Riverside vs Soundtrap

Riverside is an online studio for recording remote podcasts and video interviews. It supports local recording, separate participant tracks, video, and automatic transcription through browser and desktop recording. The free plan includes two hours of multi-track recordings, video up to 720p, 44.1 kHz audio, and unlimited single-track recording and editing. Standard costs $19 a month, billed monthly, and includes five hours of multi-track recording monthly and 4K video. Pro costs $24 a month, billed $288 annually, and includes up to 4K video, 48 kHz audio, one studio, and 15 hours of separate-track downloads. Paid editing options include text-based editing, an AI editing and repurposing agent, Magic Clips, show notes, and audio enhancement. Pro also includes podcast hosting and analytics. Grow and Webinar have separate-track download limits of 20 and 25 hours per month respectively, although recording itself is unlimited. Webinar supports up to 100 registrants and includes registration forms, Q&A, live call-ins, polls, analytics, and HubSpot lead syncing. Riverside supports Android, iOS, macOS, web, and Windows; Linux computers are not supported for recording.

Soundtrap is a cloud-based digital audio workstation for creating music and podcasts, available in a browser and on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. The studio includes vocal and mixing tools, virtual instruments, a MIDI editor, and royalty-free loops and samples. Users can edit multitrack projects, sequence MIDI and use noise reduction. Collaboration includes real-time video and chat, comments on shared projects and autosave. Soundtrap says its library has up to 24,000+ loops and hundreds of presets, with new sound packs added every two weeks. A free account allows users to create and save projects and use selected free loops, instruments, drum kits and studio tools; some sounds and features require a paid plan. Soundtrap for Education is designed for students and teachers, and integrates with services including Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Canvas and Schoology. Educators can try it free for 30 days without providing payment details upfront. Browser support includes current Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari, though some audio features may not work fully in every browser and operating system, and recording may have higher latency. Mobile apps do not include automation or MIDI input.