When you're thinking about the best place to host a podcast, there are plenty of options. They range from almost-free services upward to enterprise plans that come with cost more.
The solution depends entirely on your individual needs.
The choices come down to which features and functions you want.
Here are the most important factors to consider when you’re wondering how to start a podcast and where the best place to host your podcast is:
Reliability
Pricing
Storage space
Ease of use
Technical support
Publishing channels
Monthly upload and download quotas
Compliance with industry standards (iAB)
Marketing features
Monetization options
The right podcast hosting service
Here at ZenCast we provide all the nice-to-have features, and we offer the most affordable monthly plans.
Far beyond typical hosting services or free plugins, ZenCast offers
✔ A customisable and embedded player engineered to get you subscribers.
✔ Tracking for hosts & guests
✔ Analytics & insights into your audiences
✔ Tracking podcast reviews & rankings
✔ Technical help & business support
A Customisable and Embedded Player Engineered To Get You Subscribers
The ZenCast player is designed to get you more subscribers. It can help you achieve this in numerous ways, such as allowing you to custom select the color and design of your podcast player. Everyone loves a nicely designed show with a cool title, artwork, and an awesome description. Our player allows you to customize yours and make it unique.
More importantly, the ZenCast player is not only good-looking, but it is also intuitive and user-friendly. You have the large play/pause button, buttons for skipping back and forward, and controlling the speed and volume of the shows. There’s also the progress bar used for moving to any point of the show in one click.
Plus, if you have your own website, you probably want to embed the podcast player there. ZenCast allows you to do exactly this in only a couple of easy steps. Once embedded on your website, ZenCast player will automatically update as you add new content.
Tracking for Hosts & Guests
Not only does ZenCast allow you to upload and customize your podcast hassle-free, but you also get the ability to track your show’s rating in over 150 regional podcast directories. This way, you can find out what to work on to improve your show based on numerous reviews by people all over the globe!
ZenCast also gives you the ability to find out who your audience is and where you’re being listened to. Knowing where you’re being streamed will allow you to see whether you’re targeting the right market and help you improve your content accordingly. You can also work on distributing your podcast in places where you don’t have people listening to you, so you expand your audience.
Analytics & Insights Into Your Audiences
Having detailed analytics on your podcast is a crucial element of being successful. When you sign up for ZenCast, you will get an inbuilt set of detailed analytics, which will allow you to track everything that’s happening with your show. The feature is not only efficient, but also convenient and easy to use as you can access it via the dashboard.
ZenCast analytics allows you to check:
Daily downloads–This section lets you see the download number of recent episodes, download number per day, etc.
Performance of recent episodes–Here you can see how much your latest episodes have been listened to and downloaded.
Most popular episodes–Knowing which episodes have gone well with the audience allows you to provide them with more similar episodes, and ZenCast can help you with this!
Breakdown of episodes–In this section, you can see download numbers for all episodes, sorted by season, episode number, title, podcast, date, etc.
Listening methods–This section allows you to view which app you’re being listened to the most, on what device, and what operating system.
Downloads by location–Here you can see in which countries your podcast is being downloaded the most, this way you can target your audience better.
Technical Help & Business Support
Whether you’re a pro or just starting out, everyone can use a bit of help in their journey to success. That’s why ZenCast offers a help page where you can get advice and answers from our team of experts. Learn how to invite team members, add episode artwork, change your description, and more. You’ll also find detailed topics around analytics, account management, and troubleshooting.
You also have access to our handy blog, where you can read all sorts of articles that can help you on your journey to becoming a successful podcaster, such as:
ZenCast is the best place to host your podcast
You can Try it now with a free trial.
FAQ about how to start a podcast
What is podcast hosting and why does it matter?
Podcast hosting is about letting other people do what they do best, while you focus on doing what you do best.
Some people try to self-host using a DIY method. You could run your own server, write your own RSS feeds, and host the audio yourself.
However, you'll need to be tech-savvy. You must also be willing to spend time to update the RSS feed for each new episode.
It can take hours to manage, protect and upgrade your server. This is a continuing time commitment.
If that’s not enough to discourage you, there are legal issues because many hosting services won't allow independent media hosting.
Worst of all, the wrong host can seriously limit your growth.
Big marketplaces like Amazon Web Services (AWS) make it easy to set up and start podcasting.
But they always act as a gatekeeper between you and your listeners.
AWS charges for bandwidth, which means you'll pay a higher cost as the audience grows.
On the other hand, a dedicated podcast hosting service like ZenCast takes care of everything.
The only thing to do is record and upload your audio files.
Why do I need podcast hosting?
A podcast hosting service does a couple of important things. First, it's the place where you upload podcast episodes and store audio files.
Second, the hosting service is responsible for generating the RSS feed. This feed is submitted to directories such as Apple Podcasts and iTunes, as well as Spotify and other platforms.
These two important functions allow people to find and subscribe to your shows.
Podcast hosting is usually a subscription service. For a monthly fee, you can upload new episodes periodically.
A good podcast hosting service such as ZenCast offers extra features, like granular stats and analytics, marketing tools, websites and more.
What's the best podcasting platform?
ZenCast is the overall best platform to host, track and market your podcast.
✔ Connect with any device
✔ Easy tools
✔ Plenty of support
Can I host a podcast on my website?
