Best Podcast Hosting Platforms: 2023 Guide

What Is Podcast Hosting?

Podcast hosting sites provide a place for you to upload podcast content so your audience can listen, share, and subscribe. A podcast host will keep your media files safe and online so you don’t need to worry about spending the time, money, and other resources to store them online yourself.

Why Do I Need a Podcast Hosting Site?

Podcast hosting platforms provide you with an RSS feed, which is a link that you need to share your podcast across platforms and directories, like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, for example.

As they’re specially designed to host your podcasts, they avoid the storage space, upload, and playback speed issues that you’d have if you hosted the show on your own website. Unless the podcasting hosting platform’s pricing model is based on storage size, there’s no need to make your files smaller and lose the high-quality audio you’ve spent your precious time recording with software like Riverside!

Features You Should Look For in a Podcast Hosting Site

You can find many great podcast hosting services available online, but you'll want to make sure the host has features that match up with the unique needs of your show. Not to mention, you don’t want to overpay for options you're not going to use! When looking for a platform to host podcast episodes for your show, consider these important features: 

• Storage: This determines how much content you’ll be able to upload to your hosting service.  If you post consistently and have longer episodes, you’ll need a platform with more storage.
• Bandwidth: This affects how many people can listen to your podcast at the same time. If you’ve got a larger audience you’ll need more bandwidth. 
• Podcast analytics: Your listener and download podcast analytics are useful in assessing your podcasts’ success and deciding what is working and what needs to be adjusted. 
• Easy to use: You’ll want a podcasting platform that’s simple and doesn’t leave you stuck not knowing what to do.
• Distribution: Most podcast hosts let you distribute your podcast to various podcast directories. Make sure all the important directories are included and make sure the process isn’t complicated.

For a full in-depth guide, read our blog on What Should You Consider When Choosing a Podcast Hosting Platform?

& checkout our Guide to Podcasting Software

11 Best Free & Paid Podcast Hosting Sites for 2023

Ready to see the top hosting platforms? Watch this video and read on for the 11 best free and paid podcast hosting sites.

1. Buzzsprout 

Best for: Beginners & Hobbyists

Launched in 2009, Buzzspout is easy to use and reasonably priced with a free plan, so it’s great for beginner podcasters and hobbyists. It has a wide range of features available for an extra fee. 

Features:

• Host your customized site with a custom domain name on Buzzsprout, or use their player plugin for your WordPress site.
• Automatic upload to podcast directories.
• Transcription services (additional charge)
• Magic Mastering (additional charge): a podcast editing feature that helps your audio files meet Apple Podcasts’ best practices. It also reduces background noise and equalizes microphone levels, like Riverside’s Editor does for free.
• Episode optimization: Buzzsprout converts file types, bitrates, ID3 tags, etc automatically.
• Dynamic content: add extra pre-roll and post-roll content to any episode.
• Publish podcasts immediately or schedule for later.
• Advanced analytics.
• Monetization with affiliate marketplace. 

Pricing: Free plans and paid plans starting from $12 per month.

While Buzzsprout has reasonably priced tiers based on hours of audio content uploaded, there are upload limits on all levels and prices aren’t all-inclusive: add-ons like Magic Mastering and additional uploads are charged as extra. They offer a free plan with ads and limited episode hosting time.

Pros

• Very easy to use: just upload your podcast file and they do the rest for you.
• Offer lots of features with the potential to grow and make money off your podcast.
• Month by month contracts - no commitment.
• Advanced podcast listener statistics are available at all price tiers.

Cons

• Even paid plans have storage and bandwidth limits.
• Pricing plans are not all-inclusive, there are lots of add-ons so hard to estimate true cost.

‍Read more: Everything You Need to Know About Buzzsprout Podcast Hosting 

2. Podbean

Best for: People looking for an all-round podcast service.

With over 10 years of experience and host to more than half a million podcasts, Podbean is one of the best overall podcast hosting platforms on the market. 

Features

• Unlimited podcast hosting plans with unlimited bandwidth.
• Host your website with customizable themes or embed the player in your WordPress site.
• Podcast promotion tools: automatically submits your episodes to all top podcast directories and social media.
• Advertising marketplace with opportunities to monetize content: subscriptions, dynamic ad insertion.
• Analytics.
• Own podcast app for iOS and Android.

