Podcasts are a popular source of entertainment for many all over the world. And they seem to be continuing to grow in popularity. Most podcast subscribers subscribe to and download podcasts from websites.
So if you’re involved in the podcasts business, you definitely need a good website. And a website can be made convenient to your subscribers only if you use the best podcast hosting platforms.
Why can’t you just use an ordinary website hosting for podcast websites? Well, this is because podcast audio files can be pretty long and heavy. So storing those files on a non-podcast-specific web hosting platform would cause issues for the users who want to download them.
As the files are large, a large number of people downloading them simultaneously would result in a slow website or even crashing of the website altogether. This isn’t a very favorable situation when you’re trying to grow your subscribers and want to make profits out of podcasting.
So you’re going to need the best podcast hosting platforms to have you covered. Check out our picks for the best podcast hosting platforms.
1. BuzzSprout
BuzzSprout was explicitly programmed for podcast hosting. The objective here was to create a platform where podcast artists could easily upload their media files and market them. BuzzSprout came into being in 2009, and since then, they’ve been a long-standing favorite among podcast artists.
Ease-of-Use
BuzzSprout is heaven for people with little or no website development experience. This podcast hosting is straightforward to use! You can make your very own podcast website using BuzzSprout with the help of the free WordPress plugin. All you need to do is upload your media file, and BuzzSprout will do the rest for you.
Embed Podcasts
With BuzzSprout, you’ll have the convenience of embedding a podcast directly on your website. You can even embed an entire playlist.
Analytics Dashboard
To help you keep check on your progress, BuzzSprout gives you the feature of the analytics dashboard. This simple dashboard will tell you all there is to know about your websites’ progress, e.g., which podcast was most listened to or where your audience is from. The analytics dashboard is probably the most helpful feature offered by BuzzSprout.
Uploading And Scheduling
Uploading is super easy with BuzzSprout as your host. You can very easily upload the file to all directories. Nothing will be a hassle. And you can add markers to your episodes that will give listeners an overview of the podcast’s content!
Audio Quality
BuzzSprout does not compromise on audio quality at all. As great as the other features are, you even get fantastic crystal clear sound quality. If it still doesn’t satisfy you, you can get a higher tier package for 128k stereo optimization.
Pricing
You can try BuzzSprout for free for three months. And the paid plans start at $12 a month for uploads worth 3 hours.
2. PodBean
PodBean has made a reputation of reliability, variety, and resourcefulness. It is indeed one of the best podcast hosts with the number of great features it offers.
Ease Of Use
PodBean is one of the most user-friendly podcast hosting platforms where you can just upload the podcast and let PodBean handle the rest for you. Since they’ve been in the hosting podcast industry for a decade, they’ve developed a platform that gives even beginners an easy podcast development source.
Marketing Opportunities
With PodBean, you will be able to develop a larger audience through their advertising marketplace. This marketplace allows podcast artists to promote their content and earn money through them.
Website Designing
You can create a vibrant website to showcase your podcasts with many customizable themes and templates. Choose a template according to your liking and build a fantastic website full of life.
Storage
If you’re on Podbean’s free plan, you get 5 hours’ worth of storage. On the other hand, the paid plan offers you unlimited storage! To upload and embed all the podcasts you want.
Automatic Uploads
PodBean gives you the facility of automatic podcast uploading to youtube. And if you enable it, the podcasts on your website will be uploaded to your linked social media accounts like Instagram, Facebook, etc.
Dynamic Ad Insertion and Mobile Application
As a user of Podbean, we’re happy to tell you that PodBean gives you dynamic Ad Insertion. Apart from this, PodBean also has its own mobile application! The features are unlimited!
Pricing
For a website so loaded with features, the price starts at only $9 a month! This isn’t much given that PodBean gives you unlimited features. Apart from that, there is also a free plan that offers 5 hours of storage. All the paid plans give you unlimited storage but the higher-tier plans like the Unlimited Audio plan ($9/month), the Unlimited Plus ($29/month), and the Business plan ($99/month) have so much more to offer!
All in all, PodBean is excellent value for money.
3. Transistor
Next on the list of best podcast hosting platforms is TransistorTransistor: a valuable and powerful podcast hosting platform with many fantastic features to help kick-start your podcasting journey.
Ease Of Use
The TransistorTransistor is a very powerful podcast hosting powerful with multiple features. Both professionals and beginners use it. However, that does not mean that TransistorTransistor is not easy to use. In fact, TransistorTransistor is one of the most user-friendly platforms you can get.
Uploading and publishing your podcasts has never been easier. With the simple User interface and clear-cut options and menu, TransistorTransistor really has made podcast uploading a piece of cake.
If you don’t have a website yet, TransistorTransistor will take that into its hands as well! You’ll have a customized branded website with your chosen name on it in no time!
Analytics Tools
Transistor really does take the cake with its advanced analytics dashboard that tells you statistics like the most downloaded podcast, downloads overtime, etc. The analytics provided by TransistorTransistor is very accurate and will help you tell how well your podcasts are performing.
