iOS, macOS, Windows, Alexa

Yes; most extensive

Yes; especially if you are used to iOS

Yes; customizable

Yes, but only 0.5x, 1x, 1.5x, 2x

Yes, but no embedded images

Yes, AirPlay, no Google Cast

Right at home on iOS. Frosted glass backdrop based on current album art.

Can see play history by scrolling up on "play next" list. Can create "stations," collections of mutliple shows to play together. Episodes can be stand alone or part of a season.

Comes preinstalled on iOS, macOS devices. Decisions that Apple makes about how RSS feeds should be formatted are adopted industry-wide.

Android, Google Assistant, Web

Yes; seeded from any RSS feeds the Google Search spider has crawled??

Yes, but there is no queue

Yes, but not on a show-by-show basis

Yes, but not on a show-by-show basis

Yes, but no embedded images, description lists are mangled

Pretty, clean interface, but it's really white

When podcast episodes appear in a Google search, they will open directly in the Google Podcasts app

Sharing episodes uses custom Google Podcast URL

Android, iOS, Web Player, Windows Universal, macOS, Alexa

Free for mobile versions; desktop versions and cloud storage is $10/yr

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes; customizable

Yes; set on a show-by-show basis

Yes; set on a show-by-show basis

Yes; timestamps are clickable, shows images

Material design! Dark theme. Solid color backdrop based on current album art.

Many. Can share episodes from the current timestamp. Can create custom filters that put episodes into lists. Shows listening stats. Auto add to queue. Can make episodes visible to other apps.

Will not show RSS items that do not have audio files attached. Do not use the boost volume feature. Owned by NPR.

Freemium; remove ads and file upload for $10/yr

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes; customizable (7/15/30/45/60)

Yes; timestamps are clickable, can show images (but this is off by default)

Yes, AirPlay, no Google Cast (does not want the Google SDK bundled for privacy reasons)

Yes, but plays audio only

Close to native feel, dark theme optional, play/pause button shows volume visualizer

Smart Speed™, audio profiles for device speakers for voice boost, per podcast, very privacy-focused, sharing episodes uses custom Overcast URL. Can share episode at custom timestamp. Create audiograms of selected portion of episode.

Web player very limited. Marco does a lot of work to push the industry forward, like adding a payment button if your shownotes includes a link with the correct attribute.

Freemium; remove ads for $4

Yes; search can either be seeded from Apple Podcasts or separate

Yes, with a bit of time

Yes; customizable

Yes; set on a show-by-show basis

Yes; set on a show-by-show basis

Yes; timestamps are clickable, shows images

Yes; and can skip outro

Dark theme default! Really cluttered, hard to parse pages and written tips. Pretty ugly.

Many. Can stream live radio stations as well; it even has WFNU in its directory. EXTREMELY cutomizable. Adds a payment button if your shownotes includes a link with the correct attribute. Shows listening stats.

Often takes over the playback controls on my watch, which is really annoying.

Freemium; automatic feed updates, download multiple episodes at once, Google Cast, cross-device sync for $5

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes; being able to tap anywhere on the album art to play/pause is a nice touch

Yes; customizable

Yes; including images

Yes, can preview episodes

Dark theme. Frosted glass backdrop based on current album art.

Replay last few seconds (up to 30) when resuming. Skip to end of episode button. Shows episode progress in notification, which breaks in Android 10, widget as a ring around play button.

Hasn't been updated in over a year (at time of recording).

Android, iOS, Web Player

Freemium: remove banner ads, exclusive shows, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes for $5/mo

Yes, but not seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes; customizable; over Bluetooth it skips to next episode

Yes, but only 0.5x, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x and not on Web player, not on a show-by-show basis

Yes, but formatted terribly (new lines are removed, no lists, no links, no images, character limit); timestamps are clickable

No, video episodes do not even appear in the feed

Clean, very white.

Good approach to discoverability! When viewing a particular show, it has a tab of similar shows; based on your listening patterns and likes/dislikes, it will suggest episodes.

Really weird approach to podcasts; you do not subscribe to shows, you add them to playlists. Playlists can be set to download auomatically. When you start playing an episode, it adds all episodes from the current screen to your queue. The playback notification (Android) only appears when you are not in the app.

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes; includes a user guide as one of the default feeds

Yes; customizable

Yes, but not on a show-by-show basis

Yes; including images

Yes, but it has to be turned on in the settings

No, currently in beta

Yes; can also create a "feed" from a local folder

Material design! Dark theme, but it doesn't follow system setting.

Comes with several broad appeal feeds already subscribed. Does not appear to be a way to see or modify the Up Next queue. The app gave me a lot of "failed to do X" notifications.

Android, iOS, Web Player

Freemium: remove ads, cross-device sync, file compression, app themes, file backup, full-text search, unlimited playlists, timestamped bookmarks, play local files for $48/yr

Yes, any shows that any PlayerFM user subscribes to is added to the directory

Yes, but it takes a while because it is adding the show's details to the directory.

Yes; Pretty customizable. I really like the swipe gestures. Hard to keep track of what queue you're playing from.

Yes; customizable

Yes; set on a show-by-show basis

Yes, but some formatting is weird

Yes, but not on web player

Yes, but Web player only plays audio

Yes, but it does not let you choose the directory; it searches your whole device

Material design! Fully customizeable color theme.

Good onboarding; asks for topics you are interested in, and presents you with a list of shows to get you started. When browsing, lists each show's time commitment. Occasionally gives notifications of recommended shows. Shows episode progress in playback notification. Can make your subscriptions public if you create an account. https://player.fm/ianrbuck/

Do NOT use the boost volume or reduce noise settings.

