Captivate fm has been around since 2019 and is known to be a feature rich podcast hosting platform. They have pricing plans that differ from each other based on the downloads your podcasts have.
If you have the personal plan, your podcast(s) can hit only 30,000 downloads a month. If you get more downloads than your monthly limit, you need to upgrade.
The limitation on downloads can be frustrating as you grow. But, what if there was a platform that does not charge you more as you grow? A compelling Captivate fm alternative is Hubhopper.
Hubhopper is easy to use, has a wide regional and global distribution, AI-tools to save you time, money, and platform-switching hassle, and budget friendly plans.
Keep on reading, we’ll explore how Hubhopper compares to Captivate podcast hosting and how it is better suited for podcasters’ needs.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison: Hubhopper vs. Captivate fm
| Features | Hubhopper | Transistor |
| Free Plan | ✅ | ❌ |
| Cost of Plans | Starts at $12/month | Starts at $22/month |
| Unlimited downloads | ✅ | ❌ |
| Record and edit audio | ✅ | ❌ |
| Exclusive distribution partners | ✅ | ❌ |
| Canva Cover Art Creation | ✅ | ❌ |
| Low latency downloads | ✅ | ❌ |
| Headliner integration | ✅ | ❌ |
| Customisable RSS feeds | ✅ | ❌ |
| Ease of episodes creation with AI | ✅ | ❌ |
| Marketing collateral creation with AI | ✅ | ❌ |
| Team members | ✅ | ✅ |
| Migration of your existing podcast | ✅ | ✅ |
| Episode transcripts | ✅ | ✅ |
| Podcasting 2.0 | ✅ | ✅ |
| Unlimited podcasts | ✅ | ✅ |
| Automated distribution | ✅ | ✅ |
| GDPR Compliant | ✅ | ✅ |
| Private podcast subscribers | ✅ | ✅ |
| Episode scheduling | ✅ | ✅ |
| Embedded player | ✅ | ✅ |
| Podcast websites (microsite) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Podcast Analytics | ✅ | ✅ |
Downloads Limit
Captivate fm allows its users to create unlimited podcasts however, they put a cap on how many downloads you can accrue. If you exceed the number of downloads, you’ll have to choose their next tier.
For example, if you’re on their 19 pounds plan, your podcasts can only have up to 30,000 downloads per month. Once you hit the limit for the second month in a row, you’ll need to upgrade your subscription to their 45 pounds plan.
Their highest priced plan is 95 pounds, with 300,000 downloads per month limit, after which you’ll need a custom plan.
It can be limiting for podcasters who have a high number of engaged listeners and shows that are growing at a rapid pace.
Hubhopper also allows you to host unlimited podcasts. But more than that, you can choose any plan, and we will not limit you by your downloads making it a compelling Captivate fm alternative.
It doesn’t matter if you get 1,000 or 100,000 downloads, we don’t cap you on how many downloads you have because we believe you shouldn’t be charged more if you’re getting more success.
No Video Podcast
Captivate fm does not have the functionality to upload video files on their platform. Instead, you’ll have to separately upload the video to YouTube and can add a link of the episodes to Captivate fm’s dashboard to let your listeners access your video podcast.
Since YouTube is now the #1 podcast discoverability platform and has overtaken Spotify and Apple Podcasts in terms of podcast streaming, creators want to enter the video podcast space.
A platform that does not enable them to do so can be a major hindrance since it will add to the workload to first upload episodes to YouTube and then to audio platforms.
Hubhopper gives you the seamless ability to distribute your video podcast to YouTube making it a compelling Captivate fm alternative for video podcasters. You don’t need to separately distribute your podcast to audio platforms.
We’ll automatically extract the audio from the video and distribute it to podcast platforms. More on distribution in the below section.