Pricing: Free plan with paid plans starting at $9/month

Podbean’s free plan is a good option for beginners with limited features and storage; their Unlimited Plus plan is best for video podcasts and those wanting to earn money from their show.

Pros

• Great design tools to create a beautiful custom site on Podbean’s platform.
• Huge range of features suitable for beginner and professional podcasters.
• Easy to use.
• Well-established and reliable podcast hosting platform.

Cons

• Free subscription has very limited features; more popular features are only available at higher price points.
• Some users have commented on Podbean’s customer support being slow.

Read more: Podbean Podcast Hosting: Review and Walkthrough

3. Blubrry 

Best for: Advanced Analytics

Blubrry is best for producers wanting an experienced and customer-focused podcast hosting platform that stands out for its PowerPress plugin and IAB-certified podcast analytics.

Features

• Free WordPress website using PowerPress (#1 plugin for podcasters).
• Optimization for sharing on top directories and social media.
• IAB certified statistics.
• Phone customer support

Pricing: Plans starting at $10 per month

Pricing based on file size. Although, the pro plan also offers advanced statistics among other features. Blubrry has no contract plans so you can cancel at any time. However, there’s no free plan and their standard plan is more expensive than others’ unlimited plans. 

Pros

• Great customer support.
• IAB certified so statistics are compliant.
• Simple interface.

Cons

• Higher price point.
• Limited storage.
• Extra charge for advanced analytics. 

Read more: Blubrry Review & Walkthrough: Podcast Host With the Essentials

4. Fusebox (formerly Smart Podcast Player)

Best for: Podcast websites

Created by podcasters (namely Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income) for podcasters, Fusebox is best for those who simply want a good-looking podcast player embedded in their website. 

Features

• Website embedding with different player options.
• Transcript plugin with SEO-friendly live text that automatically adds podcast transcripts to your website.
• Pushes your podcast to major directories. 

Pricing: Free, or paid plans starting at $15.83 per month

The pricing here is based on monthly views. The free option only includes limited player options for embedding on your website, which is Fusebox’s main strength.

Pros

• Beautifully embedded players in your website with extensive playback features.
• Easy integration with top directories.

 Cons

• No analytics.
• Only the basic player is available on their free plan.

5. Anchor

Best for: Beginners and hobbyists

Considering Anchor is free, it offers a great array of features and tools. The platform is beginner-friendly and has a relatively straightforward user interface to navigate. It’s available on desktops and mobile devices and also offers a remote recording app for creating podcasts on the go. Best of all, though, Anchor has integration with Riverside for a seamless video podcast workflow. Simply record your video podcasts in professional quality on Riverside, then distribute your show to Spotify and other listening directories through Anchor. You can learn more here, or create your podcast to see how it works. 

Features

• Podcast analytics on your listeners and performance
• Monetization tools: Podcast subscriptions and donations, plus ad-read tools
• Anchor Ambassador Ads where you get paired with a Sponsor
• Podcast creation app to record with remote guests
• Basic editing tool for arranging episode segments
• Spotify music integration
• Cover art creation tool
• Riverside integration for a seamless workflow

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Pricing: Free 

As we’ve mentioned above, Anchor is completely free. This is because one of its principle values is to make podcasting as accessible as possible. 

Pros

• Offers a good range of features considering it’s free
• Compatible with video podcasts
• Streamlined podcast creation and distribution
• In-depth statistics and analytics

Cons

• Can only host one podcast per account
• Limited editing and creation tools

6. Sounder.fm

Best for: Discoverability & Growth

Sounder’s is created for podcasters who want one platform to create beautifully designed podcast and episode webpages, host each episode, distribute to major podcasting platforms, and monetize their podcast. Sounder’s main focus is discoverability, reflected in its powerful SEO features. 

Features

• Audio SEO & in-stream audio search.
• Create episode soundbites available for sharing.
• Free episode transcription.
• Podcast & episode webpages.
• Analytics.
• Collaboration with multiple users.
• Monetization opportunities: dynamic ad inserts; they put you in touch with advertisers for host-read ads (saves you spending time researching sponsors).
• Automatic upload to YouTube (not free plan).
• Episode scheduling (not free plan). 

