AntennaPod
AntennaPod is a completely free and straightforward podcast app. You don’t need an account to use it. After installing the app, you just need to find a channel and subscribe to it, and then it adds to your collection. You can even download episodes for offline listening and delete them at any time.
When new episodes from your subscribed podcasts air, you’ll find the updates in your inbox and decide if they’re worth hearing or not. You can also manage subscriptions in a separate menu. This way, you can set episode notifications, unsubscribe, and perform other actions simultaneously.
Pocket Casts
| Plus Monthly: $4.29 Yearly: $42.99 |
Patron Monthly: $10.74 Yearly: $107.49 |
| Desktop & web apps + Apple Watch & Wear OS apps, folders & bookmarks, 20GB cloud storage, extra themes & icons, one year exclusive content from Slumber Studios (annual plan only). | Desktop & web apps + Apple Watch & Wear OS apps, folders & bookmarks, 20GB cloud storage, extra themes & icons, one-year exclusive content from Slumber Studios (annual plan only). |
One unique feature of Pocket Casts is that it allows you to import your episodes from other apps — as long as they support OPML file exports. It’s a common format for transferring information between different applications. On your first interaction with the app, you’ll see options to bring over your audio collections from Castbox and other podcast apps.
I like how it keeps statistics of your listening pattern. You can check your profile for how many seconds you’ve spent on podcasts and how much time you saved. Speaking of, you can trim silences within episodes and the app will cut out those long awkward pauses.
You can also increase playback speed and make voices sound louder. Pocket Casts supports casting, which means that you can mirror episodes to supported devices for listening on a speaker system.
Castbox
| Premium Monthly: $3 3-months: $9 Yearly: $30 + 7-day free trial |
Premium Pro Monthly: $7 3-months: $13 Yearly: $34 |
| Everything in the Premium plan + full access to Zen mode. | Everything in Premium plan + full access to Zen mode. |
Castbox offers most of what you’ll find on a podcast app, with the addition of a community. You can join topic discussions or even start yours in a new post and attach a podcast to it. I find this feature particularly useful when I get over-excited about a show and want to rant to people who can relate.
Podcasts also have a comment section that gives you insight into how people feel about a show. It lets you know whether a podcast is worth it or not. One other thing I like is the ability to add specific podcasts as shortcuts to my home screen.
Podbean
| Golden Member Yearly: $3 + 7-day free trial |
| No ads, unlimited playlists, set following pages as default homepage, priority input on features. |
Podbean doesn’t just let you stream other people’s shows. It also lets you create yours. You can record audio right on the app, or start a live podcast session. You can manage comments and even build a follower base.
The app provides listening statistics that almost feel like a challenge. You’re a newbie if you just joined the app. Listen for up to 25 hours, and you become a novice. The highest level is Master, which requires you to have listened to 1000 hours of podcasts.
Spotify
| Individual Monthly: $10.99 + 3-month free trial |
Duo Monthly: $14.99 |
Family Monthly: $16.99 |
Student Monthly: $5.99 + one-month free trial |
| One Premium account, cancel anytime, subscribe or one-time payment. | Two Premium accounts, cancel anytime, 15 hours monthly listening time from Spotify audiobooks subscriber catalog (plan manager only). | Six Premium or Kids accounts, explicit content control, access to Spotify Kids, cancel anytime, 15 hours monthly listening time from Spotify audiobooks subscriber catalog (plan manager only). | One verified Premium account, discount for eligible students, access to Hulu, cancel anytime. |
Spotify and other top music streaming apps dedicate a section to podcasts for free. You can search and add episodes to your collection and sort through them. The app helps you filter those you’ve listened to, stopped halfway through, and downloaded. You’ll find them in Your Episodes menu, and you can create playlists.
Spotify also lets you schedule automatic downloads. This way, you always catch up with your favorite shows whenever they air new episodes. If you’re scared of mobile data consumption, you can limit auto-downloads from 1 to 10 episodes per show.
