Simplecast Pricing 2026: Plans, Fees, and Is It Worth It?
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Simplecast costs $15 a month for one show on its Basic plan, or $13.50 a month if you prepay the year. For a single show that wants IAB-certified analytics, it is a fair price and cheaper than Transistor. But Simplecast bills per show, so a second podcast doubles the bill. Ad insertion is sales-only.
Key takeaways
- Simplecast Basic costs $15 a month, or $13.50 a month prepaid annually, and includes 20,000 downloads a month for one show.
- Simplecast Essential costs $35 a month, or $31.50 a month prepaid annually, and adds 50,000 downloads, four team seats, and state-level listener reports.
- Simplecast bills every show separately, so two podcasts on Basic cost $30 a month while Transistor hosts unlimited shows for $19.
- Simplecast’s dynamic ad insertion and AdsWizz marketplace are limited to its Professional and Enterprise plans, which have no public price.
- Simplecast gives no refunds, and deleting a show to stop billing permanently erases its episodes and analytics.
How much does Simplecast cost in 2026?
Two plans carry a public price: Basic at $15 a month and Essential at $35. Prepay the year and they drop to $13.50 and $31.50 a month, a 10 percent discount. Above them sit Professional and a set of Enterprise add-ons, both quoted by sales. These numbers come from Simplecast’s pricing page, read in a browser on September 24, 2026 and fetched again on September 25.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Prepaid yearly | Cost for a year | Downloads a month | Team seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $15 | $13.50 a month | $162 prepaid, $180 monthly | 20,000 | 2 |
| Essential | $35 | $31.50 a month | $378 prepaid, $420 monthly | 50,000 | 4 |
| Professional | Quoted | Quoted | By contract | Custom | Custom volume pricing |
| Enterprise add-ons | Quoted | Quoted | By contract | Custom | Volume pricing |
Every price in that table is per show. Storage and uploads are unlimited on both public plans, so the download allowance is the only meter. There is no free plan, just a 14-day trial.
What do you get on each Simplecast plan?
Basic, $15 or $13.50 prepaid: two team seats, unlimited storage and uploads, distribution to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the rest, a customizable show website with your own domain, an embeddable episode player, an HTTPS site and feed, 20,000 downloads a month, and email support. The analytics are the overview only: all-time downloads, today, the last and previous seven days, unique listeners for the past week, a location heatmap, top episodes, and top listening apps.
Essential, $35 or $31.50 prepaid: The analytics plan. It adds four team seats, the Mini and Show web players, side-by-side episode comparisons, location down to state and region, full Unique Listener reports, web-player drop-off and completion data, app and browser reports, and 50,000 downloads a month. Simplecast’s help center also says Essential and up can add a second RSS feed for bonus or early-release episodes. The pricing page, though, lists “Secondary & ad-free feeds” under Professional, so the two pages disagree. Ask Simplecast before you count on a second feed at Essential.
Professional, quoted: This is where monetization lives. Dynamic ad insertion, ad markers per show and episode, geo and device targeting, brand blocking by IAB category, frequency caps, revenue reporting, ad-free feeds, priority support with migration help, and custom volume pricing for shows and seats. Enterprise add-ons stack an API for publishing and campaigns, white-label feeds, high-bitrate audio, programmatic buyers through the AdsWizz SSP, and a dedicated success manager.
Does Simplecast charge per show?
Yes, and it matters more than either price. The Basic card says “manage multiple shows with one account,” which means one login, not one bill. Simplecast’s help article on multiple podcasts on one account spells it out: it bills per show, and every show you add puts another charge on the monthly invoice.
So two shows on Basic cost $30 a month, three cost $45, and five cost $75. Team seats follow the same logic, since Simplecast adds team members to a show, not to the account. If you think a second show is coming in the next year, price that in now. The best podcast host for multiple shows runs the five-show and ten-show math across six hosts.
What are the catches in Simplecast’s pricing?
