Choosing a podcast platform for your creative business

What you are choosing

A podcast host is the service you upload your recordings to. It stores them and gives your show a feed, an address that listening apps use to find new episodes. You may see that address called an RSS feed. You don't need to write code to use one.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify are apps where people listen. Once you've connected or submitted the show, those apps can use its feed to receive new episodes. There is an initial setup step; uploading a recording doesn't automatically put it in every listening app. You don't have to choose between having a podcast on Substack and having it available in Apple Podcasts. Those can be parts of the same setup. ¹

The hosting decision is about the system behind the show. Substack combines podcast publishing with a newsletter, emails that people sign up to receive. It calls the shared home for your episodes, writing, and subscribers a publication. That publication can be free or include a paid subscription. A dedicated host focuses on storing and sharing episodes. You can then link the show to a separate website, email list, or something you sell.

Why Substack is appealing

Substack is especially appealing when listening and reading are parts of the same publication. A writing teacher, for example, could publish a conversation with an author and follow it with an essay about the techniques they discussed. Subscribers would have one place to return to for both.

Substack puts the episode, accompanying writing, email delivery, and subscription in one place. A creator can start a publication around a podcast or add a show to an existing newsletter. Readers can join the free email list without paying; paid members pay an ongoing subscription for the extras you promise. There is no requirement to have an established readership first. Readers can leave comments, join discussions, or find the publication through recommendations and Substack's short-post feed, called Notes. ²

Substack supports paid episodes and free previews. Paying subscribers can also receive a personal link that they add to a compatible podcast app to hear their paid episodes. The steps differ between apps. A paid publication could include extended interviews, an instructional audio series, or written companions to the episodes. The benefit is a shared subscription for those formats, rather than separate purchases for every piece. ³

This is a strong fit when the ongoing publication is part of what the business sells. For a free show whose purpose is to bring people toward a shop or service, the membership features may matter much less.

There is still a workload attached. A discussion space needs attention. A paid subscription needs something worth returning for. Having six ways to publish does not mean you need to use all six every week.

Where a dedicated host helps

Buzzsprout, Transistor, and Captivate focus on the podcast itself. They offer episode pages and players you can put on your own website, so people can listen without leaving the page. Depending on the service and plan, they can also help manage ads, restrict episodes to certain listeners, or show how the podcast is doing. Spotify for Creators also offers free hosting. This is Spotify's publishing service, separate from the app listeners use. ⁴

Those tools become useful when there are specific jobs the podcast needs to do. A small studio might manage several series under one account. A practitioner might want people to play episodes on the same website where they describe their services. A creator selling sponsorships may need tools for changing ads across older episodes.

Here's the short version of the comparison. These are starting prices in US dollars for monthly billing, checked October 5, 2026; annual plans and optional services change the cost.

Those prices are starting points, not a ranking. Buzzsprout's plans limit how many hours of new recordings you can upload. Transistor and Captivate have limits based on downloads, meaning deliveries of episodes rather than simply the number of followers. Some subscriber-only features have their own limits. Spotify's built-in paid subscriptions also have eligibility requirements, so a new show may not be able to charge immediately. Choosing the cheapest row without checking what you need can turn into a rather annoying bargain. Pricing and feature references are collected below. ⁴

The tradeoffs with Substack

The percentage grows with you

Substack takes 10% of the money from paid subscriptions. There are additional fees for handling payments. If subscriptions bring in $2,000 a month, Substack's share is $200 before those payment fees. That's an example of the fee, not an earnings prediction. ⁵

A fixed-price host may eventually cost less, but you'll need to account for your newsletter and membership tools too. Other hosts can also charge fees on paid subscriptions. Compare the whole setup, including the time it takes to keep it working.

You work within Substack’s design

You can use your own web address with Substack, such as an address you've bought for your business. Substack charges $50 once to connect that address, on top of the cost of buying and renewing it. You can also change parts of the publication's appearance. You are still working within its publishing system, which matters if you want a highly customized website or very specific search settings. ⁶

There is also a practical limitation for podcast pages: Substack currently says you can't put its own audio player directly on another website. Its suggested workaround is to make the episode available through a service such as Spotify and put that service's player on your site instead. If you want people listening on your own site, try that experience before choosing your host. ²

Video needs its own check

Substack can send video to YouTube, where connected uploads start as private until you choose to make them public. Spotify video requires a separate upload. Sending video episodes to Apple Podcasts is still described as coming soon. The dedicated hosts have different video plans and restrictions too. ⁷

If video is central to your show, write down exactly where you want it to appear and check each destination. An episode appearing as audio in an app does not mean the video will arrive there with it.

The audience still needs a reason to stay

Substack gives you a network where people can encounter your publication. That can help, especially when you participate in conversations with readers and other writers. It won't remove the need to explain what your show is about or make something people want to return to.

And when people follow you inside an app, that relationship isn't always the same as joining your email list. Keep offering a clear way to subscribe if you want to be able to reach them outside the feed.

Will people find it through Google

They can, because Substack episodes have web pages. Helping pages show up in searches is called search engine optimization, or SEO. The useful thing to understand is that the page needs to help someone who has never heard of you decide whether the conversation is for them.

