Podcasting is an effective way to coach, entertain, educate, and build an online community. But you must choose a reliable and safe podcast hosting solution to start creating podcasts, as your choice of podcast host determines how much content you can upload monthly and where your listeners can find your podcasts. It also determines how much you pay to create podcasts and how much you make from them. With so many podcast hosting platforms, you should understand what each offers to choose the best.
Buzzsprout is one of the popular podcast hosts, and has been active for the last 15 years. It offers a variety of features to help podcasters like you thrive. Among its rich feature sets is a podcast directory to distribute your podcasts.
We have created this unbiased Buzzsprout review to help you decide if it is the right podcast hosting platform for you. We’ll show you who the platform is best suited for, its podcast creation and distribution features, how to make money with it, its pros and cons, and how much it costs. Lastly, we will share the experiences of Buzzsprout’s existing users.
Let’s get started.
How Does Buzzsprout Work?
Buzzsprout is a hosting website for creators to produce and distribute podcasts to their listeners. It goes above and beyond to provide as much value to podcasters as possible — from step-by-step guides on using the platform to useful tools that make your podcast creation and selling easy. For example, unlike most podcast platforms, you do not need to manually submit your episodes to every platform to reach your listeners: Buzzsprout does it for you.
In addition, Buzzsprout provides real-time statistics, such as the total downloads and the platforms your listeners use to access your podcasts.
Buzzsprout also does not compress your audio, which might compromise the quality. Your listeners enjoy high-quality podcasts regardless of the platform they choose to access your episodes.
Buzzsprout is a favorite for podcasters. In August 2024, it had 120,571 active podcasts with 93,477,413 total downloads. Loren J, a current user, sums it up in his Trustpilot review of the platform.
Who Can Use Buzzsprout?
Buzzsprout is a versatile platform designed for a wide range of podcasters. Its simple interface suits beginners and tech-savvy users. Individual podcasters such as life coaches, teachers, motivational speakers, pastors, and corporate leaders, whether beginners or otherwise, can use Buzzsprout. It is also ideal for established businesses with many audiences on different podcast apps because it seamlessly distributes episodes to those platforms.
Creating a Podcast on Buzzsprout
Once you sign up for a Buzzsprout account, you can start creating podcasts. Buzzsprout provides you with the tools you need to become a successful podcaster, including:
Hosting for Your First Podcast Website
If you don’t have a website for your podcasts, you can use Buzzsprout to create one. Buzzsprout lets you customize your website url so your audience associates it with your brand.
You can use the site to host your episodes and their descriptions, trailers, chapter markers, and transcriptions of the episodes. You can also use the website to build a community and get subscribers.
In addition, you can add information about you and your co-hosts and ask listeners to follow you on social media. To increase engagement with your listeners, you can let them ask questions, leave comments, and provide feedback about your episodes.
Podcast Directory to Distribute Your Episodes
To reach more listeners, you should use podcast directories with millions of listeners. The good news is that you don’t have to leave the Buzzsprout dashboard to get your shows to major online podcast platforms. The “Directories” section provides detailed instructions on listing the episodes on major platforms.
The most popular podcast directories integrated with Buzzsprout for easy episode distribution include Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, YouTube Music, Audible, Castbox, iHeart Radio, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, Podcast Index, and Amazon Music.
Buzzsprout also allows you to share your content on social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook to reach even more listeners.
Plus, you can promote your episodes using email newsletters. Email campaigns provide a direct link to your audience without fighting with social media algorithms. Buzzsprout shows you how to create email newsletters in the Podcasting Q & A section.
Podcast Statistics to Improve Your Podcast Performance
Every podcaster wants to know how each episode performs to improve future content to match their audience’s preferences. Buzzsprout’s dashboard provides statistics to help you know the number of listeners each episode gets weekly, monthly, or yearly.
You can also identify the directories your podcasts are getting the most audiences and which devices your listeners use to access them. Other statistics include the location of your listeners. These analytics can help you align your episodes to your audience to expand your reach.
Magic Mastering Tool for Better Audio Quality
Audio editing can be a complicated process, especially for beginners. Buzzsprout streamlines it using a feature it calls Magic Mastering. Magic Mastering enables you to perform tasks that would be impossible without audio engineering skills. This feature allows you to optimize your recording through automatic edits, delivering better-quality sound. Magic Mastering lets you remove hissing and background noise and stabilizes the voice or music volumes.
This feature can help beginners make episodes as good as seasoned podcasters.
Visual Soundbites to Create Podcast Trailer
You can use this feature to cut out a juicy section of your podcast and create a short video to tease potential audiences into listening to your podcast. The video serves as a trailer and is a good way to ensure the audience listens to your long episodes. You can promote the trailer on social media and get even more listeners.
But how difficult is it to use the visual soundbites?
It is very easy to use; you only need to select the start and end of the soundbite and creatively manipulate the artwork to create an appealing podcast trailer. Trailers made with this Buzzsprout feature have high click-through rates and can increase the number of your listeners.
