Castos: A Libsyn Alternative

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

Looking For A Libsyn Alternative? Meet Castos.

On the surface, it appears Castos and Libsyn 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 Libsyn is the best podcast host, keep reading. We’ll show you how our features and costs compare to help you make a decision.

Castos Features Compared To Libsyn

Castos is the best alternative to Libsyn 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 Libsyn and Castos compare.

We don’t have upload or file storage limits for any plan so you can podcast until your heart’s content. Libsyn doesn’t let you do that.

Every Libsyn plan includes limits on the number of MBs you can upload per month. Their most expensive plan at $40/month only allows you to upload 800 MBs per month. Want to experiment with longer episodes or a publishing more frequently? That may require purchasing additional upload hours or bumping up a more expensive plan.

Libsyn allows you to purchase additional 200MBs at $10/month but it’s only available for their top tier plans.

Castos doesn’t believe in limiting your creative process so all of our plans include unlimited uploads, podcasts, and episodes, period. Upload as many hours as you want and let your creative juices flow!

You’ll have the freedom to experiment with new concepts, host 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.

Our plans feature fixed prices or save more with an annual plan. Libsyn doesn’t offer annual cost-savings and you’ll have to pay more for additional features.

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

• Advanced podcast analytics
• A customizable podcast page that features your episodes in one place
• Automatically distribute episodes to every podcast directory
• Easy, one-click imports of any existing content

But we differ in one key aspect: price predictability. Libsyn Classic 50 Plan starts at $5/month, compared to Castos’ $19/month Essentials Plan. But here’s how you may incur additional costs using Libsyn:

At Castos, we don’t see the sense in penalizing you for creating more content or working across multiple podcasts. Launch your podcast with our Essentials Plan at $19/month or save $38 with an annual plan.

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

Libsyn 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 Libsyn 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 20K+ 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

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 Libsyn, 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 Libsyn, requiring you to do everything manually. For those repurposing a podcasts into video content, Castos’ automatic YouTube Republishing tool saves you time and headaches.

Already have a domain name for your brand? Castos lets you use your domain name for free. Libsyn charges extra.

Using your own domain name for your podcast’s RSS feed allows you to keep your podcast under one cohesive brand name. 

With Castos, that means your RSS feed will look like https://www.mybrandname.com/. Your branding stays consistent and all written, video, and podcast content is all in one place. This makes it easier for your fans to discover everything you have to offer.

With Libsyn, they’ll charge an extra $2/month for using your domain name. While the cost is nominal, why not enjoy this feature for free?

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 Libsyn, 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. 

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