Looking to get started with podcasting?
Podcasts are becoming an increasingly popular way to create and share content. You can cover far more content in an extended podcast than in short video clips shared to TikTok or Instagram Reels. In 2022, 62% of Americans age 12 and up reported having listened to at least one podcast during the year. With podcasting on the rise, the platform you choose to host your podcast matters. Let’s dive into the five of the best podcasting platforms out there so that you can choose the one that best suits your needs as a creator.
1. Captivate: Best for Beginners
Captivate is one of the most popular options for beginner podcasters. The user interface is designed to be sleek and easy to use. Captivate allows users to share their podcasts across all major platforms and features built-in tools to help with marketing. Captivate allows podcasters to monetize private podcasts, meaning creators can start earning money from them. Captivate is an excellent option for new podcasters because of the many integrated features and easy-to-use interface.
One important highlight of this platform is its Captivate Growth Labs, which is included in its plans. This program helps track analytics, listener demographics, and more. Captivate Growth Labs makes it easy for new podcasters to build their followers, which is perfect for those starting a podcast without an existing audience. Captivate also allows you to add multiple team members and assign them individual roles, making collaborating with a team much easier.
Currently, Captivate offers three plans to podcasters. Their first plan, Personal, will set you back $19 monthly. Depending on your needs, you can upgrade to their Professional or Business plan for $49 and $99, respectively. Each plan offers unlimited storage and access to Captivate Growth Labs. Captivate does not offer any free plans, but they let new members have a 7-day trial of any paid plans.
2. PodBean: Best Budget Option
PodBean is one of the industry staples in podcasting, serving podcasters worldwide for over ten years. Despite their experience, they remain one of the most affordable platforms for podcasting. Unlike other podcasting services, Podbean allows creators to offer exclusive paid access to bonus content aside from the regular podcast.
PodBean provides its users with plenty of analytics data, offering daily download information, listener demographics, top episodes, and more. The platform also offers native advertising services, making promoting your podcast easier. Perhaps one of the more unique features of PodBean is the ability to live stream to your audience, even allowing podcasters to have call-in guests during live streams. Overall, the platform has plenty of solid features, making it an excellent choice for podcasters of all experience levels.
For podcasters on a budget, PodBean’s plans are some of the most affordable on the market. They offer a completely free plan, but it doesn’t allow for multiple users, monetization, or video podcasts. If you want these features, you must opt for a paid plan. The plans are tiered by the available bandwidth, with the cheapest plan starting at $9 per month. Their most expensive plan, Network, is $79 monthly. However, the Unlimited Audio plan is a solid option, and for less than $10 per month, it’s a very economical choice loaded with features.
3. RSS.com: Best User Interface
When it comes to a seamless interface and ease of use, RSS.com is hard to beat. This podcasting platform is renowned for the incredibly smooth experience they offer to its users. One of this platform’s most impressive and unique features is the optional Donation button. All podcasters can enable or disable this feature, which allows listeners to contribute via donations in any amount. This is not a common feature across podcasting platforms, but it’s one that many users enjoy.
Aside from its incredible UI, RSS.com provides plenty of attractive features to its clients. The demographics and analytics are comprehensive and can be accessed at any time. This platform also offers podcasters their podcasting website, an embeddable player, marketing tools, and episode schedules at no additional cost. Because RSS.com is optimized to be user-friendly, making the most of the included extras is a breeze.
In terms of pricing, RSS.com offers three plans. Their most popular plan, the All in One Podcasting plan, is ideal for most creators and costs $12.99 monthly. However, if you are a currently enrolled student or part of any non-government organization, you can access the same features for only $4.99 monthly, pending your approval. You may be eligible for their exclusive Network plan for more experienced podcasters or those with a large audience. This plan is only available to podcasters with over 10,000 daily downloads, and it can only be purchased by contacting RSS.com directly.
4. Audioboom: Best for Monetization
Audioboom might be your best option if you want to make money by podcasting. Most podcasting platforms do not allow creators to monetize their content without a large following. Audioboom is different, allowing creators to monetize all content once they reach 10,000 monthly downloads. This is a much lower threshold than most other podcasting services, making it ideal for newer creators to break into monetized podcasting.
The features Audioboom offers are fairly standard. All users can upload an unlimited number of episodes each month. Their analytics dashboard is IAB compliant, meaning Audioboom adheres to the industry standards of digital advertisement. Podcasts can easily be shared across social media and distributed to all major networks. Not only does Audioboom offer monetization after 10,000 monthly downloads, but they also allow users that have reached this milestone to access their global advertising marketplace. This makes it incredibly easy to find sponsors for advertisements and paid content.
There are two available plans for Audioboom users. The first plan, Standard, is $9.99 per month and allows up to 15,000 downloads monthly, enough to meet their monetization requirement. The premium plan, Plus, is $19.99 per month and can accommodate up to 50,000 monthly downloads. If your needs exceed what the Plus plan can provide, Audioboom will work with creators to provide a customized plan upon request.
5. Resonate: Best All-in-One Platform
If managing multiple sites and software packages isn’t your speed, Resonate might be your new best friend. This platform markets itself as a “one-stop shop” in premier podcasting. While their premium plan is a bit more expensive than other hosting platforms, it comes with all the bells and whistles you need to be a successful podcast creator. Resonate’s services are unmatched, with integrated assistance in producing, producing, launching, marketing, and enterprising.
With Resonate, podcasters can create a fully customizable website to accompany their podcast. Apart from that, their customer support is incredibly well-versed in helping podcasters of any experience level reach their goals. The advertising assistance available for monetized podcasts makes for a seamless user experience. Couple this with the amazing add-on services available to creators, and Resonate becomes a force to be reckoned with in the podcasting industry.
Unfortunately, to use all the special features that set Resonate apart, you’ll need to spring for their Premium plan, which is priced at $49 per month. However, they also offer a Basic plan for $25 monthly, but you won’t be able to use all the additional services. There is also a Professional plan, which can be purchased by speaking with their customer service team.
Are you ready to start podcasting?
If so, these five podcasting platforms are a great place to start. There are plenty of perks to starting your own podcast, given how much podcasts have increased in popularity in just the past year alone. Whether your goal is to grow your following, provide bonus content, educate, or share your ideas, podcasting can provide an incredible outlet for creators’ voices to be heard. If you already run a blog or a popular social media account, podcasting can be a great way to repurpose your content and maximize its impact.