Distribution to 14 platforms
Captivate fm distributes your podcast to 14 following platforms:
- Apple Podcasts
- Spotify
- Amazon Music
- Podchaser
- Overcast
- Pocket Casts
- Castro
- Gaana
- JioSaavn
- Podcast Addict
- Player.FM
- Deezer
- Boomplay
- Goodpods
Hubhopper on the other hand distributes your podcast to 15 following platforms:
- Hubhopper
- Spotify
- Amazon Music
- JioSaavn
- Gaana
- Listen Notes
- TuneIn
- PocketsCasts
- Podcast Index
- Apple Podcasts
- YouTube
- Podkicker
- Castbox
- Overbox
- Player FM
With Hubhopper, you get a wider reach making it a reasonable Captivate fm alternative. Distribute with just one-click to major directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, JioSaavn, Gaana and more. Expand your reach further by linking your YouTube channel and distributing your podcast to YouTube.
Set up distribution once to platforms like Castbox, Podkicker, Overcast and more, and your upcoming episodes will be distributed automatically and help you increase your reach making it a promising Captivate fm alternative.
Complex User Interface
Captivate features are extensive which can be quite overwhelming for people who are beginning their podcast journey or are not that far ahead. Such a complex tool can be quite overwhelming for creators and might have a learning curve attached to it.
Not every creator needs all the tools and some have established processes on other tools like Notion, Trello, Calendly, etc.
There is no learning curve with Hubhopper. It is very easy to get started and even your grandma can do that, it is that easy. So get started easily and focus on what matters the most, your content. Our platform is designed to help you get the essentials of podcast management out of the way, and that’s it.
Hubhopper is clean, sleek and easy to use as a Captive fm alternative.
Limited Private Podcasts
You can only create 1 private podcast on Captivate fm’s base plan and 3 private podcasts on their highest tier plan.
Private podcasts are a great way for podcasters to monetize their content without worrying about brand guidelines that come with brand deals. They enable podcasters to deliver exclusive content safely and efficiently. Therefore, having multiple private podcasts can be a great way to monetize.
Many organizations and educational institutes also use it to distribute exclusive content. Limitations on the number of private podcasts can be restrictive to creators and organizations alike.
Create unlimited podcasts – whether public or private podcasts making Hubhopper a good Captivate fm alternative. Hubhopper believes in giving the creators autonomy over their content as possible. With us, you are free to choose whichever payment method to monetize your exclusive podcast, we just make it easier for you to create and distribute your content. It also means that there is no need to share your revenue with us.
Podcast Creation and Editing
Captivate fm has many tools but you cannot record and edit with Captivate fm. You will need external tools to record and edit with Captivate fm. Hubhopper on the other hand is a good Captivate fm alternative that has an integrated audio recorder and editor within the platform.
Captivate.fm vs Hubhopper: Pricing
Annual Plans’ Pricing
| Captivate Cost (per month) | Captivate’s Download Limit | Hubhopper (per month) | Hubhopper’s Download Limit | |
| Free Plan | None | – | Yes | Unlimited |
| 1st Tier | $22.56 | 30,000/month | $10 | Unlimited |
| 2nd Tier | $54.41 | 150,000/month | $20 | Unlimited |
| 3rd Tier | $115.45 | 300,000/month | $299 (Enterprise Plan) | Unlimited |
Monthly Plans’ Pricing
| Captivate Podcast Pricing (per month) | Captivate’s Download Limit | Hubhopper (per month) | Hubhopper’s Download Limit | |
| Free Plan | None | – | Yes | Unlimited |
| 1st Tier | $25 | 30,000/month | $12 | Unlimited |
| 2nd Tier | $59.71 | 150,000/month | $24 | Unlimited |
| 3rd Tier | $126 | 300,000/month | $299 | Unlimited |
Note: The Enterprise Plan priced at $299/month is for large-scale operations, media houses, and organizations. The enterprise plan comes with an account manager and exclusive distribution partners not included in our other tier plans.
