Podcast Software: The Complete Guide to Creating your Show

If you’re having trouble figuring out your podcast software options, then I don’t blame you! Back when I started, around 2008, you had to make do with a small set of super-techie audio engineering tools. Now, in 2024, the options are practically limitless!

That’s good and bad, of course…

• Good: The competition encourages great tools and brilliant platforms that really help us out.
• Bad: The sheer variety can make it soooo confusing when you’re starting out.

Have no fear, though, that’s what I’m here for. To smash those confusions, and make choosing your software as easy as falling down a cat-meme YouTube rabbithole….

Pro Tip
A lot of podcast software covers multiple bases. Eg. most editing apps will also help you record. Because of these overlaps, you can often just use one or two platforms to handle the whole process!

If you want a quick answer – just to be told: “This one’s good, use it!” then I’ve got a couple of top recommendations in each section.

But if you want to go deep – and I know some of you do! – then I’ll guide you to specific resources for each area. We’ve covered many of these tools in detail, after all.

So, what software do you need to make a podcast? Let’s take a look!

And so you know, we use the odd affiliate link to tools we think you’ll find useful. It earns us a small commission at no cost to you, and helps support all of our free content.

1. Podcast Software for Recording

The first step is to record your podcast! After all, you can’t have a podcast without recording your voice.

The good news is that recording your own voice or even a conversation with others has never been easier. But there are a few different ways to do it. So, let’s look at the options.

Recording Yourself (Solo Podcast)

Starting with the simple option, let’s just record ourselves. Why might you do this?

1. running a solo podcast – just you and your mic, talking to your audience every week
2. recording a solo section for a podcast – for example, an intro, an outro, an ad slot, or a news update

The solo show is a good option in a lot of cases. It’s a nice, simple, sustainable way to spread your message. And even if you run a larger show with more than one person, you’ll often need solo segments to mix in amongst the main recordings.

In either case, you need to record yourself, and that means having software that can quickly and easily capture your voice.

Computer-Based Solo Recording

The first option is an audio program for your computer, often called a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). You download it, you install it, and you hit record.

Source: 2024 Podcaster Gear Survey

Audacity is the most popular option, a free audio recording and editing app. It’s a little clunky and quite old-fashioned, but it’s amazing, considering it’s free. You can’t argue with that value!

On the other end is Adobe Audition, a Pro-level audio editing package. We’ve used it a lot over the years here at The Podcast Host. Audition has a monthly fee, but for that, you get a much better workflow, a lovely user interface, and loads of presets and automation. It’s overkill for most podcasters, though, and learning takes time.

Recommended tools & further reading:

• Comparison: Audacity vs. Audition

Web-Based Solo Podcast Recording

If you want to be flexible in where and when you record, you can use a web application to record yourself, rather than software on one computer.

Alitu is a great solution here. Alitu is our ‘Podcast Maker’ web app that automates all the complex processing tasks, like volume levelling, noise reduction, EQ, and compression. You can create a new episode in Alitu, either by recording solo segments or online calls.

You can also upload audio that was recorded on any other platform and easily sync it all together. You can add music, effects, ads, and any other segments with the ‘Episode Builder’ tool. Once it’s ready, you can publish the finished episode to Apple, Spotify, and every other podcast platform, directly from within the Alitu dashboard!

Recommended tool:

• Alitu: The Podcast Maker

Recording a Call

The interview show is one of the most popular podcast formats in the world. And for good reason! When done well, an interview show is interesting and valuable. But what podcast software do you need to record that interview? Here are the options.

Web-Based Podcast Interview Software

It’s possible to record a conversation fully online inside your web browser. The major advantage is that you can do it anywhere, on any computer. No need to install an application on your computer.

If you go this route, there is no shortage of options. The most ubiquitous used to be Skype, but these days it’s Zoom.us. The web conferencing giant that connected us throughout the pandemic is about as easy as it gets. You sign up, get your link and once everyone clicks it, you’re all in a conference room together. Zoom will record the call on its own servers and then send you the audio file at the end. Easy!

The downside is that the quality can be a bit spotty, depending on everyone’s connection. If someone’s on dodgy broadband, it records the glitches, the dropouts and all the rest. But it’s generally pretty reliable, so it’s a decent option.

The next option is to use web software that records on each individual computer. This is commonly called a double-ender because it records at both ends: your own end and the interviewee’s end. This means it records the best quality for each person and doesn’t depend on the connection quality.

For this, you’ll usually pay a bit more, but you’ll get much better quality as a result. Alitu and Riverside.fm are both fantastic options here, as you can record multiple people all on individual channels. Alitu records audio (video coming soon) and Riverside can record audio and video.

