How much does a podcast cost ? : Best Setup for every budget.

The podcasting industry is growing every day. New people are getting added to the podcasting industry, everyone now wants to start a podcast. Podcast is a great tool to share your views, interests with others. It is also a great marketing tool and can also earn money as a standalone business.

Everyone who has a Blog or has a YouTube channel or has a small online business? now wants to start a podcast as a side channel.

Practically everyone who wants to start a podcast thinks about this question.

How much does podcast cost? : Well you can start for free, but a good podcast will cost you somewhere around 200$ to 500$. You can get big and professional podcaster at around 3000$ to 5000$.

If you are new to podcasting then you can read about podcasting basics here. Information about podcasting gear. If you are looking to start a podcast , then selecting the right topic is crucial , read our article on PODCAST TOPICS to select the right one for you.

Why people worry about how much podcast cost?

Everyone starting their podcast worries about how much would podcast cost. Most of them also have a doubt at the beginning whether they will be successful in podcasting and how much they should really spend on it. Is it worth the investment?

While starting a new podcast everyone is enthusiastic about what they want to do and most of the times the tendency is to go overboard and buy a lot of costly equipment, software and other things.

However, after a few days or months when you still don’t get the required audience, it can be a little disheartening and you may lose focus from your podcast and then you will wonder why I spent so much money. Should I have spent a little less to begin with.

How to plan your podcast cost?

It is always more advisable to spend little less money to start with and then go on adding higher-end equipment as you go along. This way you can plan to spend your podcast cost.

So, before you spend your money on a lot of equipment and software and everything else. Let’s look at various options of creating a podcast from the smallest amount of budget, which is almost free to a more professional setup costing a few thousand dollars.

The first thing that you need to decide is whether you want to do it as a hobby, or you plan to do it as a business for regular income source. If it just a hobby and you do not plan to spend a lot of money on it then you should go with an almost free option.

If you plan to do it as a business or as regular income source, and you want a more professional look and feel to your podcast, then you may have to spend a bit more money. But then you can always make money out of that podcast.

One can create a podcast at different budget levels. You can start with a budget of a hundred dollars or as high as a $2,000.

What you really need to start a podcast.

Before going into the cost. Let’s first understand. What do we really need to start a podcast?

• Equipment: Microphone, pop filter, stand, audio recorder, mixer etc.
• Software: Recording and editing software
• Graphic design: Graphic art work for your podcast episodes and logo
• Music: Background, intro and exit music for your podcast.
• Hosting: A place where you can put all your MP3 files and create a feed for the podcatches.
• Guests, celebrities: You may have to pay some money to get people on your show.

There are various price points at which a podcast can be made. Let’s take a look at some of these starting from a almost free setup, all the way to the high quality multi-speaker setup.

The almost free setup

Who this is suitable for:

This setup is suitable for those who are starting a podcast as a hobby jut to get the feel for it. People on very tight budget and someone who does not want to spend a lot of money upfront because you are not confident that you will continue with it in long term.

What can you expect from this kind of setup?

Well the quality is not going to be very good of course but it should serve the purpose of starting a podcast at the lowest cost. You can record and start hosting your podcasts and work on getting some audience for it.

What all components cost

1. Equipment: Well the microphone is free of cost. Your laptop or mobile phone comes with a good microphone to start with. You can use it to record your voice. This is ok if you are alone on your show. If you have a guest, then it will be difficult, and recording will be a bit cumbersome. As you are recording on your laptop / phone mic you do not need a stand or a pop filter as well.
2. Software: You can use one of the free recording software such as Audacity or Garage band for MAC users. No need to spend any money and you get very good quality experience and a lot of professional options to edit your audio.
3. Graphic Design: Well if you have some basic knowledge of Photoshop or any other similar software then you can do it yourself. Another great method to make some basic art work is Microsoft PowerPoint. You can create a slide with your graphics work and save it as a JPEG and then upload it.
4. Music: There is plenty of free stock music available on the internet, though finding one for your podcasting niche can be a bit time consuming but you will certainly find on for sure. You should keep the same music for most of your episodes as it gives some kind of brand identity to the audience.
5. Hosting: Well this is where you have to spend a little bit of money. There are free options also with some restriction. You can also use your existing hosting plan if you already have a blog or a website. Amazon S3 or any other good hosting service can be used. It should cost you between 5 to 15 USD.

So, all in all if you are ready to spend 5 to 15 dollars a month and some time you can get a podcast up and running.

Single speaker budget setup

Who this is suitable for:

This setup is suitable for those who are starting a podcast as a hobby but have set aside a small budget for it. Someone who is confident that he wants to continue with it for some time or someone who is doing it as a side channel to his/her blog or website.

What can you expect from this kind of setup?

Well the quality is going to be above average to say the least.it should serve the purpose of starting a podcast at a low-cost. The sound quality will be decent but you will be limited to just one player , if you plan to get some guests on your show then you need to spend a bit more. You can always record your interviews from Skype call recorder and still have some guests on your show.

