Blubrry Review 2023: The Best Podcast Host For Beginners?
Blubrry is a podcast host by podcasters for podcasters. The hosting provider boasts a varied medley of features – everything from WordPress integration to professional statistics. Blubrry allows podcasters of all levels to store and publish podcast files with ease, as well as optimize them using their range of tools.
Effectiveness
Blubrry is optimal for WordPress users, but that’s also where its disadvantage lies. For non-Wordpress users, it’s effectiveness is on par with others on the market.
Price
Unfortunately, Blubrry has no free option available. It’s pricing is also on the pricier end.
User-friendly
Blubrry is simple and easy to use, provided you’re uploading directly from WordPress. Aside from that, it can be complicated for beginners who use it directly from Blubrry’s dashboard.
Service
Blubrry is the only podcast company with free phone support and scheduled video conferences too. There’s even one-on-one consulting available.
Before chowing down into the rest of our Blubrry review, let’s get familiar with Blubrry first.
Blubrry is at its core a podcast hosting provider. Just like website hosts, think of podcast hosts as warehouses where you store all your lengthy podcast audio files.
Blubrry first came into the scene in 2005 and has since grown to become the favorite of many podcaster – those with a WordPress site in particular.
While there are a few other equally big names in the market, Blubrry stands out mainly thanks to its nifty WordPress plugin called Powerpress.
Among other things, Powerpress allows you to upload podcasts directly from the WordPress dashboard without having to log in to the Blubrry one. Thank goodness, too – one dashboard is more than enough!
This podcast host is also famous for being particularly feature-rich, which we’ll delve into later.
What matters when choosing a podcast host
There’s a lot to consider when you’re new to podcasting. What equipment you need, how to go about monetizing your podcasts, and even what content you should be putting out.
So what happens when you’ve got multiple companies churning out what is essentially the same product?
You get podcast hosts furnished with all kinds of features, each only better than the next.
Cut through the noise and make sure to take into account these factors when choosing a good podcast host.
Bandwidth limits - to go unlimited or not?
Picture a restaurant that struggles to keep up when huge groups of patrons arrive at the same time. Similarly, when you’ve got loads of listeners downloading your episodes but insufficient bandwidth, your listeners suffer downloading issues.
Of course, if you’ve got that much traffic to begin with, then forking out for a plan with unlimited bandwidth definitely shouldn’t be something to think twice about.
It’s tough to pinpoint a set bandwidth the average beginner podcaster is going to need. Our take on this? Don’t skimp on it.
This shouldn’t be something to worry about as most podcast hosts usually offer unlimited bandwidth anyways.
Monthly uploads - how much do you need?
If each of your episodes lasts an hour-long, and you’re uploading every 3 days – you’re going to want to make sure that your podcast host allows you to upload such a hefty amount in the first place.
Most podcast hosts quantify monthly uploads either in MB or in hours. For instance, Buzzsprout differentiates its pricing tiers mainly by hours of monthly uploads you’re allocated.
Compared to bandwidth, monthly uploads are a lot easier to estimate.
If you upload 30-minute episodes on a weekly basis, for example, a podcast host that provides you at least 2 hours a month would be sufficient for your podcasting needs. That is, until you decide to amp up your frequency.
What Makes Blubrry Different
Blubrry’s Powerpress Plugin
In terms of Blubrry for WordPress, their plugin Powerpress claims to be the most powerful podcasting plugin with over 60,000 active installations.
If you use a WordPress site on top of your podcast, this is good news for you. Installing the Powerpress plugin means you can upload and handle everything to do with your podcast directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Mastering the intricacies of a single dashboard is complicated enough for many of us. With Powerpress, WordPress users can manage everything from a single one.
The plugin only works on self-hosted WordPress sites, though, and not WordPress.org blogs.
Unlimited bandwidth, regardless of plan
Earlier, we talked about how important having sufficient bandwidth is for your podcast. Now let’s talk about how Blubrry gets rid of that headache for you.
Blubrry’s pricing plan comes with 5 different tiers. Even the cheapest one at $12.00 monthly comes with unlimited bandwidth!