Pricing: Free plan or paid plans starting at $10.39 per month

Its pricing packages are all limited by the number of streams. The higher-costing plans also offer more collaborators and better support among other extra features.

Sounder.fm’s free plan has really great features for beginner podcasters but webpages will have ads. That said, their Plus plan is very affordable and has a 20% discount if you pay annually with lots more features.

Pros

• Powerful SEO features ideal for boosting discoverability.
• Guaranteed customer support.
• Beautifully designed web pages for podcasts and for each episode.
• Scalable: the potential to add unlimited podcasts, have unlimited streams and collaborators.
• Advanced analytics: learn what listeners are searching for and engaging with.

Cons

• Like most other free plans, your podcast website will have ads.

Read more: Sounder.fm Podcast Host: Review & Walkthrough

7. RedCircle

Best for: Monetization

Advertised as a free podcast hosting platform, RedCircle is designed to help you monetize your show (which is how they earn their cut!), with plenty of different features to do so. 

Features

• Unlimited uploads and streaming for free, for everyone.
• Manage multiple podcasts in one dashboard.
• Publish on all major directories.
• Cross-promotion marketplace within the app.
• Dynamic ad insertion with control over ad categories and brands.
• Customizable Patreon-like subscription & donation feature.
• Easy payouts to your bank using Stripe.

Pricing: Free or paid plans starting at $9 per month

A completely different pricing strategy to most other podcast hosting platforms. Hosting storage and streaming are unlimited for all, it’s just when you want to use RedCircle’s monetization and analytics features that you start to pay.

Pros

• No contract or commitment: you pay when you make money, they take a share of the revenue.
• Multiple tools designed to help you monetize your content: ads, subscriptions, cross-promotions.
• Grow your podcast without having to join a podcast network. 

Cons

• Very limited analytics: just downloads, revenue, and ad statistics.

Read more: RedCircle Review & Walkthrough

8. Captivate

Best for: Monetization

One of the newer podcast hosting platforms, UK-based Captivate is best for podcasters looking to make money from their show.

Features

• Advanced but easy-to-understand analytics.
• Built-in CTAs to help direct people anywhere you want.
• Unlimited team members.
• Monetization: private podcasting on every plan.
• Podcast scheduling.
• WordPress integration with their custom plugin.
• Easy-to-generate podcast sponsorship kit PDF.

Pricing: Plans starting at $17 per month

Captivate offers unlimited podcasts and storage but does cap downloads, prices start from around $17 for the personal package. They do a free one-week trial.

Pros 

• Good-looking podcast player and website.
• Most features are included in all plans.
• Useful tools to get sponsors including a sponsorship kit that lets you highlight recent episodes and shows key download numbers.
• Regular feature updates based on user feedback.
• IAB certified statistics.

Cons

• It gets expensive if you don’t want to be restricted to only 12 000 downloads

Read more: Captivate.fm Podcast Host: Review & Walkthrough

9. Transistor

Best for: Professionals and Networks

A newer podcast hosting platform, Transistor is best for podcasters who produce multiple shows and want to host them on the same site. It’s the host of choice for popular podcasts including Cards Against Humanity and Indie Hackers, which is recorded with Riverside. 

Features

• Unlimited podcast hosting on all price plans.
• Advanced analytics.
• Embedding in WordPress or hosting your webpage on their site.
• Manage multiple podcasts.
• Multiple user logins (e.g. producers and editors).

Pricing:  Plans starting at $19

Transistor is pricier than some competitors for its lowest tier and limits downloads, meaning you’ll have to upgrade as your podcast grows. It does offer a 14-day free trial and discounts on annual payments.

Pros

• Intuitive, easy-to-use design.
• Host unlimited podcasts within one plan at any tier.
• Good opportunities for monetization as you can add public and private podcasts.
• Great for collaboration as you can add multiple users.

Cons

• Limited downloads.
• Expensive if you’re not taking advantage of its multiple podcast feature.

Read more: Transistor.fm Podcast Host: Review & Walkthrough

10. Libsyn

Best for: Enterprises & Networks

One of the first podcast hosts on the market, Libsyn has been a long-time go-to for established podcasters and is popular with enterprises and podcast networks. 

