Speaker 1: What's up, Podcaster? It's Ben here from Podcast Pros with a podcast hosting comparison. And today we're comparing Spreaker to Blueberry. So if you've been debating between these two hosts for your show, this video will help you make the right choice for you and your show. And once you've made your choice, there are links for free trials to both services in the description box and pinned comment. So let's get right into it. So moving right into features, there are a few features that Spreaker has that make it a very unique and compelling choice. And that is really their focus on live podcasting as well as making money and monetizing your podcast from the beginning. All of their paid plans give you access to their monetization features, which allows you to start making money the second you start your show. And if you have an existing catalog of episodes, if you move them over to Spreaker, you can even make money off of your previous episodes. They do this by providing dynamic ad insertion, which allows you to pick certain parts of your episodes where an ad will play. And they fill those spots automatically by using something called programmatic advertising. So what this means is that advertisers can pay Spreaker to advertise on podcasts to specific demographics. Spreaker will then put ads that make sense for you and your show into the spots that you've given them and you earn a percentage of that revenue for letting them play. So they do most of the heavy lifting here and make it very easy to start making some money and you pick how many ads there are and where they play in your episodes. So this saves you the time and hassle of having to go find advertisers and negotiate with them and allows you to start making money right from the beginning. And you can even make episode off your previous episodes when people listen to them. Obviously, since you're earning only a percentage of the revenue, you're going to get less than you could have on your own, but you're saving yourself the time and hassle of having to go find those opportunities. All of their plans allow you to host multiple shows on one account, meaning you don't have to pay for another plan if you decide to host another show. All their plans provide an embeddable podcast player and their paid plans allow you to customize your RSS feed. Their free plan as well as their cheapest paid plan just provide basic podcast stats. If you want more advanced analytics, you're gonna have to pay for the more expensive tiers. They also give you the option for a private or a limited access show, but only on their broadcaster or above plans. They also offer what they call Spreaker Studio, which is a podcast creation and audio editing software that you can download and really create and edit your entire episode on. And this can be downloaded for your phone, tablet, or desktop. Spreaker also has their own podcast player app, which is available on both Apple and Android devices. So those are Spreaker's core features, but to us, there are two that really stand out and it's their focus on live podcasting as well as simple podcast monetization. So because of these and their additional features, we gave them a score of 9 out of 10. So now moving on to pricing. Spreaker does offer a free plan, but it will limit you in terms of what features you have access to and there will be no monetization features on any of their free plans. With that being said though, you can still host multiple shows on their free plan. Upgrading to their paid plans gives you access to these monetization features. It also gives you a customizable RSS feed and more storage time. And if you upgrade even further beyond their cheapest paid plan, you get advanced statistics as well. The limited access podcast or private podcasting option is limited to their more expensive plans. So if that's something you're looking for, you're gonna have to go for the higher tier options. They also provide an enterprise solution for podcast networks and larger companies, but for the individual podcaster, their paid plans will run you $7 to $50 per month when paid monthly and $6 to $45 if you pay for the year. Spreaker also scored very well in this category because even on their cheapest plan for $6 or $7, what you get is a lot of value for your money. So we gave them a score of 8 out of 10 when it comes to price because their cheapest plan is a great option and as you move up, you're getting more and more value. So now moving on to ease of use. As mentioned, Spreaker's core focuses are live podcasting and simple podcast monetization. From that element, making money off your show is very, very simple and that plays into ease of use as that is a lot of podcasters' core focus. Their live tools, their podcast app, and their audio editing software are all things that you're going to have to learn if you want to use Spreaker to its full extent, but they are very simple and user-friendly to use even for beginners. So it will definitely take some time to learn about all of Spreaker's features and the options that they provide you, but they do make it fairly easy to use even for beginners. Because of all of this, Spreaker scored an 8 out of 10 when it comes to ease of use. So overall, Spreaker scored a 25 out of a possible 30 points. It is a fantastic podcast hosting option, especially if you're looking for simple monetization and live podcasting. Let's get right into features. As mentioned before, Blueberry is one of the original podcast hosting providers. So