If you’re looking to set up your own podcast, you might have heard of Castos.
It is a media hosting site that can help your podcast grow in several ways, and you might be wondering if it is the right service for you, as well as how much it costs.
In this article, we will take a closer look at Castos and see how the different levels of the service are priced.
How Much Does Castos Cost? Pricing Plans Summary
Castos offers different plans with varying pricing tiers for podcast hosting. Here’s a breakdown of the plans and pricing:
- Starter Plan: Priced at $19.99 a month, offering unlimited podcast storage, 20,000 downloads per month, and 100 private subscribers.
- Growth Plan: Priced at $49 a month, offering additional features like Headliner Audiogram integration, 75,000 downloads a month, and video republishing to YouTube.
- Pro Plan: Priced at $99 a month, with features such as advanced analytics, 200,000 downloads per month, video file hosting, and up to 500 private subscribers.
- Premium Plan: Starting at $499 a month, designed for podcast networks and publishers with a high volume of content. This plan offers increased audience limits, a personal account manager, and custom contracts and invoices.
A podcast hosting platform that automates ever step in building a successful podcast.
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Reasons Why I Chose To Host My Podcast With Castos
I chose Castos for several compelling reasons tailored to my podcasting needs:
- Ease of Website Setup: Castos provided a straightforward way to set up a website for my podcast, thanks to their WordPress plugin. This was crucial for monetization, improving SEO, and establishing a brand identity.
- Podcast Transcription Service: The automatic transcription service offered by Castos saved me time and effort. It helped improve my podcast’s SEO, broadened my audience reach, and allowed for better content analysis without the hassle of transcribing episodes myself.
- Comprehensive Dashboard: The intuitive dashboard became an indispensable tool for monitoring the performance of my show. It provided insights on audience engagement, listener count, and profits, which in turn helped me focus on areas that needed improvement.
- Freedom to Create Multiple Shows: Unlike other platforms that restricted the number of series, Castos enabled me to explore different creative avenues by allowing the creation of multiple series without any extra charges.
- Scalable Pricing Plans: The variety of pricing plans ensured I only paid for what I needed. Even at the entry level, Castos provided all the essential tools and features necessary for a professional podcasting experience, offering a pathway for growth as my podcast gains traction.
Castos Levels And Pricing Tiers
Below are all of the details on the different pricing tiers you need to know about the Castos subscription levels, prices, and what’s included with each Castos plan.
| Plan Name | Monthly Price | Yearly Price | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $19/MO | $190/YR |
|
| Growth (Most Popular) | $49/MO | $490/YR |
|
| Pro | $99/MO | $990/YR |
|
| Castos Premium | From $499/MO | From $4,990/YR |
|
Free Trial
Before you decide to purchase a subscription to Castos, you have the option of taking a free trial first.
This trial lasts for 14 days and you’re only allowed one free trial per Castos account so use it wisely!
You don’t need to give your payment details to start the free trial and it will automatically cancel at the end of the 14 days if you don’t give your details.
As long as you subscribe within 90 days of your free trial ending, your Castos site(s) will be kept on hold for you so you can keep it.
After 90 days, however, your site links will be put back into the public pool for other creators to choose from if they want it.
🚨 DEAL ALERT: Castos Podcast Coupons and Discounts!
Starter
This is the most basic of the Castos levels and is the perfect starting point for anyone new to the world of podcasting.
On a monthly basis, the Starter level costs $19 per month and $190 when paid annually.
If you subscribe to the starter level, you get unlimited podcasts and episodes so you can host as many podcasts as you want to on a single account.
You can also do private podcasting, meaning you can make some of your podcasts private by adding a password, ensuring only authorized people can listen.
The Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin is included with the subscription and Castos will allow you to publish your podcast to third-party platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts (also see ‘Best Podcast Plugin For WordPress‘).
The web hosting included in the plan is simple and intuitive so even if you don’t know any web coding, you will be able to create the right page for your podcast.
You can choose color schemes and social media connections and use your own URL.
You can have up to 100 private subscribers, and the level supports up to 20,000 downloads of your podcasts per month.
In-depth listener analytics are included so you can clearly see who is listening to your podcasts and which podcasts are the most popular.
Growth
This next level of Castos is great for those beginning to take their podcasts more seriously and those that want to promote their show to more people.
