For a free platform, Anchor.fm offers more than enough features. But if you need more control, more flexibility in editing, and more features, you could use some Anchor.fm alternatives.
The Anchor.fm alternatives I review in this article have everything you want, from basic features like podcast recording, customization, and automatic submission to directories to supplementary features like social sharing, statistics, a personal podcast website, and a lot more.
Let’s take them one after another.
What are the Best Anchor.fm Alternatives?
Here are the handpicked best 10 Anchor alternatives.
1. Podbean: the overall best alternative to Anchor.fm
Podbean is a podcast hosting site with a suite of solutions to help businesses and individuals create, distribute, and monetize podcasts.
If you are looking for a podcast hosting platform that takes care of all aspects of your business needs, including monetization, integrations, and customization, Podbean is for you.
Let’s discuss some top features of Podbean.
Features of Podbean
Here goes:
Audio and video hosting: Podbean hosts all types of podcasts, including audio files and video content. One of the limitations of Anchor.fm is that it doesn’t support video podcasts. Podbean eliminates such limitations.
Unlimited storage space: The storage space for hosting and the bandwidth for downloading on Podbean are both unlimited. Because of this, there is no limitation to how many podcasts you can host and how many downloads listeners can make.
Branded domain integration: Instead of hosting your podcasts on a domain that has a name that doesn’t relate to you, Podbean allows you to use your own branded name as your podcasting hosting domain. That way, you can increase your legitimacy in the eyes of your audience.
Scheduled publishing: Podbean allows you to schedule your publishing for a later, designated time. You can also set a fixed time for all your content to go live, regardless of when you posted it.
Email list building: Podbean integrates with Mailchimp. This allows you to automatically share your content with your email list, or grow one if you don’t have any.
Social media auto-sharing: It also integrates with social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This serves as an avenue to promote your content to your social media fans and followers. It also integrates with YouTube and WordPress.
Statistics: Podbean comes with analytics to help you measure your progress over time. On it, you can see the number of downloads you have, the number of subscribers, the number of new listeners, and much more.
Live streaming: You can also live stream your podcast using the Podbean app. During this live streaming, listeners can leave comments and let you know their opinion. This will foster deeper engagement between you and your listeners. The app is available on both iOS and Android.
Monetization: Podbean allows you to monetize your podcast through different means of monetization. Some of the monetization options include premium subscriptions, PodAd, Patron for Podcasters.
Pricing
Buzzsprout has a 90-day free trial that lets you upload two hours of content every month. This will also give you access to all features except monetization, although they will be deleted in 90 days.
To get three hours of upload per month, it costs $12. You can upload more hours if you want to, and each extra hour will cost you $4.
For six hours of uploading, the cost is $18 per month. Any extra hour will cost you $3 each.
For 12 hours of uploading, the cost is $24 per month, while any additional hour costs you $2 each.
Pros
- It’s affordable
- It has unlimited storage
- It supports video podcasting
- You can create multiple channels
- It supports multiple admins
Cons
- Their customer support can sometimes be a pain in the ass, but not always.
2. Buzzsprout: the most automated among Anchor.fm alternatives
Buzzsprout is a podcasting platform for businesses, entrepreneurs, and professional broadcasters.
As one of the most popular podcast hosting sites, it offers the easiest ways to get things done by focusing on automation. It’s also one of the easiest platforms to make money on as a podcaster because it allows you to monetize from day one.
Features of Buzzsprout
Here, we’ll assess the best features of Buzzsprout.
Automatic episode optimization: As I said earlier, Buzzsprout focuses on automation and speed. And this automatic episode optimization is one of the areas it showcases that. It automatically sorts out ID3 tags, file type adjustments, and many things, automatically. And all you have to do is upload.
Podcast analytics and stats: Buzzsprout also gives you one of the most advanced stats I’ve seen on any podcast hosting platform. This tells you everything you need to know from the number of downloads to regions of the listeners to time, and so much more.
Transcription: Buzzsprout also offers automatic transcription of your episodes. Needless to say, this has a lot of benefits to it, including the opportunity to reach a wider audience and optimize your content for search engines to rank on Google.
Magic mastering: this is a feature that’s exclusive to Buzzsprout and what it does is filter your voice and make it sweeter, match it to the industry standard to make it appealing to your listeners, and suggest music you can add to suit your audience’s needs.
Visual soundbite: the visual soundbite help to augment your listener’s experience by displaying visual soundbite on their screen. This can also be displayed when you are sharing your episode on social media.
Podcast listing: you’ll have your podcast listed in all popular podcast directories.
Pricing
The basic plan is forever free. It gives you five hours of storage space in total and 100 MB of bandwidth.
