Table of Contents
- Podbean Review – Free Podcast Hosting Service
- Features of Podbean
- Benefits of Podbean
- Quick Publishing
- Free Website
- Podbean Application
- Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Podbean
- Pricing
- Podcast Analysis
- RSS Feed
- Monetization
- Storage Space
- What Do the Customers Think?
- Best free podcast hosting platform
- SoundCloud Review – Free Podcast Streaming & Hosting Service
- Features of SoundCloud
- Benefits of SoundCloud
- Find Sponsors
- You Don’t Have to Lose Your Statistics
- Easy to Use
- Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy SoundCloud
- Pricing
- Podcast Analysis
- RSS Feed
- Monetization
- Storage Space
- What Do the Customers Think?
- Free Podcast Streaming & Hosting Service
- Podbean vs Soundcloud – Buyers’ Guide
- Subscription Pricing
- Podcast Analysis
- RSS Feed
- Monetization
- Storage Space
- Embedded Functions
- Podbean vs SoundCloud – Final Verdict
There are a number of podcast hosting software to choose from. However, our top pick is Podbean and SoundCloud.
The best part about these podcast hosting platforms is that you can monetize your content and increase your brand recognition at an affordable price.
Before you pick the best podcast host for your online business, read this guide carefully. We have included a side-by-side comparison so you can make an informed decision.
| Features | Podbean | Soundcloud |
|---|---|---|
| Monetization | 4.3 out of 5 stars | 4.0 out of 5 stars |
| Price | 4.4 out of 5 stars | 4.3 out of 5 stars |
| Ease of Use | 4.5 out of 5 stars | 4.6 out of 5 stars |
This article Podbean vs SoundCloud will help you settle the debate on which podcast host is the best for your online course creation business.
Podbean Review – Free Podcast Hosting Service
If you are looking for a podcast host that is affordable without compromising on quality, we highly recommend Podbean.
Podbean is a great podcast host that allows you to monetize your episodes and make money online. They have a number of monetization options that you can choose from.
Moreover, Podbean provides you with a free website for your online business.
Features of Podbean
- Offers distribution and promotion services for each new episode that you upload
- Allows you to monetize your podcast episodes
- You can live stream through Podbean
- You can avail of unlimited storage and high bandwidth
- Podbean provides podcasting statistics for each episode
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Unlimited hosting plans • Unlimited audio plans • Easy to use • Free version • Monetization features • Flexible pricing | • Video podcast hosting plans are expensive. |
Benefits of Podbean
Podbean is amongst the top hosting sites for podcasts. There are a number of benefits that you can avail yourself of through Podbean, let’s discuss a few of them in detail.
Quick Publishing
Once you sign-up with Podean, you can publish podcasts to your feed within five minutes. It is incredibly easy to use even if you are new to podcasting.
Free Website
You would be glad to know that Podbean provides its users with a free website and professional customizable themes that you can use without any hassle. This will help save you a lot of time and effort.
Podbean Application
Another great thing about Podbean is that it has its own app where you can publish your podcast episodes directly through your phone.
We noticed that most Podbean users would recommend it to other online course creators who want to enter the podcasting industry.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Podbean
Pricing
The good thing about Podbean is that you can avail a free plan for your podcast hosting website. However, you might not be able to avail all their advanced features.
To avail of their additional features you can purchase:
- An unlimited audio plan for $9 a month
- Their Unlimited Plus Service for $29 a month
- Podbean Business plan for $99 a month
Podcast Analysis
Podbean allows you to see how many new listeners accessed your podcast. Moreover, you will have a complete insight into your customer retention and your most streamed episodes.
RSS Feed
Once you enable your RSS feed, you can avail of their embedded player to increase your reach. You can find more listeners for your podcast and potential customers in the long run.
Monetization
You can make money through Podbean by including advertisements, sponsors, and subscription plans. Moreover, Podbean also has a donation feature that you could avail of for your online course creation business.
Storage Space
Podbean offers an unlimited plan for hosting, this means you won’t have to worry about your storage running out after uploading your first podcast to your own domain.
What Do the Customers Think?
After thorough research, we noticed that online course creators were extremely satisfied with their experience with Podbean.
Customers claimed that Podbean allows them to post their podcasts on other hosting platforms, which helps them increase traffic.
Moreover, Podbean is pretty easy to get started with. Once you sign-up you can get started with publishing podcasts in less than 5 minutes.
Users were also satisfied with Podbean’s pricing plans. We noticed a lot of business start-ups begin with using the free plan. However, once they start growing their business, they shift to the paid version.
However, customers were unhappy with the video podcasting feature because they had to pay an additional cost in order to avail it.
Best free podcast hosting platform
The best free podcast hosting platform is Podbean because it is easy to set up and has a small learning curve.
Note: If you are interested in finding out how Podbean compares to BuzzSprout, CLICK HERE.
SoundCloud Review – Free Podcast Streaming & Hosting Service
SoundCloud is new to the podcasting business. However, there is no doubt that SoundCloud will help you reach out to a greater audience compared to any other podcast host.
If you run an online course creation business and are on a budget, we highly recommend SoundCloud.
Without wasting any time, let’s discuss some of the key features of SoundCloud in detail.
Features of SoundCloud
- You can reach out to a global audience
- SoundCloud allows you to share your podcasts on social media platforms
- You can get a free subscription
- RSS hooks allow you to publish on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, and several other podcast hosting platforms
- You can manage your podcasts through their SoundCloud Player
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| • Audio and video podcasting features • They have a free plan • You can replace soundtracks • Transcription feature • Easy to use | • They have three hours of audio limit on their basic plan. |
Benefits of SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a great option if you want to enter the podcasting industry for your online course creation business.
