Best Podcast Call Recording App? 8 Tools Tested & Compared!
🟢 Summary: Best Podcast Call Recording App
These days, there are plenty of software options for recording remotely. The right program, combined with good setups and etiquette at either end, can make podcasters sound like they are recording in the same room. “Double-ender” technology protects remote recordings from sketchy internet connections, and video podcasters are well-served with these tools, too. You can expect to pay around $20 a month for a tool like Squadcast, Riverside, or Zencastr. With Alitu, $38 per month will get you call recording, editing, production, hosting, distribution and more.
It truly is the halcyon days for creators looking to record a podcast remotely. There have never been so many brilliant online call recording options out there, and many go beyond simple recording.
All eight call recording apps were tested on this episode of Podcraft, the show that teaches you everything you need to know about podcasting. Subscribe or follow on your listening app of choice!
In this roundup, you’ll find options for every use case, need, and budget. So, let’s explore the best platforms for remote podcast recording.
A quick heads up that we use affiliate links for some of the tools mentioned here. This means we may earn a small commission if you buy through them, though at no extra cost to yourself. Affiliates help to support all the free content we put out. On top of that, we only set up partnerships with services we’ve used and liked ourselves.
Record a Podcast Remotely With SquadCast
SquadCast is one of the big popular call recorder platforms. It has some cool AI tools, too, including filler word removal, overdub, and “AI-eye contact”, which means you’ll never look away from the camera again.
- Cost – Tiered monthly payment. You can save on all of these tiers by paying yearly.
- Free (an hour of recordings per month)
- $19 (10 hours of recordings a month)
- $35 (30 hours of recordings a month)
- Annual payment savings available
- Video – Yes
- Podcast Hosting – No
Record a Podcast Remotely With Riverside.fm
Riverside.fm is another one of the biggest and most popular call recorder platforms on the planet, offering an impressive range of features for podcasters.
- Cost
- Free (Record up to 2 hours total of watermarked files)
- $19 (Record up to 5 hours per month)
- $29 (Record up to 15 hours per month)
- Annual payment savings available
- Video – Yes
- Podcast Hosting – No
Record a Podcast Remotely With Alitu
Alitu is a podcast maker app with a built-in call recorder. It has all the features needed to run a podcast, including intuitive editing and production tools, auto-generated transcription, and hosting.
- Cost – $38 per month gives you access to ALL of Alitu’s editing, production, and publishing tools, as well as unlimited call recording.
- Annual payment savings available
- Video – Yes
- Podcast Hosting – Yes
Record a Podcast Remotely With Iris.fm
Iris is an up-and-coming call recorder with some great offerings for podcasters looking to record multi-channel audio and video. With Iris, you’re not encouraged to use Chrome or any specific browser, either – it works on them all.
- Cost – Tiered monthly payment
- $9 (2 hours of recording time)
- $19 (5 hours of recording time)
- $29 (10 hours of recording time)
- Annual payment savings available
- Video – Yes
- Podcast Hosting – No
Record a Podcast Remotely With Cleanfeed
Cleanfeed is a web-based tool for high-quality live audio recording, often used in radio and broadcasting. It allows multitrack recording and real-time collaboration. It’s one of the best options out there for folks looking to record calls for free.
- Cost – Tiered monthly payment
- Free (unlimited recording, up to two guests)
- $34 (unlimited recording, up to 32 guests)
- Annual payment savings available
- Discount available for charities, schools, etc.
- Video – Yes, for $2500 per year
- Podcast Hosting – No
Record a Podcast Remotely With Zoom
Zoom is the conference call app that helped the world run during the pandemic. One of Zoom’s big pluses is that almost everyone has used it. The trade-off, however, is that the audio quality can sometimes be poor. There’s also a time limitation of 40 minutes with recordings on their free tier.
- Cost – Tiered monthly payment
- Free (40min max)
- $14.99 per month (up to 100 participants)
- $19.99 per month (up to 300 participants)
- Annual payment savings available
- Video – Yes
- Podcast Hosting – No
👉 Try Zoom
Record a Podcast Remotely With Streamyard
Streamyard is a live streaming and recording tool that enables professional-looking broadcasts with overlays and branding. It supports multistreaming to different platforms and easy guest participation. Streamyard is ideal for live shows, interviews, and social media streaming.
- Cost – Tiered monthly payment
- Free (with Streamyard branded logo and 2 hours per month limit)
- $44.99 per month (10 on-screen participants. Unlimited streaming and recording.)