On a monthly basis, the Growth level costs $49 per month and $490 when paid annually.
The Growth level includes everything in the Starter level as well as some additional features.
Growth allows you to republish video podcasts to YouTube in an easy few clicks. It will also let you easily integrate your podcasts with Headliner Audiogram (also see, ‘Podcast Adiograms‘).
As Growth is aimed at growing your audience, it also increases some of the numbers associated with the Starter level.
Instead of only 100 private subscribers, Growth will give you 250 private subscribers. It also bumps up the number of downloads per month to 75,000.
Pro
The Pro level is ideal for people who want to take their podcasts into video.
On a monthly basis, the Pro level costs $99 per month and $990 when paid annually.
The Pro level includes everything included in the Starter and Growth levels. However, it also allows you to host video files alongside your audio podcasts and gives you even more powerful analytics that can give you more advanced information.
Pro also increases the number of private subscribers to 500 and the number of downloads per month to an incredible 200,000.
Castos Premium
The previous levels have all been aimed at the individual podcast creator or those that create in small groups.
If you’re creating podcasts for a large organization or are a very high-volume publisher, then you will need Castos Premium.
On a monthly basis, the Premium level begins at $499 per month and $4,990 when paid annually. You will need to contact Castos for specific pricing.
As before, Premium gives you everything that was included in the previous levels. However, it’s more focused on business and gives you a more tailored and exclusive experience.
You can create custom contracts and invoices and have a single sign-on (SSO), and Castos will give you a dedicated account manager to liaise with.
The number of private subscribers and monthly downloads will be increased as well and these will be set individually for your needs and budget.
Extras
No matter what level you subscribe to, you can add on a couple of extras.
If you need more private subscribers, you can add an extra 500 for $50 per month. Castos can also edit your podcast for you and this is charged a rate per episode.
Castos Download Limits
Castos offers tiered pricing based on account-wide download limits.
- Starter: 20,000 downloads per month
- Growth: 75,000 downloads per month
- Pro: 200,000 downloads per month
Exceeding the download limit for the first time is celebrated, but a second consecutive excess prompts an upgrade request to the next tier.
🚨 There are no restrictions on podcast availability or content publication based on these limits.
Private Podcast Subscriber Limits
Private subscriber allowances vary by plan:
- Starter: Up to 100 Private Subscribers
- Growth: Up to 250 Private Subscribers
- Pro: Up to 500 Private Subscribers
Additional bundles of 500 private subscribers are available at $50/month.
What Is Castos?
Castos is a podcast hosting platform (also see, ‘Best Podcast Hosting Platforms‘).
If you’re looking for a place to host your new podcast or multiple podcasts outside of the regular podcast applications such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts, then Castos will give you the perfect place for this.
The team behind Castos also developed the WordPress plugin Seriously Simple Podcasting, which allows you to host podcasts on your WordPress website.
Castos has a variety of features that make it a great choice for podcast hosting.
It allows you to create an unlimited number of podcasts and has no cap on the number of downloads they can achieve.
This hosting service also has a function that will transcribe your podcasts which will make them more accessible to your listeners.
Which Plan is Best?
- Starter Plan ($19/mo or $190/year): Ideal for hobbyist podcasters, providing all essential tools and features for a successful podcast.
- Growth Plan ($49/mo or $490/year): Aimed at those wanting to grow their shows, with features like YouTube Republishing and Audiogram integration.
- Pro Plan ($99/mo or $990/year): Best for video podcast hosting and those in need of advanced analytics.
- Enterprise: Customized solutions are available for unique needs like SSO, dedicated white-label instances, and more.
Is Castos Worth It?
Yes, Castos is absolutely worth it, I found the Growth Plan to be the most appealing as it aligns well with my aspirations to grow my podcast audience.
The allowance of 75,000 downloads per month provides a comfortable bandwidth for my expanding listener base. What excites me most is the YouTube Republishing feature. Having dabbled with YouTube in the past, I recognize the platform’s potential to reach a broader audience.
At $49 per month or $490 per year, I believe this plan offers a sweet spot of cost-effectiveness and essential features that support my podcast growth journey.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we detailed how much the different levels of Castos cost and the features each level gives you. We hope this helps you decide which level is for you.
