Our Search for the World’s Best Podcast App: Meet the Top 20

We went hunting to find the best podcast app available right now and we found 20. In the list we’ve included both Android and iPhone compatible apps so it doesn’t matter if you’re looking for the best iPhone podcast app or the best Android podcast app — we’ve got you covered.

#20 Apple Podcasts

Available on iPhone (Download) | Free

What we love about the Apple Podcasts app:

– What’s not to love? It’s the OG and (some think) still up there as the best iPhone podcast app on the market.

– It’s free. Forever, we expect.

– It has just about every podcast you’d ever want to listen to in its database.

What we hate about the Apple Podcasts app:

– It doesn’t have some of the cracking features the other premium apps have, like voice boost, trim silence, and extreme speed (if you’re into that kind of thing).

We reckon Apple Podcasts is the 10th best podcast app available right now.

#19 Player FM

Available on Android (Download) | Free or premium upgrade for $9.99/year

Why pay for premium? No ads and access to advanced features.

What we love about Player FM:

– How simple it is and how focussed they are on discovery. If you’re a new podcast listener, it wouldn’t hurt to have this app on speed dial.

What we hate about Player Fm:

– The recurring pricing strategy — we’d rather pay $9.99 in a one-off download than commit to it every year.

#18 Google Play Music

Available on Android (Download) | Free

What we love about Google Play Music:

– If you’re already a subscriber, it’s a no-brainer because you can manage all your music and podcast listening from within the one app (something you don’t get on podcast-only apps).

What we hate about Google Play Music:

– If you’re not already a user, you probably wouldn’t become one just for the podcasts because discovery isn’t great and you’re better off just getting the new Google Podcasts app.

#17 Podcast Go

Available on Android (Download) | Free or a $2.99 download of premium

Why pay for premium? No ads.

What we love about Podcast Go:

– How much they obviously care about designing an experience that we artsy podcast lovers can seriously dig (nod to the material design).

– Being able to customize your theme is cool.

What we hate about Podcast Go:

– Ads.

#16 Google Podcasts

Available on Android (Download) | Free

What we love about Google Podcasts:

– Finally Google is making an effort to vy for the title of best android podcast app. They are finally treating podcasting as a thing worth paying attention to.

What we hate about Google Podcasts:

– That Google is only now paying to podcasting after it’s become cool (and potentially profitable).

#15 Podcast Republic

Available on Android (Download) | Free or a $1.99 download of premium

Why pay for premium? No ads.

What we love about Podcast Republic:

– The design. It’s swell. And makes listening to podcasts even more joyous.

– You can schedule the app to run a search for new shows on your behalf at a set time every day, which is freaking cool.

– A large driving mode interface means you can’t miss the fast-forward button while you’re on the road.

What we hate about Podcast Republic:

– Ads on the free version.

We reckon Podcast Republic is the 15th best podcast app available right now.

#14 iCatcher!

Available on iPhone (Download) | $2.99 download, no free version

What we love about iCatcher!:

– So many playback speed options (for the super fast listeners among us) and gesture support.

– A great search function that displays all over the app, so a new pod discovery is only a quick search away.

What we hate about iCatcher!:

– The sorting feature is a little dumb (sorts from oldest to newest), so get used to scrolling lots.

#13 SoundCloud

Available on Android (Download) & iPhone (Download) | Free or $9.99/month for premium

Why pay for premium? You probably wouldn’t given it’s only really worth it if you use SoundCloud to listen to music.

What we love about SoundCloud:

– Its recommendation engine, which tracks your listening habits and recommends new episodes and shows based on what you like.

– A favorites bank for you to dump episodes you want to listen to another time.

What we hate about SoundCloud:

– It’s made more for music listening rather than podcast listening, so it’s not a perfect user experience for listening to podcasts.

#12 PodBean

Available on Android (Download) & iPhone (Download) | Free or $9.99/year for premium

Why pay for premium? To get rid of ads and to access premium features.

What we love about PodBean:

– It’s got a simple interface and is super fast and easy to navigate.

– Podbean lets you professionally record your own show and upload it to a Podbean hosting account, plus you can mix in background music and post it to your socials.

– Fantastic curation and recommendation engine driving it so you can always discover fresh content

What we hate about PodBean:

– It lacks some core features other apps have, like fast forwards and automatic episode downloads.

#11 TuneIn

Available on Android (Download) & iPhone (Download) | Free or $7.99/month for premium

Why pay for premium? To live stream sport radio broadcasts.

