Firstory vs Stationista

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%.

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.