Is Buzzsprout The Best Platform For Your Podcast? (Review)

The number of podcast listeners is growing more and more as time passes by. If you are a person who loves talking and sharing thoughts and ideas, podcasting can be the right track for you to take. However, you have to find a platform to help you with everything, and there are so many podcasting platforms available. If you are a beginner, maybe you should consider Buzzsprout to start it.

Buzzsprout will help not only in hosting but also in promoting and tracking your podcast.

In this article, we will discuss what Buzzsprout is, how to sign up for this platform, some of its features, and some of its competitors.

What is Buzzsprout?

Buzzsprout is a fantastic podcast platform that helps in hosting, distributing, and growing a podcast. It is ideal for those who want to grow their audiences in the simplest way possible. Moreover, it provides a variety of tools that will be needed to easily create a simple podcast and share it with the audience.

These tools will customize a podcast in a way that will suit one’s preferences on the brand and content to share. Besides that, it is also devoted to teaching everything one needs to learn in order to make and grow a successful podcast. It showcases a wide range of features that help maximize the growth potential of one’s podcast.

These features will help make a podcast that will leave a good impression on the audience and turn them into regular listeners. As one of the best podcasting platforms available, it is the right place for content creators to start and grow their programs.

If you’re looking to start your own podcast, we have an article that can help you out. We also have review articles for Anchor, Podbean, and Simplecast.

How to Make a Buzzsprout Account

1. Go to the Buzzsprout website.
2. Click the Get Started Free button that you will see at the upper right corner of the screen.
3. Enter your name and e-mail.
4. Click the box beside “I’m not a robot.”
5. Click the “Create My Podcast” button.

You will be given a free $20 gift voucher courtesy of Buzzsprout if you sign up.

Buzzsprout Subscription Plans

Buzzsprout offers five subscription plans, and the pricing is based on how much you upload each month. Below are the pricing details:

Free Plan

This plan is limited. However, this is ideal for those who want to start podcasting and experience what Buzzsprout has to offer. It allows two hours’ worth of uploads monthly with episodes hosted for 90 days. Moreover, the bandwidth is also limited. Here are some of its advantages the Free Plan offers:

• Advanced podcasts stats
• Unlimited team members
• Upgrade to remove ads

$12/month

This plan allows up to three hours of upload per month with episodes hosted indefinitely. You are also allowed to upload more content for $4 per hour. The allowed bandwidth is 250 gigabytes.

• Advanced stats
• RSS feed and support
• Unlimited team members
• Listing with multiple directories
• Unlimited storage
• Free podcast importing
• Option to cancel anytime
• Import podcast for free

$18/month

This plan allows up to six hours of upload per month with episodes hosted indefinitely. You are also allowed to upload more content for $3 per hour. The allowed bandwidth is 250 gigabytes.

• Advanced podcasts stats
• Import podcast for free
• Unlimited storage
• Listing with multiple directories
• Unlimited team members
• Free podcast importing
• Option to cancel anytime
• RSS feed and support

$24/month

This plan allows up to 12 hours of upload per month with episodes hosted indefinitely. You are also allowed to upload more content for $2 per hour. The allowed bandwidth is 250 gigabytes.

• RSS feed and support
• Unlimited team members
• Import podcast for free
• Advanced podcasts stats
• Listing with multiple directories
• Unlimited storage
• Free podcast importing
• Option to cancel anytime

$49/month

This plan allows one terabyte of outbound data. However, this is applicable for podcasts that have consistent plays of more than 40,000 per month. After that, an additional of $50 per one terabyte will be billed. This plan is also known as the Buzzsprout Pro Plan.

• Advanced podcasts stats
• Unlimited team members
• Option to cancel anytime
• Listing with multiple directories
• Import podcast for free
• Free podcast importing
• RSS feed and support
• Unlimited storage

Buzzsprout Payment Methods

A credit card is required to avail any of Buzzsprout’s paid tiers. However, a credit card is not needed upon signing up or using a free account. The charge will be based on the subscription that you chose and is charged in advance. Moreover, the monthly fee is non-refundable.