The download allowance is the first. Basic includes 20,000 downloads a month and Essential 50,000, but neither the pricing page nor the help center says what happens to a Basic show that passes its number. The terms only describe overage charges for Professional and Enterprise contracts. If your show is near the line, ask support before you sign up, not after a good month. What counts as a podcast download explains how those numbers are counted.
The second is that you cannot pause. Simplecast’s help page on pausing a subscription says keeping old episodes online means paying every month, because pausing would kill the feed. A show on hiatus still costs $15.
The third is the clip tool. Recast, Simplecast’s own audiogram maker, was sunset on June 2, 2025, per its help center. Headliner, a separate service that needs its own account, is now the only supported option. If clips matter, budget for a dedicated clip tool.
Are Simplecast’s analytics IAB certified?
Yes. Simplecast calls its analytics IAB Certified, and the IAB Tech Lab’s list of compliant companies backs that up, showing Simplecast certified to version 2.2 of the podcast measurement guidelines, dated February 26, 2026. That matters when a sponsor asks for your numbers, because they are counted the way ad buyers expect. Transistor, by contrast, follows the IAB guidelines but is not on the certified list. How to read your podcast analytics covers what the overview numbers mean in practice.
Can you run ads, video, or private episodes on Simplecast?
Ads only on a contract. The monetization page says monetization is limited to Professional and Enterprise, powered by the AdsWizz Podcast Marketplace, with a 70/30 revenue share and 70 percent paid to the podcaster. Simplecast has been part of SiriusXM since 2020, and its FAQ says it runs no ads on your show without permission. Want ad insertion at a listed price? See the cheapest podcast host with dynamic ad insertion.
Video arrived in March 2026. You upload an MP4 or MOV once, Simplecast publishes the video to your connected YouTube channel, and it sends the audio to podcast apps through your RSS feed, with YouTube stats in Simplecast’s reports. Its help pages describe YouTube publishing, not video episodes inside Apple Podcasts. Hosts that auto-publish to YouTube compares the options.
Private podcasting is thinner. Simplecast has private episodes, kept out of the feed and directories and shared by link or embed, plus a direct integration for Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. No plan lists a private feed with per-listener access, the thing a company podcast needs. For that, see the best host for a private or internal podcast.
Does Simplecast have a free trial or discounts?
Every plan starts with a 14-day trial, and the pricing page says no credit card is required. One trial per account. The terms add what happens next: if you do not pay by the end of the trial, your site and feed go dark, and after 90 days unpaid the account is queued for deletion. So do not submit a trial feed to Apple unless you plan to stay.
Discounts exist but are not on the pricing page. Simplecast’s discounts page offers 25 percent off for accredited schools, colleges, and universities, for registered nonprofits with proof of status, and for students on a year’s subscription. They cover Basic and Essential only. By my math, Basic drops to $11.25 a month. My guide to hosts for churches and nonprofits compares the other nonprofit deals.
How does Simplecast pricing compare with Transistor?
For one show, Simplecast is cheaper on either billing. For two or more, Transistor wins, because its $19 Starter plan hosts unlimited shows. Transistor’s pricing page gives 12 months for the price of 10 on yearly billing, so Starter is $190 a year. Same billing, side by side:
| Shows | Simplecast Basic, monthly | Transistor Starter, monthly | Simplecast Basic, a year prepaid | Transistor Starter, a year prepaid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15 | $19 | $162 | $190 |
| 2 | $30 | $19 | $324 | $190 |
| 3 | $45 | $19 | $486 | $190 |
The allowances differ too. Simplecast gives each show its own 20,000 downloads, while Transistor’s 20,000 is one pool shared by every show. Transistor also includes unlimited team members, and it puts dynamic ads on its $49 Professional plan at a listed price. The feature-by-feature version is in Transistor vs Simplecast, and Transistor’s pricing guide has the rest of its plans.
Has Simplecast changed its prices?