What all components cost

1. Equipment: You can use a basic good quality microphone such as Audio Technica ATR 2100. A stand and a pop filter should cost you nothing more than 50 dollars.
2. Software: You can use one of the free recording software such as Audacity or Garage band for MAC users. No need to spend any money and you get very good quality experience and a lot of professional options to edit your audio.
3. Graphic Design: Well if you have some basic knowledge of photoshop or any other similar software then you can do it yourself. Another great method to make some basic art work is Microsoft PowerPoint. You can create a slide with your graphics work and save it as a JPEG and then upload it. In this budget you can also spend money on sites like fiverr to get some art work done.
4. Music: In this budget you can buy a small piece of music online and use it as your intro music. You can also couple it with some free stock music to make some nice combinations. Some examples of free music online.
   1. Incompetech: One of the oldest.
   1. The Free Music Archive: Free songs for podcasts.
   1. 909 Music on Soundcloud
   1. Musopen
   1. Danosongs: Donation based music.
   1. CCMixter: Free remixes, samples.
   1. Purple Planet Music: Browse music by feel.
   1. YouTube Audio Library: Huge selection of royalty-free music.
   1. Soundbible: Library of free sound-effects

• Hosting: In this budget category you can spend a little bit more on your hosting , it’s a monthly or yearly payment. Here are some of the options for you to look at.
  • Buzzsprout
  • Captivate
  • PodBean
  • Blubrry
  • Spreaker
  • Castos
  • SoundCloud
  • Libsyn
  • Squarespace

Multiple speaker budget setup

Who this is suitable for:

This setup is suitable for those who are starting a podcast and want to get a guest to interview on their show.

What can you expect from this kind of setup?

Well the quality is going to be above average to say the least. It should serve the purpose of starting a podcast with more than 1 speaker at a low-cost. The sound quality will be decent and you can have more than one person speaking.

What all components cost

1. Equipment: You can use a basic good quality microphone such as Audio Technica ATR 2100. You will need 2/3 or 4 of them depending upon the number of guests you plan to have on your show. A stand and a pop filter should be added with a greater number of microphones. Since you want to record more than on inputs you may not be able to use your computer and will need a mixer or an audio interface with 2 or more inputs. You will also need to choose a USB interface if you wish to edit each speaker track separately. This should cost you around 200 dollars.
2. Software: You can use one of the free recording software such as Audacity or Garage band for MAC users. No need to spend any money and you get very good quality experience and a lot of professional options to edit your audio.
3. Graphic Design: Well if you have some basic knowledge of photoshop or any other similar software then you can do it yourself. Another great method to make some basic art work is Microsoft PowerPoint. You can create a slide with your graphics work and save it as a JPEG and then upload it. In this budget you can also spend money on sites like fiverr to get some art work done.
4. Music: In this budget you can buy a small piece of music online and use it as your intro music. Here are some examples.
   1. Incompetech: One of the oldest.
   1. The Free Music Archive: Free songs for podcasts.
   1. 909 Music on Soundcloud
   1. Musopen
   1. Danosongs: Donation based music.
   1. CCMixter: Free remixes , samples.
   1. Purple Planet Music: Browse music by feel.
   1. YouTube Audio Library: Huge selection of royalty-free music.
   1. Soundbible: Library of free sound-effects
   1. Examples of paid music for your podcast
      1. Audiojungle.net
      1. Soundstripe.com
      1. Neosounds.com

• Hosting: In this budget category you can spend a little bit more on your hosting, it’s a monthly or yearly payment. Here are some of the options for you to look at.
  • Buzzsprout
  • Captivate
  • PodBean
  • Blubrry
  • Spreaker
  • Castos
  • SoundCloud
  • Libsyn
  • Squarespace

Multiple speaker high quality setup

Who this is suitable for:

This setup is suitable for those who want to create a professional podcasting setup and can spend the money upfront. It is for someone not worried about spending money but wants the best quality output.

What can you expect from this kind of setup?

Well the quality is going to be great with this setup, as good as a professional recording can get except for the acoustic room.

What all components cost

• Equipment: High end microphones made specifically for vocals and podcast recordings make way here. Some examples are,
  • Shure SM58
  • Audio-Technica AT2035 Large Diaphragm Studio Condenser Microphone
  • Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone

You will also need some high-end recorders and mixers for recording the best audio. Zoom H5 and Zoom H6 are great digital recorders. You will also need a mixer if you want to record high quality audio for remote interviews.

You will also need to spend some money on high quality headphones for monitoring the sound recordings and overall audio performance.

• Software: You can use one of the free recording software such as Audacity or Garage band for MAC users. No need to spend any money and you get very good quality experience and a lot of professional options to edit your audio. You should also check out Adobe Audition which has some high end and professional recording and editing features.
• Graphic Design: You should certainly outsource it to a good internet marketing / art work firm. Try and get your brand identity in each piece of artwork that you get made.
• Music: In this budget you can buy a small piece of music online and use it as your intro music. The free sites are same as for our previous setups but at this budget you should look for some high-quality music. Here are some examples.
  • Examples of paid music for your podcast
    • Audiojungle.net
    • Soundstripe.com
    • Neosounds.com
    • Envato Elements:
    • Epidemic Sound:
    • Artlist:

1. Hosting: They remain the same as for our previous setups.

 Conclusion

There is a setup for every budget. Starting with the almost free setup for beginners all the way to a professional setup costing few thousand dollars.

One should remember though that, spending a lot money does not mean you will have a great podcast. You need to spend a lot of time and energy to create great content, sound quality you get with the help of a good setup can only enhance the experience.