The 8 Best WordPress Podcast Plugins to Grow Your Audience in 2023
A podcast is a digital audio media file available on the internet which can be downloaded to a computer or a mobile device. According to research conducted in the United States, more than 100 million people are listening to podcasts every week in the year 2020. This number has been growing day by day.
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Podcasts have become an essential social tool to reach to the target audience in the digital form. They are usually available for free on the internet, while some might require premium membership to download. Podcasts are generally published by celebrities, artists, motivational speakers, etc. They can help build a relationship with your subscribers or your target audience.
How to Host Podcasts with WordPress?
You might have come to the right place if you are a podcast publisher and are looking for a WordPress platform to promote your podcasts. WordPress has different Podcast plugins in its store, which can help you set up podcast service in your site.
If you search for Podcasts at the Plugin section of WordPress, you will get the list of popular podcast plugins based on the number of active installations, reviews, and the frequency of the plugin updates. Let us look at some of the popular WordPress podcast plugins available in the plugins store.
List of the Top WordPress Podcast Plugins
#1. PowerPress Podcasting Plugin
The PowerPress Podcasting plugin by Blubrry tops the Podcast plugin list. It has over 60,000+ active installations and an average rating of 5 out of 5. It is simple but features advanced modes and tools. This plugin supports podcasts from Google, Apple, Stitcher, etc. as well as supports podcasting applications.
It comes with an integrated HTML 5 media player and can embed video streaming sites like YouTube. It supports multiple languages and has emoji support. This WordPress podcast plugin has got advanced migration tools to quickly migrate your podcasts from other services without losing any episodes.
The plugin features Podcasting SEO which can improve discovery of your podcasts on search engines. This podcast WordPress plugin comes with a Simple mode for new users who are overwhelmed by the advanced settings while creating your first episode. The plugin comes integrated Subscribe tool which can help you convert your web visitors into your podcast subscribers.
#2. Seriously Simple Podcasting
As the name suggests, this Podcast plugin for WordPress is a simple plugin to start your podcasting adventure. It is easy to use as it runs on a native WordPress interface and has simple settings which you can learn in no time. You can create and just publish your content.
It comes with a newly designed customizable media player where you can put your cover image. You always have the flexibility to run multiple podcasts from the same site. You can even gather stats of your listeners using the free stats add on. This WordPress podcast plugin supports video and audio podcasting.
To add a new podcast, simply Click the Add new and go to settings to Customize it.
#3. Sermon Manager
Sermon Manager is beneficial for churches using WordPress to publish and podcast sermons to reach people. Potential regular visitors can check out your church before coming, and others can listen to or watch a sermon they might have missed. Also, you will be making your lectures available on Google and podcasting platforms like iTunes. This can significantly increase your audience.
Sermon Manager is a free WordPress plugin designed precisely to do that. With this best podcast player integrated on your WordPress site, you can easily publish your sermons online. Basic features like the addition of speakers, series, topics, books, and service types are handled easily using this plugin. You can choose to include images and attach any file types, including MP3.
Sermon Manager has Bib.ly integration to view bible references, and you can also embed videos from YouTube or Vimeo or other available platforms. A fully-featured API is available for developers.
If you are planning to migrate from other famous sermon plugins, the one-click importing feature lets you do that with ease. Sermon Manager is completely free to use with the availability of premium packages for those in need of some additional assistance.
#4. Amazon Polly for WordPress
Another free WordPress plugin which can turn audio version of your WordPress posts and create podcasts out of them. It is a service that can turn texts into speech. It supports multiple languages and can be used in different countries.
The plugin can help publish podcasts directly from your site and can be made available for listeners in podcast form. The WordPress plugin for podcast helps generate an audio feed from text-based content and add them to the WordPress site.
#5. Podlove Podcast Publisher
With an average of 4.5 out of 5, this Podcast WordPress plugin makes it to the third place on our list. It has over 4000+ active installations and is compatible with the latest version of WordPress. “Personal media development” As the tagline suggests, it used to create your podcast and release them. It is an open source plugin comes with different features. It can help you create efficient and compatible feeds and supports different metadata.
The plugin also promotes multi-format publishing and supports all the modern audio and video codecs. It supports HTML 5 player. It is relatively simple to use. You can add podcast player to your site by uploading them to S3 bucket and then add the file to WordPress and publish them.
#6. Simple Podcast Press
Adding a way to access the podcast straight from your website is the best way to reach your audiences. Using the Simple Podcast plugin, you can add a play button right on your WordPress site and let the audiences start listening. You can start using Simple Podcast plugin by entering your iTunes or SoundCloud URL and let the plugin do the rest.
Pages for every individual episode are created automatically with an included mobile-friendly player. These episodes are accompanied by full-length descriptions, including the image from the podcast feed (if any). When any new episode is published, your WordPress site will update automatically.
The plugin is especially for those who already own iTunes or SoundCloud accounts. URL shortening, timestamps, and the compatibility with several podcasting platforms make this plugin ideal for anyone who is looking for expanding their audience base.
#7. Buzzsprout Podcasting
With fully support with iTunes and HTML 5 players, Buzzsprout podcasting plugin is one of the popular in the podcasting plugin segment. It has an average of 4 out of 5 and has more than 1000+ active installations. This podcast plugin for WordPress has a dashboard which is easy to understand. It is easy to view your entire podcast history. Uploading and editing a podcast episode with Buzzsprout is very easy.
It optimizes the uploaded audio file and changes it into the best practiced 64 K mono for spoken word podcasts. If your podcasts have a lot of music, it is optimized to 128 K stereo. Buzzsprout supports popular podcast directories like the iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The plugin also works best with both iOS and Android operating system.
#8. LibSyn Publisher Hub
LibSyn Publisher Hub is a popular podcast hosting site solution. It lets users sign up on their platform to host their episodes. The plugin can be used by LibSyn subscribers only at the moment. Using the plugin, it is possible to connect your WordPress site with your LibSyn account and start publishing your podcasts.
The LibSync hub has one of the best workflows for publishing podcasts. It has an episode creation feature, iTunes optimization tags, migration feature and advanced scheduling.
This WordPress podcast plugin has an average rating of 4 out of 5 and has more than 3000 installations. It supports the latest WordPress version. The best part of the plugin is that your media files hosted with LibSyn will remain unaffected by your web hosting server.
Any Other WordPress Plugin for Podcast?
If you are someone who loves creating podcasts, then you have just learned how to add podcasts to your WordPress site using some of the popular plugins available in the store and promote them. Make some podcast subscribers!
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Excellent roundups of WordPress podcast plugins! Also, I like the way you described each plugins features. I have used the PowerPress podcasting plugin for my site and it’s really been a great experience to using this one. You said the right word! It’s really easy to use for the new users. Thanks a lot for sharing these useful plugins! Keep up the great work!