Captivate Podcast Review 2024: Exploring Features, Pricing & Benefits

Looking for a reliable platform to host your podcast episodes? Captivate might just be the solution you need.

Known for its robust features and user-friendly interface, Captivate has rapidly gained a reputation in the podcast hosting world since its inception.

In this Captivate podcast review, we’ll dive deep into Captivate’s features, pricing, and overall performance to help you decide if it’s the perfect match for your podcasting needs.

Keep reading to discover why many podcasters are choosing Captivate and what you should consider before making your decision.

Captivate Podcast Hosting Key Takeaways From The Review

Feature	Description
🎙️ Platform	Captivate: A prominent podcast hosting platform
⚙️ Features	Designed for management, monetization, global distribution, and advanced analytics
💲 Pricing	Monthly plans ranging from $19 to $99 based on download limits
👥 User Experience	Intuitive dashboard and helpful chatbox tips
📡 Distribution	Easy submission to major platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify
🌐 Website Integration	Customizable podcast websites, WordPress compatible
🌟 Recommendation	Highly recommended for podcast hosting

Captivate.fm is a podcast hosting platform designed to help creators manage and monetize their podcasts.

Created by podcasters for podcasters, it offers unlimited or multiple podcasts and distribution, advanced analytics, monetization, and promotion tools in a user-friendly dashboard.

Some of its key features include an in-built marketing suite, simple hosting, and a fully flexible podcasting experience.

Captivate also helps podcasters reach global audiences by providing easy submission to leading directories and listening apps.

Why I Picked Captivate FM To Host My Podcast

I switched to Captivate because it ticked all my boxes. Though dynamic ad insertion isn’t there yet, it’s coming soon. Plus, their bonus features are top-notch.

1. Promotion & Monetization: Features like Calls to Action in show notes make referencing consistent — be it my website or YouTube channel. It’s a time-saver for all podcast hosts!
2. Integration: They’ve teamed up with brands like Mailchimp, and I can even add private podcasts for exclusive content, like on Patreon.
3. Guest Booking Tool: A newly added gem! I set my calendar, share the link, and guests slot themselves in. No more back-and-forths. Guests input their bios and social links, cutting down my prep time.
4. Customization: While I don’t use their website option, it’s there for those wanting a professional look without the hassle. Their customizable podcast player lets me match my branding, a neat touch!

Captivate Fm Pricing

Captivate has a very straightforward pricing system. There are three plans you can choose from:

• Personal: $19/month for 30,000 downloads per month
• Professional: $49/month for 150,000 downloads per month
• Business: $99/month for 300,000 downloads per month

Captivate Free Trial

I tried out Captivate’s free, no-obligation 7-day trial for all their plans and let me tell you, it was a awesome! They gave me unlimited access to all their features from day one.

It’s a fantastic chance to see if Captivate is the perfect podcast hosting site for you, while you have fun exploring all the bells and whistles they offer.

Give it a shot, and who knows – you might just fall in love with podcasting all over again like I did!

 

Captivate Paid Yearly Pricing

You can save on Captivate podcast pricing (Is It Free to Host Podcasts on Captivate?) by paying yearly; here is the breakdown of monthly fees if you paid one year in advance.:

• Personal
  • $17 USD/ month, paid yearly
  • Up to 30,000 downloads/month
• Professional
  • $44 USD/ month, paid yearly
  • Up to 150,000 downloads/month
• Business
  • $90 USD/ month, paid yearly
  • Up to 300,000 downloads/month

Captivate.fm Features

Additionally, Captivate provides responsive podcast websites with customizable templates and seamless integration with WordPress.

To help podcasters grow their audience and generate revenue, Captivate Growth Labs offers a community for learning podcast marketing, SEO, sponsorship, and more. This service is free for all Captivate podcasters.

Every Captivate customer will receive the same features at no extra cost. No matter which plan you choose, you will gain access to:

• 📱 A visually appealing and easy-to-use podcast player on all devices
• 🔗 Built-in CTAs on your podcast player
• 🌐 Unlimited podcasts and RSS feed URL
• 🆓 Free imports for shows and podcast creators
• 📈 Advanced and in-depth analytics for your podcast
• 🔒 Create private podcasts for members only
• 📁 Easy one click for podcast directories
• 📢 Marketing tools
• 💡 Thoughtful podcast marketing
• 👥 Unlimited team members

We love how simple it is to select a plan. The only thing you need to decide on is how many downloads you want to have available.

With Captivate, there’s no reading through different features list and trying to decide which ones you need.

➡️ Is It Free to Host Podcasts on Captivate?

Does Captivate Offer Unlimited Podcasts?

Yes, Captivate offers unlimited podcasts for all of their pricing plans, including Personal, Professional, and Business.

This allows you to create and host as many podcasts as you want under a single account, regardless of their chosen plan.

How Do I Quantify My Download Numbers?

To select the Captivate plan that’s best for your growth-oriented podcast, you will need to quantify your download numbers.

Some podcasts won’t be popular enough to justify a Captivate subscription but with our Captivate discount code, they could be. If your podcast only gets around 100 downloads a month, you may want to consider a cheaper service.

