12 Best Podcast Hosting Platforms of 2024 (Expert Pick)
Searching for the best podcast hosting for your new or existing podcast?
If you want to make your episodes reliably available to visitors from around the world, you’ll want a dedicated podcast hosting platform.
Spurred by the massive growth and popularity of podcasting, you’re now spoiled for choice when it comes to podcast hosting services. Most start at around $10-$20 per month and you can even find some quality free podcast hosting services.
In this post, we’ve done the work to curate our picks for the 12 best podcasting hosting platforms, including both free and paid options.
Let’s dig in!
Quick Summary of the Best Podcast Hosting Services
If you’re in a rush, here’s a quick summary of the 12 podcast hosting services from our list:
Host | Free Plan? | Starting Price (per month) | Main Billing Metric(s) | Video Podcast Hosting? |
Blubrry | ❌ | $12 | Monthly size (MB) of uploaded audio | ✅ |
Castos | ❌ | $19 | Monthly downloads | ✅ |
PodBean | ✅ | $9 | Unlimited (paid plans) | ✅ |
Simplecast | ❌ | $15 | Monthly downloads | ❌ |
Buzzsprout | ✅ | $12 | Monthly hours of uploaded audio | ❌ |
Captivate | ❌ | $19 | Monthly downloads | ❌ |
Transistor | ❌ | $19 | Monthly downloads | ❌ |
Spotify for Podcasters (Anchor) | ✅ | 100% free | Free hosting (takes a commission if you insert ads) | ✅* |
Libsyn | ❌ | $5 | Monthly size (MB) of uploaded audio | ✅ |
Audioboom | ❌ | $10 | Monthly downloads (unlimited on Pro plans) | ❌ |
Podcast.co | ❌ | $19 | Monthly downloads | ❌ |
Spreaker | ✅ | $8 | Overall hours of audio | ❌ |
*On Spotify.
Why You Need a Host for Your Podcast?
One of the first decisions you need to make as a podcaster is select which audio format you want to record in.
MP3 remains the most common and most widely accepted audio format, but there are alternative recording file formats such as AAC (M4A), WAV, OGG and FLAC. For a general understanding of available audio file formats and their strengths and weaknesses, I recommend reading the Podcast.co article “Audio Formats for Podcasts: Which One is Best?“.

Once you have recorded your podcast, you need to host the files online. In other words, you need to store your audio files somewhere online so that they can be downloaded 24 hours per day.
- Host Yourself – Theoretically, you could host audio files on a computer in your own home using an old laptop or Raspberry Pi. In practice, this is completely impractical as there is a high chance of your computer going offline.
- Cheap Website Host – Audio files can always be hosted on cheap website hosting services such as Bluehost, but they are not any cheaper that podcast hosting services and if you experience many downloads, you could find yourself with an expensive bill or with your hosting shutoff.
- Cloud Storage – For new podcasts, cloud storage services such as Amazon S3 can be used, but bandwidth costs can quickly rack up if your podcast becomes popular and these services are not optimized for global downloads.
In short, none of the above options are practical long-term solutions to hosting a podcast.
Best Podcast Hosting Services
The best way to host your podcast is to use a podcast hosting service. These companies are more affordable in the long run as they offer unlimited bandwidth. They also provide many tools and features for podcasters to grow their audience.
1. Blubrry
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ❌
- Starting price: $12 per month to upload up to 125 MB of new audio per month with unlimited downloads
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ✅
- Official WordPress plugin: ✅ Blubrry PowerPress
Blubrry is the company behind the number 1 podcasting WordPress plugin PowerPress.
PowerPress features an integrated HTML5 player for playing audio and video and it can automatically publish your podcasts to Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. The plugin was developed with search engines in mind too and it allows you to import podcasts from other platforms and services.
The plugin supports multiple languages and podcasts and you can see statistics about your podcast directly from your WordPress dashboard.

The PowerPress WordPress plugin allows you to host your audio files on any podcast hosting service, but Blubrry offer affordable hosting themselves from only $12 per month.
Their service has been optimized for iTunes and Google Play and supports professional statistics and ID3 tagging so that you can embed titles and artwork to files.
Blubrry uses 35+ data centers around the world to reliably host your audio files, video files, eBooks and more.

