AdvertiseCast vs Spreaker Comparison 2026
AdvertiseCast is a free marketplace matched to a published rate card, $18 to $26 CPM, but it only makes sense once a show is pulling a few thousand downloads an episode. Spreaker hosts the show and runs programmatic ads on its $0 Free Speech plan from the first upload, taking 20 percent of supporters club income until you upgrade to $20 a month. One rewards a show that already built an audience. The other lets a new show try monetizing immediately.
Podcast ad marketplace with published rates
Hosting with programmatic ads on the free plan
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
AdvertiseCast | Spreaker | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | From $20 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Usage-based | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
AdvertiseCast
Podcast ad marketplace with published rates
AdvertiseCast is the rare ad network that prints its rate card in public, so a podcaster can work out what an episode is worth before talking to anybody. Shows list, advertisers book, and host-read spots are matched against downloads. Its rates are an industry average rather than an offer, and a small show will be quoted under them.
Our note
The rate table is worth reading whether or not you list here, because it is the clearest public benchmark for what podcast advertising is worth. Use it to sanity-check any sponsorship offer you get directly.
Only on this side
- Covers brand deals & sponsorships
Spreaker
Hosting with programmatic ads on the free plan
Spreaker hosts a show and sells advertising against it, which is the reason to pick it over a host that only stores files. Dynamic ad insertion means a slot can be filled and refilled after an episode is published, so a back catalogue keeps earning. The free plan carries a storage cap and takes a fifth of anything a supporters club brings in. Paid plans drop that fee to nothing and raise the limits.
Why people weigh these two
- Spreaker instead of AdvertiseCast
- Spreaker is the hosting route to ad money, running programmatic ads on its free plan, with paid plans from $20.
- AdvertiseCast instead of Spreaker
- AdvertiseCast publishes its ad rates upfront rather than filling slots dynamically, free to use, for a show that wants to see the going rate before it commits a slot.
Which one should you pick
Pick AdvertiseCast once download numbers are large enough that an advertiser will actually take the call, since the published $18 to $26 CPM only becomes real money past a few thousand downloads an episode. It costs nothing to list, and the rate card is worth reading regardless, as the clearest public benchmark for what a spot is worth. It assumes a host already exists.
Pick Spreaker if the show is new enough that no ad network will return the call yet, since programmatic advertising runs on the $0 Free Speech plan from the first episode. The catch is the supporters club fee: 20 percent on the free plan, dropping to nothing once you pay $20 a month for On Air Talent. It bundles hosting with the monetization, so there is no separate host to also budget for.
Common questions
- Can a brand-new show make ad money on Spreaker?
- Yes, programmatic advertising is available on the free Free Speech plan from the first upload, unusual among hosts. AdvertiseCast, by contrast, only makes sense once a show pulls a few thousand downloads an episode, since that is what clears an advertiser's minimum.
- Does Spreaker take a cut of ad revenue?
- The advertising revenue share is negotiated through the programme and not published on the pricing page. What is published is the supporters club fee: 20 percent on the free plan, dropping to nothing on the $20 a month On Air Talent tier and above.
- Is AdvertiseCast a podcast host?
- No, it is only an ad marketplace matched to a show already hosted elsewhere. Spreaker is both a host and an ad platform, with dynamic insertion so an old episode can carry a new advertiser without being re-uploaded.
- What does AdvertiseCast publish that Spreaker does not?
- AdvertiseCast prints its CPM rate card in public: $24 to $26 for host-read spots, $18 to $22 for dynamic ones. Spreaker publishes no ad rate at all, only the supporters club fee, so its advertising income is harder to estimate in advance.
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.