Castos: A Podbean Alternative

Researching your podcast hosting options and looking for a Podbean alternative? Do you want to see exactly how Castos and Podbean stack up? We’re giving you a straight-forward look at how Castos’ features compare to what Podbean has to offer.

Looking For A Podbean Alternative? Meet Castos

On the surface, it appears Castos and Podbean offer similar podcast hosting plans. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll notice a few crucial differences in our services. If you’re on the fence about whether Podbean is the best podcast host, keep reading. We’ll show you how our features and costs compare to help you make a decision.

Castos dashboard

Castos Features Compared To Podbean

Castos is the best alternative to Podbean for your podcast hosting needs. We offer additional features, straight-forward pricing, and the peace of mind that we’re committed to podcasters in the long run.

Here’s exactly how Podbean and Castos compare.

Manage Multiple Podcasts From One Account

Castos

Unique RSS feeds created for every new podcast series. Manage multiple podcasts from one account for a fixed price.

Podbean

Restricted to 2 podcasts within one account.

Feature only supported on the Business Plan, starting at $129/month or $1,188/year.

WordPress Plugin

Castos

Use Seriously Simple Podcasting to manage your podcast directly from WordPress.

Publish episodes, customize the embeddable player, and view analytics from one dashboard.

Podbean

Plugin only creates an embeddable player. Required to manage your podcast within the Podbean’s dashboard.

Automatically Convert & Publish Podcast To YouTube

Castos

Use Automatic YouTube Republishing to convert audio episodes into video files and publish them to YouTube.

Podbean

Manually publish podcast to YouTube. Podbean hosts video files on the Unlimited Plus Plan.

Episode Transcriptions

Castos

$0.10/minute, pay-as-you-go

Podbean

Feature not currently supported by Podbean.

Upload & Bandwidth Limits

Castos

Unlimited upload time, and unlimited Podcasts across all of our plans

Podbean

Unlimited upload time and bandwidth across all paid plans

Use Your Own Domain Name For RSS Feed Link

Castos

RSS feed URL can be based on your current domain name for free.

Podbean

RSS feed URL can be based on your current domain name across all paid plans.

Advanced Analytics For Every Plan

Castos

View listens by episode, geographic breakdowns, and listens by device and platform on every plan.

Podbean

View listens by episode, geographic breakdowns, and listens by device and platform on every paid plan.

No Credit Card Required

We let you host multiple shows for one low price so you can podcast until your heart’s content. With Podbean, it’s an expensive commitment.

Castos doesn’t believe in limiting your creative process so all of our plans include hosting multiple podcasts under one account, period. Upload as many hours as you want and rest easy knowing your audience will always be able to download your latest content.

You’ll have the freedom to experiment with new concepts, produce multiple shows, and podcast until your heart’s content with Castos. We prefer that you grow your podcast without worrying about limitations and unexpected costs.

With Podbean, you’re restricted to hosting a maximum of two podcasts within one account. But the worst part is the cost. Only available for their Business plan, hosting two shows with Podbean will cost you a whopping $129/month or $1,188/year!

You’ll also find similarities between Castos’ and Podbean’s plans. Each include:

Advanced Podcast Analytics

Castos podcast analytics

Customizable Podcast Websites and Themes

Automatic Distribution To All Major Podcasting Directories

One-click import of your existing podcast from Podbean

But we differ in one key aspect: price predictability. Podbean’s Unlimited Audio Plan starts at $14/month, compared to Castos’ $19/month Starter Plan. But here’s how you may incur additional costs using Podbean:

Podcasting Needs:

Publish 4x 60 minute episodes per month

Use your own domain name for RSS feed link

Castos Starter Plan

$19/month or $190/year

Podbean Unlimited Audio Plan

$14/month or $108/year

Podcasting Needs:

Manage two podcasts

Publish 2x 60 minute episodes per month per podcast

Castos Starter Plan

$19/month or $190/year

Podbean Business Plan

$129/month or $1,188/year

Podcasting Needs:

Publish 2x 60 minutes episodes per month

Republish podcast to YouTube automatically and host video files

Castos Growth Plan

Automatically republish your podcast to YouTube using a static background image.