Blubrry’s hosting plans are based on the amount of storage you need.
Blubrry’s $12 per month plan lets you upload 100 MB of audio every month. The $20 per month increases uploads to 250MB every month and allows video uploads. The higher tiered plans offer 250MB of additional upload storage for $20 per month.
Each package also offers a dedicated podcast website, though you can also use the PowerPress plugin to integrate your podcast into your own site.
Pros:
- Blubrry has one of the best WordPress podcasting plugins (Blubrry PowerPress) and the podcast hosting integrates very well.
- You can have unlimited downloads.
Cons:
- If you publish a lot of episodes every month, the monthly upload limit pricing model might be expensive.
2. Castos
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ❌
- Starting price: $19 per month for unlimited episodes and podcasts and up to 20,000 downloads per month
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ✅
- Official WordPress plugin: ✅ Seriously Simple Podcasting
Castos is a professional podcast hosting service that provides detailed analytics about your podcast and your listeners.
Castos has one of the fairest pricing policies online, with all of its plans offering unlimited storage and bandwidth via a global content delivery network.
The company also offers an automated podcast transcript service. Charged on a pay as you go basis, the service gives you a downloadble PDF file that transcribes your whole podcast. This is great for SEO and significantly improves accessibility.
Castos also provides all customers with their own unique domain and a mobile-friendly website that displays all podcast episodes.

You can also display podcast episodes using a customizable media player that has subscription links to iTunes, Spotify and more.
If you have a WordPress website, you may also want to consider using the Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin from Castos.
The plugin allows you to integrate your podcast into your WordPress website and collect stats from your audience.
It’s the perfect companion for Castos, but if you wish, you can choose to use the WordPress plugin and host your podcast files using another service.

Castos has a 14 day free trial that lets you test their service – no credit card needed.
From there, Castos offers four hosting plans:
- Starter – $19 per month for up to 20,000 downloads per month.
- Growth – $49 per month for up to 75,000 downloads per month and video republishing. toYouTube.
- Pro – $99 per month for up to 200,000 downloads per month and video file hosting.
- Castos Premium – from $499 per month for large publishers.
All plans offer unlimited podcasts and episodes and you can get two months free if you pay annually.
With unlimited storage and bandwidth from only $19 per month, Castos is an attractive option.
Pros:
- Castos has one of the best WordPress podcasting plugins (Seriously Simple Podcasting) and the podcast hosting integrates very well.
- The Castos interface is very well designed.
- You can have unlimited podcasts and upload unlimited episodes for each podcast.
- Private subscribers can use the Castos app to access your content.
Cons:
- If your episodes get a lot of downloads, Castos’ billing model of using downloads as the main billing metric might be more expensive than something like Blubrry that offers unlimited downloads.
3. PodBean
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ✅ – total 5 hours of audio space and 100 GB of monthly bandwidth
- Starting price: $9 per month for unlimited storage and bandwidth
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ✅
- Official WordPress plugin: ❌
PodBean is an affordable podcast hosting solution that offers unlimited storage and bandwidth with its premium plans.
As part of the hosting service, you also get your own dedicated podcast website. You can choose from a large number of themes and customize them to match your website.

PodBean’s marketing features are second to none.
The service allows you to distribute your podcasts to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, the Podbean Podcast App and more. You can upload podcasts directly from your phone and once online, you can automatically share them to social media platforms.
A podbean app is available for iOS and Android too. It can help you do live streaming and receive calls live on your show.
PodBean provides customers with detailed analytics about downloads and listeners, but what really sets the service apart are the many options it gives you to monetize your podcast.

