uploading, listing, and streaming your podcast. The platform now allows you to broadcast video podcasts.
The ability to list your podcast in Podbean’s advertising marketplace. This allows you to be paired with potential advertisers, which is one of Podbean’s monetization options. You can also offer paid shows and join Podbean’s patron program to ask for donations from your audience.
The plans differ in terms of monetization choices as well as a few other features. The cheapest package is $9 per month and should be sufficient for most beginner podcasters. The $29/mo plan is designed for video podcasters. While the $99/mo plan is designed for users who want to host podcast networks with several channels and their bespoke branding.
You may try out the Podbean with its free plan, which includes five hours of audio storage and 100GB of monthly bandwidth.
Libsyn
The Libsyn platform is one of the first podcast hosting systems, dating back to 2004, long before podcasting became popular.
Libsyn has built up a robust community of podcasters over the years. It is a great alternative for individuals who are just getting started with podcasting.
One of Libsyn’s biggest benefits is that it provides unlimited bandwidth. Even if your podcast rises to the top of the charts in the podcast directories. You won’t be caught off guard.
Libsyn is a user-friendly interface that includes all of the normal podcast hosting capabilities. Such as uploading, publishing, listing, and scheduling.
Libsyn, on the other hand, unlike some of the other providers, only includes the necessary podcasting functions in its plans. All other features must be purchased as separate add-ons. If you want to use its monetization services. For example, you’ll have to pay for them separately from your Libsyn membership. Even the most basic statistics are extra in the Libsyn subscription plan.
The Libsyn subscriptions start at $5 per month for 50MB of uploads per month. The $15/month plan comes with 250MB of uploads, followed by the $400MB plan for $20/month and the 800MB plan for $40/month.
Conclusion
Depending on the length of the show and the audio encoder used, podcasts can be pretty heavy. Podcast hosting firms price their plans to ensure that you have enough storage for your podcast and a variety of bandwidth plans to choose from. You’ll quickly discover that using a podcast hosting service is far more cost-effective especially when you consider the cost of bandwidth.
Security is crucial, as it is with anything hosted on the internet these days. Different types of data require different types of security and self-hosting a podcast. It adds an unnecessary layer of complexity and overhead to the podcasting process. People working behind the scenes at a podcast hosting provider. Ensure that your podcast is safe from online security concerns, allowing you to focus on your show.
BuzzSprout uploads your podcast and the platform will take care of everything else. Depending on the publishing schedule you’ve set, the service also automatically submits your uploaded podcasts to the main directories.
The transistor is a newcomer to the podcast hosting scene, and it caters to both beginners and specialists. The platform offers all of the typical podcasting tools for uploading and publishing your episodes. Podcast analytics are also available through the site to help you track the performance of your episodes.