Deezer
| Premium Monthly: $11.99 Annual: $107.99 (billed at $9/month) |
Family Monthly: $19.99 Annual: $218.99 (billed at $9/month) |
| Ad-free music & podcast streaming, offline listening, high fidelity sound, cross-device syncing, personalized recommendations, Lyrics for karaoke-style singing. | Ad-free music & podcast streaming, offline listening, high fidelity sound, cross-device syncing, personalized recommendations, and Lyrics for karaoke-style singing. |
Deezer also has podcasts, and they have originals. You can also discover other podcasts by duration, network, editor picks, and other categories. When you find a podcast you like, you can play it directly, add it to your favorites, or share it.
There’s even a button for receiving notifications when new episodes air. Unlike Spotify, it doesn’t automatically download the episodes. But tap it to subscribe to a channel and receive alerts.
YouTube Music
| Individual Monthly: $10.99 Annual: $109.99 |
Family $16.99/month |
Student $5.49/month |
| Ad-free streaming, offline downloads, single tap audio to video switch. | Same features as Individual plan + sharing with up to five members ages 13+. | Ad-free streaming, offline downloads, single tap audio to a video switch. |
If you’ve been a longtime fan of Google Podcasts, it’s time to switch to YouTube Music. Google has discontinued the app and moved podcast services over to the newer audio streaming app. Don’t worry about your data as you have until July to transfer it. Here’s the catch; you need to use a special tool that’s only available in the USA currently. Google plans to roll it out globally soon.
Locating the podcast menu can be tricky, depending on your region. But a quick search for “podcasts” will reveal them. You can also find the feature in the Library menu and add podcasts from there. YT Music houses various categories from popular shows, political commentary, and comedy, to society and culture.
Podcast Addict
| Ad-free One-time fee: $2.35 |
Premium Monthly: $0.99 Yearly: $9.99 |
| Remove ads, real-time updates, select opening screen, playlist widget, more themes, hide sponsored podcasts, remove app name when sharing. | Remove ads, real-time updates, select the opening screen, playlist widget, more themes, hide sponsored podcasts, remove app name when sharing. |
Podcast Addict gives you suggestions if you don’t know what to listen to. It also has a thorough search function where other podcast apps are a hit-and-miss. You can find any content with the podcast title, episode, speaker’s name, or related keywords.
Podcast Addict also supports a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed, which offers a way for you to view updates from different websites. You’ll find this feature useful in situations when creators might not be on its directories, but they still offer an RSS feed for their show. You can then copy a link to their podcast website and add it to the app.
Luminary
| Plans Monthly: $6.99 + 7-day free trial Yearly: $4.17 + 7-day free trial |
| Access to all podcast content. |
Luminary features the top podcast shows from popular hosts like Dave Chappelle and Trevor Noah. It also has original podcasts you won’t find anywhere else. But you have to subscribe to a premium plan to listen to them. The interface is simple and easy to navigate for first-timers. It’s the perfect app for anyone who doesn’t want much out of a podcast streaming platform.
It has four menus; Home, Original, Search, and My Shows. Playback controls are basic, and you can play or pause, as well as skip forward for 30 seconds and rewind at 15-second intervals. You can set notifications for podcasts and manage them in the settings menu.
Podcast Guru
| VIP Yearly: $4 |
| Cloud sync, advanced download management, fine grained speed control. |
Podcast Guru is completely free to use and offers a surprising number of features for a no-cost app. For one, it supports transcripts. It’s a helpful accessibility feature and it allows you to quickly scan through texts rather than replay the podcast.
I love that it lets you share a link to a particular point in the episode, rather than the entire content. It allows listeners to easily jump to the key takeaways. Other interesting features include hiding completed podcasts from view, screencasting to supported devices, and shortcuts creation.
There’s an app for every audiophile
If you’ve read this far, we hope you found the perfect app to stream podcasts. You may also like our audiobook app selections. You’ll find voice-recorded versions of popular books you’re probably too tired to read in paperback. Kickback with your headphones or earbuds and relax as someone else reads them for you.
