Five of the Best Budget-Friendly Podcast Hosting Platforms Under $20
What’s holding you back from starting your first podcast? For some people, the hardest part is the tech: you’ve got a great idea, but no idea how to make it. As a podcast strategist and producer, I’ve worked with a few different platforms, but the amount of options can be overwhelming.
This article is a breakdown of my top five best podcast hosting platforms for $20 or less. This is perfect for creators launching their first show and small businesses looking for a budget-friendly host for a B2B podcast.
What is a Podcast Host?
Podcast hosts are like a show’s “home base.” This is where your recording is uploaded, and instead of having to go to each platform - Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Amazon Music, for example - you’ll only have to upload it once and it’s sent out to each via RSS feed, which is the central file that holds all of your podcast’s data.
A good podcast host helps you:
Store your episodes
Track downloads and engagement
Automate publishing
Montetize (if you want to)
Keep everything organized under one platform
You’ll still have to check that your RSS is correctly linked to each of your intended players. Buzzsprout has a blog that identifies the top directories as follows:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
YouTube
Amazon Music and Audible
Podcast Index
TuneIn Radio
Castbox
Pandora
iHeart Radio
Listen Notes
Once people pick their favorite podcast player, they tend to stay there, especially if they don’t feel tech-savvy. It’s important to find your audience where they are and keep things simple for them.
Pro Tip: Listen Notes is like a library search for all podcasts and is a fantastic place to find podcast guests.
Choosing the Right Podcast Hosting Platform
Before choosing your host, ask yourself:
How often will I publish?
How many episodes do I anticipate a month? How long are they?
Do I need a simple tool or team-based analytics?
What are my top performance indicators?
Each of these factors will help guide your decision, but note that one is not necessarily better than the other, and each offers its own benefit. Your job, then, is to define what benefits are the most impactful for your show or business. If your platform allows migration, you’ll be able to change your host as you build momentum or your needs change.
Five Podcast Hosting Platforms on a Budget: $20 or Less
Now that you’ve got a foundational idea of what you’re looking for in your podcast platform, here are five budget-friendly options to explore.
Buzzsprout – Best for Beginners
First launched in 2009, Buzzsprout has been around almost as long as podcasting and is considered by many to be the easiest way to host, promote, and track your podcast. Their website also offers a wealth of information, including blog posts covering the basics, editing, marketing, and other topics to support all levels of podcast creators.
Entry Price: Free for 90 days, then $19/mo. for 4 upload hours
Why it’s great: ease of use, robust customer service, easy podcast migration, get paid with Buzzsprout ads opt-in, automatic native transcriptions
Noteworthy feature: Magic MasteringTM to cut background noise and um’s and uh’s
Downside: Limited to 4 hours on the basic tier subscription and inability to host more than one show
Perfect for: A very beginner who wants to get started with an easy program that offers a lot of features for the price
My Favorite Tool: The Podcast Name Generator. It’s incredibly fun!
Podbean – Best for Growth and Monetization
Co-founded in 2006 by David Xu and Henry Zhang, Podbean aims to be a simple platform to publish, promote, and monetize your podcast. They are the leader in podcast hosting with simplified distribution to Spotify and Apple, among others.
Price: Basic plan is free forever with a 7-day free trial for premium features; $9/mo. for the Unlimited Audio plan
Why it’s great: Offers live (video) podcasting with audience interaction, hosts 150K+ podcasters with 14.9B+ downloads, offers private podcasting & enterprise solutions, great blog resources
Downside: The analytics are less robust compared to others at similar prices
Perfect for: Someone looking to immediately monetize their show and small organizations with a dedicated audience (church, nonprofit, education, etc.)
Standout Feature: Podbean’s sponsorship platform connects you directly with advertisers through dynamic or baked-in ads through PodAds campaigns, which auto-run ads targeted specifically to your audience and content.
Acast – Best for Turning a Hobby into Income
Founded in 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden, Acast’s main feature is dynamic ad insertion, allowing brands to connect directly with podcast listeners and supporting podcasters with over $470M in ad-based revenue.
Price: Free for the first 5 episodes, then $14.99/mo.
Why it’s great: One-click publishing to multiple directories, dynamic intros and outros that stay up-to-date, ability to host multiple podcasts
Downside: A bit complicated for a newbie and harder to cancel
Perfect for: A more serious podcaster (vs. a hobbyist or casual creator) with an existing audience and monetization strategy
Libsyn – Best for Long-Term Stability
Libsyn is a podcast hosting and publishing service provider founded in 2004. It offers one-click publishing for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, podcast websites, ad insertion and basic listener insights. The platform offers social scheduling, IAB verified basic stats, and podcast monetization as part of its basic plan.
Price: $7/mo. for 3 upload hours
Why it’s great: Advanced audience stats and insights including a worldwide map, custom date ranges, built-in branding with Canva for simplified podcast artwork, Snippets feature for recurring content
Downside: Adding video is an additional cost
Perfect for: A beginner looking for a deeper dive into the data
RSS.com – Best All-Around Value
Lauded by many reviewers as being super easy and fast to set up, RSS.com offers comprehensive podcast analytics including listeners across platforms like Apple or Spotify and their location, monetization features, and simple distributions.
Price: It’s free for 6 months if you’re migrating an existing podcast; $12.99/mo.
Why it’s great: Simple setup, clear analytics, and includes a free podcast website and domain
Downside: Doesn’t offer video hosting and is limited to MP3-only
Perfect for: someone looking for a one-stop platform with multiple features
Additional feature: PodViz is a free resource that converts audio-only episodes into YouTube videos.
Grow Your Podcast with Confidence
There are a wealth of resources found around the Web, especially on the podcast host sites themselves. Starting a podcast doesn’t have to break the bank: you can do so for under $20 a month! You can use your podcast as a platform to establish yourself as an industry leader in your space, explore a new hobby or interest, or just find community around a topic that resonates for you.
Are you ready to get started and need help building your podcast workflow? My podcast consultancy Audionerd helps creators and small brands launch, optimize, and grow their shows. I hope this post helps you in your podcast strategy, so stay tuned for more tools made simple.