PodBean’s basic plan is free to use. It allows you to store a total of five hours of audio, which should be sufficient for your first few podcast episodes.
All ofPodBean’s premium plans offer an unlimited amount of storage and bandwidth, which stands. out from most other podcast hosting services:
- Unlimited Audio – $14 per month for unlimited usage for audio podcasts and most features except for the patron monetization option.
- Unlimited Plus – $39 per month to add video podcast support and access to the patron program.
- Network – $99 per month to create multiple podcast channels and remove Podbean branding.
With a ton of marketing and monetization tools, PodBean is a service all podcasters should check out.
Pros:
- PodBean has a free plan that lets you test things out at no risk.
- The paid PodBean plans support unlimited storage and bandwidth (though subject to a fair use policy).
Cons:
- Unless you pay for the most expensive Network plan, all of the other PodBean plans include PodBean branding
- There’s no official WordPress plugin.
4. Simplecast
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ❌
- Starting price: $15 per month for unlimited storage and uploads and up to 20,000 downloads per month.
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ❌
- Official WordPress plugin: ❌
Simplecast boasts a modern podcast hosting platform that features one-click publishing to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and many more.
It offers detailed analytics that allow you to examine every aspect of your audience. Another cool feature is Recast. This allows listeners to select specific parts of your podcast and share it on social media. Your analytics area will then highlight which parts of your podcast were shared the most.

A user-friendly website builder helps you create a website to host and market your podcasts. It allows you to tweak colors, add new pages, change the structure of pages and more. As you would expect, it looks great on mobile devices too.
You can also use your own domain name and, if you wish, you can manage multiple shows from one account.

Simplecast’s premium plans allow unlimited storage and uploads, however pricing is based upon the number of listeners you have.
The Basic plan costs $15 per month or an effective rate of $13.50 per month if paid annually. It allows two team members and 20,000 downloads per month.
The $35 per month Essential plan drops to $31.50 per month if you pay annually. This increases team members to four and downloads to 50,000 per month. This plan also adds additional media players and expands analytics significantly to track locations, technology, listeners and more.
The most expensive plan is the Growth plan, which retails at $85 per month or an effective rate of $76.50 per month if paid annually. This plan expands analytics even further and increases team members to nine and monthly downloads to 120,000.
Simplecast has taken a modern approach to podcasting. The company offers a 14 day free trial to test their service. No credit card is required to sign up for this so I encourage you to try them out.
Pros:
- All of Simplecast’s plans support unlimited podcasts and episodes.
- Simplecast has strong analytics functionality, which helps you understand your listeners.
- Simplecast offers a feature to publish private podcast episodes (though you can’t create an entire private RSS feed).
Cons:
- The fact that Simplecast uses downloads as a billing metric might make it expensive for very popular podcasts.
- Simplecast doesn’t offer video podcast hosting, so you’d need to rely on YouTube or Vimeo.
5. Buzzsprout
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ✅ – 2 audio hour uploads per month – episodes are only hosted for 90 days and include ads
- Starting price: $12 per month for up to 3 audio hour uploads per month – episodes are hosted for the life of your plan and you have unlimited storage for old episodes.
- Private podcast episodes: ❌
- Video podcast hosting: ❌
- Official WordPress plugin: ✅ Buzzsprout Podcasting
Buzzsprout is a popular podcast hosting solution that distributes your podcast to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Alexa, Overcast, PocketCasts, Castro, Castbox, Podchaser, and more.
Buzzsprout’s podcast media player is beautiful and you can customize it to suit your own style. It has controls that allow listeners to adjust playback speed and easily share your episodes.
Buzzsprout also provide a professional website for you to list your podcast episodes, however you can use your own domain for this if you wish.

You also get access to detail statistics for your podcast to help you see total playtime, which apps are being used to listen to your episodes, where listeners are based, and more.
The service automatically optimizes audio and track information for each episode. There is also an affiliate marketplace where you can select products to promote on your podcast for commissions.

