The search for the perfect podcast service can prove to be difficult. If you host a show, you want a platform that gives you enough storage and bandwidth to exercise your creative freedom without costing an arm and a leg.
With so many options out there on the market, it can be challenging to know which to choose. Some may prefer to purchase a subscription so you can have unlimited uploads and bandwidth. Some beginners may choose to start on a free platform that offers just enough for uploading their preferred media type (like podcasting on Soundcloud).
If you fall into either of these categories, Podomatic may be a frontrunner in your search for free and paid podcasting platforms.
Check out our podomatic review to give you an idea of the service below.
What is Podomatic?
Podomatic Inc is a free podcasting service that lets you make, share, and promote podcasts. It’s similar to a Soundcloud free account: it uses Flash to access a computer’s microphone and camera, so anyone who has a modern computer can become a podcaster right from home. You can add music to your podcast right from its interface.
The service boasts that they are easy to use and have plenty of podcast categories from music to entertainment, making up the world’s largest communities of independent podcasters. While house music is among the most popular categories, there are tons of podcasts on the site, including:
- Blues Music
- Country Music
- House Music
- Spoken Word Arts
- Interviews
- Video Games
- Yoga
- Careers Business
- Marketing Business
- Management Business
- Entrepreneurship Business
- And much more
With this service, you can create, upload, and store all of your episodes within their database. You can keep your music in the database for use in later podcasts as well. You can view analytics for your podcast, such as geographical data for plays, music plays, downloads, likes, comments, and visits. Listeners can even play your music and podcast directly from social media such as Facebook and Twitter to listen to it while browsing. You can get Patreon revenue from supporters directly from your podcast’s page and use other promotional tools to spotlight your name and show.
Podomatic Inc has headquarters in San Francisco, California.
Podomatic Review of Features
There are four tiers of membership for this service: Free, Pro, Pro Plus, and Pro Platinum. Each one comes with the following basic features:
- Podcast hosting
- Storage (episodes, music, and other media)
- Promotional tools
- Podcast and music listening
- Stats and analytics
- Social media embedding
- Crowdsourcing
Free
The free tier gives you six hours or 500MB of storage for your podcasting needs. You get 15GB of bandwidth per month, making music and video editing a breeze.
There are no strings attached or memberships to renew; it never expires, but you can cancel anytime. This flexibility allows you to easily start your podcast for free without any hassle or difficulty.
This tier is excellent for beginners. You may be more interested in the paid tiers if you are looking to host larger podcasts with more components (for example, background music and sound effects).
Pro
The Pro tier gives you 100GB of bandwidth a month, which is a substantial increase of over 500% from the Free package. You can get 2BG of storage, and it’s a simple monthly fee for annual plans.
This tier is perfect for taking your voice to the professional level. You can quickly gain traction in the podcasting business at a low price. You also have more storage for things like music and audio files.
Pro Plus
The Pro Plus tier gives you 200GB of bandwidth a month, which is a 100% increase from the Pro tier for less than an additional $5 per month.
This tier can be advantageous for podcasts that have established themselves in the community but could benefit from extending their reach even further. This package allows you to have many more storage options for your episodes, music, and other media.
Pro Platinum
The highest tier of plans for this service includes a jaw-dropping 500GB of bandwidth a month and 5GB of storage. This data capacity allows big podcasts to host their massive audiences and libraries at a little over $20 per month, or less than $250 per year.
This tier is the best for large HD podcasts that have an abundance of sound effects and music. For example, DJ’s who host house music episodes can benefit from this tier with high bandwidth and storage.
Each Pro-level membership also comes with featured placement across the website, advanced statistics, personal customer support, and chapters access. It includes Pro design tools in an audio video page for music, media, and much more.
Podomatic Pricing
As stated before, the service starts free, but there are three levels of paid Pro membership. The pricing for each tier is:
- Pro – $8.32/month for annual plans
- Pro Plus – $12.49 per month for annual plans
- Pro Platinum – $20.82 per month for annual plans
Pros & Cons of Podomatic
There are many pros and cons of using a podcasting service for your podcasting needs. For one, there are plenty of free services that allow users to do everything (record video, edit and add music, and distribute to the audience) all in one action. However, it can be frustrating when these services limit your uploads, music, storage, or bandwidth.
Here are the pros and cons of using this service:
Pros
- Easy to use –Starting podcasts is straightforward for beginners. User reviews state it has a user-friendly interface, and it’s easy to keep track of your media, music, and episodes.
- Plenty of storage – The free version allows you up to six hours or 500MB of storage for music and videos. The paid versions offer even more outstanding storage and bandwidth.
- Smartphone capability – You can access thousands of podcasts via the mobile app for easy listening on the go. Listen to interviews, entertainment, house music podcasts, and anything else.
- Clean design – Homepage and website interface is intuitive and straightforward.
- Free – The free service for the storage is unbeatable, especially for podcasters with less music and media files. Plus, you can upgrade to a pro plan for more features.
- Great for music lovers – The service’s interface is fantastic for those looking to create podcasts with dynamic and entertaining music. Although it doesn’t have a music editor, adding music is as easy as clicking a button.
Cons
- Cannot schedule posts – You cannot schedule episodes to post in the future. This issue is not significant for shows that are at irregular schedules, but it’s not great for shows that post regularly.
- Limited editing – Other podcasting services have far more features, such as direct music editing in the software.
Verdict
Podomatic is a fantastic podcasting platform for beginners and professionals alike. Its free version comes with enough features to help the novice podcaster promote their music and video. The paid version allows you to throttle a podcast’s popularity to the max. Music lovers can rejoice, knowing that adding background music to the podcast is easy. Even if you only listen to music podcasts, you can use the mobile app to keep up with your favorite house music or entertainment podcast. Overall, this service is worth your while.
