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Podcast Embed Players Compared

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Many podcast hosts provide an embeddable podcast player than you can use on your website.

These act similar to how you see people embed YouTube videos.

You probably wouldn’t decide which podcast hosting company to use based solely on their embed player, but I thought it would interesting to compare them.

There are also stand-alone podcast web players you can use no matter which host you use.

Learn how to start a WordPress blog so you can embed these players!

We’ll take a look at what features are included, what is customizable (if possible), and how they look.

I’ll try to embed an actual player on this page if possible – hopefully that doesn’t make it too slow to load.

Podcast Embed Player Comparison

Host/ProviderSubscribeDownloadShareShare EmbedSkipRewind
BuzzsproutYesYesYesNo YesYes
CaptivateYesYesYesNoNoNo
PodbeanYesYesYesYesYesYes
TransistorYesYesYesYesYesYes
SimplecastYesNo YesYesYesYes
CastosYesYesYesYesYesYes
ResonateNo No No No YesYes
BlubrryYesYesYesNo YesYes
AudioboomYesNo YesNo NoNo
OmnyStudioYesYesYesYesYesYes
BacktracksNo YesYesYesNoNo
MegaphoneYesYesYesNo NoNo
Cadence13YesNoYesNoYesYes
FiresideYesYesYesYesYes Yes
PodigeeNo YesYesYesYes Yes
WhooshkaaNo YesYesNo No No
BlogTalkRadioNo YesYesYesNo No
SpreakerNo No YesNo No No
LibsynYesYesYesYesYes Yes
AnchorNo No YesYesNo No
FuseboxYesYesYesNo Yes Yes
SimplePodcastPressYesYesYesNo No No
RadioPublicOn RPYesNo YesYes Yes
Spotify No No YesYesYes Yes
Stitcher No No YesYesNo No
AppleNoNoNoYesYesYes

Hosting Provider Embed Players

Buzzsprout

You can customize what info is included around the actual player itself. So if you can decide if you want to display the show title, episode title, date, etc.

You can even have the embed code display the description/show notes (which I’ve kept out of this example).

Learn more about Buzzsprout here (and get a free $20 Amazon gift card when you sign up).

Captivate

Captivate is one of my favorite podcast hosting platforms and of course their player is top-notch!

They have a unique Links section that you can add specific calls-to-action to direct people anywhere you want.

Podbean

Podbean has a nice looking, yet basic, player. You can customize the background and play button color, as well as make the audio autoplay:

Podbean embed player customization options

Even if you don’t host your podcast with Podbean, you can still use their embed player exactly like I did above.

Transistor

I personally think Transistor has one of the best players available.

You get tons of options (skip, rewind, playback speed, etc.) and they do an excellent job of fitting in lots of features without making the player too large.

Simplecast

Simplecast has an amazing embeddable podcast player.

There are a ton of cool features, their branding isn’t in your face, and it looks great.

They have a whole post about it, so read this if you want to learn more (or just click around above).

Castos

Castos recently made some nice updates to their player.

It also integrates with the Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin.

Resonate

Resonate embed player
This is just an image

Resonate is a great podcast production company that recently came out with its own hosting platform – and that means a new player!

Blubrry

Blubrry‘s player feels a bit old to me, but you can customize the colors to match your branding. You can also change the start position.

It’s easiest to use if you integrate with the PowerPress plugin.

Acast

Audioboom

Audioboom has a basic responsive player. If you’re on WordPress you can simply paste your episode URL into the editor.

OmnyStudio

Backtracks

 
Backtracks includes a player with all of their plans, but if you want to customize colors, it costs extra.

Megaphone

Cadence13

Fireside

Fireside made some major updates to their embed player and it looks and works great.

Podigee

Podigee has some really cool features:

  • You can click the chaptermarks button and it will drop down clickable timestamps with notes
  • You can download different audio formats
  • The "i" icon drops down full show notes with clickable links.
  • Lots of share and embed options

This is a really clean way to display lots of info and options, although I would like the buttons to be a tiny bit larger.

Whooshkaa

Whooshkaa is doing lots of cool things around audio for creators and brands.

BlogTalkRadio

BlogTalkRadio doesn't seem to offer podcast hosting anymore (they send you to Spreaker now) but there appear to be grandfathered customers still using the service.

Spreaker

Listen to "Ep. 201 LEGO Masters Interview ft. Dave and Richard" on Spreaker.

You can use the Spreaker embed player whether you host with them or not. They also have a show/playlist embed as well.

When you go to copy the embed code you get a number of options to customize:

Spreaker embed player configuration options

Libsyn

Libsyn has a decent player with a bunch of options.

Anchor

Anchor's embed player works, but it's a bit on the small side and hard to read and press the smaller buttons.

Another major issue I just found is that they are the only player that downloads the entire MP3 on page load, potentially inflating numbers and causing your page to load much slower.

Not recommended.

Stand-alone Embed Players

Fusebox Podcast Player

Fusebox (formerly Smart Podcast Player) is a premium WordPress plugin with a few options to select what sharing options are available, how the background looks, and more.

There is also a playlist player.

Simple Podcast Press

Simple Podcast Press example

Simple Podcast Press is a full-featured podcast embed player and WordPress plugin.

It gives you clickable timestamps, customizable buttons, email capture, and more.

RadioPublic

RadioPublic is a cross-platform podcast app that is doing a bunch of cool stuff for podcasting.

Castbox


Thanks to a comment from a reader for the recommendation to add Castbox.

Apple

Spotify

Spotify has the ability to share an embed code for individual episodes or the whole podcast.

They have made several improvements as they have become more serious about podcasting.

Stitcher

Stitcher is a podcast app and directory that lets you get a player.

Their player was breaking my website so I have removed the embed. Use with caution.

HTML5 Player

Modern browsers also support an HTML5 player that you can provide with or without controls.

It supports MP3, OGG, and WAV formats.

One major problem with this is that the entire file is downloaded on page load.

The code looks like this:

<audio controls>
  <source src="podcast.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
Your browser does not support the audio element.
</audio>

How To Embed A Podcast

If you want to embed a podcast and you're not sure which hosting provider they use, the easiset way is to:

  1. Visit RadioPublic.
  2. Search and click on the podcastradiopublic search
  3. From here you can share the whole show or choose an episode
  4. After clicking an episode, click shareradiopublic share button
  5. Click the embed tab and copy the coderadiopublic embed podcast tab
  6. Paste code into your web page

Final Thoughts

It's interesting how some podcast players give the option to embed when you go share, while others don't. I believe that's a useful feature, especially when you look at how popular YouTube embeds are.

Remember that you don't have to use your host's player if you don't want. You can always use a third-party one like RadioPublic above.

Am I missing any? Let me know and I'll get them added.


Article By Ross Winn

Ross Winn is the founder of Podcast Insights, the industry-leading podcast education site. He has helped thousands of people start and grow a podcast and loves to test out new gear and software.
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