Buzzsprout has a free plan that allows two hours of uploads every month. Your podcasts will have advertisements inserted into them and episodes are only stored for 90 days, but this should be sufficient to test out their service.
If you like what you see, you can upgrade to a Buzzsprout premium plan. All plans offer unlimited storage, unlimited podcasts, and unlimited team members.
The $12 per month plan allows three hours of uploads every month and charges $4 per hour for additional hours. The $18 per month allows six hours of uploads every month and charges $3 per hour for additional hours. The most expensive plan costs $24 plan and allows 12 hours of uploads every month with additional hours being charged at $2 per hour.
192k stereo optimization is available as an addon for $6 per month and for $0.10 per minute, Buzzsprout will transcribe your episodes.
Without doubt, Buzzsprout has everything you need to host and promote your podcast.
Pros:
- Buzzsprout’s pricing model can be very cost-effective if you don’t publish that many episodes per month and/or your episodes are short.
- There’s a free plan that lets you get started at no cost (though its limitations are pretty big).
- Buzzsprout offers an official WordPress podcasting plugin.
Cons:
- Buzzsprout doesn’t support private podcasts, so you’d need to use a different solution to deliver private content (e.g. Patreon).
- Buzzsprout doesn’t offer any video podcast hosting option, so you’d need to rely on YouTube or another solution.
6. Captivate
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ❌
- Starting price: $19 per month for unlimited podcasts/episodes/storage and up to 30,000 downloads per month
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ❌
- Official WordPress plugin: ✅ Captivate Sync
Captivate is an interesting podcast hosting solution that provides a gorgeous podcast player. The player is customizable and brandable and lets you display call to actions to build up your email list.
Captivate’s plans allow you to host multiple podcast and you can import your podcast from other services such as Libsyn, Blubrr, and Simplecast. Multiple team members can help administrate your podcast too.
Captivate’s mobile-friendly dashboard helps you analyze traffic and get a better understanding of your audience.

Captivate provide customers with a a multi-device podcast website (referred to as Captivate Sites). You can customise the website as you see fit and even allow listeners to make donations.
If you prefer, you can use their Captivate Sync WordPress plugin, which was designed specifically for Captivate customers to integrate podcast episodes into their WordPress website.

Captivate has a simple pricing policy that is based on the number of downloads per month.
The $19 per month podcaster plan allows up to 12,000 downloads per month, the $49 per month audio influencer plan allows 60,000 downloads per month and the $99 per month podcast brand plan allows 150,000 downloads per month.
A seven day free trial is available for Captivate too, but you will need to enter your credit card details and select one of the plans to use it.
Pros:
- You can have unlimited podcasts and upload unlimited episodes for each podcast.
- The download limits on Captivate’s plans are a bit higher than other similarly priced hosts. For example, Captivate’s entry-level has the same price as Transistor and Castos, but Captivate lets you have 30,000 monthly downloads while those other services only do 20,000.
Cons:
- Captivate doesn’t offer any video podcast hosting option, so you’d need to rely on YouTube or another solution.
7. Transistor
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ❌
- Starting price: $19 per month for unlimited podcasts/episodes and up to 20,000 downloads per month
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ❌
- Official WordPress plugin: ❌
Transistor is a professional podcast hosting solution that supports multiple podcasts. The company hosts all audio files on a global content delivery network to ensure fast downloads for all listeners.
The service helps you distribute your podcast to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and more.
You can embed your podcast on your website using a customizable podcast player that features controls for playback speed and links for listeners to subscribe and share your podcast.

Transistor offers all customers a website to host and promote their podcasts. You can integrate email marketing services such as Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Drip into your website to help you build a following.
You are free to monetize your website as you see fit. For example, you can display advertisements or donation buttons on your Transistor website.
As you would expect, Transistor provides podcasters with a wide variety of statistics about their podcasts and listeners. This will help you analyze the performance of your podcasts by showing you which apps subscribers are listening to, what is trending, how many downloads per episode and more.