Iff it’s pure simplicity you’re after, you might opt for Alitu. With Alitu, you can record calls, produce them, edit them into your episodes, and publish them all from within the tool’s dashboard. It’s a brilliant all-in-one podcasting solution.

On the other hand, if you think you might broadcast your recording live, Riverside offers the option to stream to a range of platforms, and take call-ins while you’re at it. It does have text-based editing capabilities, but they’re much more limited than Alitu’s full episode-building features.

Recommended tools & further reading:

• Riverside.fm review
• How to Make a Podcast with Alitu
• Recording a podcast with Zoom

Mobile Recording

A simple option is to pull out your smartphone and record right there on the device you already have. If you do that, what are our choices when it comes to mobile podcast software?

First, nearly every smartphone has a default audio recording app. iOS has one as standard, called Voice Memos. On Android, it’s often just called ‘Voice Recorder’. And, if you search in the app store on either platform, you’ll discover dozens of other specialist recording apps with a whole slew of features. Here are the best recording apps for iOS/iPhone and the best recording apps for Android phones.

One tool worth mentioning comes from a company called Spreaker. Spreaker is a podcast hosting platform, but they also provide a great podcast recording app called Podcast Studio that ties right into their hosting. It allows you to broadcast live and, if you’re happy going without editing, post that episode direct to Spreaker hosting.

Spreaker is far from the only great option for mobile recording, though. Podbean is also well worth a look if you’re considering going down this route. It’s similar in many ways to the Spreaker app, meaning you can do all your recording, live broadcasting, and publishing from within the app itself.

And, I’ve talked about Riverside.fm already. They have an excellent mobile app which is perfect for folks who want to record a video podcast on the move.

Recommended tools & further reading:

• Spreaker
• Podbean Live Stream
• Riverside.fm review
• Recording a Podcast with the Rode SmartLav+

For more detail, read our dedicated article on Podcast Recording Software here.

2. Podcast Software for Editing & Production

Read our dedicated article on Podcast Editing Software here.

Once we’ve recorded our show, the next task is editing & production.

Editing usually means the process of cutting up your recordings and putting them back together again as one episode. That can mean adding music, removing mistakes, combining two or more recordings and much more.

On the other hand, production is usually taken to mean making your audio sound better (sometimes called mastering). That means playing with the volume levels, removing noise, adding compression, and a range of other tasks.

So, any podcast software we use at this point should be able to do both. If you’re curious about the level you need to reach here, check out the article: How much editing should I do?

Web-Based & Automated Podcast Editing Software

Big audio files & browsers are a tricky combination, and few online tools can do this heavy lifting well.

But one such tool is Alitu, a ‘Podcast Maker’ tool we’ve already covered in the podcast recording section. Alitu is designed to automate the production of your podcast, handling conversions, bitrates, levelling, compression and noise reduction for you, automatically.

Speaking of noise reduction, check out the example in this clip; it’s pretty incredible the things podcast software can do these days!

For editing, Alitu provides a tool designed specifically for podcasters, allowing you to trim recordings and remove mistakes. You can even edit by text, if you’d prefer – Alitu auto-generates transcriptions for you and lets you delete text, which also deletes the corresponding audio!

Another popular time-saving feature in Alitu is the Playback Speed settings. Say you’ve recorded an hour-long conversation and need to listen through it to find and make any edits – well, with Playback Speed, this can now be done in half the time.

Finally, Alitu offers an episode builder to create your episode from music, recordings & transitions through a drag-and-drop interface.

Remember, you can also record your podcast episodes directly into Alitu, be they solo conversations or online calls.

And, as mentioned, Alitu will also automatically transcribe your episodes for you. Then, you can publish directly to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all the other podcast directories via Alitu’s built-in hosting!

Recommended tool:

• Alitu: The Podcast Maker

Computer-Based Editing

Earlier, I talked about DAWs – computer-based podcast software – as a recording tool. Well, as you’d imagine, they’re also designed for editing and production.

The same arguments as before apply here. Audacity is free, but a little clunky, and Audition is more expensive but powerful & slick.

Recommended tools & further reading:

• Audacity
• Audition
• Comparison: Audacity Vs Audition

For more detail, read our article dedicated to Podcast Editing Software here.

3. Podcast Scheduling Software

One of the biggest time-sucks in running an interview show (and to some extent a co-hosted show…) is the infamous email ping-pong when trying to schedule a time to talk. You suggest Time A, but they can’t make that and suggest Time B, but you can’t make that and suggest Time C, but they can’t do that and suggest Time D, but… you get the idea.

