Get the latest top recommendations for the best podcast-hosting providers, whether you're just starting or you're wanting to upgrade your podcasting tools!
You need good podcast hosting to help you distribute your show, keep it online, and understand your reach. Now, podcast hosting can help you with much more, too!
How podcast-hosting has changed
As the podcasting industry is innovating and there are new ways to engage, grow, and monetize, podcast-hosting providers have to keep up!
Years ago, all we needed from a podcast-hosting provider was storage, bandwidth, stats, and maybe their RSS feed (because you might want to generate it separately). And if your show was big enough, you might have a chance at getting a sponsor through your hosting provider.
But today, podcast hosting includes innovative new features, like dynamic content insertion; automatic processing for audio, images, and video; content-creation assistance; marketing tools; engagement outlets; and even built-in ways to monetize your podcast directly from your audience.
This is why I've taken some time to reconsider my recommendations.
And as you'll quickly notice, there is no single best podcast-hosting provider because it really depends on your needs. Thus, I hope the following help you make the choice that's right for your podcast.
(As an affiliate for many providers, I earn from qualifying purchases through most of these following links. But I recommend things I truly believe in, regardless of earnings.)
Best all-inclusive podcast hosting (also for multiple shows): Captivate
I call Captivate the “Apple of podcast hosting” because their design and features are truly innovative. They show your stats in ways that are easy to understand, they offer beautifully designed sites, and they even sync with WordPress!
- Reliable, IAB-certified stats
- Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
- One price for unlimited shows and unlimited uploads
- Pricing based on total downloads per month
- Free migration
- Highly responsive support
- Branding-optional, embeddable, responsive player
- Podcasting 2.0 features
- Automatically sync with your WordPress site
- 7-day free trial
Captivate's podcast hosting has been revolutionary! They offer the most extensive range of features—not merely the typical media-hosting and analytics features, but even features to help you manage your content and monetization!
Their dynamic content insertion tool, AMIE, is—in my opinion—the best in the industry! Yes, you can use it for inserting ads, but you can do so much more with it, like using it for any kind of content! Plus, AMIE makes it quick and easy to prepare old episodes for dynamic content, or even replace old ads like painting over them!
You can also monetize your podcast directly from your audience through Captivate's membership system, donations, exclusive content, and more!
And if you have multiple shows, Captivate lets you run your whole podcast network with a single subscription, and the cheapest plan already supports up to 3 shows at no extra cost.
Pricing is primarily based on the size of your audience, either for downloading or the membership subscriptions.
On top of this, Captivate has the best Podcasting 2.0 support in the industry right now!
There's so much more I could say about Captivate, but I don't want this whole episode/article to be about one provider!
Captivate is my top recommendation for most podcasters!
I had the honor and pleasure of serving on Captivate's advisory board until Captivate was acquired. I don't recommend Captivate because I was an advisor, I accepted that role because I liked what Captivate was doing! I had even previously called Captivate the “Apple of podcast hosting” because of their attention to detail and innovative developments.
Honorable mention goes Transistor, who offer many of the same features as Captivate but actually allow unlimited podcasts on every plan. However, Transistor reserve some features for higher plans.
Best WordPress-based podcast hosting: Blubrry
If you're running a WordPress website, Blubrry's hosting integrates seamlessly with PowerPress—the #1 podcasting plugin for WordPress.
- Industry-standard stats
- Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
- Monthly upload limit, no download limit
- Flexible upload limit
- Free migration
- Phone and email support
- Unbranded, embeddable, responsive player
- Automatic ID3 tagging
- Manage everything from your WordPress site
- First month free with promo code “NOODLE”
While all my other podcast-hosting recommendations require using their publishing platform to manage your podcast RSS feed, Blubrry is my top recommendation if you want to manage your own publishing platform with WordPress.
WordPress lets you do almost anything with your website! Consider TheAudacitytoPodcast.com. Here, I publish articles, sometimes with interactive charts; I sell video courses, a WordPress plugin (with auto-updates), and even ID3 Editor licenses; I created multiple recommendation pages; I have countless redirects and automatic links; and I designed the site to look exactly how I wanted. All this extra functionality is powered WordPress's extensibility with plugins and themes.
Blubrry's podcast hosting connects seamlessly to all of this through their free PowerPress plugin, which I've used since I think 2007. While Blubrry supports the community so much that they've provided this plugin for free for many years, the best way to use it is pairing it with Blubrry's podcast hosting. Then, instead of going to another website to manage your podcast and possibly having to copy and paste a lot of stuff to your WordPress site, Blubrry integrates it all right in your normal WordPress workflow!
Simply create a post like you normally would in WordPress, and then upload your podcast episode and enter your episode information directly within the same post editor!
Blubrry is also leading the charge on including Podcasting 2.0 features—even some of the experimental ones!
And if you want to get on the bleeding edge of experimentation, you can even extend features of PowerPress yourself with the right tools!
Blubrry's top goal is to help you build your own platform, a platform that you own and fully control. No one else integrates as well with WordPress as Blubrry does!
Plus, PowerPress has become such a standard for podcasting with WordPress that many podcast-ready themes (like my favorites from SecondLine Themes) have built-in support to enhance the podcast players for your website audience!