Transistor’s premium plans allow an unlimited number of uploads, but pricing is based on the number of downloads your podcast receives every month.
There are three plans:
- Starter – $19 per month for 20,000 monthly downloads and 50 private podcast subscribers.
- Professional – $49 per month for 100,000 monthly downloads, 500 private podcast subscribers, and more features.
- Business – $99 per month for 250,000 monthly downloads, 3,000 private podcast subscribers, and more features, and the option to remove Transistor branding.
If you choose to pay annually, you will receive two months free.
You. can test it out with a 14-day free trial. However you will need to enter your credit card details and select one of the monthly plans to take advantage of it.
Pros:
- You can have unlimited podcasts and upload unlimited episodes, which helps you keep your costs down at the beginning – especially if you’re publishing a lot of content.
- Transistor has built-in support for private podcasts.
- Has some nice advertising features like dynamic show notes and ad insertion.
Cons:
- Transistor might be more expensive than other services if your podcast gets a lot of downloads.
- Transistor doesn’t offer any video podcast hosting option, so you’d need to rely on YouTube or another solution.
8. Spotify for Podcasters (Anchor)
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ✅
- Starting price: 100% free podcast hosting
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ✅
- Official WordPress plugin: ❌
Spotify for Podcasters is a suite of free podcasting tools that recently absorbed Anchor, a podcast hosting service that Spotify acquired for $154 million in 2019. As such, if you go to the Anchor website, you’ll now be redirected straight to Spotify for Podcasters.

While Spotify is obviously trying to get creators to buy into its ecosystem with this free suite of tools, Spotify for Podcasters still lets you distribute your podcast to all the other platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, etc.
First off, Spotify for Podcasters offers free podcast hosting, which is already pretty attractive.
Spotify also offers a Podcast Subscriptions feature that lets you sell paid access to private episodes. Users can subscribe and Spotify will handle payments and subscriptions for you. Unlike Apple’s subscription features, Spotify’s podcast subscriptions feature still lets listeners use other platforms. Spotify’s commission is also a lot lower, at just 5%.

Beyond free podcast hosting, Spotify for Podcasts also offers recording and editing tools, video uploads for Spotify listeners, and monetization features.
Pros:
- 100% free podcast hosting, which is tough to beat.
- You can still distribute your podcast to other platforms – you aren’t locked in to Spotify.
Cons:
- Spotify takes a 30% cut of any ad money that you generate via its advertising tools.
- Group and solo recordings can’t exceed two hours and there’s a 250 MB max upload limit.
9. Libsyn
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ❌
- Starting price: $5 per month for up to 162 MB of new audio uploads per month – you get unlimited bandwidth and existing episodes from previous months don’t count against your storage limits
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ✅
- Official WordPress plugin: ✅ Libsyn Publisher Hub
One of the first podcast hosting services online, Libsyn remains as popular as ever.
It is a versatile solution that supports audio, video, text and other file types. In addition to the web interface, you can also upload files via FTP and you can manage everything via a file manager.
Libsyn’s OnPublish feature allows you to distribute your podcast to dozens of platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify, YouTube, and more.
You are provided with your own podcasting website, however if you prefer, you can use your own custom domain for $2 per month. There’s an official WordPress plugin too.

Their media player supports audio and video, however you also have the option to create your own custom mobile app for iOS and Android. This is a fantastic way of promoting your podcast.
You can access a ton of statistics too such as a heat map of your audience, social media stats, episode stats and more.
Libsyn also offers features to help you monetize your podcast. This includes selling premium subscriptions to your audience and offering them private episodes, PDFs, videos and other exclusive content.

You can sign up to Libsyn from only $5 per month.
The cost of using the service is based how many megabytes you need to upload every month. There is no limit to how many downloads you generate or how much bandwidth you use:
- $5 per month – 162 MB of new uploads per month (~3 hours).
- $15 per month – 324 MB of new uploads per month (~6 hours).
- $20 per month – 540 MB of new uploads per month (~10 hours).
- $40 per month – 800 MB of new uploads per month (~14 hours).
- $75 per month – 1,500 MB of new uploads per month (~27 hours).
- $150 per month – 3,000 MB of new uploads per month (~55 hours).
All Libysn’s premium plans give you access to the majority of features and functionality. The only difference is that the cheapest plan only has basic analytics and you need at least the $20 per month plan for remote podcast recording.
Without doubt, Libsyn are one of the most reliable podcast hosting solutions available online.
Pros:
- Libsyn has some of the cheapest podcast hosting plans out there, with plans starting at just $5 per month.
- Libsyn offers unlimited bandwidth/downloads, which offers good value for popular podcasts.
- Libsyn still supports video podcast hosting and private podcasting.
Cons:
- The Libsyn interfaces aren’t as nice as other tools and can be a little overly technical sometimes.
10. Audioboom
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ❌
- Starting price: $10 per month for unlimited episodes per month and 15,000 monthly downloads
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ❌
- Official WordPress plugin: ❌
Audioboom is an affordable podcast hosting solution that helps you distribute your podcast to Apple Podcasts, CastBox, Deezer, Google Podcasts, iHeart, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn.
As part of the service, you get a simple podcast page help you market your podcast. Audioboom also has an embeddable podcast player that you can display on websites and on social media.

