Are you hunting for the best podcast hosting services to build your audience online? If your answer is yes, you have landed on the right page!
Picking the best podcast hosting for your podcast is one of the most crucial steps. Podcast hosting is typically different than regular web hosting as it offers podcast-specific features and tools for enhancing the subscriber experience. Podcast hosting provides specific tools to store and deliver your media files.
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If you use regular web hosting for your podcast, there are higher chances that it will take plenty of resources, make your website slower, and crash during higher load.
Finding the right podcast hosting service with hundreds of options is yet another challenge. Selecting a non-reliable podcast hosting will only waste your time and money.
Therefore, in this article, we have hand-picked some of the most reliable podcast hosting services to make your search easier and quicker. Keep reading until the end to find which hosting services suit the best for your needs!
5 Best Podcast Hosting Platforms
So here is the list of the 5 best podcast hosting that you can give a try.
1. BuzzSprout (Free and Paid)
If you are looking for the easiest to use podcast hosting services with excellent features, BuzzSprout is the right pick for you! All you need to do is upload your files, and the hosting services take care of the other things. As simple as it may sound, it also offers free learning materials to help you get started in no time. In addition, it provides multiple powerful tools to make the most of your podcast.
Another incredible feature of BuzzSprout is that it gives a free WordPress plugin. If you do not have your website yet, the hosting service can create one for you on which you can use your custom domain name and easily customize the design of your website. Lastly, it offers top-notch customer support, so if you are stuck, you know you have a reliable team waiting to help you!
BuzzSprout Key Features
- Incredible and real-time insights to see how your podcast is performing.
- Easily add episode chapter mark.
- Embeddable podcast player that works best for all screen sizes.
- Easily embed your podcast player to your website directly.
- Magic Mastering add-on to polish your audio.
Pricing: You can try out BuzzSprout for free with its free plan. However, the free plan comes with limits. You can upgrade to the premium plan starting at $12 per month to break the limits.
2. Podbean (Free and Paid)
PodBean is one of the most reliable podcast hosting services that provides everything to deliver a successful podcast to your audience. One of the best parts about their services is that it makes it easier for newbies and professionals to get started. Another feature that makes PodBean different than other hosting services on the list is that it provides an affordable plan with unlimited bandwidth.
Furthermore, the hosting service provides excellent designing tools, enabling you to host your website with creative and unique themes online. Besides the usual features of podcast hosting, it also allows users to host video podcasts! Overall, if you are searching for an affordable and excellent podcast hosting solution, PodBean may be the right solution!
Podbean Key Features
- Excellent podcast promotion tool automatically submits your podcasts to reach a wider audience through promotion.
- Advertisement marketplace to monetize your podcast.
- Truly unlimited storage and bandwidth.
- Comprehensive statistics to track your podcast’s progress.
- Mobile app for managing your podcasts from anywhere.
Price: PodBean offers a free plan with 5 hours of free storage and 100GB monthly bandwidth. Paid plans start at $9/month.
3. Libsyn (Paid)
Came into existence in 2004, Libsyn has been a reliable podcast hosting provider, catering to hundreds of users’ needs, including some of the influential people across the globe. The primary goal of Libsyn is to offer an easy-to-use platform, bringing your brand to the center and promoting your podcast across various channels with highly functional features.
Additionally, you can easily monetize your podcast with its feature and publish them from anywhere. Libsyn also allows integrations with multiple WordPress plugins and gives you the liberty to use its in-house plugin known as Libsyn Publisher Hub. If you need a reliable and easy-to-use solution with the cheapest pricing plan, Libsyn can be your right pick!
Libsyn Key Features
- Excellent statistics with daily, weekly, and monthly reports.
- Great podcast publishing tools.
- Custom podcast branding tools to promote your podcasts.
- A friendly crew with outstanding customer support to help you whenever you get stuck.
- Enterprise-level tools for experts and professionals who need additional support.
Pricing: The pricing starts at $5 per month.
