There are many tools and resources available right now to create an awesome podcast. From planning your show to marketing to your target audience, these tools can help you at just about every aspect of running a podcast.
You can produce a podcast with a ubiquitous messaging app like Skype to budget-friendly web-based audio recorders to professional-level digital audio workstations (DAW) that include everything but the kitchen sink.
Depending on your goals, needs, and budget, there is a recording software that suits your podcast best.
GarageBand is the free DAW that comes with Apple computers and is also available for iPads and iPhones. It is simple enough for beginners while still having the essential features that most pros look for.
Audacity is a free and open source DAW available for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux. Like GarageBand, it is also straightforward while being powerful enough for advanced recording and editing tasks.
Reaper is an affordable but very comprehensive DAW that offers complete customization on almost every aspect of the software. It is available on both Windows and Mac and it’s also known for its robust community of developers.
Logic Pro is the pro-grade DAW from Apple and offers more advanced features than GarageBand. It can also open files produced in GarageBand.
Adobe Audition is the premium DAW offered by creative software giant Adobe. It is part of the Creative Cloud suite of applications and is available for both Windows and Mac users.
Hindenburg Journalist is a DAW that’s specifically made for broadcast audio and the needs of podcasters and journalists. It is available on both Windows and Mac operating systems.
Alitu is an all-in-one, web-based solution that can go from recording your audio clips all the way to publishing the episode to your hosting site.
SquadCast is a remote recording service that also lets you video call with your co-host while recording. It pioneered the progressive upload feature, which uploads your audio files while recording in real-time so it’s easier to retrieve in case of disconnections.
Cleanfeed is an online recording tool that doesn’t need to ‘sync up’ a recording at a later time, making it viable for both live and pre-recorded interviews.
Zencastr is an online podcast recording software that features automatic post production for mixing separate tracks into a single file. It also has its own Voice over IP (VoIP) service where you don’t have to screen capture from Zoom or Skype.
Spreaker has two tools essential for podcasting: the Studio app, which lets you record and publish an episode, and the content management system, which handles the analytics and distribution of your podcast.
Riverside is a remote recording service that can also record up to 4K video. It can support up to eight people (one host and seven guests) per recording.
These tools allow you to easily create audiograms, which are tidbits of an episode that you can use as promotional material for your podcast.
Audioburst offers a lot of free tools for podcasters and their audiogram generator dissects your podcast into many audiograms that you can embed or promote. It can also transcribe your whole episode for free.
Auphonic is a web-based post-production service that also lets you create audiograms for your whole episode. Their free plan also lets you create up to two hours of audiograms per month.
Headliner offers up to 10 audiograms in their Free plan without watermarks and lets you transcribe audio up to 10 minutes, both of which are among the longest of popular audiogram generators out there. Some podcast hosting sites like Podigee, Castos, Libsyn, Descript, and Podcast.co integrate the app in their services.
Repurpose mainly distributes your podcast into various platforms but their audiogram generator can create audiograms from podcasts and can also create podcasts from videos.
Wavve is unique because they price their service based on the minute per video, which ranges between at $0.1 to $1 per minute.
WoFox is a suite of motion graphic apps but they also provide an audiogram generator for podcasters for up to 5 minutes long. Their free plan already includes all their graphic templates, designs and photos that you can use for your audiogram.
VIsual Soundbites is the included audiogram generator for Buzzsprout users, who can also access Canva’s workspace (thanks to the integration) without leaving the dashboard.
These tools help you organize your calendar, notes, and the many other documents that you need for your podcast.
Notion is a popular workspace app that lets you and your team add databases, notes, calendars, kanban boards, and reminders.
SmartTask is an online collaboration tool where your team can see your to-do lists, calendar, and project timelines. It also integrates with popular apps like Google Drive and DropBox.
ClickUp is a productivity suite where you can send and receive emails directly and you can also automate tasks from those emails.
Airtable has the common features of a database but instead lays them out like a spreadsheet. Users can customize columns, link different tables and do many other project management tasks spreadsheet-style.
Scrivener is a project management tool specifically tailored for writers. They can organize notes, research, and other documents they might need for their work.
Calendly is an online scheduling tool for meetings where users can allocate time blocks and guests just have to choose their appointment.
Transcribing podcasts is a quick way to create content for your blog, emails, and other written materials.
These tools can either self-transcribe (thanks to the power of AI) or they offer it as a service for you.
Transcribe by Wreally can automatically transcribe videos, phone calls, audio notes, meetings, podcasts, and interviews and translate it into more than 60 languages.
Scribie is an inexpensive transcribing service that offers both automated and manual transcripts and users pay according to the length of their podcast.
Sonix is known to be easier to use and faster than most transcription services, although it is more effective for North American accents only.
Trint is more oriented for business users or podcasts with a bigger production budget. But it’s fast, accurate, and it also includes translations.
Happy Scribe offers high accuracy for their automated transcription as well as automatic punctuation and multiple speaker detection.
