Podcasts – Everywhere you look, new podcast shows are sprouting up. Almost every company, every newspaper, every public figure is now releasing podcasts. However, the amount of work involved in the whole thing is easily lost. For example, there’s the matter of finding the right podcast hosting provider. If one wants to publish a podcast, these platforms are particularly helpful. But which platform is particularly suitable for which type of podcast? What are the features and how does the price-performance ratio look like? We have researched and compared the top 5 podcast hosting providers.
The top 5 podcast hosting providers
- PodBean
- Captivate
- Buzzsprout
- Transistor
- Blubrry
PodBean
Podcast Hosting Provider Especially Suitable For
The podcast hosting platform PodBean is actually suitable for everyone, as the usability rate is credited tremendously high, due to the ease of use of the platform.
Features
- Hosting (With PodBean you can easily host your own podcast on your own podcast site. In addition, the hosting site can be customized to meet your own visual needs).
- Monetize (PodBean offers the option to declare selected podcast episodes as premium content in order to monetize them. Additionally, the user is offered to connect the own PodBean account with the own patron page (if available)).
- Promote (PodBean offers interfaces to all known podcast streaming platforms. All platforms on which the podcast will be published can be individually selected by the user).
- Analytics (In addition to the other features, PodBean has its own Analytics page that keeps track of the podcast’s individual stats, facts and figures. This way, it’s always possible to keep track of how the podcast is being received by listeners and what topics interest recipients the most.
PodBean Pro’s & Con’s
- Pros: It is very easy to promote your own podcast via PodBean and there is an interface to all podcast streaming platforms. In addition, the user interface is particularly easy to use.
- Con’s: The main complaint is that the podcast website cannot be designed and personalized individually enough.
PodBean Prices
- Basic (free of charge, max. 5h audio material)
- Unlimited Pro (9 $/month, unlimited time, no video podcast)
- Unlimited Plus ($29/month, unlimited time, video podcast)
- Business ($99/month, unlimited time, video podcasts)
Captivate
Podcast Hosting Provider Especially Suitable for
The podcast hosting provider Captivate is especially suitable for small businesses that want to publish podcasts. Why? Well, Captivate offers an incredible amount of features that make marketing the podcast a lot easier. Moreover, all bundles have the same feature set.
Features
- Hosting (This platform offers easy design of your own podcast site and offers unlimited episodes that can be uploaded).
- Player (Captivate’s player can be embedded on any website and can generate actual leads using built-in call-to-action buttons).
- Collaborations (Especially for teams that want to work together on podcast episodes, Captivate is a useful provider. An unlimited number of team members can be given access to the platform to collaborate on content).
- Analytics (As with all analytics features, this can be used to see exactly what is and isn’t doing well with listeners).
Captivate Pro’s & Con’s
- Pro’s: Captivate offers its users an unlimited number of podcast episodes that can be published and is especially user-friendly for teams. The platform’s marketing capabilities also offer another advantage.
- Con’s: Compared to the other providers, the analytics features of this platform are rather sporadic.
Captivate Prices
- Podcaster (17 €/month, 12,000 downloads/month)
- Audio Influencer (44 €/month, 60,000 downloads/month)
- Podcast Brand (90 €/month, 150.000 downloads/month)
Buzzsprout
Podcast Hosting Provider Especially Suitable For
Buzzsprout is especially suitable for those podcasters who are new to the industry and still have some experience to gain. This is mainly because this platform compares better than its predecessors, especially in terms of price. It also makes the whole working process easier and offers automated publishing to various podcast streaming platforms.
Features
- Player (Buzzsprout offers the option to embed podcast episodes on your own podcast page).
- Optimization (The optimization of the audio files is not unimportant. After all, the quality of the audio is half the battle when it comes to podcasting. In addition, Buzzsprout adds descriptions to all audio files to facilitate click-through rate growth).
