Best Podcast Hosting Platforms [2023]
Podcasting has emerged among the most popular methods of interacting with an audience. As a result, businesses invest in podcasting channels to reach a wider audience.
If you’re not using podcasting, you’re missing out on many opportunities. Podcasting is a great method to engage with your audience and make money simultaneously. Everything depends on your ability to communicate effectively orally. To begin podcasting, however, you must first obtain podcast hosting.
Podcast hosting platforms have a lot in common with web hosting platforms. As with starting a blog, you’ll require podcast hosting.
Podcasting is a type of online broadcasting platform. These days, it’s one of the most common ways to communicate digitally and to share experiences with listeners.
This approach can be used by those passionate about creating content and who want to spread their message to a large audience. Aside from the RSS feeds, podcasts can also be downloaded in audio or video formats and can be viewed on mobile devices.
What Is the Biggest Advantage of Podcasts?
Podcasts allow you to spread the world – and precisely your audience _ your message. Podcast hosting services will enable you to distribute your stories to your listeners.
Additionally, there are numerous methods to profit from your podcast. It could be in advertisements, or it could be through the sale of your product or service. It doesn’t always work for many podcasts, but it will work for those who have committed to their listeners and intend to keep it.
A podcast host is a location where your podcast’s audio files are stored and distributed. A podcast RSS feed, essentially a list of all your episodes, is provided that you may submit to podcast directories like Apple Podcasts.
As well as publishing and promoting your podcast using these tools, they also give you analytics, ad networks, social sharing capabilities, and other distribution possibilities.
Do I Need a Host for My Podcast?
Podcast hosting services build RSS feeds for listeners, a function that most individuals cannot perform on their own. Using an RSS feed, podcast directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, TuneIn, Stitcher, and others may find your episodes and play them for their listeners through a specific signal.
You can’t have an RSS feed without a host. To keep your listeners engaged, you must have an RSS feed. Your podcast will not be complete without a host.
How Much Does Podcast Hosting Cost?
Podcast hosting typically ranges from $5 to $50 per month.
There is a wide range of pricing based on the solution, the number of episodes you make, and the number of downloads you receive. Also, some firms base their price on megabytes, hours, downloads, or bandwidth.
Usually, most people don’t spend more than $19 a month when starting. Much more might be expected if your podcast is well-known.
Top Podcast Hosting Platforms
1.
SoundCloud is a podcasting platform that allows companies and individuals to create, upload, host, and distribute podcasts to their target audiences. This software includes many capabilities such as tracking downloads, sending notifications, getting advanced insights, and allowing direct communications. SoundCloud enables professionals to receive fan donations, pitch tracks to top playlists on popular music services, monetize plays across many platforms, split payment with collaborators, and collect royalties.
Pricing: Free/Paid
Pricing page: https://checkout.soundcloud.com/pro
2.
BuzzSprout is a podcast hosting platform that allows companies to create, publish, and promote podcast programs across several platforms. It displays actionable analytics which allow supervisors to keep track of episode downloads, listener locations, and other metrics. The platform enables monitoring the performance of episodes depending on a specific location, apps, devices, and categories. BuzzSproud includes other features such as uploading audio files to the platform, adding titles or episode descriptions, and scheduling them based on their needs.
Pricing: Free/ Paid
Pricing page: https://www.buzzsprout.com/pricing
3.
Podbean is intended to assist companies to create and publish online podcasts, help to promote marketing campaigns, and also live stream audio shows via an all-in-one platform. It allows content creators to integrate podcasts into their websites and blogs, as well as automatically share posts across different social media platforms. Podbean enables administrators to reply to audience comments, see who is following them, and follow other artists. Thanks to its Mailchimp integration, users can collect audience email addresses and automatically send an email for new episodes to subscribers. Other capabilities include user monitoring, customer engagement, analytics, and more.
Pricing: Free/Paid
Pricing page: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-hosting-pricing
4.
Libsyn is a podcast and content management platform that allows companies to build, schedule, release, and publish podcasts across various channels such as YouTube or Spotify. It gives employees the ability to create, define, and manage podcast summaries, episode types, trailers, seasons, and ratings. Libsyn works with a variety of third-party services, including SoundCloud and Deezer. It allows businesses to create their customized podcast players with episode playlists, thumbnails, and playback directions. The tool allows users to use other features like generating heat maps, monitoring episode analytics, tracking agent performance, and generating historic reports.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://libsyn.com/plans-and-pricing/
5.
Transistor is a cloud-based podcasting platform that allows users to record, upload, and distribute audio to Apple Podcast, Pocket Casts, and other platforms. Its key capabilities include several logins, an RSS feed, file storage, an embeddable audio player, and a customizable website. Transistor empowers users with a single hosting account to generate multiple podcast themes in various formats. Transistor’s analytics tool lets the creators view the number of downloads for a published episode, and track the number of subscribers, listener trends, and audience breakdown for each episode.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://transistor.fm/pricing/
6.
Captivate is a cloud-based podcast management platform that offers companies the tools they need to create, broadcast, and monetize podcasts. The platform provides actionable analytics that helps professionals gain insight into various metrics such as episode performance, trends, listener data, and more. Captivate enables companies to perform private podcasting sessions, set default publishing timings, and produce sponsor pitches in order to streamline marketing operations. Captivate also allows users to embed podcast players on their company’s website and customize the widget to meet their needs.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://www.captivate.fm/features
7.
Castos is a podcast hosting platform that makes use of WordPress’s comprehensive plugins, which allows content creators to monitor their podcasts easily. The platform is accessible to both tech-savvy nerds and computer newbies. Castos centralizes website and podcast management by allowing users to control everything from their WordPress website. Castos’ key features include the ability to create an unlimited number of podcasts with unique RSS feeds, to use the podcast editing services, and to upload an unlimited number of episodes. It enables limitless downloads, automatic episode transcription, in-depth analytics, and no changes to media files or bitrates.
Pricing: Paid
Pricing page: https://castos.com/pricing/
Wrap Up
When beginning a podcast, selecting the right podcast hosting software is essential. The top podcast hosting services will help you get your podcast on iTunes and Spotify, store your files, promote your show, and grow your brand awareness.