A title like “Preparing for your first art fair” tells a prospective listener much more than “A conversation with Anna.” You can still have an expressive title, but give the page enough context to explain what someone will learn or recognize in the episode.

Substack lets you edit the title and description suggested to search engines, as well as the page's address. It also creates transcripts, written versions of what was said in the recording, which you can correct. A useful introduction, a few clear takeaways, and an edited transcript give readers more to work with than an audio player sitting alone on a page. ⁸

The limitations are worth knowing without turning SEO into a second career. Some tools for checking and managing how your Substack appears in Google only become available as the publication grows. Transcripts of paid episodes are reserved for paying readers, so don't assume that material is available to search engines. Nor should you assume you can change every technical setting you could control on your own site. ⁸

When search is an important way customers discover a business, an episode can also support a useful page on that business's website. A pottery studio might publish a firing guide beside its classes, with a related episode people can play on the page or follow a link to hear. A newsletter can introduce the subject and send interested readers there. The full guide doesn't have to be duplicated in every channel.

That also avoids copying the same full article into several places and hoping Google chooses the version you wanted. When the same article appears on two websites, Google can choose which version to show. This review couldn't confirm a Substack setting that lets you nominate your own site as the main version. Sharing a shorter introduction that links to the full guide avoids relying on that setting. Publishing first does not guarantee that Google will favor your version. ⁹

What the numbers can tell you

Analytics are the numbers that help you understand how the show is doing. They only need to be detailed enough to help you decide what to do next. For a podcast connected to a creative business, these four questions are a useful starting point.

Are people getting the episodes

Your host's download numbers help you see whether the show is reaching people over time. Substack has a screen of podcast statistics for this, including episodes, listening apps, and countries. A download records delivery of the recording; it doesn't prove someone listened to the whole thing. ¹⁰

Are they staying with the conversation

Open the statistics area for creators on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. This is where someone who manages a show can see how people listen or watch; the ordinary listening app won't show you these reports. You may need to set up a creator account and connect your show first. You may see where people stop, how much of an episode they hear or watch, or whether they return. Each service reports on its own audience and uses its own definitions, so resist adding everything into one impressive-looking total. ¹⁰

Are they coming closer

Look at subscriptions, replies, and clicks to the resource you mentioned. A smaller episode that brings thoughtful responses and subscribers can be useful even when it doesn't produce your biggest download count.

Substack shows how posts are doing and whether people are subscribing. An open rate is the percentage recorded as having opened or viewed a post. Substack's figure can include email or app viewing, and email privacy settings can make those counts unreliable. It is not proof that someone read the whole post. ¹¹

Are they taking the step you invited them to take

If the episode invites listeners to a workshop, service, product, or paid membership, look at visits and completed signups or purchases. If you want more detail, a normal link can have a tracking label added to show which email or episode description sent the visitor. Those labels are checked in website reports. Substack can connect to Google Analytics, a tool for measuring website visits and actions, but that takes setup and can't follow everything inside another podcast app. A click alone doesn't prove a purchase. Asking customers how they found you is a simpler place to start. ¹¹

You don't need every number from every service. Compare episodes over the same amount of time, notice what people respond to, and choose one thing to improve. More information is useful when it changes what you do next.

You can use a host and Substack together

This is the option that makes the decision feel less permanent.

Substack now supports connecting a podcast hosted elsewhere. The audio stays with the original host, while episodes can arrive in your Substack publication as drafts or publish automatically. That lets a business keep its podcast production tools while using Substack for the accompanying publication and subscriber relationship. ¹²

The basic flow looks like this:

Recording → podcast host → listening apps

The same episode → Substack → companion writing and subscribers

Starting with episodes arriving as drafts leaves room to check the description, add a useful introduction, and decide whether to send an email. The connection can reduce repeated uploading without requiring every episode to become another newsletter.

Choose one host to hold the main version of the show. You'll also want copies of your recordings, artwork, and transcripts outside the platform. When you change hosts, a redirect can point listening apps from the old feed to the new one. Moving paying subscribers, recurring payments, old statistics, and website pages takes additional planning. ¹³

Choose around what you want the podcast to do

You don't need an existing website or newsletter to start a free podcast. If the first goal is simply to publish a free show and keep hosting costs down, Spotify for Creators is one option to test. It provides hosting and a public page for the show; you still need to set up distribution to other listening apps. ⁴

Substack is worth testing when people will subscribe to an ongoing mix of episodes, writing, and paid extras. Its combined publishing and subscription tools can make that experience easier to manage, as long as the percentage fee and website limitations fit the business.

A dedicated host is worth testing when the show needs particular tools for publishing and managing recordings or will bring people toward a website, shop, or service that already has a home. It may also be a better fit for multiple shows or a show that will earn money from sponsors. Check the particular plan's capabilities rather than assuming every specialist host does the same things.

Connecting a host to Substack is an optional extra step for a business that needs both. Beginners can start with one service. Budget for the complete arrangement and make sure the extra connection earns its place in the publishing routine.

Before moving an audience or announcing paid content, test one episode from upload to listening. Preview its page on a phone, try the intended listening apps, and check the subscription experience. If paid access is part of the offer, verify who can hear each version and where.

The useful final question is what publishing the next episode will require. Choose the setup that supports the experience you intend to sell or share, at a cost and pace the business can sustain.