- Transcription (Transcription could almost be considered the cherry on top of this hosting provider’s features. With this built-in feature, audio files can be transcribed and published on one’s website. This also facilitates the necessary SEO work so that the podcast can be located as easily as possible by listeners).
- Analytics (As with other podcast hosting providers, the Analytics statistics page can be used to see which topics are doing particularly well with listeners, where and when episodes are played most frequently, and where they are downloaded).
Buzzsprout Pro’s & Con’s
- Pros: The user-friendliness of this platform is particularly high. In addition, there are countless features available and the prices are quite a bit cheaper compared to other podcast hosting providers.
- Con’s: One of the most relevant cons is that no video podcasts are published through this platform and the podcast page can only be personalized sporadically.
Buzzsprout Prices
- Free (Free, 2hrs/month, 90 days hosting).
- Pro (12 $/month, 3h/month, each additional hour 4$)
- Premium (18 $/month, 6h/month, each additional hour 3$)
- Premium Plus (24 $/month, 12h/month, each additional hour 2$)
transistor.fm
Podcast Hosting Provider Especially Suitable for
The hosting provider transistor.fm is a suitable hosting platform especially for podcasters with multiple podcast shows. Moreover, transistor.fm gears its services especially towards those who want to increase their listenership….
Features
- Collaborations (If teams want to collaborate on podcast episodes, transistor.fm is a good fit. Team members can be added easily and if needed the team size can be regulated on transistor.fm. This way, all team members can work on the content together).
- Player (transistor.fm has its own podcast player, which is simple and minimalistic. It can easily be embedded on your own website).
- Analytics (Of course, transistor.fm also has an analytics function. As with all analytics features, it can be explained what is well received by listeners and what is not).
transistor.fm Pro’s & Con’s
- Pro’s: transistor.fm’s analytics are particularly sophisticated and provide an exceptionally good basis for explaining the reception of the podcast. In addition, transistor.fm’s podcast player is easy to use, and integrating major podcast platforms takes just a few steps.
- Con’s: Unlike many other podcast hosting providers, transistor.fm does not offer a free monthly plan. Accordingly, after a 14-day trial, the monthly venture with transistor.fm is comparatively costly.
transistor.fm Prices
- Starter (14-day trial, $19/month, 2 logins, 15,000 downloads/month)
- Professional (14-day trial, $49/month, 5 logins, 75,000 downloads/month)
- Business (14-day trial, $99/month, 10 logins, 200,000 downloads/month)
Blubrry
Podcast Hosting Provider Especially Suitable For
Blubrry is especially suitable for podcasters who want to be offered a wide range of advanced features. Also, this podcast hosting provider is especially suitable for those who run their website on wordpress.
features
- WordPress (High WordPress podcast compatibility makes up a large part of Blubrry’s features. Numerous, diverse powerpress plugins are provided).
- Hosting (Blubrry also offers, like most hosting platforms, the ability to publish the podcast episodes to all relevant podcast streaming providers.
- Analytics (Blubrry’s analytics feature is on par with the other platforms. The stats are professional and clearly laid out, and provide a good basis for figuring out listener interests).
Blubrry Pro’s & Con’s
- Pro’s: Blubrry’s customer service in particular is said to have excellent service. In addition, every user has unlimited show bandwidth and that in all booked packages. Last but not least, the Powerpress plugin is also another advantage of the podcast hosting provider.
- Con’s: In the price comparison, however, Blubrry does not perform quite as well, as it is comparatively more expensive than the other providers. Moreover, for users who are not familiar enough with WordPress, the usage may look a bit complicated. The monthly storage space is also extremely limited with this provider.
Blubrry Prices
- Small (12 $/month, 100 MB/month)
- Medium (20 $/month, 250 MB/month)
- Large (40 $/month, 500 MB/month)
- Extra large ($80/month, 1000 MB/month)
- Pro hosting (from 100 $/month, unlimited storage space/month)
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