If you’re new to the world of podcasting, you may be wondering how to effectively distribute your podcast. Well, for starters, you’re going to need a hosting platform that’s capable of delivering your podcast to the various podcast directories that are out there—such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify—and wouldn’t it be great if said hosting platform was available for free?
Best Free Podcast Hosting Platforms
While many podcast hosting platforms allow you to join free of charge, the features provided are often pretty limited unless you’re willing to upgrade to a paid membership. Still, there are some options that provide a decent amount of features and functionality for virtually no cost. Let’s take look at some of those platforms and discuss what free features are available, as well as what you get if you decided to upgrade to a paid membership down the line.
Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout is perhaps the most well-known and user-friendly hosting platform currently available. The company makes it super easy to publish and manage your shows, as well as track important metrics like audience reach.
With the free plan, you can upload up to 2 hours of content per month, get access to advanced analytics, and add an unlimited number of team members. The only major downsides to the free plan are that your episodes are only hosted for 90 days and you’re limited in terms of storage.
If you decide to switch to any of Buzzsprout’s reasonably priced paid plans, you’ll be allowed to upload more content and gain unlimited storage. Additionally, paid memberships mean your podcast episodes will be hosted indefinitely. On top of that, Buzzsprout will throw in a hosted website for you to promote your podcast and use it as a landing page. Finally, if you choose to spend a little more, you can also opt in for plans that include podcast mastering and even an AI Cohost, which helps you build out the details of your episode, such as giving titles ideas, writing episode descriptions, transcripts, social posts and more.
Podomatic
One of the better beginner-friendly options comes from the fine folks at Podomatic, whose free membership allows you to record and upload podcast episodes directly from your phone. This probably isn’t the right pick if you’re looking to distribute a professional-grade podcast, but if you’re not looking for anything fancy, Podomatic’s free plan lets you go from podcast recording to distribution in a jiffy.
With Podomatic’s free plan, you get up to 500MB of storage and 50GB of download bandwidth per month. You’ll also be able to upload up to 6 hours of content (or 20 episodes). For zero dollars down, you also get access to certain analytics, including performance tracking and number of downloads. It’s not the most robust feature suite out there, but it’s definitely a good starting point for beginners.
Podbean
Podbean is yet another platform that provides an all-in-one solution for your podcasting needs. Much like Podomatic, with Podbean’s recording app, you can record podcasts right from your phone. The company also features a music library and sound effects to integrate into your recordings.
With the free plan, you’ll get 100GB of bandwidth per month and 500MB (or 5 hours) of storage. As for uploads, free plan users can publish a maximum of 3 episodes a day (maximum file size is 100 MB). You’ll also score your own podcast website, which is a nice bonus, considering that other platforms, like Buzzsprout, require a paid subscription to offer this service.
If you’re willing to pay 9 bucks a month further down the road, you’ll get unlimited storage space and be able to upload up to 10 GB (100 hours) a month in addition to several other added features.
Spotify for Creators
Spotify has transitioned its podcasting ecosystem from Spotify for Podcasters to the newly titled, Spotify for Creators. It’s a free platform for both audio and video podcasters to grow, monetize and manage content on Spotify. But it also allows you to distribute to several other platforms. Given its detailed analytics and extremely easy to use interface, it’s an appealing option, especially for those who plan to produce video podcasts. It also offers you monetization options, like listener Subscriptions and the Spotify Partner Program, which lets you earn from both ads and Premium Spotify member revenue. Premium video revenue is based on how much people watch or listen to your videos. Which brings us to our next consideration…
Final Advice
Besides all of the basic factors, like storage, uploading capacity, analytics, distribution and ease of use, you may also want to think about podcast monetization down the line. All the above hosting platforms offer podcast monetization options, such as advertising, Patreon donations and avenues for marketing your own podcast. But again, for the most part, you will have to start paying up to get these extra features.
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