To get unlimited audio and unmetered bandwidth, the subscription will cost you $9 per month. This also comes with a lot of other features, including the opportunity to monetize through all the monetization options.
The unlimited plus plan comes with everything in the previous plans and supports video podcasting. This costs $39 per month.
The last one is the Network Plan, which is for large teams and anyone running multiple podcasts. With this, you can add team members and create as many channels as you want. This costs $99 per month.
Pros
- Great automation
- Great customer support
- Easy to use
Cons
- There is a limitation to how many podcasts you can upload
Personal recommendation: I think Buzzsprout and Podbean are the best Anchor.fm alternatives and you should try them now.
3. Transistor
Transistor is a podcast publishing platform that helps you distribute your content to podcast directories. Unlike the two previously reviewed Anchor.fm alternatives, Transistor doesn’t have a lot of features and you can’t record on its platform,
It also doesn’t support live streaming, but it has its own perks. Let’s have a look.
Features of Transistor
These are the top features of Transistor.
Advanced analytics: Aside from helping you to distribute your content to podcast directories, another thing Transistor helps you with is knowing how your podcast is faring, through an advanced analytics report. It’s really comprehensive stats that show anything from the listener’s region, downloads, and time of engagement to metrics comparisons and a lot more.
Automatic update on Twitter: Transistor also automatically tweets your new episodes on your Twitter account to raise awareness and let your followers know you’ve uploaded new content.
Multiple profiles: you can create different profiles for other people who contribute to the creation of your podcasts. You can also add people to your show simply by tagging their Twitter handles.
Pricing
For $19 per month, you can create unlimited podcasts on Transistor and use other features, such as advanced analytics, a podcast website, adding two team members, auto-posting on Twitter, and a lot more. It supports 20,000 downloads per month.
The professional plan, which is the second plan, costs $49 per month. This comes with everything in the basic plan and lets you add five team members, instead of two. It also supports dynamic ad insertion and auto-post to Twitter. This supports up to 100,000 downloads per month.
The business plan costs $99 per month. It comes with everything in the previous plans and lets you add ten team members. It supports up to 250,000 downloads per month and lets you remove their branding from the podcast players.
Pros
- Ease of use
- Unlimited hours
- Lots of downloads for lesser price
- Affordable
- No extra cost
Cons
- Not enough automation
4. Captivate
Captivate is a podcast hosting site that focuses on usability and visuals. It helps professional podcasters get started, grow their podcast, and monetize it.
Below, we’ll discuss the features that make Captivate tick.
Features of Captivate
Here are the features of Captivate:
WordPress plugin: Captivate allows you to build a good podcast website on its platform. This website has three fine templates that you can adopt. However, if you want to take things a notch higher and use a separate website,it can also synchronize with your WordPress site.
Analytics: Like many of the Anchor.fm alternatives we’ve reviewed, Captivate also comes with advanced analytics. This gives you stats on everything you need to know to grow your podcast further.
Growth Labs: Growth Labs is a Transistor group for all its subscribers, where they can help one another grow. It contains free resources, experts, sponsors, and everything you need to get your podcast to the top. In short, it’s a repository of everything you need to succeed.
Zapier integration: Transistor also integrates with Zapier. This enables you to link your favorite apps together and improve your workflow.
Set a default publish time: You can create your episode whenever you want and direct Transistor to publish it at a specific time. There are many reasons you may do this; perhaps that default time suits your target audience, that’s when you get the most engagement, or whatever the case may be.
Captivate Pricing
Personal: This costs 17 euros per month, and allows unlimited uploads and 12,000 downloads per month. It supports automatic upload to all popular podcast directories, analytics, and a lot more.
Professional: This plan costs 44 euros per month, comes with everything in the personal plan, and supports up to 60,000 downloads per month.
Business: This costs 90 euros per month. It gives you access to all available features and allows up to 150,000 downloads per month.
Pros
- Zapier integration
- WordPress synchronization
- Automation
- Customizable team roles
- Access to private podcasting
- Growth Group
- Unlimited uploading hours
Cons
- There are no monthly subscriptions, only yearly
- Trial time is a bit short
- Opportunity to grow an email list
5. Spreaker: the best of Anchor.fm alternatives for monetization
Spreaker is a podcasting platform that’s focused on monetization. It’s the only podcasting platform that allows you to make money from day one, whether you are a beginner or already have an audience.
Let’s assess the most important features of Spreaker.
Features of Spreaker
Here are its topmost features:
Podcast recording app: The podcast recording app comes with all sorts of tools to help you record a podcast, mix it with different tunes or add background music, and live stream. You can also invite guests to join you live.