Hubhopper Advantage: Features that every podcaster needs
Advanced Analytics
IAB-compliant advanced analytics that give you your podcast’s performance with custom date ranges. Get the following analytics in your dashboard that help you optimize your content strategy:
- Podcast’s performance (listens and downloads)
- Hourly performance (to know when to upload your episodes)
- Episode performance (compare up to five episodes’ performance)
- Locations (country and city-wise breakdown of your audience)
- Unique listeners
- Devices
- Platform-wise breakdown of your listens and downloads
- Add tracking prefixes for Podtrac
Dynamic Audio Insertion
Monetize your podcast with dynamic audio insertion (DAI) and track your campaign’s impressions as you go. With DAI it becomes easy to insert your sponsor’s ad in your selected episodes and once the campaign is over, you can remove it just as easily.
Add audio to the pre-and post-roll of your episode, and it will be stitched automatically into your selected episodes.
AI Tools
Planning, writing, recording, and editing episodes takes time and effort. But, there’s more to podcasting than just uploading episodes. You need to market your episodes as well. To market your episodes effectively, you need transcripts, search engine optimized show notes, and social media collaterals.
Hubhopper podcast hosting has AI podcast tools to automate your marketing and help you repurpose your content. With our AI audio editor, transcript generator, show notes generator, and social media captions generator, you can say good bye to the hassle of doing all of this manually and letting AI do it for you.
Teams Feature
Do you have an awesome team? Hubhopper’s team feature helps you get your team aligned and better manage your podcast. You can assign roles based on the access you want to give to them and track the changes each team member is making.
Podcast Website
A podcast website is key to establishing your brand as a podcaster. A dynamic and indexable website also helps you reach more people on search engines. Hubhopper creates a beautiful, dynamic, responsive, and indexable website within 5 minutes.
It is super quick and easy to create and manage your website. Your website will be linked to your RSS feed, so any new episode upload will automatically be reflected on your website.
Embedded Players
Already have a website? You can embed your podcast episodes with our no-code embedded players. Just copy the code and paste it in your website to make your content more accessible and interactive.
Easy Migration
Migrating your podcast to Hubhopper is hassle-free. Your subscribers and previous episodes won’t be affected and your listeners won’t even know that your podcast has been migrated. It is completely safe and secure, and once your migration process is complete you can start uploading your episodes without any worries.
Ideal Use Cases for Hubhopper
- Emerging Podcasters: Podcasters who have started their podcasts will find Hubhopper easy to use and access features that make their creation process easier. AI transcripts, show notes, titles, audio editor and social media captions can be outsourced to Hubhopper easily. The analytics will help you track your podcast’s performance. You can try out the platform for free to see if it fits your needs.
- Regional Content Creators: Podcasters targeting local audiences in India benefit from distribution to regional platforms like JioSaavn and Gaana.
- Podcasters Collaborating with Teams: Podcasters who have scaled their podcast and have a team can use Hubhopper’s Team feature to manage their podcast without additional costs.
- Budget-Conscious Professionals: If you are an experienced podcaster looking for a cost-effective Captivate fm alternative with robust features, Hubhopper is the place for you.
- Media Houses: Media houses with many podcasts under their network find utility in Hubhopper’s unlimited podcasts and downloads feature. They also upgrade to Hubhopper’s enterprise plan to leverage exclusive distribution partners. They can also customize their dashboard with their branding to make it more personalized and professional for their clients.
- Video Podcasters: Podcasters with video podcasts can use Hubhopper to distribute to YouTube and audio podcast platforms without complications.
Conclusion: Hubhopper is an efficient Captivate fm Alternative
While Captivate fm is useful for some podcasters, it comes with its limits and complexities that might not fit every podcaster’s needs. Hubhopper is a compelling Captivate fm alternative especially for those seeking affordability, simplicity, integrated tools, and wide distribution network.
Hubhopper’s ethos and mission focus on democratizing podcasting and evolving with the change in the podcasting space. With a wide distribution network, AI features, advanced analytics, teams feature and monetization features (Private podcasts and Dynamic Audio Insertion), it is an all-in-one platform for novice and advanced podcasters.
Its user-friendly interface, combined with AI-driven features and collaborative capabilities, make it a worthy consideration and a good Captivate fm alternative for podcasters in 2025.