Find Sponsors
Through SoundCloud Podcast Player, you can easily find sponsors for your business and make money online. This personally is one of our favorite features because it allows you to expand your business.
You Don’t Have to Lose Your Statistics
You would be glad to know that once you upload an audio or video podcast, you can easily replace it without losing the statistics.
Easy to Use
SoundCloud is extremely easy to use even if you are a beginner. All you need is a mic and you can get started with podcasting.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy SoundCloud
Pricing
If you are on a strict budget, you can use SoundCloud for free.
SoundCloud also offers two other pricing plans:
- SoundCloud Pro: You can get 6 hours of upload time, advanced stats, embed controls, and much more for $6 a month.
- SoundCloud Unlimited Pro: You will get unlimited upload time, full stats, complete embed control, and much more for $15 per month.
Podcast Analysis
Through SoundCloud, you will get a complete analysis of each podcast that you upload on your website. You can analyze which podcast episode is your most-watched and most liked.
RSS Feed
SoundCloud allows its listeners to subscribe to your podcast domain. Your subscribers will be informed each time you upload a new episode.
Monetization
We understand it is important for online course creators to make money online. You would be glad to know that SoundCloud allows you to Monetize your podcasts.
Storage Space
On the basic plan, you will get 4GB of storage space for each episode. If you need more space you can purchase their SoundCloud Pro or SoundCloud Unlimited Pro package according to your need.
What Do the Customers Think?
After a complete customer analysis, our team was able to conclude that online course creators are quite satisfied with their experience with SoundCloud.
They claim that they were able to make money online by monetizing their episodes. This helped them generate revenue without any inconvenience.
Moreover, SoundCloud podcasters were satisfied with the audio and video quality of the podcasts they uploaded on their website.
Free Podcast Streaming & Hosting Service
The best free podcast streaming and hosting service is SoundCloud because it allows its users to reach a global audience in just one click.
Note: Before making a decision on which Podcast service to choose, you should compare SoundCloud with Libsyn and Mixcloud.
Podbean vs Soundcloud – Buyers’ Guide
We understand it can be difficult to choose the best podcast host for your online course creation business.
In this section, we will discuss in detail the factors you should consider before you invest in a podcast hosting service.
Without any further delay, let’s get started.
Subscription Pricing
We understand that online course creators who are new to this field can be on a strict budget. This is why we recommend new podcasters evaluate their budgets before investing in podcast hosting platforms.
You would be glad to know that both Podbean and SoundCloud let you create an account for free. They also offer an unlimited plan so that you can grow your podcast websites.
For a start-up business, it is important to evaluate if your customers are willing to purchase your subscriptions or not.
It is possible that you might lose potential customers because of your subscription plans.
Podcast Analysis
It is crucial that you understand what strategies are best for your business. Some podcast hosting platforms allow you to analyze your performance for each episode.
Podbean provides you with an in-depth insight into what courses are trending and the number of times an episode was downloaded.
Similarly, SoundCloud Podcast allows you to view which episode was played frequently from your own domain.
Podcast analysis will give you an insight into the strategies that you need to continue in order to increase your profitability.
However, the main issue with Podbean and SoundCloud is that you won’t be able to analyze the data if your users are viewing your podcasts from their mobile devices.
RSS Feed
If you want your business to grow, an RSS feed. You will be able to share your podcasts with your customers and visitors as well.
High-end podcast hosts allow you to share your episodes on several social media platforms and with other podcast hosts as well. This allows you to increase your audience organically.
Monetization
It is important for you to consider podcast hosting sites that allow you to monetize your episodes. This ensures that your online course business will give you returns.
Like other podcast hosting sites, Podbean and SoundCloud allow you to monetize your episodes through various techniques.
Podbean allows you to monetize your episodes through the following methods:
- Find sponsors and go live from your website
- Enroll to a patron program
- Create paid premium podcasting content for your subscribers
- Advertise through your podcasts.
However, if you want to consider SoundCloud you can click on their ‘Enable Monetize’ and the hosting site will take care of the rest. You will be given 55% of the net revenue share for each episode.
Storage Space
We advise you to invest in a podcast host that offers up to 64kbps bit rate so that your audio quality does not deteriorate.
You should be able to save all your podcasts so that you can upload them to other social media platforms without any inconvenience.
The free SoundCloud podcast version offers you 3 hours of upload time. However, your file should not be more than 4GB.
On the other hand, Podbean allows its free users to upload 3 episodes in one day.
Your file size can go up to 100 MB, which is a lot more compared to SoundCloud.
Podbean also offers an unlimited storage plan from a starting price of $9 a month.
Embedded Functions
If you want to consider embedding a podcast directly to your website, you would want to ensure that the hosting service has this feature.
This will prevent you from the hassle of creating a new account for your podcast hosting.
SoundCloud allows you to share your tracks to other blogs and websites through its Embedded Player. You can even make the embed code private so that only the people you share the code with have access to your podcast.
Podbean also allows you to embed your podcast with other websites. Once you select the ‘Embed’ option, you can directly copy-paste the code to your site for easy access.
Want to know about getting into the online course business? CLICK HERE
Podbean vs SoundCloud – Final Verdict
Now that we have reached the end of our Podbean vs SoundCloud article, we hope you understand their key differences.
SoundCloud makes your Podcasts available to a global audience. Similarly, Podbean has connections with a number of directories to increase your engagement.
We highly advise you to read this article before you choose a podcast hosting service for your online course creation business.
For more information, please leave a comment below.