Enterprise podcasting: If you are part of a large team and run a big podcast or podcasting network, Spreaker has a feature entirely dedicated to you. This allows collaboration between you and your teams even if you are not in the same location.
Monetization: Spreaker is built not for mere passion but for those who want to make money from podcasting. If your goal is to make money from your podcast from the get-go, without the stress that comes with it, then Spreaker is the best fit for you.
Pricing
Spreaker has a funny way of naming its pricing plans. Here are the pricing plans and their costs (don’t laugh too much):
Free speech: this is the free plan, as you’ve probably guessed from the name. This is always free and allows up to 10 uploads.
On-air Talent: It’s the first paid plan and costs $8 per month. This gives you 100 hours of storage.
Broadcaster: For $20 per month, this will give you access to statistics, 500 hours of upload, and in-app support. It also gives you access to everything in the previous plans.
Anchorman: This costs $50 per month. It comes with all the features in the previous plans, allows 1,500 hours of upload, and has customizable player colors.
Publisher: It costs $120 per month. It gives you everything in the previous packages and more features, such as an ad campaign manager and priority support.
Pros
- A great monetization strategy
- The ability to grow
- Enough storage space
- Easy to use
- Supports large teams
Cons
- There can only be one admin
6. Podcast.co review
Podcast.co is a podcast hosting site for brands, content creators, and publishers.
It’s a versatile platform that all sorts of podcasters can use, irrespective of their goals. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some limitations, but its features are broad.
Let’s discuss them.
Features of Podcast.co
These are the major features of Podcast.co:
Podcast transcript: if you want all your episodes to be automatically transcribed, then Podcast.co can help you. This is useful if you want English speakers worldwide to understand what you are saying regardless of where you are from.
Visual soundbites: Visual soundbites are a plus and are useful if you want to keep your audience engaged and avoid boredom. It also beautifies your podcast and attracts listeners.
Integrations: Personally, this is one thing I like the most about Podcast.co. The number of platforms it integrates with is surreal; from WordPress to Zapier to Slack to Facebook. It connects to just about any app you may want to connect it to.
Pricing
$19 per month: It supports one user, 150,000 downloads, and basic podcast pages.
$49 per month: It supports five users, 75,000 downloads, advanced podcast pages, and 500 private subscribers.
$99 per month: unlimited users, 200,000 downloads, 5,000 private subscribers, and advanced podcast pages.
Pros
- Endless integrations
- Easy switch to another hosting platform
- Creating multiple channels
- Fine landing page
- Easy podcast launch
Cons
- It could use more features
- You can’t grow an email list
7. RSS.com: the most elegantly designed among Anchor.fm alternatives
RSS.com is a podcast hosting service for different types of users. It focuses on great visual appeal, better customization, and perfect usability.
It’s one of the best Anchor.fm alternatives and is useful across different use cases. Below are its core features.
Features of RSS.com
These are the standout features of RSS.com:
Cross-platform analytics: RSS.com’s analytics is one of the most advanced on any podcasting platform. It reveals stats about numbers of followers, location of listeners, types of devices used to download your podcast, overall downloads and trends, episode downloads, and more.
Embedding episode player: It allows you to embed your podcast episodes into any third-party platform so that more people can listen and download.
Intuitive UI: RSS.com has a really intuitive UI that makes it easy for you to manage your podcast. In my experience, it’s one of the best platforms in terms of user interface. It isn’t only easy to use, but it’s also visually appealing and crisp.
Pricing
RSS.com offers different pricing plans that target different segments of users. It’s a way of ensuring that anyone with a passion for podcasting isn’t held back by money.
Here are the pricing plans for RSS.com:
Student and NGO: This costs $4.99 per month. This will give you
- Unlimited episodes
- RSS feed for your podcast
- Free website for your podcast show
- Episode scheduling
- Auto-submission to popular podcast directories
- Automatic distribution
- Social media sharing
And much more.
All-in-one podcasting: This costs $12.99 per month. This comes with every option in the previous plan and allows you to monetize.
Podcast network: To use this, you’ll need to discuss it with their team members.
Pros
- Very easy to use
- Good monetization
- Popular
- Intuitive design
- Straightforward pricing
- Discounts for students, educators, and NGOs
- Good customer service
Cons
- I don’t know of any cons
8. Castos
Castos is a podcasting platform for low-budget podcasters who want easy monetization opportunities.
If you are a newbie who wants to waste no time and start earning revenues from your podcast, Castos can make that possible for you at a very affordable rate.
To see if Castos is for you, here is a quick review of the best Castos features.
Features of Castos
They are as follows:
Unlimited podcast episodes: Irrespective of your subscription of choice, you can record an endless number of episodes on your podcast using Castos. This allows for more control, the opportunity to test things out, and put your creativity to use as much as you like.
