Acast vs Podbean Comparison 2026
Both cover audio & podcasting and monetization & payments. 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 with the money side built in
At a glance
- Podbean starts cheaper, at $12.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Acast | Podbean | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $14.99 | From $12 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | None | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on (they differ) | Web | Web, iOS, Android |
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
Podbean
Podcast hosting with the money side built in
Podbean hosts a show and then tries to pay for it: a patron programme, dynamic ad insertion against its own advertiser marketplace, and premium episodes sold per episode or by subscription. That is a different shape from hosts that stop at the RSS feed, and it suits a show whose audience is small enough that a network will not call back. The free account exists to get a first episode published; the paid bands lift storage and open the monetization tools.
Our note
Read the terms on the ad marketplace and the patron programme before treating the quoted monthly fee as the whole cost, since neither cut is published beside the plans. As hosting alone this is mid-priced; the reason to pick it is wanting the monetization side switched on.
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.