- $88.99 per month (multistream to eight destinations simultaneously)
- Annual payment savings available
- Video – Yes
- Podcast Hosting – No
Record a Podcast Remotely With Zencastr
Zencastr was the first multitrack call recording tool I ever used, and it’s still going strong to this day. They have an iOS app, a handy AI clip highlights tool for video podcasters, and you can host your podcast there, too.
- Cost – Tiered monthly payment with annual savings available
- $20 per month (Unlimited recording hours, uploads, and hosting)
- $30 per month (4k video, direct publish to YouTube)
- $30 per month (Two shows, two teams seats)
- Annual payment savings available
- Video – Yes
- Podcast Hosting – Yes
Use coupon code THEPODCASTHOST for 20% off the first three months of a monthly pro subscription with Zencastr.
Okay, So What’s the BEST Podcast Call Recording App?
The good news is that there are many quality podcast call recording options. The bad news is that it can be hard to choose one. In podcasting, there’s rarely a single “best” option for anything. But here’s a quick rundown of some factors that might help you decide.
Remember, you’ll get a free trial with any of the call recorder apps mentioned here, too!
Going Free
If you need to go free, it’s hard to see past Cleanfeed. You might also consider the alternative “double-ender” option discussed below.
Multi-Track Options With Video
Zencastr, Riverside, and SquadCast are the current big three Zoom alternatives for video and multi-track recording, though you can save money using Iris if you record less than two hours a month.
These platforms record audio and video locally and upload separate speaker files to the cloud. This allows you to manually edit and clean up each speaker and avoids any potential call connection issues.
All-In-One Package at One Flat Rate
If you’re after pure simplicity and more of an “all-in-one” solution, then opt for Alitu. In addition to remote recording, it’ll allow you to do audio cleanup, volume levelling, editing (including text-based editing), add music, produce your final episode, and create transcriptions, all in one user-friendly interface.
Alitu’s automatic Noise Reduction in action!
Alitu also includes podcast hosting, so you don’t need to sign up for a separate account to upload and distribute your show to places like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever podcasts are found.
With Alitu, you can easily clean up, edit, and sync calls recorded with any other tool mentioned here, too!
What Call Recording Apps CAN’T Do
As you’ve no doubt learned by now, these tools can do A LOT. From cloud recording, backup, and storage to HD video, editing and production tools. Some can even host your podcast for you.
But, remote recording tools alone can’t make you sound good. The quality of any recording depends largely on equipment, environment, and mic technique.
You could use state-of-the-art call online recorder software, and it would still sound terrible if your guest were recording on a laptop mic in their bathroom.
Fortunately, you don’t need to be a master audio producer to get this right. Or, to coach your guests to get optimal sound quality from them.
Check out some of the best entry-level recording kit for podcasters, our guide to mic technique, how to optimise your recording space, and our free online microphone test resource. That’ll help get you set up on those fronts!
An Alternative – “The Double Ender” – No Call Recorder App Needed!
If you’d like to know how to record a podcast without extra software, then let’s look at the ‘double-ender’.
In this method, each guest or co-host takes responsibility for recording their own audio at the source.
That might be opening up their recording/editing software and running that to record their voice as they talk to their fellow participants.
Or it might be using a completely separate mic and digital recorder to eliminate the risk of loss of audio due to computer issues.
In any case, with all being well, the producer will have quality recordings of each participant on independent tracks to work with in post-production.
This is a good way to record if one (or both) of you struggle to maintain a stable internet connection.
If you’re doing this, just remember to run a backup recording on something like Zoom. That way, if someone forgets to hit record, all isn’t lost!
Hardware Vs Software for Remote Calls
If you prefer physical equipment to software, there are a few great options for recording podcasts remotely. Check out the Zoom PodTrak P4 , Focusrite Vocaster, and Rode Rodecaster Pro II.
Other audio interface and digital recorder options are available, but those two have built-in call recorder features, so you don’t need to knock up some elaborate setup to make them work in this way.
What Next?
Hopefully you found a tool that works for you. Or, maybe you decided that remote call recording platforms aren’t a good fit for your podcast. If that’s the case, fear not. We have some more handy guides to help you on your way.
If you’re still at an early stage, we also have a full guide on how to start a podcast, which walks you through everything you need to know. And, if you’d like the help, support, and friendship of those in a similar boat, be sure to join us in the IndiePod Community.
