Podcast Hosting: How to Choose (and What to Avoid)

Free tiers, unlimited bandwidth, analytics quality — the hosting decisions that actually matter.

The landscape

When it comes to the hosting features that matter vs marketing fluff, the details matter. Here's what the evidence and practitioner experience point to:

• Hosting is commoditised — the differentiators are: feed portability (can you leave), analytics quality, reliability and price structure.
• Free tiers with episode/total caps often throttle your back catalogue; unlimited-total-storage plans are the safer long-term home.

What actually works

When it comes to the hosting features that matter vs marketing fluff, the details matter. Here's what the evidence and practitioner experience point to:

• Feed ownership is critical: ensure you can set a 301 redirect if you leave — check the host's export policy before signing up.
• IAB-certified analytics are the standard for sponsor reporting — if you'll seek sponsors, pick a host whose numbers advertisers accept.

Putting it into practice

When it comes to the hosting features that matter vs marketing fluff, the details matter. Here's what the evidence and practitioner experience point to:

• PodKrafter bundles hosting: your feed and audio are served from the platform's storage, with valid RSS and portable media URLs.
• Avoid hosts that modify your audio (re-encode, inject ads without consent) — read the terms on audio integrity.

Key takeaways

• Hosting is commoditised — the differentiators are: feed portability (can you leave), analytics quality, reliability and price structure.
• IAB-certified analytics are the standard for sponsor reporting — if you'll seek sponsors, pick a host whose numbers advertisers accept.
• Avoid hosts that modify your audio (re-encode, inject ads without consent) — read the terms on audio integrity.

Ready to put this into practice? PodKrafter turns research into broadcast-ready podcast episodes — start free.