We're often asked where to put a podcast. Of course, you can start by uploading to your own website. But we don’t recommend it because there’s an issue of bandwidth.
Audio files for a half-hour show can be fairly large, say 30 mb each for a typical episode.
If you have a few thousand downloads, the bandwidth requirements can outrun the willingness of an ordinary web host.
Although many web hosts claim they offer unlimited bandwidth, in everyday practice they work to identify and disallow the kind of volume you may need.
Or, they may charge a premium rate for commercial hosting services.
At ZenCast we're often contacted by fast-growing podcasters who were kicked off their ordinary web hosts, or compelled to upgrade.
Instead of hosting each episode yourself, simply upload it to ZenCast and embed the link into your website.
How much storage do I need?
The right amount of storage space is an important early consideration. Calculate how much space you'll need for audio and other content.
For example, let's say you're trying to decide between having a weekly hour-long show or a half-hour show for five days a week.
Obviously you'll need more storage for more total run time.
However, it's important to make sure the price of storage doesn't restrict your show.
That's one of the benefits of working with ZenCast – We offer flexible monthly plans with exactly the right amount of storage to fit any podcast.
Does download speed really matter?
Sometimes podcasting hosts highlight download speed as an advantage.
Yet, download speed generally doesn't matter.
Automatic podcast download features are readily available, so the shows can go to a phone anytime.
Or if listeners want to stream your show, they'll only need a tiny slice of bandwidth.
They can easily do this on most mobile networks.
Here's the bottom line: When choosing a place to host your podcast, overall platform reliability is far more important than download speed.
We’re proud to say that ZenCast is among the world’s most reliable podcast hosting platforms.
What is the price of podcast hosting?
Most podcasting host service providers have high prices. Yet we believe that prices should be low enough to let everyone podcast. ZenCast offers basic monthly plans starting at only $14 as well as professional focused plans.
You also have the option to try out ZenCast for 14 days, free of charge without submitting your credit card information and worrying about hidden payments. The process is simple and only requires a few easy steps.
If you’ve decided ZenCast is the best place to host your podcast, you have two subscription options:
Annual Subscription
Monthly Subscription
The annual subscription plan is best suited for those who want to pay a smaller price for one year and enjoy all the benefits of Zen Cast. There are three annual subscription plans:
Hobby plan–$12
Professional plan–$35 (you also get all the hobby features)
Plus Plan–$89 (you also get hobby and professional plan features)
If you want to try out ZenCast for a few months without getting an annual subscription, this option is for you. You can choose from one of the three subscription plans:
Hobby plan–$14
Professional plan–$39
Plus plan–$99
So, how much does it cost to host a podcast with ZenCast? As little as $12 per month! Be sure to check out our pricing page to learn more about the different features each package has to offer.
How do I get my podcast into Spotify, Apple and Google, and as many other platforms as I can?
At ZenCast we provide you with an RSS feed that can be used on all platforms and and we help your podcast appear in the largest number of directories including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.
The RSS feed allows you to embed your podcast to any website. All you have to do is copy and paste a single line of code to the desired place on a website, and anyone will be able to access your podcast.
Which hosting service has the most accurate statistics?
ZenCast is fully IAB compliant. We’re also the most transparent podcast hosting platform for reporting accurate statistics about downloads by showing which downloads are filtered and which are not.
We pride ourselves on helping new podcasters quickly rise upward in the rankings by relying on good marketing practices, without dirty tricks.
What about Vlogs or video podcasts?
Some people try video podcasting, or use video formats and YouTube to reach audiences.
However, vlogs or any other type of video production requires much more bandwidth, storage space, and technical skill.
It costs more.
That's why we always recommend starting with audio podcasting instead of vlogging. Not to mention, with an audio podcast, people are free to listen while doing other activities.
What kind of podcast analytics do I need?
You can use analytics to help grow your audience. ZenCast gives you smart analytics with powerful tools to learn more about audiences and quickly build more profitable content for them.
How can I earn money from podcasting?
The best way to monetize a podcast is by providing exceptional value to an audience.
It’s also important to build a large audience that will pay for the value they receive.
Skim through our article about growing an audience to learn more. [Link to article about growing the audience to 1000+ listeners]
Good marketing can maximize the revenue. When you’re ready to monetize a podcast, we’re here to help you earn revenues from multiple sources like advertising, sponsorship, affiliate marketing and more..
Learn how to monetize your podcast
What are the characteristics of a good podcast hosting service?
Friendly, efficient, affordable....
The best podcast hosts are like ZenCast. We provide fast, friendly support.
Most important, our pricing is affordable.
...and also tech-savvy
For our non-techie customers, we make complex issues easier to understand.
And for tech-savvy podcasters we offer powerful tools including analytics and APIs.
We're small enough to provide great service, yet large enough to offer all the features you want for hosting.
Whatever your goals may be, ZenCast gives you enough help to become successful in podcasting.
ZenCast is the best way to host your podcast
If you’re looking for the best place to host your podcast, look no further! ZenCast is efficient, easy to use, and highly affordable. It will only take you a couple of minutes to sign up and set things up, which means that you’ll have your show running in no time!
To top it all off, you will be able to grow your audience faster than ever as we’ll provide you with numerous features that enable you to scale your podcast!
So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, sign up, and start uploading your episodes–we can’t wait to check them out!