Chapter Markers for Your Audience to Navigate Easily
Experienced podcasters usually use chapter markers to allow listeners to navigate to their favorite topic easily. This gives them more control over the content, which increases audience retention. With Buzzsprout, you can add or edit chapter markers to ensure your audience knows what each section of the podcast covers. So you don’t have to worry about adding markers later during editing.
Auto-Transcription Tool to Create a Script from Your Episode
Many new podcasters think uploading their episodes and waiting for the audience to access their content is enough. But the extra steps some take to improve their podcasts separate effective from ineffective podcasters.
What if you can make it possible for more listeners to find your episodes on search engines? This is the work of the auto-transcription feature. It generates written scripts from your audio or video, which makes it easy to get an organic audience.
If you want to increase visibility on Google and other search engines, consider using the auto-transcription feature to write a script for every episode you upload. Plus, you can even sell podcast transcriptions and notes as digital products.
How does Buzzsprout’s Auto-transcription tool work?
Buzzsprout sends the episode you want to transcribe to Temi, a reputable transcription service provider.
Depending on the length of the episode, you will receive an email with the script from Temi after some time. Remember that Temi charges $0.25 to transcribe every audio minute. You might want to proofread and edit the script from Temi to ensure every word is correct before publishing the content on your website.
How Can You Monetize Your Podcasts With Buzzsprout?
Some people start podcasts as a hobby, but most do it to make money from the online audience they create. To earn from your podcasts, you need a podcast-hosting service that provides money-making avenues. Buzzsprout is one such platform. You can use it to monetize your podcasts through the following methods.
Buzzsprout Ads
Once you have published five episodes over 23 minutes long, you can enable Buzzsprout Ads. Buzzsprout will place relevant ads in your episodes automatically and start paying you.
The platform gives you control over how the ads appear on your podcasts.
Buzzsprout pays 2 cents per impression. To make $100, you need about 5,000 listeners.
Buzzsprout Subscriptions
Buzzsprout allows you to set up a subscription for your podcast in a few minutes. This monetization method provides your listeners a simple way to support your podcasts.
To set up your subscription settings, head to the “Monetization” page and click the “Subscription” link. After choosing a title, you will need to choose the subscription type.
Buzzsprout provides two subscription types:
- Recurring Support
- Premium Content
Recurring support allows you to receive monthly contributions from your listeners. In contrast, premium content allows listeners to support and access your show.
Your listeners can contribute $3, $4, $5, $8, or $10 monthly, and they can also stop at any time.
When your listeners subscribe, 85% of the revenue will be reflected in your Buzzsprout Wallet, while Buzzsprout takes only 15%. You can cash out through PayPal or apply it to your Buzzsprout monthly charges.
Sponsorships and Affiliates
Buzzsprout lets you partner with businesses and brands that want to reach your audience. You can either add your own sponsors or use Podcorn (an ad marketplace) to get one.
How much you earn varies depending on your agreement with the brand you are promoting. You can get paid in two ways:
- An agreed sum based on how many people listened to your sponsored podcast
- Commissions on purchases made through the brand’s affiliate links
However, you should only work with genuine brands in your niche to avoid ruining your reputation or burdening your audience with endorsements they don’t resonate with. For instance, if your podcasts discuss beauty and skincare, you can partner with supplement companies or skincare product businesses.
Apart from podcast monetization methods, Buzzsprout runs an affiliate program where you earn $20 if a person you refer subscribes to one of their paid plans. To get your affiliate link, go to settings, then locate “refer a friend”.
How Much Does Buzzsprout Cost?
Buzzsprout does not bill you based on the size of the files but on the upload hours. Here is what each pricing tier offers.
Free Plan
The free trial lasts 90 days and lets you upload up to 2 hours of audio. It gives you access to analytics and the ability to add unlimited team members. You have to upgrade to a paid plan to enjoy other features.
Paid Plans
$12/Month
This plan offers up to 3 hours of upload monthly, which means you can share weekly episodes of up to 45 minutes each. Additionally, you enjoy indefinite hosting for your episodes. If you upload more episodes beyond this limit, you add $4 per hour.
$18/Month
This plan gets you 6 hours of episodes monthly and all the other benefits of the lowest-paid plan. You can upload content above the 6-hour limit at $3 per podcast hour.
$24/Month
The highest tier of Buzzsprout gets 12 hours of monthly uploads. This program is suitable for professionals or businesses that publish daily episodes. If you run out of bandwidth within the month, you can upload more episodes at $2 per podcast hour.
Those who want to pause can use the Archive plan for $5/month.
Here’s a summary of the pricing:
- Free: maximum of 2 hours per month
- $12/month: 3 hours (additional content at $4/hour)
- $18/month: 6 hours (additional content at $3/hour)
- $24/month: 12 hours (additional content at $2/hour)
- $5/month: Archive plan for hosting existing podcasts
Buzzsprout’s Pros and Cons
Now that you know what Buzzsprout offers, let's review its pros and cons.