That means you won’t have to worry about any traffic troubles that may arise if (or rather, when) your podcast starts to gain traction.
No-Fault overage
Unless you keep your episodes at a strict, allocated time of exactly n minutes each episode, you’re probably going to end up exceeding your monthly uploads slightly. This surplus is called overage.
So what happens when you exceed by just a couple minutes or so?
Blubrry provides you with a leeway of 25% of your service plan and doesn’t charge you extra.
For most other podcast hosts we’ve come across, few are so generous. Buzzsprout, for example, prices their overage hourly between $2 – $4 per hour.
“Focus on your content, not your quota,” as Blubrry says.
State-of-the-art analytics
In this day and age, data should be behind every step you take. Blubrry knows that too.
We find that out of all the podcast hosts available, Blubrry shines when it comes to the analytics they provide. They’re the only podcast host to be certified by the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) too.
Don’t worry; it’s not just messy statistics and foreign-looking charts either. Blubrry condenses and compiles all the information into neat and easily readable custom reports and daily email summaries delivered right to your inbox!
One thing to note is that these analytics don’t immediately come along with the hosting. With Blubrry, they’re akin to a separate product and even have a pricing tier of their own. The basic option is free, but you’ll still have to register for it on Blubrry’s site.
The cherry on top for users of Blubrry’s podcast hosting? Their new Advanced Statistics for the same price as the Pro version. With this handy feature, you even get stats on partial plays and downloads. That means knowing at which point of an episode a listener stopped listening!
What others on the web think of Blubrry
For WordPress users, in particular, Blubrry takes the podcasting experience and turns it into a smooth, seamless uploading process – leaving you time to worry about the actual quality of your podcast content.
Other fellow podcasters seem to share the same thoughts as us too!
Let’s head straight to what other fellow users have to say about using Buzzsprout:
Is Blubrry Right For You?
We’ll answer this by listing the pros and cons that come with using Buzzsprout:
PROS
- Easy integration using Powerpress, ideal for WordPress users
- Free 25% overage of your service plan
- Unlimited bandwidth for even the cheapest option
- In-depth IAB-certified analytics
- Great customer support
- Free media migration
CONS
- Interface may be complex for beginners
- No free plan available
- Pricing options on the expensive end
Blubrry vs Buzzsprout
Compared to the Blubrry podcast host, Buzzsprout has a free option that gives you monthly uploads of up to 2 hours a month and a set 250GB bandwidth per month for all plans.
We’d like to mention its interface too! Buzzsprout is oh so simple to use and navigate, and we can see that it’s crafted with beginners in mind.
Feature-wise though, Blubrry takes the cake. Buzzsprout may have some basic analytics, too, but nothing compared to what Blubrry has to offer.
For podcast newbies, this might just be the host for you.
Transistor.fm may not ring a bell for you, but that’s probably because it only launched in 2018.
Compared to Blubrry, Transistor.fm is a little pricier at $19 for their cheapest plan, with a Business plan ringing in at $99. For that price, you do get unlimited monthly uploads and 10,000 downloads per month for even the $19 plan, though!
While Blubrry and most other hosts are very much scaleable with their tiered plans, Transistor.fm is suitable for the podcaster who doesn’t want to worry about having caps on their content, and won’t mind forking out a little extra in return for that luxury.
Some Final Words on the Blubrry Podcast Host
Starting a podcast isn’t easy; all the different podcast hosts on the market don’t help either.
But one thing we can say for sure is – if you’re a data-driven WordPress user, Blubrry will be right up your alley with its Powerpress podcasting! In return for that, however, is a slightly more complex interface.
But if you check off all those boxes? Grab your 1 month free trial courtesy of Hustlr here!
DISCLOSURE: The HUSTLR goal is to help readers navigate around the digital economy by learning digital skills to achieve their life goals. This blog post may contain affiliate link(s) and any purchase(s) made through such links will result in a small commission to HUSTLR (at no cost to you). However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We try our best to keep things fair in order to help you make the best choice.
Shen is a content and copywriter, sales exec and a world-record holding powerlifter. She works with words – writing about property, law, travel and business. Gratitude drives her, along with a goal to implement real-world skills and values in youth from childhood.