However, Captivate’s prices are not unreasonable for all of the services that it offers, as we will explore more in-depth below.

Captivate Podcast Hosting Platform User Experience

If you have experience with trying out different podcast websites, you know that it can be a little intimidating to navigate them at first.

Captivate hosting platform offers a well-designed and easy-to-use dashboard that helps put podcasters at ease. As you visit each new screen on this platform, a short tutorial pops up. These little how-tos will walk you through what each page is for and exactly how they work.

Also on each page is a chatbox. This chatbox will offer advice, prompts, tips, and hints as you explore Captivate for the first time.

➡️ Biggest Advantages Of Podcasting

No matter if you’re starting your podcast from scratch or moving your current one to Captivate, the process is easy to understand.

Captivate fm Podcast Analytics – What Stats Can I Track?

Want to know how to take your growth-oriented podcast to the next level? To help you stay on top of your goals, Captivate lets you track the following stats:

• Download overview: View a rundown of how many downloads your show got across a period of time whether it be a day, week, or month.
• Download averages: Don’t need as detailed of a breakdown? You can view on average how many downloads your show gets across a specified period.
• Where and how your fans listen: Learn how your fans listen to your show, whether it be over Spotify, Overcast, Apple Music, or a different platform. You can also see what countries your fans are located in. If you stick around with this podcast hosting platform, you may even be able to see what states and cities your fans are listening from. This is one of Captivate’s new features that’s in the works, so stay tuned.
• Episode analysis: Want to know how one podcast episode performed compared to another successful podcast? Captivate lets you view the total number of downloads each episode received.

As a podcaster, you want your episodes to get as many downloads as possible. However, sketchy downloads from bots will give you false data about how your podcast is performing.

Captivate Analytics V3

Captivate Analytics V3 offers podcasters powerful insights to help grow their podcasts by upgrading its analytics package.

The new update provides deeper insights into podcast performance, episode content, and listener behavior. Key features of the upgraded analytics include:

1. In-depth analytics for individual podcast episodes, accessible directly from the episode library, providing listener behavior and demographic data.
2. Detailed episode-level download overviews, including downloads within the first 24 hours and 28 days of publishing, which is valuable for working with sponsors.
3. Viewing an episode’s downloads from its release date, helping track download milestones and listener trends over time.
4. Identifying today’s trending episodes based on download spikes or increased traffic from marketing or promotional activities.
5. Making strong content decisions by comparing multiple episodes against each other, revealing format, topics, and titles that received the most downloads.
6. Gaining deeper listener insights with detailed web player analytics, including unique listener data, web player preferences, listener duration, drop-offs, and replays.

These new features aim to assist podcasters in making informed decisions for growing their audience and optimizing their content.

What Is the Publishing Process Like?

When you choose Captivate as your podcast host, you can take advantage of the convenient “Default Publishing Time” setting.

This setting lets you release all of your new episodes at preset times so you won’t have to schedule an upload time for every single one of your episodes.

What Platforms Does Captivate Distribute To?

Captivate distributes your podcast to various platforms and directories. They provide easy, single-click submission to leading directories and listening apps, including:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Google Podcasts
• Amazon Music
• Overcast
• Castro
• Stitcher
• TuneIn Radio
• Deezer
• Player FM
• Pocket Casts

Keep all of your listeners in all of these podcast apps.

Does Captivate FM distribute to Apple Podcasts?

Yes, Captivate FM distributes to Apple Podcasts. When you host your podcast on Captivate, you can easily submit your show to Apple Podcasts and other major podcast directories through their platform.

Captivate Alternative Hosting

Checkout our best Podcast hosting platforms comparison guide for more, but the TLDR of it is:

Alternative hosting to Captive would be podcast hosting reviews like Pobean, Buzzsprout, Spreaker, Zencaster or even Soundcloud. It really depends on you podcast download requirements and your budget.

Comparisons of Captivate.fm

• Podbean Vs Captivate
• Buzzsprout Vs Captivate

Does Captivate Distort My Files?

Captivate hosting platform does not distort your files at all. Not all podcast hosting platforms can say that. Captivate will not alter your files’ names, bitrates, or metadata.

How Does Captivate Compare to Other Podcast Websites Layouts?

All podcast websites will give you your own site to host your show from. These sites tend to be very bare, minimalistic, and limiting.

This is one area where Captivate stands out from other podcast websites. The site that this platform will give you is completely customizable, so you can make your online space representative of your show and brand.

As an added bonus, these sites are fully responsive on any device. Listeners will be able to consume your new podcast from their cellphones, desktops, and tablets.

As far as the domain goes, the default name will be showname.captivate.fm. You can easily set up your site to work off of your own domain.

Build Your Own Podcast Website With Captivate

Having a website for your Podcast is essential for discoverability and growth.

Captivate offers free, customizable podcast websites with added features
The podcast website latest features include the following:

1. Two new site layouts (Sidebar and Central) for customization
2. Greater control with episode order settings (oldest or newest first)
3. Highlight new content or a trailer with pinned episodes
4. Expanded show bios to showcase podcasting team
5. Email opt-ins for newsletters, courses, or businesses
6. Incentivize email sign-ups with lead magnets
7. Improved on-site search functionality
8. Enhanced API functionality for displaying all podcast episodes

What If I Want to Use My WordPress Website Alongside Captivate?