Not the headline prices. Basic has been $15 and Essential $35 in every snapshot we have checked since July 2023. The one change we logged is structural: Simplecast dropped its $85 Growth plan that month, which we confirmed in archived snapshots of its homepage from just before and after. Its pricing FAQ still mentions Growth in two answers, a leftover from the old lineup. The terms promise at least 15 days’ email notice before any price change. We check every host monthly on our podcast hosting price tracker.
How do you cancel Simplecast, and can you get a refund?
On monthly billing, you stop paying by deleting the show. Open the gear icon, choose Remove Show at the bottom of the page, confirm, and type DELETE SHOW. Simplecast’s show deletion guide is clear that this is permanent: the audio, episode notes, analytics, and feed are purged, and neither you nor support can bring the show back. Deleting the account itself is an optional second step.
So move first, then delete. Add a 301 redirect under Distribution, then Advanced Settings, and download your MP3s and analytics reports. Simplecast also suggests leaving the account open until a few episodes are out on the new host. The redirect survives the deletion. The full sequence is in how to switch podcast hosts without losing subscribers. On annual billing, the terms say to email a notice of non-renewal to support@simplecast.com, and the plan ends when the paid term does.
Refunds are a flat no. The help center says that because billing is month to month, no refunds are given. The terms, effective February 9, 2026, go further: payments made before you cancel are nonrefundable, and there is no refund for time left in a billing cycle. So the annual prepay is a commitment, not a discount you can walk back. Prepay Basic to save $18, and a show that dies in month three has still paid for twelve.
Checked against Simplecast’s help center and terms of service, September 25, 2026.
Is Simplecast worth it?
For one show, yes. Basic at $15, or $162 for a prepaid year, is $28 a year less than Transistor Starter and buys IAB-certified numbers, unlimited uploads, and a show website on your own domain. The analytics are the reason to pick it. Essential at $35 is the plan for a show chasing sponsors, since state-level location, unique-listener reports, and player drop-off data are what a media kit leans on.
Three things cut against it. A second show doubles the bill. Selling your own ads means a sales call and a contract, with no price to compare. And the exit is harsh: no refunds, no pause, and a deletion that wipes everything. Essential also costs $16 a month more than Transistor Starter, so buy it for the reports, not the bigger allowance.
Which Simplecast plan should you buy, or should you pick another host?
One show, analytics first, no plans for a second: Simplecast Basic is a good pick, and Essential once sponsors start asking for listener data. See Simplecast’s plans. Pay monthly for the first few months, because the prepay saves $1.50 a month and cannot be refunded. Simplecast pays us nothing, so this is the straight read.
Two or more shows, now or soon? Transistor hosts unlimited podcasts on one $19 plan with unlimited team members and 50 private-podcast subscribers. Start a Transistor trial. The downside: its 20,000 downloads are shared across every show, and it is not on the IAB certified list.
Want ad insertion without a sales call? Captivate’s Personal plan is $19 a month, or $17 billed yearly, with dynamic insertion included, unlimited shows, and 30,000 downloads. Start a free Captivate trial. The downside: the $17 needs annual billing, and there is no free plan. Captivate’s full pricing has the ladder. Still weighing hosts from scratch? Start with how to choose a podcast host.
FAQ
How much is Simplecast per month? $15 a month for Basic and $35 for Essential on monthly billing, or $13.50 and $31.50 a month if you prepay the year. Those prices are per show. Professional and Enterprise are quoted by sales.
Does Simplecast have a free plan? No. It has a 14-day trial with no credit card required. If you do not pay when it ends, your site and feed are disabled.
How much does Simplecast cost for two podcasts? $30 a month on Basic, because each show is billed separately at $15. Prepaid, that is $324 a year, against $190 for unlimited shows on Transistor’s yearly Starter plan.
Can I get a refund from Simplecast? No. Its help center says no refunds are given, and its terms make every payment made before cancellation nonrefundable, including the unused part of a prepaid year.
