Acast vs Buzzsprout Comparison 2026
Both cover audio & podcasting. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Podcast hosting with an ad marketplace attached
Podcast hosting that publishes the video too
At a glance
- Acast starts cheaper, at $14.99.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Acast | Buzzsprout | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $14.99 | From $15 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | None |
| Runs on (they differ) | Web |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Acast
Podcast hosting with an ad marketplace attached
Acast hosts the show and sells the ads against it, which is the combination a podcaster otherwise assembles from two companies. Putting a show into its marketplace lifts the episode cap on the free plan, so monetizing and hosting are the same decision. Ad revenue depends on being picked up by advertisers, and a small show may see nothing for a while.
Only on this side
- Covers ad networks
- Covers monetization & payments
Buzzsprout
Podcast hosting that publishes the video too
Buzzsprout hosts a podcast, submits it to the directories and reports back with statistics that are actually readable, which is the reason it keeps being the recommendation for a first show. Upload time is the meter rather than episode count, and the plans are sold as hours a year. One tier up, the same episode is published as video to Apple, Spotify and YouTube from the same upload. Anybody who wants a subscription paywall around episodes will need something else beside it.
Our note
Seventy-two hours a year is about ninety minutes a week, which is more headroom than a new show needs and worth checking against an interview format that runs long. Take the video tier only if you will actually post to YouTube, since the audio plan does everything a podcast strictly requires.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.