Pros of Buzzsprout
- The free plan gives you up to 2 hours of podcast audio for 90 days, allowing you enough time to try out the service and decide if it is a good fit for you.
- Easy to use with useful features like the Magic Mastering tool to enhance audio quality.
- Users can pause their paid plans if they want to step away without losing hosted episodes using the Archive plan.
- Buzzsprout is based on monthly fees, so you are not locked into long-term contracts.
- You can earn through sponsors, affiliates, subscriptions, and ads.
Cons of Buzzsprout
- After the 90-day free trial, you must upgrade to a paid or archive plan to avoid losing uploaded episodes.
- The free plan has many limitations, such as the 2 hours monthly upload and the inability to monetize podcasts.
- You lose the unused upload hours you paid for at the end of the month.
What Are Users Saying About Buzzsprout?
The majority of Buzzsprout reviews from existing users are positive. Here are the ratings from the leading user review sites:
- Trustpilot: 4.8/5 from 3201 reviews
- G2: 4.8/5 from 47 reviews
- GetApp: 4.8/5 from 749 reviews
Many customers appreciate Buzzsprout’s ease of use and editing interface. There are also many positive reviews regarding its customer service. For instance, according to Amy, a Buzzsprout user, the customer support team is happy to help and responds quickly to customers’ problems.
However, there are also negative reviews regarding various issues, such as Buzzsprout's lack of a yearly payment plan. In his review, Sanjay Jani talks of how Buzzsprout’s lack of a yearly plan inconveniences him and his company.
Tom Hanes, another Buzzsprout user, is unhappy with the 90-day free plan. According to him, the plan provides very basic services for a podcaster to evaluate adequately whether the platform is a good fit.
Buzzsprout’s Alternatives For Your Podcast
So, how does Buzzsprout compete with other podcast hosting providers? We have picked three alternatives to Buzzsprout and compared them to help you narrow down your options.
1. Buzzsprout Vs. Podbean: Which is Better?
Buzzsprout’s advantages over Podbean are its user-friendly interface and more podcast distribution channels.
On the other hand, Podbean’s advantages over Buzzsprout include more upload hours for the free plan, a mobile app, better analytics, and live chat support in the highest plan, Network.
2. Buzzsprout Vs. Anchor: Which is Better?
Another reliable alternative to Buzzsprout is Anchor. Anchor provides a feature-rich platform for recording and editing podcasts. It offers free hosting with unlimited storage, which is ideal for beginners who want to minimize costs.
However, Buzzsprout offers more features than Anchor. It has a better user interface, supports many audio formats, automatic audio optimization with Magic Mastering, and custom branding.
3. Buzzsprout Vs. Libsyn: Which is Better?
Buzzsprout users will likely enjoy its intuitive interface, which makes it easy to use. It also provides a one-stop platform for recording, editing, scheduling, publishing, distributing, and monetizing content.
Libsyn, on the other hand, offers value for money. For instance, the $15/month plan lets users upload 250MB of data per month, which is more than Buzzsprout offers for $18 per month: 6 hours (approximately 150MB).
Therefore, Buzzsprout has better features and usability, but Libsyn offers more value for money.
Looking to Make Money With a Podcast? Monetize With Whop
Whatever platform you choose to host your podcast, you need a robust, scalable way to monetize it. While ad revenue and sponsorships are a great way to make money with a podcast, the key to monetization is to diversify your revenue streams.
That's where Whop comes in. Whop is social commerce platform that has all the tools you need to create and monetize your digital content. With Whop you can make money from your podcast audience - create a premium paid community for listeners to discuss your episodes, host live Q and As via video calls in your whop, sell show notes and other digital downloadables. Your whop brings you closer to your audience, and in turn, helps you to make more money.
Getting started is free, and you can put your podcasts behind a paywall and receive subscriptions and one-time payments for your content. Once you start making sales you pay just 3% of your income to Whop, with no platform subscription fees.
Enjoy plenty of awesome features such as 24/7 excellent customer service and strong community support from other creators. It takes less than 10 minutes to get started. Start Selling With Whop to make money with your podcasts today.
FAQ
Does Buzzsprout Automatically Upload to Spotify?
Spotify only accepts RSS feeds submitted with a valid email address. Buzzsprout removed emails for privacy reasons but lets you add them back when submitting your episodes to Spotify. You can add the email to the “Directories” section by selecting “Email Verification” and following the prompts.
After 15 minutes, Spotify will recognize you have added an email, so you can now go back to “Directories” and select “Get Listed”. Your podcasts will be listed on Spotify after 24 hours.
What Happens After 90 Days on Buzzsprout?
Buzzsprout’s free trial hosts podcasts for 90 days. After 90 days, they are taken offline. But this does not mean they will be lost; you can recover them during the “safety net” period of 90 more days. You only need to upgrade to a paid plan and have them restored.
Who Is Buzzsprout’s Competitor?
Buzzsprout's top competitors include Anchor, Podbean, Libsyn, SimpleCast, SoundCloud, and Libsyn. These podcast platforms have many similar features and functions but also notable differences.
