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Podcast Hosting
We conduct podcast hosting reviews for all of the popular audio podcast media hosting services out there.
What is a podcast media host?
It’s essentially a service provider with plenty of storage available, that is able to take the pressure of multiple people downloading your audio (or video) media files all at the same time. Why should you pay for podcast hosting? As we’ll find out in this episode, audio hosting online is not an easy and cheap process, but there are companies that make it accessible for a monthly or annual fee.
SoundCloud Podcast Hosting
There is a Pro plan with SoundCloud that will allow you to upload as much audio as you wish. Their podcasting scheme looks interesting, but it’s been in beta for ages and you have to apply and get accepted (not all do get accepted). SoundCloud is worth checking out if you want an “all you can eat” podcast hosting solution.
Squarespace
Squarespace podcast hosting is simple and easy. It’s probably one of the easiest podcast hosting solutions for complete beginners. They even have a simple tutorial on their help pages that will guide you through how to podcast with Squarespace.
Amazon Podcast Hosting
Amazon Web Services podcast hosting is something you could consider, along with other cloud file storage solutions such as Rackspace Cloud Files. Amazon S3 will allow lightning fast delivery of all your files, but be wary of your podcast becoming popular after a feature on iTunes, as you pay for every single download! It may be pennies and start out cheaper than other hosts with fixed plans, but it can all add up over time.
Weebly Podcast Hosting
Weebly gives beginner users the chance to create their own gorgeous website. They also include audio player capabilities in their Pro plan, which would allow the hosting and serving of an audio podcast.
Dedicated Podcast Hosting Companies
Twitter started as a podcasting company – heard that from Episode 2 of hearstartup.com.
You could choose to entrust you precious MP3 files to a company that does nothing else but host podcasts. Two of the biggest are Libsyn and Blubrry.
Libsyn has been in the game of hosting podcasts since the creation of podcasts. The team there know plenty about podcasting, and if you want a podcast media host where you can upload your MP3 files (via their web interface or FTP) and do the rest yourself, then you’ve found it. This option would be for more intermediate to advanced podcasters.
Blubrry is a slightly more expensive option than Libsyn, but you also get their premium podcast statistics in all plans, and they often reach out to podcasters and help them to find sponsorship for their shows.
I have a special promotional coupon that will get you 1 month of free hosting with Blubrry. You can use the code ‘mrc’ when signing up to try Blubrry free for your first month. I do not have the same deal available for Libsyn unfortunately.
Buzzsprout is the easiest way to host, promote and track your podcast.
Podcast Hosting UK
audioBoom is a podcast-hosting company based in the UK. They’ve recently changed their name and they are focused on making a great listening experience for users of the audioBoom app. If you’re looking for UK-based podcast hosting, then consider audioBoom.
The Best Free Podcast Hosting
Archive.org Podcast Hosting
This is one of the best free solutions for podcast hosting and it is completely free with no strings attached. Although you obviously have no control over how fast your media files are served, and indeed if they do stay there forever, as you’re not paying!
Don’t Use These Providers for Free Podcast Hosting
Dropbox
Dropbox for podcast hosting is really not a good idea at all. Dropbox was designed for sharing files between people and teams, but not for sharing files with the world.
Google Drive
Hosting a podcast on Google Drive is also not a very good idea – it’s fiddly to host a podcast on Google Drive, and not worth it. Dropbox and Google Drive will become a little upset if a file you have shared publicly gets a ton of downloads (as podcasts do), and may suspend your account! It’s also worth mentioning that dedicated podcast hosts will ensure that your files are served correctly for the best listening experience, even when the listener is streaming your MP3 file.
Web Host
Do not consider your own web host for podcast hosting. As great as Bluehost, HostGator and Dreamhost are, they are not designed for podcast hosting and you could have your account terminated or suspended if you serve large media files from your website hosting. This may change if you have a more expensive server plan (such as a VPS).