Monetization plan: Castos allows you to receive monetary support from your listeners without taking any cut. It also supports other styles of monetization such as membership subscription and ad placement.
YouTube republishing and automatic transcription: This is one of my favorite things about Castos podcast hosting providers. If you hope to reach more audiences than what’s generally available on other podcast hosting providers, you can use this feature to repurpose your content for YouTube. The interesting thing is that this is automatic, that is, just set it and forget it.
Castos pricing
The starter plan: This costs $19 per month and allows you to create unlimited podcasts and episodes. It also gives you analytics and permits up to 100 private subscribers. This also allows up to 20,000 downloads per month. With all these at this moment, it feels like a steal to me.
Growth: This costs $49 per month. It allows up to 75,000 downloads per month, 250 subscribers, and republishing to YouTube.
The pro plan: This costs $99 per month and allows private membership of 500 subscribers, 200,000 downloads, and video file hosting.
With the final plan, which costs $499 a month, the possibilities are endless.
Pros of Castos
- Easy monetization
- Ease of use
- Affordability
- No hidden plans
- Pricing stability
- Integration with WordPress
- Professional website
Cons of Castos
- The private member susbcription is too strict
- No integration with social media platforms
9. Libsyn
Libsyn is one of the easiest-to-use podcast hosting platforms on the web. It enables you to record your podcast on its platform, edit it, design it, distribute it, and monetize it.
What I like about Lisbyn the most is its simplicity or minimalism. Aside from having an intuitive user interface, it also doesn’t have too many features, thereby making it easy for you to know what you are signing up for.
Features of Libsyn
In summary, below are the important features of Libsyn.
Built-in podcast recording: let’s just say this is overall the best thing about Libsyn. It has a built-in podcast recording tool that supports online recording, editing, designing, and uploading of your podcast irrespective of whether you are a beginner or a pro. This can help you cut down on the purchase of many podcasting tools as most of the job can be handled by some of the recording features on the platform.
Integration with podcast apps and directories: Libsyn prides itself on the great distribution of podcasts, allowing you to reach a wider audience and earn revenue. I wouldn’t say it’s the best podcast-distributing platform, but it certainly is a good one. Libsyn integrates with numerous podcast directories, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Samsung podcasts, and more.
Video hosting: Video podcasting is a big deal nowadays if you can do it well. Libsyn supports video hosting and this adds more credibility and interesting angles to your podcast.
Libsyn pricing plans
$5/month: this gives you 162MB of storage or three hours of upload for each month, unlimited downloads, and monetization through subscription and advertising.
$15/month: this gives you 324 megabytes or six hours of upload.
$20/month: this gives you 10 hours or 540 MB.
They also have a pricing plan that covers their video hosting.
Pros of Libsyn
- Wide podcast distribution
- Advanced Statistics
- Video hosting
- Marketing calendar and tools
Cons of Libsyn
- Poor storage
- Poor pricing range
10. Riverside.fm
Riverside is a podcast hosting provider that enables podcasters to create high-quality audio and video content.
Among other things, Riverside is the best Anchor.fm alternative for high-quality content and it rightfully prides itself on this. Let’s assess the core features of Riverside to see how it stands out from the rest.
Features of Riverside.fm
Here are the main features of Riverside.fm:
Local recording: This local recording feature allows you to record a disruption-free podcast from any of your devices including your smartphone. For example, your recording might freeze while recording on the phone if a call comes in when using other podcasting platforms. However, the local recording feature sees to it that that doesn’t happen on Riverside.
Livestream your podcast on social media: When recording your podcast, you can also broadcast it to your social media followers and friends to live stream. This includes Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Audio and video separate listing: Riverside gives you and your audience more control by displaying audio and video files separately. This allows them to select in what format they want to consume content and boosts your credibility.
Riverside pricing
Forever-free: This lets you upload two hours of content and test the tool out. Although it’s only two hours of content, it will remain on their platform for a long time, and you can always access it.
For $15 per month, you’ll be able to upload five hours of audio and video content each month. This also comes with live streaming to social media and screen sharing.
The pro plan costs $24 a month, supports 15 hours of content, allows live call-ins, and also gives you live chat customer support.
In my opinion, the two best Anchor.fm alternatives are Buzzsprout and Podbean.
Anchor.fm alternatives: Which is the Best?
To be honest, all the Anchor.fm alternatives here are awesome, but those two are my personal preferences based on my experience with them.
However, choosing the best one boils down to your jobs-to-be-done, that is, what are you trying to achieve with your podcast?
My own job is to review and let you see what each one of them has what you are looking for. If you are waiting for my recommendation, I'd advise you to select between Buzzsprout vs Podbean.