they're a very trusted and reputable name within the podcast hosting space. But what really makes Blueberry a very compelling choice for podcasters still today is their integration with WordPress websites. Every one of Blueberry's podcast hosting plans comes with a WordPress website. So what that means is that you're actually building your podcast website through WordPress. So this allows you to have way more customization and features built into your website, especially when compared to other podcast hosting website options that are out there. So if you're comfortable and familiar with building websites on WordPress, this is a huge pro for you because of all the features and customization that it allows you to have. All plans also include a custom embeddable podcast player, which makes it very easy to embed specific podcast episodes onto website pages. All plans also include phone and email support as well as unlimited bandwidth. So what you get more of as you pay for the more expensive plans is more storage. And that dictates how much content you can be posting on a monthly basis. And Blueberry's cheapest plan gives you 100 megabytes of storage per month. Luckily, audio files aren't huge, but 100 megabytes is not a lot. So a lot of people are going to have to opt for their more expensive plans. When you see the monthly storage included in your Blueberry hosting plan, that number is for new content each month, meaning that previous episodes will not count towards that storage number for the month. Another Blueberry feature we love is that all plans include professional podcast statistics. So regardless of which plan you opt for, you're going to have the same access to your stats. So those are all Blueberry's core features. But again, what really makes them so unique is the integration with WordPress because having a WordPress website gives you access to all the WordPress plugins and different features that you can build into your website. So with all that, we gave Blueberry a 7 out of 10, a very solid score, but it wasn't higher because of how reliant it is on WordPress. It's just another thing that you have to learn. So it's great if you know it, it's a little more difficult if you don't. Moving on to price now, their cheapest plan comes in at $12 per month and their most popular plan comes in at $20 per month. Their most popular plan is what they call their medium plan and this gives you 250 megabytes of monthly storage. A lot of shows will be fine staying under that 250, but if you do need more, you will have to pay for it. Blueberry also offers what they call their pro hosting solution, which gives you unlimited storage and they say it's perfect for people looking to start podcast networks or multiple shows. Because I think that a lot of shows will be over 100 megabytes per month, meaning that you can't opt for their cheapest plan. I'm really setting this based off of their medium tier plan and that's why I gave them a score of 7 out of 10, a very affordable pricing option, especially if you love WordPress, but a lot of people are going to have to opt for the medium or above to get that necessary storage for their show. So 7 out of 10 is a very solid score, but if you are familiar and love WordPress, the fact that you get a WordPress website for free with your podcast hosting could really improve that value if you do fall into that camp. But since I'm not a huge WordPress guy, I gave it a 7 out of 10, solid value. So now moving on to ease of use. Because of how tightly connected Blueberry is to WordPress websites, the ease of use of Blueberry really comes down to the ease of use of WordPress. So if you're comfortable and familiar with WordPress and you love it, it could be a 10 out of 10 for you. But for me, I was a newbie to website building and WordPress had a pretty steep learning curve. Luckily, it's a very popular product and there are a ton of YouTube tutorials out there, but it is definitely not as straightforward and easy to use as some of the other podcast hosting website options and podcast hosts in general. There's a lot more that you have to learn, but with that gives you a lot more freedom, creativity, and flexibility. So WordPress and Blueberry in general are definitely not impossible to use and there are a ton of tutorials and support out there to help you use these products, but there is a steeper learning curve than other ones out there. And for that reason, we gave them a 7 out of 10 when it comes to ease of use. So overall, we scored Blueberry a 21 out of 30, a very solid score. But if you're someone who loves WordPress and you love all the customization and features that it gives you, it may make Blueberry a 30 out of 30 and a perfect option for you. It really depends on your situation, your willingness to learn WordPress, or what you already know. So as we mentioned before, there are links for free trials for both Spreaker and Blueberry in the description box and pinned comment of this video. Full disclosure, those links are affiliate links. So if you do ever end up signing up for a paid plan, the channel will earn a small commission at no extra expense to you and we appreciate the support in advance. So after watching this comparison, I want to hear from you. Are you going to host your show with Spreaker or Blueberry? Let us know in the comment section down below and don't forget to subscribe for more podcast related videos to help you run your show like a pro. I'll see you in the next one and happy podcasting.