If you use my link to try Blubrry, make sure you enter my promo code “NOODLE” to get a free month!
Best easy/simple podcast hosting without compromises: Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout is the easiest-to-use podcast-hosting provider but without compromising features!
- Reliable, IAB-certified stats
- Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
- Pricing based on hours of audio per month
- Free migration
- Highly responsive support
- Branding-optional, embeddable, responsive player
- Podcasting 2.0 features
- Sell premium subscriptions and exclusive content to your audience
- Magic Mastering (upgrade) for automatic audio enhancement
- Cohost AI (upgrade) for AI-powered help with titles, notes, and more
So far, my recommendations have been feature-rich and all about giving you total power over every aspect of your podcast.
But with great power comes great anxiety!
Thus, I present the oasis of podcast hosting: Buzzsprout!
Buzzsprout has always been one of the easiest-to-use podcasting platforms. But don't let the whitespace and simple looks fool you! Buzzsprout has jumped into my top recommendations because they also provide impressive extra features to help you podcast better, but still without compromising their simplicity!
They offer three impressive features on top of their already great podcast hosting features:
- Magic Mastering: Automatically process your podcast audio for clarity and ideal loudness!
- Automatic dynamic content: Their AI will find the ideal places to place ads within your content, and even offer ways to grow your own podcast or grow your wallet through these opportunities!
- Cohost AI: Get AI-powered suggestions on titles, notes, chapters, and more, right from your podcast-publishing workflow!
It is important to note that some of these features come at upgraded costs. But they can be worth it in the time and brain cells they save you!
Buzzsprout supports Podcasting 2.0, too!
Best “free” podcast hosting: RedCircle
I get it. Maybe podcasting is so much your hobby that you can't even afford the relatively low monthly fees for podcast hosting. While I still want to remind you that you will get what you pay for, RedCircle is the only free podcast-hosting provider I recommend.
Their feature offerings aren't as advanced as my previous recommendations, but RedCircle's dynamic-content insertion tools are quite nice, giving you opportunities to pay for your hosting with ads (and earn some money yourself, too).
While I still suggest that you invest in your podcast hosting, if you absolutely need something “free,” RedCircle is the way to go!
Dishonorable mention: Spotify for Podcasters (formerly “Anchor”). Do not use them! Spotify's actions make it seem like they hate the podcast industry because they keep arrogantly ignoring innovations, develop only proprietary features, and are more interested in having you build their platform than providing ways for you to build yours. Because of this and more, I think the true cost of Spotify for Podcasters is too high.
Honorable mention goes to Buzzsprout, but their free plan is limited to only your latest few episodes.
Best video podcast hosting: Libsyn
Regardless of where you host your website (or the CMS you use), Libsyn provides a stable RSS feed with your media, in addition to automatic crossposting to other platforms.
- Industry-standard stats
- Distributed media hosting for fast downloads
- Monthly upload limit, no download limit
- Flat-rate $25 migration fee for up to 10 GB
- Email support
- Libsyn-branded, embeddable, responsive player
- Crosspost to Spotify, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, and more
- Standalone app option for iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, and Amazon Kindle Fire
- Automatic ID3 tagging
- Current and next month free with promo code “NOODLE”
Video podcasting is not nearly as popular as it was in the couple of years before YouTube stole the show. And don't believe the misinformation (maybe even “disinformation”) from corrupted surveys claiming that video podcasting is back or that most audiences prefer video podcasts. All those surveys I've seen are using invalid questions, allow invalid answers, and draw or have led to radically invalid conclusions.
All that said, if you do want a true video podcast, I recommend Libsyn.
Libsyn is the original podcast-hosting provider. And while they haven't innovated nearly as much as I wish (at least at this time), they still offer the best bandwidth bang for your buck, which is crucial for a video podcast!
But it's not only about value, I recommend Libsyn for video podcasting primarily because of this huge feature: integration with YouTube.
Because YouTube is where most people go for independent video content, I suggest everyone who makes a video show to also publish on YouTube! And if you want that exact same show to be both on YouTube and as a real podcast, Libsyn is the way to go!
Libsyn allows you to publish only once and then they will automatically upload your video to YouTube.
On top of that, I believe Libsyn is still the only provider to also bring your video stats back from YouTube and display them with your normal podcast download stats! So none of this checking your stats in two places or publishing your video in two places stuff! Libsyn makes it easy to do both in one place!
Use my promo code “NOODLE” to try Libsyn free for the rest of this month plus all of next month! (That's actually how my promo code always works, because Libsyn always bills at midnight GMT on the first day of the month.)
The best podcast hosting is the one that meets your needs
You can probably tell I rarely recommend a single option and that's because, in many areas, I think there is no single “best” that does everything for everyone. Like most things, my goal is to provide you with the information to make the right choice for yourself.
Engage your audience and grow your podcast!
Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?
Try Podgagement to help you engage your audience and grow your podcast!
Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), track your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, and more!
Ask your questions or share your feedback
- Comment on the show notes
- Leave a voicemail at (903) 231-2221
- Email feedback@TheAudacitytoPodcast.com (audio files welcome)
Follow The Audacity to Podcast
- Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
- Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
- Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter
Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
Related Content