How About Live Podcast Hosting?
Google Hangouts On Air is fast becoming the best solution for hosting a live podcast (audio or video) that will be immediately uploaded to YouTube when you’re finished podcasting. You may then strip the audio from the video and upload it to an audio host too.
What About Video Podcast Hosting?
Video files are huge! There is no getting around it. You’ll pay plenty for hosting actual video files such as MOV or MP4. The best way would be to use YouTube or Vimeo, but if you really want to host video, you could consider a media host such as Libsyn or Blubrry.
What is the Best Podcast Hosting Site?
Our Recommendation: Spreaker
We host all of our podcasts with Spreaker and have done so since July 2013. They are a forward-thinking company based in Berlin, with affordable plans for beginners and advanced alike.
We’ve interviewed Francesco in one of MRC’s Podcast Episodes.
Spreaker makes it super easy to host your podcast media files while, at the same time, giving you complete control over ownership of those files and where you choose to publish them. That means you can add them to your WordPress site or any other external RSS feed.
The other benefit is that Spreaker comes with a ready and waiting community of over 3,000,000 users, ready to consume your content on Spreaker’s iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps. You can gain followers and interact with your listeners on the Spreaker platform.
Spreaker in iOS and Spreaker in Android.
Read my complete guide to podcasting with Spreaker.
Who do you host your podcast with? Let me know in the comments!
Hi Mike,
I try to get my podcast found where ever there is a community surrounding the host. For example I use Spreaker like you and I’ve been with them from the start. They even interviewed me once upon a time.
But for my iTunes feed I use Libsyn. Here are a few other places you can find Ms. Ileane Speaks:
SoundCloud
MixCloud
audioBoom
Thanks for the list of hosts! Chat soon.
Awesome list of essential places for podcasters to be Ileane. I didn’t think of Mixcloud for podcasting – that’s an interesting one!
Thanks for this episode, very insightful! I had no idea that that a solution to host multiple podcasts existed (Spreaker)…
Do you know if that work if I was running a podcast production service and wanted to host several client podcasts on one account?
I do have a different opinion about archive.org as a free solution – although I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the speed as well as saying that it’s a risky idea to host with them if they go out of business, my experience has been different – I haven’t been able to notice the difference in download speed between archive.org and other providers. For an example of a popular podcast hosted on archive.org, there’s the Daily Tech News Show by Tom Merritt https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/daily-tech-news-show/id790864884?mt=2)/.
As for whether or not they will be around for ever, archive.org been going since 1996 and you could say the same argument applies for any hosting provider – many paid-for solutions have folded and will continue to go out of business. I would suggest hosting your files on at least 2 servers (or backed up locally) at the same time to avoid this situation (using auphonic is a good way to make that process easy). So if, for say, you’re using spreaker, you could also back up files on archive.org for free, just in case.
Thank you for the comment Jonathan and it’s very interesting to hear your experience with Archive.org especially as a backup option. I agree that you should certainly host/backup in more than one place. I’m throwing all my raw and produced podcasts into a Dropbox for Business account which is great as I have few size restrictions.
As for Spreaker being a great place to host multiple client podcasts it’s possible although I’m not sure the user experience was created with that use in mind. You’d need one overall account which could be either your name or your company name and those clients would need to be OK with the idea that they’d essentially be visible under your brand name. Also, remember there is currently a maximum total hosting limit, on the top paid plan, of 1,500 hours which is plenty but it could fill up fast if you had a few hundred clients
Let me know how you get on Jonathan!
Thanks for clarifying that Mike, I’ve also followed that up with Spreaker and they agree that the clients podcasts would have to accept to be under your own brand name.
I also found some further discussion about Archive.org here, with a couple of points that hadn’t occurred to me before: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JeffreyPowers/posts/eocRaMW6n6o?cfem=1
That’s great to hear your confirmation. I will check out that thread too – looks like an interesting one – thanks Jonathan!