Firstory vs show.fm
Firstory
firstory.me
show.fm
show.fmSide by side
| Figure | Firstory | show.fm |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $7/mo | $19/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 7 |
| Spec score · Podcast hosting platforms | 9.2 (#3) | 7.8 (#37) |
| Analytics | Firstory combines Apple and other RSS data with official Spotify data in its listening analytics. | The hosting page describes first-party, IAB-compliant plays and completion analytics, plus top apps and countries, without a third-party tracker. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | The comparison page lists Apple Podcast subscriptions, Discord, Zapier auto-email, and corporate bank payout. | The hosting page says users can connect feeds from Megaphone, Acast, Buzzsprout, Transistor, RSS.com, Libsyn, and other RSS hosts. |
| Paid from | 7 | 19 |
| Support | Firstory says all users receive a reply within two business days and paid users within one business day. | Users can submit a support request without logging in and receive an emailed ticket number; the maker says pricing inquiries are answered within a day, usually faster. |
Plans
Firstory
- Firstory FreeFree
- Firstory Lite$7 a month
- Firstory Pro$15 a month
- Firstory Enterprise$159 a month
show.fm
- FreeFree
- Creator$19 a month
- Studio$47 a month
- Production House$119 a month
- Founder$399 a month
- Founders$399, paid once
- EnterprisePriced on request
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%.
show.fm
show.fm is a podcast operations platform for booking, preparing, publishing, promoting, and coordinating episodes. Booking pages handle time zones, calendar conflicts, intake forms, and confirmation emails, and a confirmed booking creates an episode automatically. Its AI pipeline can transcribe episodes, draft show notes, create social posts, and surface moments for highlights and audiograms. Workflow automations cover reminders, social posts, task nudges, co-host notifications, email, and webhooks. Podcast hosting is included on every plan; feeds use a global edge network, and audio is described as triple-replicated with an external backup. Users can connect feeds from other RSS hosts, and hosting analytics include first-party, IAB-compliant plays and completion data. The maker describes a REST API with bearer-token authentication, JSON, eight endpoints, six webhooks, and HMAC-signed webhooks. Access is listed for web and API. A free plan allows one show and two episodes per month; Creator is $19 a month billed yearly.