Acast vs Captivate Comparison 2026
Both cover audio & podcasting. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
At a glance
- Acast starts cheaper, at $14.99.
- Only Acast has a free tier.
Side by side
Acast | Captivate | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $14.99 | From $17 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Free trial, then paid |
| Free tier (they differ) | Yes | No |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial (they differ) | None | 30 days |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on |
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
Captivate
Podcast hosting priced by downloads
Captivate hosts shows on download bands rather than storage or episode counts, so a back catalogue costs nothing to keep and a viral episode is the thing that moves you up a tier. Every plan carries the full feature set, which is unusual here: analytics, a website, dynamic ad insertion and a listener signup tool are not held back for the dearest band. Unlimited podcasts sit on one account, so a second show does not mean a second bill.
Our note
The thing to check before signing up is your actual monthly download number rather than your subscriber count, because that is the only number the pricing responds to. If a single old episode still pulls traffic, the dynamic ad insertion is what makes this pay for itself.
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.