Firstory vs Podfan
Firstory
firstory.me
Podfan
pod.fanSide by side
| Figure | Firstory | Podfan |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $7/mo | $12/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 4 |
| Spec score · Podcast hosting platforms | 9.2 (#3) | 7.9 (#32) |
| Spec score · Podcast Monetization Platforms | 9.1 (#3) | 8.0 (#21) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | The platform supports dynamic ads, one-time donations, recurring subscriptions, and cross-platform membership payments. | Creators can offer monthly or annual memberships, recurring or one-time donations, and gift memberships. |
| Paid from | 7 | 12 |
| Support | Firstory says all users receive a reply within two business days and paid users within one business day. | Podfan offers friendly support by email and lets users schedule a call with founder Ivan Homola. |
Plans
Firstory
- Firstory FreeFree
- Firstory Lite$7 a month
- Firstory Pro$15 a month
- Firstory Enterprise$159 a month
In their own words
Firstory
Firstory is a podcast hosting platform for creators who want to publish, distribute, promote, and monetize shows. Uploading audio and video together in one go lets creators publish both formats, then distribute to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, KKBOX, and more than 10 platforms. Distribution is one-click for Spotify, KKBOX, and Pocket Casts; several other directories require manual distribution. AI Studio can create transcripts, summaries, highlights, newsletter drafts, questions and answers, keywords, and topic tags after upload. Analytics cover plays, audience profiles, and episode performance, combining RSS data with official Spotify data. Daily Spotify charts and listener and follower metrics are limited to Pro and higher. Promotion tools include FLink, a link for listening platforms and social profiles, an automatically built show website, and an embeddable player. Monetization options include dynamic ads, donations, recurring subscriptions, and cross-platform memberships. The free plan allows one show and one AI content extraction episode per month. Paid plans start at $7/mo, with a 14-day trial; annual billing saves 22%.
Podfan
Podfan helps podcast creators earn from public or private content through memberships and donations. It includes a free podcast website with customizable colors, featured episodes, subscribe links, host profiles, social links, updates, and episode discussions. Private member-only feeds provide unlimited downloads and a unique feed URL for each subscriber. Creators can offer monthly or annual memberships, recurring or one-time donations, gift memberships, and optional seven-day trials. Stripe handles payments, sending member funds to the creator’s connected account. Podfan charges $0.30 per active member per month; Stripe charges 1.4% plus $0.30 per transaction, and annual memberships add a 5% Podfan fee. One-click private-feed subscriptions work with Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Castbox, Castro, Downcast, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Player.fm, Podcast Addict, Podcast Republic, and Podhero. Acast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Podbean do not support these feeds. Plans are Free at free, Essential at $12 a month plus $0.30 per member, and Premium at $19 a month plus $0.30 per member.