Some up-and-coming podcasters have ambitions to host their own podcast websites. If this is you, Captivate may be right for you! You can take your existing WordPress website and link it to your podcast hosting account.

Once you have done that, you can control your entire show from one convenient spot. When you edit, publish, or delete podcasting episodes in WordPress, these changes will be visible in your Captivate account.

You can also make the changes within Captivate, and then they will be reflected on your WordPress site.

This nice bonus is one of the things we love about Captivate; it streamlines your workflow and eliminates the need to jump back and forth between different platforms.

Captivate’s Podcast Players

When it comes to managing a growth-oriented podcast, you should strive to offer the best user experience possible.

Luckily, Captivate offers gorgeous-looking podcast players that will impress all of your listeners. They come with sharing buttons and play speed settings that are accessible on any device.

Every podcast player has a built-in Captivate podcast logo. When you become a Captivate affiliate, you can turn the company’s logo into a referral link and potentially earn a commission.

This is a great way to bring in some extra revenue and help you meet the goals you’ve put in place for your growth-oriented podcast.

How Do I Use Captivate to Distribute & Share My Media?

You can submit your show to directories like Stitcher, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts directly from this podcast hosting platform’s dashboard.

As far as sharing your media goes, Captivate places buttons on your website to places where your podcasts can be found. This way, your listeners can use the apps of their choice to consume your content.

Want to spread your podcasts on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook? Captivate can provide you with unique URLs for each podcasting episode that you can copy and paste into your social media posts.

How’s Captivate’s Privacy Policy?

Captivate is fully committed to protecting users’ privacy.

This podcasting platform has a feature called “Full Transparency Mode.” When enabled, this feature will inform the listener of any third-party tools that are being used in your show.

What Are Some Other Advantages of Captivate?

Check out some other advantages of using Captivate as your podcast host:

• The ability to create unlimited podcasts as long as you don’t surpass the download limit
• You can add an unlimited amount of team members to your podcast
• One click submission to Apple podcasts, Google podcasts and Spotify directories
• Unlimited podcasts from Captivate 2.0 – New simplified dashboard
• The One-Click Sponsor Kit makes it easy to reach out to potential sponsors (growth oriented podcast host)
• You can put unique or cookie-cutter CTAs in every podcasting episode

 

The Podcast Launch Accelerator – Captivate’s Free Podcast Course

So, I strut around my living room calling myself a “Podcast Expert.” Yeah, it sounds as cringe as wearing socks with sandals. Let’s tone it down a notch – how about a “Professional Podcaster”?

Anyway, I’m the sort who’s always up for a challenge, especially if it comes with a side of extra knowledge. Bring it on!

I recently wrapped up the 28 days Podcast Launch Accelerator course and here are some simple takeaways for anyone looking to start their podcast:

1. Guidance for Everyone:
   Whether you’re just dreaming up a podcast idea or stuck on the techy stuff, this course has got you covered.
2. Step-by-Step Learning:
   The course is broken down into four main parts: planning, understanding the tech, building, and launching your podcast. It’s like having a friend guide you through each step.
3. Supportive Community:
   Join a Facebook group of fellow learners and get real-time help from the Captivate team. You’re never alone in this journey.
4. Useful Tools:
   Get access to handy checklists and templates that make starting your podcast a breeze.
5. It’s Free:
   No cost, but loads of value. That’s a sweet deal!
6. Face Your Fears:
   The course helps you tackle common fears like worrying about failure or getting the tech right.
7. Real Success Stories:
   Hear from people who launched their podcasts successfully after taking this course. If they can, so can you!
8. After Launch Tips:
   Learn what to do after your podcast is live to keep growing.
9. Expert Advice:
   Mark, the course tutor, has a ton of podcasting experience and shares it all with you.
10. Be Ready for the Future:
    This isn’t just about launching your podcast, but growing it into something amazing over time.

In a nutshell, if you’re excited about podcasting but don’t know where to start, this course is a friendly and free way to get going. With easy steps to follow and a community to support you, you’ll have your podcast live before you know it!

Do I Recommend Captivate fm for Podcasting?

Yes I can happily recommend using CaptivateFM to host your podcast.

In my personal experience with podcast hosting platforms, Captivate has been a standout option. Since its inception in 2019, the platform has quickly become a heavyweight in the podcast hosting industry.

They are even open to new feature requests which shows the really do listen to their customers.

One of the most appealing aspects of Captivate is that even their basic subscription plan offers unlimited podcasts, hosting, and team members, which is a significant advantage. However, the download cap might be a concern for some podcasters.

A Captivate Review Summary

In summary, Captivate offers an impressive range of features and user-friendly tools for podcast hosting, making it an excellent option for many podcasters.

While the lack of integrated monetization tools might concern some, the platform’s strengths in other areas should not be overlooked.

For those seeking a reliable, efficient, and feature-rich podcast hosting platform, Captivate is undoubtedly worth considering.