Features

• Basic analytics reports.
• Premium content options - at higher subscription levels
• RSS link generation & podcast publishing across all directories and platforms.
• Their own app (advanced plans only).
• Geared towards enterprises.

Pricing: Plans starting at $5

Libsyn’s budget-friendly tiers are priced by storage limits but all have unlimited audiences. However, the lowest price point does not include statistics ($2 extra per month). They’re ideal for podcast networks, with enterprise pricing offering all their professional tools and up to 3000MB storage.

Pros

• Tens of thousands of happy customers.
• Powerful statistics reports (with higher-tier plans).

Cons

• May seem affordable but lower-tier plans have very limited features and storage (50MB = around 50 minutes of audio).

Read more: Libsyn Podcast Host: Review & Walkthrough

11. Simplecast

Best for: Professionals & Networks

Simplecast is ideal for professional podcasters or podcast networks who want the best-looking embedded players and detailed analytics from their hosting platform. 

Features

• Unlimited uploads.
• Advanced analytics.
• Custom website and custom domain even on the lowest tier.
• Multiple users.
• Manage multiple shows with one account.

Pricing

Simplecast has a transparent pricing strategy with unlimited storage on all plans. It offers a two-week free trial and a discount when paid annually.

Pros

• Trusted by large (Slack, Shopify) and small podcasters.
• Tools aimed at growing your podcast.
• Enterprise pricing is available for bigger podcasts.

Cons

• Basic analytics on the lowest subscription package.

‍Read more: Simplecast Podcast Host: Review & Walkthrough 

12. Omny Studio

‍

Best for: Enterprises & Networks

Omny Studio offers podcast hosting for enterprises, which is reflected in its powerful features and high price point. Trusted by world-leading radio stations and podcast networks.

Features

• Unlimited and safely backed-up storage for all episodes.
• Upload multiple episodes at once or import RSS feed.
• Manage multiple shows, collaborators, and permissions.
• Searchable archive.
• Share on your own website, embed on Facebook and Twitter.
• Basic podcast editing tools.
• Built-in ad campaign manager with geographically targeted ads.
• IAB certified analytics.

Pricing: Plans start at $29 per month

Enterprise pricing starts from the equivalent of around $29 per month for their basic package. They do offer a two-week free trial, but Omny Studio is definitely designed for podcast networks or multiple-show producers.

Pros

• Time-saving and efficient for big enterprises with large archives of podcast files: search, batch upload, quick switch between different shows on one central dashboard, etc.
• Flexible ad campaigns for different levels of sponsorship and types of ads.
• Powerful podcast download statistics.

Cons

Expensive: not for the beginner or semi-pro podcasters.

Read more: OmnyStudio Review & Walkthrough: Broadcast Podcast Hosting

Which Is The Best Podcast Hosting Site For You?

Picking the right podcast host can make producing your show a whole lot easier, as well as facilitating growth and monetization. Whether you’re looking for a hosting platform for your hobby podcast, your podcast network, or to optimize your podcast’s discoverability, there’s an option to suit your needs.

Remember, when deciding which is the best podcast hosting site for your podcast, it’s essential to keep the requirements of your show in mind. Have a read of Riverside’s article on what to consider when choosing your podcast hosting platform to compare your priorities to what’s on offer.

FAQs on Best Podcast Hosting Sites & Platforms

What is the best free podcast hosting platform?

If you’re a beginner looking for a free podcast host, some of your best options include:

1. Buzzsprout
2. Podbean
3. Blubrry
4. Fudebox
5. Anchor
6. Sound.fm
7. RedCircle
8. Captivate
9. Transistor
10. Libsyn
11. Simplecast
12. Omny Studio

We go into detail into each of these in our Free Podcast Hosting guide.

How much is a podcast hosting fee?

Your podcast hosting fee all depends on what platform and plan you’re using. Many hosting sites have free plans for beginners to dip their fit in first. Although, if you choose a paid hosting platform, you can expect to pay around $15 to $100 per month, depending on tyour chosen tier

Where can I host podcast episodes?

You can host podcast episodes on a hosting site or your own personal website. We suggest choosing a hosting platform though. Setting up your podcasts on a website is more complex than it seems. Websites can’t handle the ample data storage needed for a podcast show. Podcast hosting platforms specialize in this and also offer additional features. Check our list above to find the perfect podcast hosting site for your show.