No, but search is seeded from Apple Podcasts and two other databases

Yes; customizable

Yes, but not on a show-by-show basis

Yes; timestamps are clickable, including images

Yes, but it has to be turned on in the settings

Yes, but no skip buttons

Nice and clean: one drawer menu, and each item is one page. Dark theme.

Can adjust volume of left/right channels independently, can mix stereo down to mono. Listening stats.

Freemium: remove ads for $2/yr

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes; and it warns you if you try https and the certificate is no good

Yes; customizable

Yes, but it sounds weird

Yes; including images

Yes; lets you turn off video if you want

Yes, "Import" a show without subscribing

Dark theme. Shows volume visualizer in front of album art.

Audio compressor!

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes; customizable. Gesture controls skip by different amounts of time.

Yes; set on a show-by-show basis

Yes; timestamps are clickable, alt text instead of images

Yes, AirPlay, no Google Cast

Yes; and can skip outro

Dark theme. Nice and clean.

Android, Web Player (basic)

Freemium: remove ads for $3

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts, but missing some shows

Yes; deletion can be deferred for 24 hours after an episode is played

Yes; customizable

Yes; set on a show-by-show basis

Yes, alt text is shown instead of images

Yes; the user can also add their own

Yes; and can skip outro

Yes; can also create a "feed" from a local folder

Nice and clean, dark mode available, cutomizable accent color.

Can subscribe to YouTube channels and playlists, but only stream them. Can stream live radio stations.

Forces you to choose a directory to store your MP3 downloads.

Freemium: remove ads, unlimited playlist, set default homepage for $10/yr

Yes, but not seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes, but both forward and backward have to be the same interval

Dark theme. Looks outdated on Android. Gets rid of the system status bar on some pages?

Nice onboarding, asks the new user to choose a few topics they are interested in.

Primarily market themselves as a podcast hosting service, but also has a player app. The player reports time in minutes, not hours and minutes. Sharing episodes uses custom Podbean URL.

$3 on iOS, $5 on macOS, with an in-app tip jar

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes, but only the gestures are cutomizable

Yes, alt text is shown instead of images

Yes, export but no import

Dark theme. Nice and clean.

Freemium: remove ads for $10/yr, $1/mo, or $15 one-time

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes, but only at preset speeds on iOS

Yes, alt text is shown instead of images

Yes, but variable speed is not available

Yes, on Android; on iOS it can only import from Apple Podcasts

No, but you can fake it by uploading files to your Castbox-hosted podcast feed

Dark theme on Android. Not optimized for iPad. Good looking play notification.

Castbox also serves as a podcast hosting platform, you can manage your show from the app.

Onboarding prompts to import from Apple Podcasts. Sharing episodes uses custom Castbox URL. Can share episode at custom timestamp.

Android, iOS, Windows, macOS

Freemium: see and edit queue, remove ads and limitations on skipping songs for $10/mo

Yes, but not seeded from Apple Podcasts, and podcasters are less likely to put their shows in the directory because Spotify caches episode files

Yes, but not on a show-by-show basis

No, they will not add a feed if it has even a single video episode

Not episode progress, but playlists and subscriptions are synched

Yes, but skip buttons go to next episode

Frosted glass, nice aesthetic.

Being able to intersperse music in between podcast episodes is pretty neat.

Spotify bought Gimlet media (podcast production company) and Anchor, a podcast hosting platform, which doesn't sit well with me.

Android, iOS, Web Player

Freemium: remove ads, unlimited skips, offline listening for $10/mo

Yes, but not seeded from Apple Podcasts

No, you cannot download episodes

Yes, because there is nothing here

Clean interface. No dark theme.

There's basically nothing here.

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts, but it seems to be missing a few?

Yes, anything in your playlist is downloaded; all of your subcriptions are automatically added to the playlist; no way to download or remove download other than the playlist

Yes, but you have less control than most

Yes, but not on a show-by-show basis

Yes, but not from the player. Images are not shown.

Yes, but the fast forward button is replaced with skip episode

Yes, but plays audio only

Very cute interface. Not optimized for iPad.

Strangely focused on social element: new users are prompted to search for other users to follow. Has an activity feed from those you follow. Has a comment and like system. Sharing epsiodes uses custom Breaker URL.

Freemium: remove ads, trim silence, play local files, show-by-show settings, enhance voices, MP3 chapters, force mono for $19/yr or $3/mo

Yes, but not seeded from Apple Podcasts. Not clear how to submit a show to the directory.

Yes; customizable

Yes; set on a show-by-show basis

Yes; including images

Yes, AirPlay, no Google Cast

Yes, but plays audio only

Pretty animations! Not designed for iPad.

Create audiograms from segments of an episode.

Android, iOS, Windows Universal, Web, Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana, Sonos

Freemium: remove ads, get professional sports games live for $100/yr

Yes; seeded from Apple Podcasts

Yes, but not on a show-by-show basis

Yes, but the skip buttons do nothing

Clean interface. No dark theme.

There's basically nothing here.

Freemium: get exclusive shows for $8/mo

Yes, but not seeded from Apple Podcasts, and several prominent podcasts have removed themselves from the app

Yes, but not on a show-by-show basis

Yes, but when viewing in the player it is formatted terribly and there are no links

Clean interface. Dark mode only available on iOS.

Made waves in the industry earlier this year by starting a bunch of exclusive shows and threatening the open nature of our publishing model.