Whether you want to get into podcasting as a hobby or for professional reasons, there is no denying that podcast hosting is crucial.
You want to host your show on a platform that allows customization, is easy to navigate, affordable, allows you to monetize, and much more.
Anchor and Buzzsprout are two popular platforms that you can use to host, create, distribute, and monetize your podcast episodes.
But which of these two should you go with? The following Buzzsprout vs Anchor analysis should make your choice easier.
Stay with me.
What Is Buzzsprout?
Buzzsprout is an easy-to-use podcasting software that you can use to host, promote, and track your podcast. Since 2009, Buzzsprout has helped +300,000 podcasters publish their podcasts.
Buzzsprout has easy and robust tools that you need to create a successful podcast. They include powerful reporting stats, podcasting directories to help you get listed on other platforms, episode-publication tools, and promotion tools.
Creating a successful podcast on Buzzsprout is easy, thanks to its vast library of free learning resources. The resources include video tutorials, podcasting guides, courses, a podcast community, and industry podcasts.
Find out the best alternatives to Buzzsprout in this post.
How Does Buzzsprout Work?
Whether you want to create your first show or transfer an existing one to a new host, Buzzsprout makes it possible.
Setting Up a Brand New Podcast
You can start with Buzzsprout’s free plan and set up the show. You will want to upgrade to a paid plan later, as the episodes under free plans disappear after 90 days.
The sign-up and setup processes are super easy, and there’s a step-by-step tutorial on Buzzsprout to follow.
You will be guided through the show’s details, including podcast type and title. Next, tap the ‘Upload a New Episode’ button to create your episode.
Next, drag the audio file into the upload box to move it to Buzzsprout’s storage. Sometimes, Buzzsprout changes your file to a standard or bitrate format.
The following page lets you fill out the episode details, which include:
- Episode title
- Episode summary
- Episode artwork
- Episode description
- Guest/Host
- Tags
- Episode # and Season #
- Episode type (trailer, full, or bonus)
- Publish date and time
In the last step, you can immediately publish a completed episode, leave it as a draft, or schedule it for publication later.
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Audio Mastering
With an extra $6, Buzzsprout gives you access to a “Magic Mastering” feature. The tool helps polish your audio before you hit publish.
The feature is perfect for podcasters with no clue or interest in audio production.
Lastly, it’s time for distribution to ensure your show is listed in the best directories.
Moving an Existing Podcast to the Platform
Most podcast hosts undertake this process as an essential part of growth. Luckily, Buzzsprout makes the process easy.
Start by giving Buzzsprout an existing RSS feed and let it suck in all the precious episodes. The platform grabs everything, from episode details to audio files, so you don’t need to worry about a thing.
The last step involves redirecting your RSS feed. Depending on your host, the process can be simple or a bit involved. However, you can find many guides on Buzzsprout to help make the process straightforward.
Podcast Distribution
Buzzsprout has a distribution section, shown as Directories. You can see a list of standard podcast directories with full guidelines for adding your shows. Some directories require a simple one-click step, but others, like iTunes, require manual submission.
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What Is Anchor?
Anchor is a free platform for hosting podcasts, and you can use it for creating, hosting, distributing, monetizing, and monitoring your podcast.
Spotify owns Anchor. The platform is browser-based, but there’s a mobile application you can use.
Anchor has built-in tools for uploading, editing, and recording that you can use to create and publish episodes.
Whether you are a first-time podcaster or a pro from any part of the world, you can use Anchor to share your voice with your target audience.
They have a blog known as Word of Mouth with insightful guides to help you start and grow a podcast. You will learn how to avoid burnout, use music in your podcasts, make gaming podcasts, and more.
How Does Anchor Work?
The Basics
First, you need to identify a topic you are genuinely interested in and love talking about. Next, decide how you would like to format the podcast: will you be the only person on the show? Will it be co-hosted? Will you hold interviews?
Creating and Distributing the Podcast
After adding audio to your podcast, it’s time to make it available on Anchor. Also, you will want to make the audio available to various podcast platforms, such as Google Play Music, Spotify, Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Pocket Casts, Overcast, and more.
