Guides

Best Podcast Hosting Platforms (and Which to Avoid)

There are many podcast hosts to choose from, and the right one depends on the size of your show, the analytics you need, how you sell ads and how much support you expect. Competition is good: it gives podcasters better features, service and pricing. We have worked with several major hosts, and this guide explains where each one has fit best for our clients and network.

Reviewed July 2026: Hosting features and prices change frequently. Treat the comparisons below as our practical experience, then verify current plans directly with each provider before moving a show. We have not tested every host, and we prioritize providers offering IAB Tech Lab-compliant measurement.

Spotify for Creators (formerly Anchor) –

Update: Anchor has since been rebranded by Spotify — it’s now Spotify for Creators. The free hosting described below is the same product under Spotify’s current name.

Spotify for Creators is a strong starting point for many new and independent shows. It is free, approachable and tightly integrated with Spotify, although larger shows may eventually need the deeper controls, support or advertising tools offered by a paid platform.

• Free hosting: It removes a recurring expense while a show is finding its audience.

• Spotify integration: It provides a direct workflow for publishing and managing video podcasts on Spotify. Availability and requirements can change, so check Spotify’s current creator documentation.

• Ad Marketplace: Not only is Anchor free they even try and help you make money with your podcast. Many paid hosts do not provide this.

• Interface: Anchor has a sleek, modern, easy-to-use interface, with a great website and dedicated apps for your smart devices.

• Customer support: Our past support experiences have been helpful, but a free product may not provide the response times or account management a large network expects.

• Advanced measurement: Large shows and advertisers may require tracking and reporting options beyond the standard creator dashboard. Confirm the current measurement features before committing a high-volume show.

Megaphone

Megaphone is Spotify’s enterprise-oriented platform for established publishers and networks. It has offered sophisticated analytics, advertising and team controls, but it is generally more platform—and cost—than a small independent show needs. Access and pricing are sales-led, so request a current quote rather than relying on an old monthly figure.

• Analytics: Megaphone has offered detailed publisher analytics in our experience. Confirm its current reports against the measurements your advertisers and team require.

• Tracking integrations: It has supported multiple measurement integrations for our network. Ask Megaphone which pixels and attribution tools are currently supported.

• Ads Marketplace: Megaphone can dynamically fill eligible inventory. Revenue share, eligibility, brand controls, and rates are contractual and should be confirmed directly.

• Network Ready: This is the best host we have found for giving people access to specific things for your podcast(s), meaning you can grant someone access to solely view analytics, post episodes, etc. You can also easily publish multiple podcasts.

• Price: It was one of the more expensive platforms in our experience. Current pricing depends on the publisher and should be confirmed with Megaphone.

Spreaker

This host is owned by iHeart with plans for individual podcasts or podcast networks. This is the host we are currently using for our podcast network. We’ve found them to have a good combination of features we use as well as affordable pricing.

• Price – Although it is not free, they have a single pixel tracking, IAB 2.1 Analytics, and allow us to give multiple users access to their podcast.

• Ads Marketplace: If you don’t have any live reads for an episode they will insert low-CPM ads into your episodes for you. Again, modest per-download money that adds up. They take a cut of the ad revenue.

• Support responsiveness has varied in our experience, even on a high-tier plan.

• Only individual pixel tracking.

• Not much customization for different types of users. We would love to give each podcast host the ability to track how much money they are making off their ads.

Blubrry

This host’s been around a long time. We have even seen the founder answering questions in podcast facebook groups. Although it is not the cheapest, we found Blubrry to offer very unique customizations and integration with WordPress. We recommend Blubrry to individual podcasters looking for a premium host.

Buzzsprout — We previously had concerns about its default audio-processing options and the separation of some mastering features into a paid add-on. Check the current upload, encoding and mastering settings against the audio quality your show requires.

SoundCloud — It can distribute audio, but we would not choose it as the primary host for a business-focused podcast without first comparing its podcast analytics, advertising, team access and support with dedicated podcast-hosting platforms.

---

← All articles