4. Transistor (Paid)
Transistor is an easy-to-use podcast service with powerful features. Although it is a comparatively new service, it has enabled users to deliver a successful podcast with higher engagement and build a stronger audience online. One of the key reasons Transistor made it to our list is its robust analytical feature. Besides giving you detailed insights on your podcast, it also enables you to send your podcast to Spotify, Apple podcast, and Google podcasts.
Moreover, you can easily add every episode to your WordPress posts and pages within no time. Overall, it provides users with some of the robust tools to build your podcast audience and is the right pick if you are looking to reach a wider audience with your podcast.
Key Features
- Unlimited storage.
- Easy distribution of your podcast to major networks.
- Private podcasting to send your subscribers, team members, and more.
- Easily manage various users per account.
- Live customer support to help you in every aspect.
Pricing: Transistor does not provide any free plan. The plans start at $19 per month.
5. SimpleCast (Paid)
Last but not least on our list is SimpleCast. The hosting provider is popular for its industry-leading powerful features in affordable pricing. Whether you are a beginner with no experience or a professional who has been in the game for too long, SimpleCast makes it easier to publish and distribute your podcast across various channels.
Additionally, this popular hosting provider is widely used by some top brands such as Facebook, Nike, Medium, Twitter, and more. Unsurprisingly, the exceptional functionality and dynamic features have made it widely popular that the top brands are using it. The best part about SimpleCast is that it goes easier on your pockets!
SimpleCast Key features
- Advanced and in-depth analytical tool to track your podcast’s growth.
- Easy collaboration with multiple team members using a single account.
- Quick one-click publishing.
- Recast tool that enables you to schedule your posts.
- 14 days free trial to test the hosting services.
Pricing: The pricing plans start from $15 per month.
Which Podcast hosting is best for you?
All the podcast hosting providers mentioned in the list above work the best for beginners and professionals. However, we would highly recommend trying out BuzzSprout and PodBean. Both the hosting providers enable you to publish your podcast and distribute them across multiple channels to grow your audience. From integrations to excellent tools, both the hosting providers offer similar features that other providers lack. BuzzSprout gives a unique feature where it allows users to polish their audio before going live, improving your audio quality. Similarly, PodBean makes publishing your podcasts easier. Furthermore, both hosting providers offer a beginner-friendly interface with real-time analytics to track your growth.
Is Podcast hosting necessary?
You must be wondering why can’t you go with normal web hosting for your podcasts? Well, the answer is simple. Shared web hosting may work for your podcast websites but it will affect the user experience. Podcast hosting services are designed especially for podcasts to store and upload files. When you upload podcasts from your shared hosting, it will take up higher server resources affecting your website’s loading time. Additionally, it can also result in your website crashing when you upload your files. What is worse is that if multiple users try to download your podcast at the same time, your regular hosting service will block the process, meaning your audience won’t be able to download your podcast. Therefore, it is necessary to have podcast hosting.
Which is the best free podcast hosting?
There are various podcast hosting services that offer reliable services at affordable prices. However, if you are a newbie, you can take advantage of the free podcast hosting services such as BuzzSprout and PodBean. The free plan of BuzzSprout allows users to upload 2 hours of upload each month and the episodes are hosted for 90 days. Similarly, PodBean provides 5 hours of free storage each month along with 100GB storage per month. Note that since the two hosting services provide free plans, it also comes with various restrictions that you can remove by upgrading to the premium plans.
Wrapping Up!
And that’s a wrap to our list of best podcast hosting services in 2022! Now that you have made it through the entire list, you must have noticed most of the hosting providers offer similar features with just a difference in storage and bandwidth.
However, some hosting providers excel in a specific feature while other shines in a different feature. If you are still confused about which hosting provider you should pick for your podcasts, we would suggest choosing the one that fits your budget and needs. Once you understand your needs and budget, you will be able to figure out the best hosting provider for yourself in no time!
Either way, you will not be disappointed with any hosting services you pick from the list above. Over to you. Which hosting provider are you selecting from the list? Let us know in the comments section below!