Fortunately, Anchor makes this process easy. Select the “Distribute podcast everywhere” button and the platform will automatically distribute the podcast to other platforms. The process takes approximately 24 to 48 hours.
After recording your audio, listen to it and start iterating. Anchor eliminates all technical issues, leaving you to focus on discussing what’s relevant to the topic.
Creating Your First Episode
- How do you create the first episode?
- Start by downloading a free Anchor mobile application for Android or iOS and create an account.
- Add audio to the episode by tapping any tool.
- Include a caption and publish that segment to the podcast.
- Continue adding segments until the episode is complete.
- When done, name it and share it with everyone.
Connecting with Others on the Podcast
Holding conversations is the best way to make a podcast interesting, as it draws the listener into the discussion. Anchor makes conversations possible, whether you want to meet new people or you know the cohost.
The Record with Friends feature lets you connect up to ten people, so you can record together from any location worldwide via phones.
If you don’t know who to talk to, no problem. Just tap a relevant topic on Anchor Cohosts, and Anchor will pair you with another person ready to discuss something similar. After completing the recording, you can add the conversation to your podcast.
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Sharing the Podcast to Grow Your Audience
If you host a podcast at Anchor, you get a custom URL that you can share with people. The link is for your Anchor profile, which contains links to all platforms with your podcast.
Do you have a website or blog? You can embed your podcast to let people listen without leaving your site. Check the embed code from your Anchor profile and paste it on your site.
Anchor also lets you transcribe an episode and share the transcribed video on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and similar platforms.
Ease of Use
Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout is easy to use. The interface is intuitive, with stats telling you how each episode performs. It is not cluttered with many features to distract you. The process of uploading and editing episodes is simple, too.
So, whether you are a new or seasoned podcaster, you won’t have difficulties navigating Buzzsprout’s dashboard. The panel will guide you into everything you need to produce, record, and upload a podcast.
Anchor
Anchor’s interface is surprisingly simple to use. To record, you need to hit a button and let a timer keep track of the episode’s length. The simple waveform signals that the app is picking up the sound.
Editing uploaded episodes is super easy, too. Plus, with a few clicks, you can share the new episode on other podcast streaming platforms, which saves time.
Verdict
It’s a tie. Both platforms are incredibly easy to use.
Visual Soundbites
Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout’s visual soundbites allow you to share podcast episodes on social networks like Instagram and Facebook. Being videos, they generate more clicks and get increased visibility on social media sites.
You can easily create them in your Buzzsprout account. Go to your episode page’s sidebar and click Create a Visual Soundbite.
You will be directed to a page that lets you create the soundbite. You can set the soundbite’s start time and duration. When you like the clip that has been created, tap Sounds Good, Continue.
The next page lets you customize the soundbite’s look. Select the custom colors, background and size, and update the text. On the customization page, you decide whether to show the soundbite with the episode information or only the soundbite and artwork.
After creating the soundbite, Buzzsprout will create the video file and email you once it’s ready for download. You can then go to your Buzzsprout account to download the file.
Anchor
Anchor does not have visual soundbites but has a similar feature known as a waveform editor. This tool lets you trim and split the audio with precision and remove unnecessary segments or noises to create a flawless episode.
The waveform editor lets you visualize your high-level episode audio and zoom into other granular moments.
Verdict
Buzzsprout is the winner. It allows you to easily create and add visual soundbites to an episode, customize, and share it on social media.
Analytics
Buzzsprout
Once logged into your Buzzsprout account, you can access your podcast statistics. The stats include total downloads over a specific duration, the apps people use to listen to the podcast, and the locations of your users.
You will also see stats on the number of episodes downloaded, podcast trends, and performance over time. The technology part shows your listeners’ devices and apps and displays the technology category, device, and top-ranking app.
You can use these stats to know what is working and what isn’t. This knowledge will let you improve the podcast and broaden your reach.
Anchor
You can find your podcast’s analytics right on the homepage. As explained below, you will see a breakdown of the stats into various categories.
Total plays – These stats include all the plays and downloads of at least 60 seconds on all the external platforms your podcast is distributed to. New podcasts will only start showing this data once the show hits the required threshold of plays.