$34/month or $340/year

Castos Pro Plan

Do you film while recording your podcast? Host your video and audio files with Castos and republish it to YouTube and WordPress.

$49/month or $490/year

Podbean Unlimited Plus Plan

$39/month or $348/year

Podcast files must be manually converted into video formats and uploaded to YouTube. Plan also doesn’t support embedding video files with Podbean’s WordPress plugin.

At Castos, we don’t see the sense in penalizing you for creating more content or for rapidly growing a huge following. Launch your podcast with our Starter Plan at $19/month or save $38 with an annual plan.

Whether you plan to start multiple shows or just want to experiment with new concepts, Castos supports your creativity.

Castos makes podcasting with WordPress seamless with our Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin. With Podbean, you’ll spend more time managing your podcast between two platforms.

Podbean has a WordPress plugin but it has limited features, only allowing you to embed a player on your website. You have to toggle between the Podbean dashboard and WordPress to publish a new episode to your website, adding unnecessary steps to your workflow.

With Seriously Simple Podcasting, you can manage your podcast directly from the WordPress dashboard you know and love. With robust features and an intuitive interface, there’s a reason over 30K+ podcasters trust Seriously Simple Podcasting.

Here’s everything you can do directly from your WordPress dashboard using Seriously Simple Podcasting:

  • Upload audio and video podcast episodes directly to WordPress
  • Files are automatically synced with your podcast hosting provider (like Castos)
  • Display podcast episode lists, single episodes, or playlists anywhere on your site
  • Change embedded player settings with customized colors and episode images
  • Feature custom subscribe links to any podcast listening platform
  • View episode analytics within WordPress dashboard

Tip

Learn how Castos and Seriously Simple Podcasting work together to make your workflow more efficient. No more toggling between multiple platforms so you can focus on the fun stuff.

Automatically republish your podcast to YouTube with Castos and be discovered by their 2 billion monthly users. And we’ll host both your audio and video files. With Podbean, it’s more complicated.

Many podcasters choose to film video while recording new episodes to repurpose their podcast for YouTube. With Castos’ Pro Plan, you can host your video and audio files for one low price.

If you haven’t started filming videos alongside your episode recordings, try our Growth Plan. Each time you upload a new episode to Castos, we’ll convert the audio files into a video format and add a static background image. Then we’ll republish the episode to your YouTube channel automatically.

Neither of these features are available with any Podbean plan, requiring you to do everything manually. Podbean is only capable of hosting the video files, so you’ll have to convert your podcast into video format, add a background image, and manually upload the video to YouTube. For those repurposing a podcasts into video content, Castos’ automatic YouTube Republishing saves you time and headaches.

Action

See how easy it is to set up Automatic YouTube Republishing with Castos’ Growth Plan.

Use Castos’ pay-as-you-go transcription feature and easily get a word-for-word transcript of your episodes at just $0.10/minute. With Podbean, you’ll have to pay for a 3rd party service.

Making podcasts accessible is a priority for our team, leading us to integrate with Rev for our podcast transcriptions. Easily transcribe each episode, download the PDF, and publish the them to your podcast’s website for your hearing-impaired or ESL listeners. As an added bonus, you’ll unlock SEO benefits and have an easy way to repurpose episodes into written content.

Transcriptions cost $0.10 per minute so a 30-minute episode will cost you $3. We’ll add these additional costs to your monthly or annual billing notice so everything is in one place.

Podbean doesn’t offer transcription services directly from your dashboard so you’ll need to pay for a 3rd party service or freelancer.

Action

See how easy it is to generate an episode transcription from your Castos dashboard.

Compare Castos With Other Podcast Hosting Providers