Buzzsprout Features

Chapter Markers

Chapter markers are becoming more popular among podcast players, and Buzzsprout is making sure that this feature is always available. It makes your podcast more listener-friendly because this gives listeners the ability to navigate your podcast and know what is going to happen and when it will happen. With that, there will be less uncertainty on the listeners part since they know what is coming ahead. Also, they will be more encouraged to listen.

Moreover, it lets the listeners know what will happen from the moment the podcast starts. It also gives the listeners the ability to go back to a particular episode in the future and listen to a specific part so they can review the content.

You can add a chapter marker in the dashboard. To do this, select Episodes and click the “Add Chapter Markers” option. Your podcast episodes will then be ready with the chapter marker saved to your audio file.

Video or Visual Soundbites

This exciting feature offers something different from the rest. This feature gives you the power to create video snippets to promote your podcast. What you need to do is choose a short portion of the episode for you to create a video trailer. You can then use that video trailer to promote your podcast.

You just have to set the beginning and end markers to get the exact bits you want. After getting the desired clip, you can customize artworks, text, colors, and many others. Doing that will help you to effectively promote your podcasts and share your episodes with your family, friends, and even on social media. You can have here your logo and your podcast’s name attached to the soundbites.

Buzzsprout Wave Podcast Player

With just simply copying and pasting a code snippet, you will be able to have the Buzzsprout Wave podcast player on your website. It has share buttons which give a lot of options for sharability, and its playback features will appear if you hover over the player.

Also, it gives you the ability to personalize the color and artwork of your branding. Moreover, you can decide if you are going to create or not a playlist of several episodes or just stick on a single episode.

This player is compatible with Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, and many other content management systems. For you to personalize your player, go to “Player,” then click “Customize Your Players”.

Buzzsprout Monetization Efforts

Monetization is one way to keep your podcast running. This is the reason why Buzzsprout created an affiliate marketplace. This is its way of helping its creators to generate revenue streams to . Creators are given a great opportunity to easily connect with companies through the Buzzsprout Affiliate Marketplace.

There’s a form that should be filled out as a way of signing up, and once approved, brands will respond to them. Moreover, there is no limitation to join, and there will be no cut on affiliate commissions.

In addition to this, you can also monetize by adding a donation button to your podcast player, which can later go to PayPal, Patreon, or the likes. You can find the marketplace at the “Resources” tab of your dashboard.

Automatic Episode Optimization

Buzzsprout got you covered in terms of episode optimization. You need not worry about the things, including bitrates, ID3 tags, filetypes, and others. All you need to do is upload your video files, and the software will process it.

Remember that the processing times differ depending on your file size, and you receive a notification on your e-mail once the processing has finished. You can then determine when your episode will go live. It can be published immediately or any day and time you might prefer.

Podcasting Statistics

Statistics are always considered as one of the standards in the world of podcasting. This is because statistics lets you know the performance and progress of your podcast. This feature lets you view what devices do your listeners use to listen to your podcasts. Moreover, you are given ideas from where your listeners are and how many downloads are there. Knowing these details, you will be able to decide and make preparations on how you can improve and grow your podcast.

Directories

This is the distribution section of Buzzsprout. It is where all the podcast directories that podcaster should know are listed. There are also instructions to help podcasters better understand how to get into each directory.

Examples of these directories are Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Alexa, Overcast, PocketCasts, Castbox Google Podcast, Castro, and many others. These directories make it easy for listeners to find and access your content.

If you want your podcast to be listed in some popular directories, click on “Directories” that you can find at the top menu of the Buzzsprout dashboard. Follow all the instructions that are given for you to get your podcast listed.

Free Podcast Website

Buzzsprout provides the podcaster with a website wherein they can show their podcast episodes. This is an excellent way to lead all the listeners to different directories that are frequently used. Moreover, the channel description is given on the website, and the listeners will be able to see the podcast artwork since podcasters can display all their episodes there.

Having a website makes it easy for you to promote your podcast and for your listeners to subscribe and share all your episodes. You can add your social media accounts here as well as your links to all your podcast directories listings. In addition to that, you will be able to customize your site. Click on the Website option to do this. You can customize then customize the aesthetic aspects. Moreover, you can customize your URL to any domain and have the best description for your brand.