Plays per episode – It refers to the average number received by your latest episodes in their first couple weeks. The number shown in this category will fluctuate depending on how frequently you publish new episodes.
Audience size – Refers to the number of unique devices that streamed or downloaded an episode within the past seven days. You also see podcast plays monthly, weekly, or daily.
Episode rankings – This data appears in a bar chart, with plays on the right, while the episodes and their titles appear to the left.
The geographic location data shows your listeners’ location worldwide and the percentage of total listeners that come from that place.
Listening platforms – Data in the form of a pie chart that shows where your podcast is distributed. If you mainly use Spotify, you will see the Spotify app.
On the other hand, if the podcast is available on other platforms, you will also see the data for those platforms. Moreover, you will also see the devices that your listeners use.
Interestingly, Anchor analytics show your listeners’ gender and age as pie charts and bar charts, respectively.
Verdict
Anchor shows more useful metrics on its analytics dashboard than Buzzsprout, with more subcategories and visuals. Therefore, Anchor wins.
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Mobile App
Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout doesn’t have an Android or iOS app.
Anchor
Anchor puts a recording studio in your pocket; they have a mobile app for iOS and Android devices, allowing you to record podcast episodes from anywhere.
You can edit, visualize, and arrange the audio segments with Anchor’s user-friendly episode builder on your phone.
You can also add sound effects, transitions, and background tracks from the app’s built-in audio library. The app lets you record remotely and include up to four cohosts or hosts from anywhere in the world.
The mobile app lets you distribute a podcast to popular platforms, such as Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and many others, with a single tap.
Moreover, the mobile app lets you design cover art for the show, collect voice messages from listeners, and include them in relevant episodes. The mobile app is compatible with most devices and mics, and you can import audio files to generate perfect sound.
The analytics dashboard makes tracking platform metrics a breeze.
Verdict
Anchor is the winner. It has a free Android app with over 10 million downloads and a free iOS app with a rating of 4.9 stars.
Distribution
Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout allows you to distribute your podcast to other platforms. However, the process isn’t automated. You will have to do manual submissions. Buzzsprout claims that they don’t submit your podcast automatically because they want you to retain ownership of the listings.
In other words, they let you have full access to your listings, where you can make feed changes, review stats, and take the entire listing with you if you choose to migrate to another podcast host.
That said, Buzzsprout has a straightforward submission process. Start by uploading and publishing an episode to your account. You can upload a trailer or full episode. However, they recommend a trailer episode, as the submission process might take approximately two weeks, depending on the platform.
After publishing the episode, go to Podcast Settings and fill out all the required information. Next, go to the Directories page, and tap Get Listed on the directory where you would like the podcast to appear. The process for each platform may differ, so you need to follow the individual step-by-step guide.
Your podcast will end up on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. Check out Buzzsprout’s video that explains how you can submit a podcast to the top three directories.
Anchor
You can use Anchor to reach more listeners equally and quickly. If you would like to distribute the podcast to most platforms, Anchor will automatically submit it to tons of platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Overcast, RadioPublic, Castbox, Google Podcasts, and more. The process often takes 24 to 48 hours.
If you want your podcast to appear on additional platforms that Anchor doesn’t automatically submit to, use the RSS feed in their settings to submit.
Distributing your podcast to Spotify can be done in one step.
Verdict
Anchor is the winner because it supports automatic submission to major podcast platforms, including Google Play Music, Apple Podcasts, and Overplay. Buzzsprout requires you to submit the podcast manually, which is time-consuming.
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Monetization
Buzzsprout
Whether you do podcasting professionally or as a pastime, making a few bucks from it doesn’t hurt. To monetize your podcast, Buzzsprout has handy options for podcasters.
First, they have an affiliate marketplace where you can partner with other brands and promote their services or products to your audience. You add an affiliate commission when your listeners purchase the offer.
The second monetization method is to set up a link your audience can click to support your podcast. To implement this method, click the Monetization tab and then tap on the Support Show link.
After setting up the link, you will see a place to save it so it can appear in several places, including your show notes.
Thirdly, Buzzsprout is introducing YouTube-style monetization, where they place ads on your episodes so that you can earn whenever your audience listens to them.
