Castos vs Stationista

Castos is a paid podcast hosting service from Castos, headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. It provides an RSS feed and distributes podcasts to major directories. The service supports private podcasts and video podcasts, with advanced podcast analytics and monetization tools. Castos runs on the web, iOS and Android. There is no free plan, but a 14-day trial is listed. Pricing starts at $19/mo. Essentials costs $19 a month, billed monthly, and includes 10 transcripts per month and 100 private subscribers. Growth costs $49 a month with 25 transcripts, 250 private subscribers and up to five team members. Pro costs $99 a month with 100 transcripts, 500 private subscribers and up to 10 team members. Castos Premium costs $499 a month with unlimited transcripts and team members.

Stationista hosts podcasts for solo podcasters and teams, creating feeds for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast apps. Its plan comparison also lists support for Amazon Music and Samsung Podcasts. The service includes episode scheduling, chapter marks, audio replacement, private episodes, and private feeds, with unlimited monthly episodes. Audio processing can normalize loudness according to EBU R 128. Analytics include episode plays, unique listeners, top episodes, and top podcast apps, with metrics described as IAB 2.1 compliant. Stationista provides a responsive podcast website that can use a custom domain and an embeddable HTML5 player. Listed integrations include Headliner audiograms and Alexa podcast features. Users can import an existing podcast and export content. The maker advertises publishing in under five minutes and a 14-day trial without a credit card. Plans begin at €12 a month for Podcasting, which includes one show, 20,000 downloads per month, two team members, and unlimited episodes and storage. The maker says its servers are in Germany, content is SSL encrypted by default, and it operates in compliance with GDPR.