When considering a podcast hosting platform, pricing is often a critical factor. Castos, known for its robust features and seamless integration, offers various plans to suit different podcasting needs. But how much does Castos cost, and which plan provides the best value for your needs?
This article delves into Castos pricing, breaking down each plan to help you make an informed decision and avoid potential pitfalls.
Whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional podcaster, understanding the costs and benefits of each Castos plan will ensure you choose the right one for your podcast’s growth and success.
Read on to discover the details and find the perfect match for your podcasting journey.
How Much Does Castos Cost? Pricing Plans Summary
Here are the detailed pricing options:
🌱 Starter Plan: $19.99/month
Perfect for beginners who are just getting started with podcasting.
- Storage: Unlimited podcast storage
- Downloads: Up to 20,000 downloads per month
- Private Subscribers: Up to 100
- Features:
- Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin
- Publishing to third-party platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts
- Basic web hosting with customizable color schemes and social media connections
- In-depth listener analytics
📈 Growth Plan: $49/month
Ideal for podcasters looking to expand their audience and reach.
- Storage: Unlimited podcast storage
- Downloads: Up to 75,000 downloads per month
- Private Subscribers: Up to 250
- Features:
- Everything in the Starter Plan
- Headliner Audiogram integration
- Video republishing to YouTube
- Enhanced analytics and audience engagement tools
🚀 Pro Plan: $99/month
Best suited for podcasters who require advanced features and extensive analytics.
- Storage: Unlimited podcast storage
- Downloads: Up to 200,000 downloads per month
- Private Subscribers: Up to 500
- Features:
- Everything in the Growth Plan
- Advanced analytics for detailed audience insights
- Video file hosting alongside audio podcasts
- Enhanced private podcasting options
💎 Premium Plan: Starting at $499/month
Designed for podcast networks and high-volume publishers who need tailored solutions.
- Storage: Customizable to fit your needs
- Downloads: Increased audience limits, customizable based on requirements
- Private Subscribers: Customizable
- Features:
- Everything in the Pro Plan
- Custom contracts and invoices
- Dedicated account manager for personalized support
- Single Sign-On (SSO) and other enterprise-level features
Each plan is designed to cater to specific needs, ensuring podcasters only pay for the features and capacity they require.
Castos also offers a 14-day free trial to let you explore the platform’s capabilities before committing to a subscription. This flexibility allows podcasters to scale their plans as their audience grows and their needs evolve.
Reasons Why I Chose To Host My Podcast With Castos
Selecting the right podcast hosting platform is crucial for the success of any podcast. After extensive research and consideration, I found Castos to be the perfect fit for my podcasting needs. Here are the key reasons why I chose to host my podcast with Castos:
🖥️ Ease of Website Setup
One of the standout features of Castos is the ease of setting up a website for my podcast, primarily due to their Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin.
This integration was instrumental in monetizing my podcast, improving SEO, and establishing a strong brand identity. The plugin allowed me to manage my podcast directly from my WordPress site, making it incredibly convenient to publish and promote episodes.
📝 Podcast Transcription Service
Castos offers an automatic transcription service that significantly saved me time and effort. This feature not only enhanced my podcast’s SEO by making the content more searchable but also broadened my audience reach by providing transcripts for those who prefer reading or have hearing impairments.
Additionally, having transcripts allowed for better content analysis, making it easier to refine my podcast episodes based on what resonated most with my audience.
📊 Comprehensive Dashboard
The intuitive dashboard provided by Castos became an indispensable tool for monitoring my podcast’s performance. It offered valuable insights into audience engagement, listener counts, and profitability.
This comprehensive view helped me identify which episodes were performing well and areas that needed improvement, allowing me to tailor my content to better meet my audience’s preferences and enhance overall listener satisfaction.
🎙️ Freedom to Create Multiple Shows
Unlike many other podcast hosting platforms that limit the number of series you can create, Castos gave me the freedom to explore different creative avenues by allowing the creation of multiple shows without any additional charges.
This flexibility enabled me to experiment with various formats and topics, ultimately enriching my podcasting experience and reaching a wider audience.
💰 Scalable Pricing Plans
Castos offers a variety of pricing plans that cater to different podcasting needs and budgets. This scalability ensured that I only paid for what I needed. Even at the entry-level plan, Castos provided all the essential tools and features necessary for a professional podcasting experience.
As my podcast grew, I was able to seamlessly upgrade to higher tiers that offered additional benefits, supporting my podcast’s growth and success without any disruption.
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.
Starter
This is the most basic of the Castos levels and is the perfect starting point for anyone new to the world of podcasting.
Monthly, 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.
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 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 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.
Every month, 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.
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.
A podcast hosting platform that automates ever step in building a successful podcast.
14-Day Free Trial
Castos Premium
The previous levels have all been aimed at individual podcast creators or those who 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.
Monthly, 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.
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 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.