Audioboom helps you invite others into your episodes for collaborations and analytics helps show what apps and devices listeners are using and where they are from
If your podcast generates more than 10,000 plays per episode, you get access to tons of monetization options to help you earn some money.

Audioboom have a simple pricing policy. For $9.99 per month, or $99.99 per year, you are given an unlimited amount of storage and up to 15,000 downloads every month. Or, you can pay $19.99 per month for 50,000 downloads.
The more expensive Podcast Pro plan is for established podcasts with large audiences. This is the plan you need to opt for to gain access to Audioboom’s targeted ad-network, host endorsements and more. It gives you unlimited episodes and downloads, though.
Audioboom may not be as established as other services in the market, but it’s an attractive option at $9.99 per month for 15,000 downloads.
Pros:
- You can upload unlimited episodes on all plans.
- Audioboom has strong monetization tools for ads, sponsorship, and branded content.
- The Podcast Pros plans support unlimited storage and downloads.
Cons:
- Audioboom doesn’t support video podcast hosting.
- Audioboom doesn’t support paid subscriptions (though it does let you create private podcasts), so you’d need to use something like Patreon if you want to create a paid user-only podcast.
11. Podcast.co
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ❌
- Starting price: $19 per month for unlimited podcasts/episodes and up to 15,000 monthly downloads
- Private podcast episodes: ✅
- Video podcast hosting: ❌
- Official WordPress plugin: ❌
Podcast.co is a modern podcast hosting solution that offers unlimited storage and bandwidth.
Podcast.co provides podcasters with branded audio players for their podcasts and a customizable podcast page. You’ll also be able to automatically deliver episodes to platforms such as Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Breaker and more.

There are many features that make Podcast.co stand out from the crowd.
This includes its highlights tool that uses an audiogram tool to show speech and captions in a shareable video. You can also automatically transcribe each episode and add it into blog posts to draw visitors in from search engines.
As another monetization option, you can add Patreon and Paypal donation buttons to your main podcast page and you can encourage listeners to donate by offering them exclusive content.
Podcast.co also have an interesting matchmaking service that matches guests with podcasters.

Every Podcast.co plans includes virtually all features and unlimited storage – with the main differences being the number of monthly downloads, private podcast support, and how many users can manage your podcast:
- Lite – $19 per month for 15,000 monthly downloads and 1 user.
- Growth – $49 per month for 75,000 monthly downloads, up to 500 private podcast subscribers, and 5 users.
- Premium – $99 per month for 200,000 monthly downloads, up to 5,000 private podcast subscribers, and unlimited users.
You can also get two months free if you pay for a year up front.
All in all, Podcast.co is an attractive podcast hosting service that ticks a lot of boxes.
Pros:
- All of Podcast.co’s plans support unlimited podcasts and episodes.
- The Podcast.co tools and interface are very modern and user-friendly.
- Podcast.co supports private podcasts.
Cons:
- The fact that Podcast.co bills based on downloads might make it expensive for popular podcasts with high download counts.
- Podcast.co’s download limits are a bit lower/more expensive than some other podcast hosts.
- Podcast.co doesn’t support video podcast hosting, so you’d need to use something like YouTube or Vimeo for video (though it does include a tool to generate short video clips for social media).
12. Spreaker
Quick facts:
- Free plan: ✅ – 50 hours of overall audio storage space across unlimited episodes
- Starting price: $8 per month for 100 hours of overall audio storage space across unlimited episodes
- Private podcast episodes: ✅(Broadcaster plan and above)
- Video podcast hosting: ❌
- Official WordPress plugin: ✅ Spreaker Shortcode
Last but not least is Spreaker, a company that provides desktop and mobile apps to help you produce podcasts.
You can upload audio to Spreaker, record audio directly and even go live. You can also manage everything from a user-friendly content management system.

