Podcast hosting · Recording · Switching
Pick your podcast tools by the numbers.
Hosts charge by downloads, private listeners, and seats. We price Transistor, Captivate, Castos, Riverside, and Descript at real audience sizes, straight from each company's public pricing pages.
Yearly hosting costat monthly downloads of
Cheapest plan that covers the audience, yearly billing, US list prices checked Oct 28, 2026. Castos plans have no download cap. Features differ by plan; each guide shows them.
The tracklist
Six guides to start with, each sourced and dated.
- Hosting & private feeds
Captivate vs Transistor (2026): Price at Every Download Level, Private Feeds, and Ads
Under 20,000 downloads a month: close to a tie. Transistor Starter is $190/yr; Captivate Personal is $17/mo paid yearly ($204/yr).
4 min - Switching hosts
How to Move Your Podcast to a New Host (2026): Feed Prep, the 301 Redirect, and Apple
Switching hosts doesn't cost you followers if you do two things: import from your old RSS feed, and set a permanent (301) redirect from the old feed to the new one.
4 min - Hosting & private feeds
Best Private Podcast Hosting (2026): Subscriber Limits and Cost at 50 to 3,000 Listeners
Best value for 500 to 3,000 private listeners: Transistor. Professional ($49/mo) covers 500 private subscribers and Business ($99/mo) covers 3,000, with unlimited shows…
4 min - Hosting & private feeds
Castos vs Captivate (2026): Unlimited Downloads vs Every Feature on Every Plan
Big public audience on a small budget: Castos. Every plan includes unlimited downloads, so Essentials at $190/yr covers a show with 300,000 downloads a month. On…
3 min - Hosting & private feeds
Transistor Pricing (2026): Starter vs Professional vs Business, Limits, and Add-Ons
Most new and mid-sized shows: Starter at $19/mo, or $190/yr, covers 20,000 downloads a month and includes unlimited podcasts and team members.
3 min - Recording & editing
Riverside vs Descript (2026): Recording Limits, Editing Hours, and Price per Plan
Recording interviews with remote guests is the main job: Riverside. Recording hours are unlimited on every paid plan, up to 10 people per session, with separate tracks…
4 min
Hosting & private feeds
What each host costs at your download and listener count
4 guides →Side BSwitching hosts
Move a show without losing followers
1 guides →Side CRecording & editing
Remote recording and editing tools, plan by plan
1 guides →How we research
Every guide is a research-based comparison of public information. We don't claim to have run these tools on a live show.
- Vendor pages onlyPrices and limits come from each company's own pricing, feature, and help pages.
- Real audience sizesWe price hosts at the same download and private-listener counts.
- Gaps labeledIf a page doesn't say something, we write "not listed" instead of guessing.
- Dated sourcesEvery guide links its sources with the date we checked them.