Team Collaborations

As your podcast grows, you may need some people to do the marketing or optimization for it. These people will help you with your podcast, and they are assigned different roles, which gives them control over your podcast.

Transparent Statistics Dashboard

Buzzsprout is not different from other podcast platforms that offer easy to use and modern in appearance dashboard. The information is very simple and is presented in colorful and bright graphics, charts, and buttons. These make it easier for beginners to understand and use the information presented.

Podcast Episode Transcription

Buzzsprout’s audio transcription services are unique as it helps increase each podcast’s reach through SEO. Beginning at $0.10 per minute, it is somewhat expensive. However, it is one of the ideal ways for the podcaster to offer a variety of options to its listeners.

This can lead to audiences becoming more involved in each episode of the podcast. This is because your audience may not pay attention to listening to you but do prefer looking through a transcript. This will also be accessible even to the hearing-impaired audience.

Since your podcast includes plain text, there will be a higher chance for it to be discovered by search engines. You can also use the automatic transcription service that you can find within the dashboard for $0.25 a minute.

Magic Mastering

This feature uses advanced technology to polish or level out audio files and optimizes them so they will match the best practices in the industry for the spoken word. Moreover, it helps you to save time editing the audio files so you can focus on creating your content. For a small fee of $6 a month, you can get an Instagram-like filter for your audio and get the right audio edits for your podcast.

Integration with Third-Party Tools

Buzzsprout works with some of the leading third-party tools for podcasting. This lets you get the most ideal setup to make your podcasts more entertaining and engaging.

Pros and Cons of Using Buzzsprout

Buzzsprout vs Other Podcasting Platforms

Buzzsprout vs Anchor

What makes Anchor different not only from Buzzsprout but also from other podcasting platforms is that it’s free and unlimited. Anchor lets you publish as many podcasts as you want. You can also do it as often as you want without spending a single dollar. Moreover, both exert effort in monetization to help the podcasters.

Anchor is an ideal place for all podcasters who need an all-in-one podcast recording, hosting, and monetization solution. It is also a top podcast solution that provides not only podcast creation tools but also publication tools. Buzzsproud, meanwhile, offers a month-to-month solution and does not require annual contracts.

Buzzsprout vs Podbean

Unlike Buzzsprout, Podbean offers unlimited storage space and 100 gigabytes of bandwidth on its paid plans. It is also possible to make a live stream through Podbean, and there’s the Podbean app audio recorder that you can use. Compared to Buzzsprout, this platform offers more powerful podcasting tools and a better opportunity for monetization.

Podbean has a wide range list of hosted podcasts and shows of different genres. Though Buzzsprout offers monthly options, you can get to have bigger savings with Podbean’s annual plan when it comes to pricing.

In addition to this, you can get unlimited audio content with Podbean. With Buzzsprout, you can only enjoy three hours of audio content per month if you pay $4 per hour.

Buzzsprout vs Simplecast

Buzzsprout is easy to use compared to Simplecast\. Aside from this, Simplecast only provides a 14-day trial. Moreover, you have to pay $15 per month to get access to basic analytics, and it is higher than that of Buzzsprout. You also have to shell out a minimum of $35 in order to have full access to the true potential of Simplecast’s features. Fortunately, it doesn’t require your card details like Buzzsprout.

Buzzsprout vs Libsyn

Buzzsprout offers a user-friendly and modern-looking dashboard. On the other hand, Libsyn’s interface is decent and provides full support and is somewhat knowledgeable. Moreover, the tiers that Libsyn offers are more expensive than what Buzzsprout offers because of the lower monthly storage that it offers. The platform is easy to use and is of great help in promoting your podcast. The data allowances the Libsyn offers are quite small, making it the second-best compared to Buzzsprout.

Buzzsprout: An Ideal Place for Starting a Podcast

If you a beginner in the world of podcasting, Buzzsprout is the best place for you. With its friendly interface and modern-looking appearance, you will find it enjoyable to use it. Moreover, its amazing features are of great help to you if you are into making great content. Its free trial can also be a great option for beginners. Since the pricing that it offers is on monthly basis, you can make the most in your chosen subscription and be free to cancel if you are not satisfied. You can also opt to upgrade if you find it suitable for your podcasting preferences.