Simply head over to the Monetization tab and click Buzzsprout Ads. You will see several ads on your episodes that you can easily accept or decline.
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Anchor
Anchor lets you monetize your podcasts in several ways. The first option is a podcast subscription, where listeners pay a regular amount to listen to your shows.
Do you have the highest listener engagement? Anchor can place premium sponsorship ads for third-party brands. A creator team member from Anchor will contact you if you qualify for premium sponsorships.
The easiest way to monetize with Anchor is through Ambassador ads. The entry barrier for this method is low. You need 50+ unique listeners to qualify. Ambassador ads are host-read. In other words, you will have to read an ad while following the script provided.
Check Anchor’s monetization tab to know if you have unlocked Ambassador ads.
Automated ads are the other type of ads on Anchor. These ads aren’t host-read. Instead, you sign up for the ad and put its segment anywhere in your episode. The application criteria are based on Spotify followers, listening hours, unique listeners, and content that falls under Spotify’s ad guidelines.
Additionally, Anchor lets you collect donations from listeners (Listener Support).
See a full list of Anchor’s monetization strategies here.
Verdict
It’s a tie. Both platforms have several elaborate methods that you can use to monetize your podcasts.
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Pricing
Buzzsprout
This podcast host has four pricing plans. The first one is free and limits you to only two hours of audio uploaded monthly.
Besides, Buzzsprout hosts episodes for only 90 days and deletes them automatically if you don’t upgrade the account.
However, you can access advanced stats and have unlimited team members. There will be ads on the podcast website, but you can upgrade to get them removed.
The next plan costs $12 per month and allows an audio upload of three hours. So, if you post weekly uploads, we are talking about a 45-minute episode each week. That should suffice for those getting started with podcasting, in my opinion.
Upgrading to this plan lets you enjoy all the perks of the free plan, along with indefinite hosting. Uploading more content attracts a $4/hour rate.
The $18-per-month plan gives you six hours of audio uploads per month in addition to the previous tier’s benefits. To upload more content, pay $3 per hour.
Buzzsprout’s final tier costs $24 per hour and allows you to enjoy a massive 12 hours/month of audio uploads. The plan is ideal for daily podcasts. You can access it at only $2 per hour if you need more bandwidth.
Anchor
Anchor is 100% free for all. There are no hosting fees, payways, or trial periods.
Verdict
Anchor wins, hands down. It is completely free and offers high-quality features.
Anchor vs Buzzsprout: Pros and Cons
Anchor Pros
- Completely free to use
- Beginner-friendly
- Has a mobile app
- Detailed analytics
- Offers tons of ways to monetize from your podcast
- Automatic distribution to all the major platforms
Anchor Cons
- It doesn’t have the visual soundbite feature
- Spotify takes a cut of all ad revenue
Buzzsprout Pros
- Intuitive dashboard
- Ideal for both beginners and pros
- Solid monetization methods
- Free plan to get you started
- Supports visual soundbites
Buzzsprout Cons
- No mobile app
- No plan supports unlimited audio uploads
- You have to submit your podcast to directories manually
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Buzzsprout vs Anchor: Similarities and Differences
Similarities
- Both platforms are easy to use
- Both provide a wide array of monetization methods
- Both support podcast creating, hosting, distributing, and monetization
- Both have analytics to help you know what works and what you should change
Differences
- Anchor is completely free, but Buzzsprout has paid plans
- Anchor has Android and iOS apps, but Buzzsprout doesn’t
- Buzzsprout lets you create visual soundbites and share them on social media, but Anchor doesn’t
- Anchor’s analytics reports are more detailed, with more metrics than Buzzsprout
- Anchor automatically transcribes short audio (below three minutes), but Buzzsprout lets you attach a transcript to an episode
- Buzzsprout requires manual directory submission, while Anchor automates the process
Conclusion: Buzzsprout vs Anchor – Which Is Better?
From the above debate on Buzzsprout and Anchor, Anchor takes the trophy. Anchor has superior features, yet it’s 100% free.
It is also user-friendly, has mobile apps, automates distributions to major platforms, and features more detailed analytics reports than Buzzsprout.
Therefore, if you are looking to start or move a podcast to a free but top-notch platform, I recommend Anchor.