Once you have recorded your podcast, you can distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartMedia, Spotify and more.
Spreaker offers real-time statistics to help you see location, what devices people are using to listen to your podcasts, demographics and more.

Spreaker’s podcasting plans are defined by how long your podcasts are and how much storage you need.
Their free plan allows 15 minutes per podcast and stores up to five hours of audio.
The Broadercaster plan costs $20 per month or an effective rate of $18 per month if paid yearly. This increases podcast length to three hours and audio storage up to 500 hours. It also adds advanced statistics and lets you create private podcasts.
The Anchorman plan costs $50 per month or an effective rate of $45 per month if paid yearly. Podcasts can be up to five hours under this plan and the audio storage limit is a whopping 1,500 hours. It also provides a customisable media player and additional statistics.
Spreaker’s pricing policy might be a little different to alternative solutions, but you should definitely check them out as their desktop and mobile applications are excellent.
Pros:
- Spreaker has a pretty generous free plan – you won’t need to pay until your podcast has more than 50 hours of audio.
- All of Spreaker’s plans support unlimited episodes and downloads.
- Spreaker supports private podcasts on the higher-tier plans.
Cons:
- The storage limits are for all the episodes in your podcast, whereas most other podcast hosting services only limit how much storage you can upload in a month (with previous months not counting against your storage limits).
- Spreaker doesn’t make its plan limits clear – you need to dig around the support docs to find the actual plan limits.
The Most Affordble Podcast Host
PodBean gives five hours of storage free, Buzzsprout allows two hours of uploads every month free of charge and Spreaker gives you 15 minutes free per podcast.
Whilst it is generous of companies to offer free plans, the limitations placed on free accounts mean that in practical terms, they are better viewed as a way of testing the service.
In contrast, Spotify for Podcasters (Anchor) is 100% free to use. There are no storage limits and no bandwidth limits. The company also provides tools for monetizing your podcasts.
Of course, this does not mean that Spotify for Podcasters is the best podcast hosting solution for everyone, however if you are on a budget, their service should be top of your list.
The Most Feature-Rich Podcast Host
Determining the podcast host with the most features and functionality can be difficult, particularly as the majority of podcast services offer similar features such as a customisable podcast player, automatic website creation, detailed analytics and distribution to major podcast services and directories.
I do feel, however, that the features on offer from Podcast.co are outstanding.
From $19, you get a podcast page, transcription tools/services, analytics, video clips for social media, private subscribers, and more.
Podcast Hosting FAQs
While you can self-host your podcast using WordPress, we don’t recommend using this approach long-term because your WordPress site’s server is not optimized for delivering podcasts. It can work fine for small podcasts – but once your podcast starts growing, you’ll want a dedicated podcast hosting service.
Instead, we recommend using a separate podcast hosting service and then integrating it into WordPress with a plugin like Seriously Simple Podcasting.
There are free podcast hosting services such as PodBean and BuzzSprout that can let you get started for free. However, once your podcast grows past a certain point, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid service. Paid services also offer more advanced analytics and other helpful tools.
Most paid podcast hosting services start around $10-$20 per month and then go up from there. Typically, most podcast services bill based on the number of monthly downloads across all of your episodes OR the amount of audio that you upload each month.
PodBean offers unlimited storage and bandwidth on its paid plans, which is one of the most generous billing models that you’ll find.
Final Thoughts
Podcast hosting services are the most practical way of reliably hosting your podcast. Using a podcast hosting service will ensure that your listeners can download and listen to your podcasts at any time of the day.
Take your time to research each company to see what they do and do not offer. This will help you find a service which matches your budget and offers the functionality you need.
Pretty much all of these services offer either a free trial or a free plan, so you can test them out at no risk to your wallet.
If you want to create a standalone website to go along with your podcast hosting, you also might be interested in our roundup of the best WordPress hosting and our guide on how to make a WordPress website.
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