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Podbean
Podbean Overview:
What Is Podbean?
Podbean is a podcast hosting and monetization platform that provides users with tools to create, publish, promote, and monetize podcast content. The service features an interface for recording, editing, and distributing podcasts. It also includes monetization options like ad insertion, patron subscriptions, and an ads marketplace. Podbean provides website hosting, templates, and podcast statistics.
Who Uses Podbean?
Podcast management & live streaming solution designed to help businesses create and publish online podcasts, promote marketing campaigns, and live stream audio shows on a unified platform.
Where can Podbean be deployed?
Cloud-based
On-premise
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Overall rating
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Based on 26 reviews
Reviews sentiment
Positive
77%
Neutral
4%
Negative
19%
Starting Price
US$9.00
Per User, Per Month
Free trial
About the vendor
- Podbean Tech
Podbean support
- Phone Support
Countries available
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United States
Languages
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English
Compare with a popular alternative
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Podbean
US$9.00
month
Free version
Free trial
4.2 (26)
4.0 (26)
3.8 (26)
VS.
Starting Price
Pricing Options
Ease of Use
Value for Money
Customer Service
US$0.00
month
Free version
Free trial
4.1 (14)
3.8 (14)
3.8 (14)
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Capterra verified reviews for Podbean
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Overall rating
Based on 26 reviews
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Robert
Producer in Canada
Entertainment, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: Free Trial
"Podbean. A good starting point Not sure about things after that"
August 16, 2024
It was promising until I found out I can't schedule a launch. I get the free package should be limited but that's a pretty big limitation
Pros:
Easy to use and free program for hosting. If we grow our podcast to the point where we can pay a monthly subscription I'll be checking back in on them
Cons:
Can't schedule podcast launches ahead of time
Reviewer Source
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Greg
Content Creator in US
Religious Institutions, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
"Crippled Entry Level Packages"
March 12, 2025
Good if you don't need any assistance. Support can take a while and some of the features are crippled in the lower cost packages to incentivize you needing to pay more to fix the problem.
Pros:
Not a bad podcasting platform but they cripple the low end offerings to try to persuade customers to upgrade to the more costly packages.
Cons:
Crippled website at the lower cost packages. There's no reason for this other than to try to get the person to upgrade. You'll have to buy the video podcast package even if you don't do videos if you want to be able to white label your podcasting site.
Reviewer Source
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Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Marketing & Advertising, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
"Podbean"
July 21, 2022
It's a perfect experience overall from the beginning till now.
Pros:
Podbean is an absolute wonder to our podcast hosting. We just started our Podcast "The Maven Show" and it's been amazing so far.
Cons:
It's great and amazing so far and has no cons as per us.
Reviewer Source
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CharRon
owner in US
Broadcast Media, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
"Podbean give my podcast power"
October 9, 2021
Podbean allows you 2 hours of free podcast time to try out podcasting and only $9 a month / $108 annual plan is pretty good.
Pros:
I enjoy the third party integration. I am able to setup Mailchimp, Auphonic, and Resonate immediately after I upload a episode. I am glad of all the streaming service provider that are at my disposal. They even have tutorials on how to set them up. I am starting to use the live streaming program for my movie viewing .
Cons:
Since Anchor has landed, it is a hard sell to new customers that don't see podcast as a long process to use. But I understand that I still have ownership of my episode when I move podcast hosting sites. I do wish that patreon was a free addon to the basic plan.
Reviewer Source
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Noah
Creative Mind in US
Media Production, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
"Podbean | Podcast Hosting in a Simple Way"
June 13, 2022
My Podbean experience has been, overall, positive. I used them from 2018-2022 before switching to a host that provided more at a lower price. I enjoyed how easy-to-use Podbean was, and how it felt so different and customizable compared to it's competitors. This is truly a great place for new podcasters looking to get their feet in the water, and don't know how to deal with all the functions that go into podcasting (IE how to submit RSS feeds, website design, and social media).
However, I have dove into the deep end and began looking to branch out my creative endeavors, and I've learned quite a bit about "manual" podcasting. Podbean has a lot of automation, and thus I left when I was ready to take away the automation.
Pros:
Podbean was my podcast host for years before I eventually left. The positives about Podbean are that they:
Have easy distribution, allowing podcasts to be distributed to podcatchers within a matter of days
Post customizability. Episode have the wrong MP3? Wrong cover art? Need to change a description? In a matter of clicks, you can easily change what you need.
Interface. It wasn't until I switched hosts that I realized how much I miss the Podbean interface. It's easy to navigate, and doesn't take long at all to find what you need.
Comments and podcasts. The Podbean website is set up in such a way that you get notifications for new subscribers or comments, and you can easily find podcasts for certain categories, even smaller podcasts. I feel that this encourages smaller creators to keep creating, because it really isn't too hard to discover them.
Cons:
I left Podbean because a new competitor, Disctopia, offered more of what I wanted for less of the price.
I was on the first paid subscription to Podbean, which allowed for some template-style customization. I wanted to make an entire website, and I kind of did. Unfortunately, the customization at the lower tier for websites is pretty bad, using a lot of coding and drag/drop templates to design a website. Granted, Podbean never claimed to be a website designer. In fact, they boast Wordpress/blog style feeds, making it easier for content creators to post. This was a turn-off for me, but may be great for others.
Live-streaming. Oh boy. My cohosts and/or guests had to dial in using their phone, the audio quality was awful, the chat interface was great (as long as you had a Podbean account). I was so excited for this feature, but it just doesn't stand up to it's competitors in terms of usefulness. Used it once, then immediately switched to a different livestream website.
Multiple podcasts. On my subscription, I couldn't start another podcast. I'd have to upgrade to be able to, but competitors offered multiple podcasts at a lower rate. This was the main reason I left. As I've crafted a business, I need to be able to host multiple podcasts for multiple clients. Podbean's tiers started jumping up.
Customer service. It's not bad, but every time I needed help I was pushed off to a "how-to" video somewhere on the internet. Sometimes it helped. Sometimes I was frustrated.
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