These advanced analytical reports will tell you all there is to know. You can use this information to see which kinds of podcasts are performing well and which aren’t and then improve the quality accordingly. This information can also be quite helpful in developing marketing strategies for your podcasts.
Distribution of PodCasts
With podcast hosting as powerful as TransistorTransistor, you can efficiently distribute podcasts to your social media accounts or other channels where you’d like them posted.
Multiple Users
If you’re working as a team, TransistorTransistor will make the process easier for you by allowing multiple users to use the same account.
Unlimited Shows
You can have an unlimited number of playlists or shows you can have with TransistorTransistor! So Host unlimited shows and give the audience a great time.
Pricing
Transistor has plans starting at $19 a month. With all the features and facilities it has to offer, this price is undoubtedly worth the money!
If you’re looking for a free plan, then don’t look here as TransistorTransistor doesn’t offer one. But you can get a 14 days free trial. The other plans like Professional Plan and Business plan are pricy, but they offer you more downloads per month and more team members.
4. Castos
Castos is a podcasting hosting platform that is sure to make your life so much easier. If you haven’t heard of Castos, well, the media host behind ‘Seriously simple podcasting’ is Castos. SSP is a popular WordPress plugin by which you will be able to incorporate Castos hosting in your own webpage.
Ease Of Use
After installing the WordPress plugin, you’ll be able to upload podcast episodes directly from your website. There is no need to access your web hosting. You can now easily upload all the audio files you like within minutes and add any files and transcriptions within minutes!
Monetize Your PodCasts
Castos provides Premium Podcasting as a way to commercialize your podcast through subscriptions. They offer automated English transcriptions of podcasts.
Uploading to Youtube
Castos has the ability to upload your podcast to YouTube. There is unlimited storage available, and there are no additional fees.
Analytics
Castos displays all of the stats you might possibly like at this price point. They have more comprehensive download statistics than are generally available at this low price. Castos will give you analytics related to:
- Geographical details (e.g., which countries are the listeners from)
- Analyses from Spotify.
- Listens for various software types, applications, operating systems, and/or browsers.
Most podcast hosts would charge you extra for this level of analytical information. However, Castos gives this to you at an optimum price.
Other Options
- Seriously Easy Podcasting, a WordPress plugin by Castos, helps podcast producers drive traffic to their website’s built-in player. This is an excellent feature for those who want to manage everything from their WordPress dashboard and still have their podcast hosted by a dedicated media host.
- The playlist is minimalist in design. However, you have the option to change colors. This plugin includes free add-on modules that allow podcasters to embed data such as transcripts or guest information.
- Apart from all this, Castos provides free unlimited storage, monetized individual RSS feeds, and automated transcription. They don’t alter the files’ bitrate. This makes it perfect for a sound design that has many layers.
Pricing
Castos has plans starting from $19 per month. While this may sound a tad bit pricy to you, remember that you’re getting unlimited storage and the best analytics you could hope for!
5. Captivate
Last but not least, we have another one of the best podcast hosting platforms called Captivate. As the name suggests, Captivate is bound to capture your heart with the multitude of features and services that it has to offer. Let’s take a look!
Growing audience
Captivate’s main sell is that they drive traffic to your website and help you grow your audience. Their focus is to get more people to listen to your podcasts and subscribe. They do this using their podcast marketing tools. These tools will let you create links to places like Pocket Casts. These links allow new people to find your podcast and hence get new subscribers.
Analytics
Captivate will also give you great analytics to help you keep track of how well your podcasts are doing. The Interactive Advertising Bureau plays a crucial role in this. Captivate works in close collaboration with the IAB to provide more detailed and interactive analytics to track performance.
These analytics help you know how many downloads took place or where the downloaders were from. Captivate will not disappoint you in this regard.
Their analytics software constantly undergoes updates so they can keep up with other podcast hosting platforms and give you the insights that you need to grow your podcast’s business.
Resources
Each and every one of the plans will give you access to an unlimited number of podcasts! Also, you can employ as many team members as you like. Unlimited numbers and unlimited teammates sure do make a great package. Apart from that, you get access to the new podcast player and marketing tools even on the cheapest plan!
Growth Features
Captivate provides you with a few growth features like the built-in calls to action feature and automatic podcast website feature.
Website
Even the most basic plan comes with a website that you can tailor according to your preferences. The podcast website is mobile-friendly and has donation support.
Pricing
Pricing at Captivate starts at $19 a month. This amount is a fair one to pay for such advanced features. They all give an unlimited number of podcasts, but the price difference is in terms of the number of downloads. Higher-tier plans offer a larger number of downloads.
So if you’re looking for reliable podcast hosting platforms to help you promote your podcasts and give users a platform for downloading, then all of the five above are great options. They indeed are the best podcast hosting platforms and won’t disappoint in terms of performance!