Acast vs Auphonic

Acast is a podcast hosting and monetization company founded in Stockholm, Sweden, and listed on Nasdaq First North. Its core job is to host shows, distribute them to Apple Podcasts, Spotify and every other directory, and then turn listens into revenue through one of the largest podcast advertising marketplaces in the world.

The free Starter plan covers hosting and distribution. Paid tiers (Essential, Pro and Video) add multiple shows, unlimited episodes, team management, a publishing API and video publishing to Apple Podcasts. Acast inserts dynamic ads sold by its own sales teams and programmatic partners into back catalog episodes, so older episodes keep earning. Acast+ lets creators sell premium subscriptions with bonus or ad-free episodes, and sponsorship tools connect shows with brands directly.

Acast fits independent and network podcasters for whom advertising is the business model and who want access to advertisers they could not reach alone. The trade-off is a revenue share on ads and less control over which ads appear. Transistor is a better choice for companies running private or branded shows, Buzzsprout is simpler for hobbyists, and Spotify for Creators offers free hosting tied closely to Spotify. For shows with real audiences that want to be paid, Acast remains one of the strongest options.

Auphonic is an automatic audio post-production service from Graz, Austria. You upload a recording, pick a preset, and its algorithms level loudness between speakers, normalize to broadcast and podcast targets such as -16 LUFS, remove noise and hum, filter out low rumble and balance multitrack recordings so every voice sits at the same level. It then encodes the result in the formats you need and can publish straight to podcast hosts, YouTube, Dropbox or an FTP server.

Beyond cleanup, Auphonic adds speech recognition for transcripts and subtitles, automatic chapter marks, cut detection for fillers and silences, and ID3 metadata with cover art. Pricing is based on processing hours: a free tier gives two hours a month, recurring plans add more hours each month, and one-time credits never expire, which suits shows that publish irregularly. A REST API and desktop apps let teams automate the whole pipeline.

It is ideal for podcasters, radio stations, universities and video producers who want consistent, professional sound without learning mixing. It is not an editor: you cannot cut a story or rearrange segments, so it is usually paired with Audacity, Descript or a DAW. Compared with Adobe Podcast Enhance, Auphonic gives more control over loudness targets and output formats; compared with manual processing in iZotope RX, it is faster and far cheaper but less precise on difficult recordings.