Well, there’s a solution, which comes in the form of a scheduling app. These wonderful apps are simply bits of software that sync with your calendar (Google Calendar, iCal, etc.) and then offer your interviewee a link to book. The link generally shows the interviewee all of the free slots on your calendar, so they can choose the one that suits them best.

There are a whole bunch of extra benefits, from automating parts of your research to sending reminder emails. The tool I use for this is called Book Like a Boss, and you can see my review of the system and how I use it, below.

Recommended tool & further reading:

• Book Like a Boss
• How I use Book Like a Boss

4. Podcast Planning Software

Big-Picture Podcast Planning Software

After telling you that Alitu can record, edit, produce, transcribe, and publish your show, would you be surprised to learn that it can help you flesh out a podcast launch plan, too?

The Alitu Showplanner is a free piece of podcast software available to anyone, no login required. It’ll ask you a few top-level questions about the type of show you’d like to create, then it’ll generate a full plan for you. This includes things like potential names, target audience info, a trailer script, episode ideas, and more!

Week-to-Week Organisational Podcast Planning Software

Post-launch, it’s handy to have a tool or two to help you organise your workload, and keep things sustainable.

Right now, we also use two platforms which aren’t podcast-specific for our planning: Trello and Notion.

Trello helps us keep track of the tasks to be done, from booking an interview to publishing the show. Notion is for the information that goes along with that, such as scripts and guest research. Its Wiki-style approach lets you organise every bit of info and data you need for your podcast, and everything around it.

5. AI Podcast Software for Marketing & Growth

We’ve already talked about the Alitu Showplanner for generating a full launch plan, a list of potential names and episodes, and writing a draft trailer script for you.

And AI tools for podcasters are, as Lindsay put it in her roundup, “popping out like bunnies in springtime”. There are more than a few that can help you get your show out there to new listeners.

Dubb Media is an AI podcasting tool that offers an enjoyable and engaging user experience. It excels at helping you identify the most compelling aspects of your episode, and it can effortlessly create both transcripts and eye-catching video clips tailored for social media sharing.

Another noteworthy tool in the AI podcast software realm is Podcastmarketing.ai. This resource not only transcribes your podcasts but also leverages artificial intelligence to condense them into concise show notes, engaging episode descriptions, captivating episode titles, quote cards, and shareable social media posts.

Podsqueeze is yet another good option. It, too, provides transcription services for your episodes and goes a step further by generating an array of promotional assets based on your transcript. Simply input your RSS feed, select the episode you wish to enhance, and patiently await the results. In approximately ten minutes, Podsqueeze delivers a comprehensive package, including show notes, timestamps, chapter markers, emoji-filled tweets, catchy titles, relevant links and mentions (complete with timestamps), a blog post, a newsletter issue, recommended keywords, and thought-provoking quotes along with accompanying quote images.

Remarkably, AI can even step in to create cover art and promotional images these days.

Midjourney, akin to DALL-E and Stable Diffusion, is a program tailored for professional artists seeking to swiftly produce prototypes for their clients. Midjourney may not be identical to other AI art generation tools, but it operates on a similar principle. You provide a textual description of your desired artwork, and it employs AI to generate an image that matches your vision.

Many AI tools are new, with the rough edges still being smoothed out. But they’re still scarily good at times and are only going to get better. Remember, your AI-generated materials don’t need to be final, either. Often, they work better as first drafts or prototypes for briefs.

Podcast Software Is Improving All the Time

At the time of writing, that covers all the different types of podcast software you might need. The exciting thing is, though, there’s a lot more on the way. I hear about a new podcast startup just about every week, and they’re coming up with new software solutions to help make our podcasting easier and better. With AI now well and truly on the scene, too, new and powerful tools are always emerging. Be sure to bookmark this post, and the roundups below, to keep up with future developments.

Further reading

• Best Podcast Maker Apps
• Best Podcast Recording Software
• Best Podcast Editing Software
• Best Call Recording Software
• Best AI Tools for Podcasters

Or, just choose one or two tools that work for you and leave it at that. You don’t need to constantly chase the next shiny thing, unless that’s something you’re genuinely interested in. The vast majority of podcasters just want a minimal amount of software that can help them do the maximum amount of things, quickly, easily, and cheaply.

With that all said, it’s worth one final mention of ‘Podcast Maker’ software Alitu. Alitu is recording, editing, production, transcription, and hosting software rolled into one. And, it has some brilliant time-saving features like text-based editing, too. If your interest is piqued, you can try it out free for seven days and see for yourself!