SimonSays provides accurate captions and lets an editor give feedback in almost real-time.
ID3 tags, which include the name, author, date, genre, and many other details, are what’s known as metadata. That is what is used to organize audio files in a playlist (aside from just the file name).
These tools can sort through files’ metadata simultaneously so they’re easier to organize.
ID3 Editor has a similar interface to iTunes but it also includes the tags “copyright” and “encoded by”. It is available for Windows and Mac users, who also get a 30-day free trial.
TuneUp has a drag and drop interface that lets you transfer and sort many files at once. It is available in both Windows and Mac with free and paid versions.
Just like with any website, the podcast hosting service is responsible for storing your MP3 files on the internet as well as providing you the tools for customizing your feed.
These services will help you establish yourself on the internet so you can start growing your audience.
Buzzsprout is a well-featured hosting service that offers built-in transcription, integrated Canva access, and even affiliate marketing tools for your site.
Captivate offers a clean-looking website and podcast player, a well-organized analytics tool, private podcasting on every payment plan, and many more.
With the right tools, podcasters can track important metrics, optimize their content, and scale their production according to market demand. Such tools include analytics, email service providers, and audiogram generators (see list above).
Chartable provides analytics and other important metrics for both publishers and advertisers.
ConvertKit is an email marketing tool that can send emails en-masse to your audience and even create landing pages for promotions.
Cover artwork can be one of the attention-grabbers when listeners browse through podcast directories.
These tools will help you create professional-looking cover art for your podcast without the need for a full-on Photoshop license.
Canva is a popular image editor that also provides templates for podcast cover art. Images are as low as $1.
Snappa is a free image editor that offers lots of templates and over 500,000 photos to work with.
A short intro and outro jingle can be a great touch to your podcast and it helps liven up your audience before you get to the topic at hand.
These resources provide you tons of short songs and jingles to choose from.
Music Radio Creative is tailored for podcasters who are looking for custom voiceovers and jingles.
Premium Beat offers over five hundred pages of royalty-free music in many different genres. You can pay either for a per month subscription or buy the tracks once.
YouTube Audio Library has over 35000 free royalty-free songs and jingles for content creators.
A podcast directory is like a marketplace for podcasts where listeners go to find and listen to episodes. Podcasters publish their work there to tap into bigger audiences.
Apple Podcasts is the biggest podcast directory in the world given the popularity of Apple devices across the world.
Spotify also streams podcasts and creators can tap into their massive music streaming audience.
Google Podcasts is another big directory given the vast amount of Android devices out there and it can also show podcast episodes in search results.
Starter guides are especially helpful for beginners who want to start a podcast. These are great resources to follow because they talk about the essential software and hardware as well as the proven strategies to grow an audience.
These are the guides we recommend to help you minimize unnecessary mistakes when starting out.
Podcast Insights is a podcasting blog run by Ross Winn and has been featured in several publications like The New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, and The Verge.
The Podcast Host is the blog of Alitu, a popular web-based podcast recording tool and is run by Alitu’s founder, Colin Gray.
Smart Passive Income is one of the most popular online entrepreneurship resources that is run by Pat Flynn since 2008.
The hardware for podcasting is similar to the equipment for recording music, which can be quite intimidating for the beginner podcaster. These include audio interfaces, mics, mic stands, headphones and several others.
These guides will help you sort out the equipment based on your needs, goals, and budget.
Wired’s guide is complete with recommendations for live streaming and even hardware for transforming your phone into a venerable tool in your arsenal.
Podcast Insights’s guide to hardware talks about the best gear to have whether you’re just starting out or you’ve passed the 100th episode mark.
Castos, a popular podcast hosting service, provides a checklist of equipment for most setups and budgets.
What good is a great podcast if there’s no one to listen to it? Whether your goal is to attract a lot of sponsors in the future or just be a trustworthy source of information for listeners, effective marketing will help you get there.
These are the guides we recommend for marketing your podcast successfully.
ADVERTISECAST talks about how to create engaging content, low-hanging fruit that can improve your reach, as well as how to do paid advertising correctly.
BuzzSprout’s guide specifically talks about how to promote your podcast in social media, which include the best platforms, the best engaging kind of content, and how to create these kinds of content.
Podreacher notes down 16 specific things to do in the many different areas of marketing your podcast, from strategizing to asking for customer feedback.
This is a list of highly recommended podcast production companies curated by Jake Jorgovan.
Making money out of podcasts isn’t new. But because competition has tightened nowadays, converting a podcast into a viable stream of income wasn’t as easy.
These are the guides we recommend you check to successfully monetize your podcast.
Side Hustle Nation is run by Nick Loper and he outlines in this guide 12 ways that he’s tried to make money out of podcasts.
Podcast Insights’ guide to monetizing includes 11 ways to consider, which range from affiliate marketing all the way to public speaking.
Castos’ guide explains the gist of how a podcast can make money and it also talks about how to monetize directly and indirectly your show.
This is an attempt to build the definitive guide on various topics related to dictation, transcription & recording.