7 Best Podcast Hosting Providers of 2023
For over a decade now, Podcasts have been a significant resource for both entertainment and learning. It has been an engaging platform for podcasters and their listeners to share their thought and engage in meaningful conversations. Regardless of the area of interest—be it entertainment, sports, education, or news—podcasts are unquestionably one of the finest approaches to letting the world know what you think.
Having said that, you might want to pursue podcasting and launch one yourself. To do that, you'll need to put a lot of thought and effort into it. However, you need not worry because there are free and available podcast hosting platforms to choose from. With the help of these platforms, you can upload and distribute your audio episodes.
But finding the right podcast hosting platform can be a challenge, and this is something that you should not just skate your way. Choosing the best podcast hosting service is really crucial in podcasting. With several choices available, you have to decide which platform provides the features and tools that you want.
To make it easier and speed up your search, we gathered a list of some of the best podcast hosting providers (bonus: most hosting is the process of translating a podcast's concepts and ideas into something tangible fof them are free). Read this article further and share with us which podcast platform is best.
What is a Podcast Hosting?
Podcast or the audience to listen to while it stores and distributes media files.
Furthermore, these podcast hosting platforms perform to optimize and maximize podcast storage. This means you can store large media files on these platforms. Also, most of them also offer a variety of extra features, such as tools for increasing audience size.
If you can choose which podcast platform is best, then you can make your podcasting process much simpler and spend more time focusing on your planning, strategizing, creating, and more.
Benefits of Podcast Hosting
An ideal user experience is produced by a podcast hosting platform, which also aids in increasing a show's internet profile. Listed below is a discussion of some of its particular advantages.
Robust Analytics
One special benefit of podcast hosting is it allows you to acquire relevant data about the broadcast and listeners—how it performed and how it was received by the audience. When choosing to monetize a podcast, it is essential to create material that perfectly reflects the audience of your niche so as to increase earnings.
Faster Speeds
Podcast hosting optimizes your podcast to provide the best possible speed for your audience to enjoy. Speed is a significant factor in increasing subscribers and user downloads.
Smooth data transfers
Podcast hosting platforms are designed to seamlessly transfer data without zero to no trouble in downloading and streaming. These smooth data transfers allow a finer listener experience.
Allows Repurposing of Content
There are several podcast hosting platforms that offer transcription services. This feature makes way for repurposing those podcast episodes into social media posts, blog posts, or ad campaigns, which then strengthens the marketing strategy of your podcast.
Why do you need a podcast hosting site?
In order to produce a podcast, you would have to consume large-sized media files and recordings. Yes, there are multiple website hosts around, but most of them do not have the capacity to store heavy audio and video files. Although you can use your own website for it, most result in a poor listener experience because of slow loading time, and sometimes, the website even crashes.
So, to avoid untoward incidents like the aforementioned, it is better to use podcast hosting platforms as they are designed for storing heavy media files like your podcast recordings, and they can also distribute those with a faster loading speed. Ultimately, some of these platforms can even help you in the visibility of your podcast so many people can tune in.
# Podcast Hosting Sites
Buzzsprout
Among the most popular platforms for hosting podcasts is Buzzsprout. The platform lets you save audio and video files and provides a huge selection of analytics and monetization features for podcasts. If you want an upgrade, Buzzsprout's subscription plans include a podcast website and many more capabilities. Nonetheless, their free plan is a wonderful place to start.
When you avail of Buzzsprout, you’ll get to upload two hours' worth of files monthly. However, you should be aware that your audio files will automatically be removed in 90 days. Also, you will be provided with IAB-compliant advanced statistics and analytics of your podcast’s performance and will directly publish your podcast to your WordPress website. Lastly, Buzzsprout distributes to major listening and streaming platforms like Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
PodBean
PodBean is another well-liked free podcast hosting provider. With PodBean, you can build a podcast website without having to subscribe to a subscription plan. This is the perfect free and all-in-one podcast hosting service with lots of bandwidth, a mobile app, and other features.
The basic plan of PodBean allows you to store up to five hours of files per month. They also provide a 100GB monthly bandwidth and let you distribute to major listening platforms. And to spice things up, PodBean has an embeddable player that you can display on your podcast website so your audience can also listen to your podcast while they’re at it.
Transistor
Both experts and amateurs can host podcasts with Transistor, a robust yet user-friendly tool. They provide unlimited podcast hosting options, and unlike some other sites, they won't charge you more for uploading for a certain number of hours.
They make publishing and uploading your podcast's media exceedingly simple too. They also provide podcast metrics so you can view the performance of each of your episodes. More so, you may quickly add each show to your WordPress website using their embed code. And if you don't have your own website, they can instantaneously develop a website for you. However, Tansistor's subscription plans do have download limits. This means that as your podcast grows, you will need to update your plan
Anchor
In contrast to the preceding platforms, Anchor is totally free. Anchor's primary objective is to promote accessibility for podcasts. For new podcasters, Anchor is a Spotify subsidiary that has a lot to offer to both beginners and professional podcasters alike. In addition to having simple access to services like Spotify, users also get limitless hosting, tools for promoting their podcasts, and more. Anchor made sure to follow Spotify's recent rollout of video podcasts on their platform. Since Riverside and Anchor have a partnership, you can easily record your podcasts on Riverside and distribute them directly to Spotify using Anchor.
Acast
For a free plan, Acast offers quite a lot of features. You get unlimited hosting in terms of episodes, downloads, and bandwidth, but can also create a website and podcast player. Furthermore, you can also get access to your podcast’s analytics. If you’re looking for all-around podcast hosting features, this might be the free podcast site for you.
Podomatic
For podcasting beginners, Podomatic is a pretty good starting point. You can record and produce a podcast using their mobile recording app, and it's relatively simple to use. Although their free plan is quite basic compared to other podcasting platforms, Podomatic is a decent place to start. They offer up to 500MB of storage, 15GB of outbound bandwidth monthly, up to 60 hours of episodes, and provide daily podcast analytics to track its performance.
Soundcloud
Technically, Soundcloud isn't a platform specifically for hosting podcasts. Although Soundcloud is more of a streaming platform, you can still broadcast your show there and even monetize your podcast using its features. However, only a few hours of recordings can be uploaded in their basic plan, but you can still access analytics and other tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I host a podcast for free?
Yes, you can! Listed above are some of the best free podcast hosting providers that you can try. Just read their brief overview to decide which podcast platform is best for you.
What podcast platform has the most podcast listeners?
Mainstream podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast, Youtube, and Stitcher garnered the most podcast listeners. Some of the aforementioned podcast hosting providers allow for direct distribution of your podcast to these popular podcast sites.
Which podcast platform is the best?
The best podcast platform is for you to decide once you have assessed each of them. Every podcast hosting platform has features that are distinct from their counterparts, and they have varying basic plans that you can try too. Depending on which platform suits you the most, shall you decide which podcast platform is best.
Conclusion
Planning, creating, and launching a podcast is definitely not an easy task. In addition to a solid strategy, you will need a reliable podcast hosting platform so you can connect with your target audience and monetize your content. Thus, seeing the need to provide you with a list of possible podcast hosting sites that you can use.
Regardless of your niche, those mentioned podcast hosting platforms will guide you to meet your specific needs. Also, you can seek help from a podcast manager to make your podcast journey as smooth as possible. We might just have one for you!