What we love about TuneIn:

– It’s fantastic if your main goal is to stream live radio stations!

– If you have the premium version, you can tune into live broadcasts of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and a bunch of other sports

– A neat car mode lets you voice search new podcasts, so you don’t have to fiddle with the app while you’re driving.

What we hate about TuneIn:

– Podcast hosts have to make their show available on the TuneIn network. Because a lot don’t, you probably won’t get every show in the iTunes library here.

#10 BeyondPod

Available on Android (Download) | Free Lite version or Pro version for $7.49.

Why pay for premium? You unlock a bunch of extra features like device sync and Chromecast support

What we love about BeyondPod:

– It works with Android Wear devices!

– It’s mostly free unless you want the premium features, which aren’t that necessary

What we hate about BeyondPod:

– The app is still in active development so you’re bound to find some juicy bugs along the way.

We reckon BeyondPod is the 10th best podcast app available right now.

#9 DoggCatcher

Available on Android (Download) | $2.99 download, no free version

What we love about DoggCatcher:

– No frills — you pay to download the app and you don’t cop any ads or in-app upgrades thereafter. Just you and your sweet, sweet pods (plus you feel about three bucks lighter)

What we hate about DoggCatcher:

– I know this is petty, but the UI is not as sexy as some other podcast apps.

#8 Castro 2

Available on iPhone (Download) | Free or $8.99/year for premium

Why pay for premium? You unlock a bunch of extra features, like the silence trimmer and the voice booster.

What we love about Castro 2:

– The inbox — new episodes of the shows you love hit your inbox feed for you to either queue or archive. Those super organized podcast listeners among us will love it.

– Recommendations of new shows and episodes hit your inbox based on what you’ve listened to previously.

What we hate about Castro 2:

– A lot of its best features are hidden behind its premium upgrading

#7 Spotify Podcasts

Available on Android (Download) & iPhone (Download) | Free or $9.99 if you don’t have a Spotify subscription

What we love about Spotify Podcasts:

– If you already have a Spotify account, you have access to all its podcasts free.

– Spotify is such a humongous company now that you can bet now that they’re paying attention to podcasts this app is going to have some A-grade podcast content hit it over the coming years.

What we hate about Spotify Podcasts:

– If you don’t already have a Spotify account, paying for one just to listen to podcasts is a dumb idea as Spotify is really expensive compared to other podcast apps

– Spotify does a fair bit of curation of the podcasts that appear in its app, so if you love your obscure gear, it may not be there.

#6 Downcast

Available on iPhone (Download) | $2.99 download, no free version

What we love about Downcast:

– It works everywhere from iPad and Apple Watch to Car Play and Chromecast

– iCloud sync means you can listen across devices and never lose your spot in the episodes you’re listening to

– It has a highly customizable playlist creator, so you can organize your listening schedule with engineering-like precision

– Downcast supports podcast-protected premium podcasts

What we hate about Downcast:

– It’s fairly no-frills, but its simplicity might actually suit a lot of people

– The font size across the app is kinda small and potentially unreadable if you’re as blind as me

#5 Stitcher Podcasts

Available on Android (Download) & iPhone (Download) | Free or pay $4.99/month (or $34.99/year) for premium

Why pay for premium? No ads, bonus episodes of some shows and original shows exclusive to Stitcher.

What we love about Stitcher Podcasts:

– Bonus episodes and exclusive shows — Stitcher is investing heavily to be like the Netflix for podcasts, so you’ll get content here you won’t get anywhere else.

– Fantastic discovery — Stitcher does an amazing job of serving you fresh podcasts and episodes they think you’ll love.

– Episode search — You can search individual episodes, not just shows

– You can connect with people who know who use the app and track what they’re listening to, for recommendations

– Compatibility with Amazon Echo and other voice-controlled devices

What we hate about Stitcher Podcasts:

– The premium version is kinda expensive when you compare it with other podcast apps

– Because hosts have to apply for their shows to be on Stitcher, you only really have access to whatever Stitcher decides is worthy of your time, which can be formulaic

We reckon Stitcher is the 5th best podcast app available right now.

#4 Castbox

Available on Android (Download) & iPhone (Download) | Free or a $1.99 download of premium

Why pay for premium?  No ads, customer support, new features.

What we love about Castbox:

– Cash money! Castbox has a cracking trivia game inside the app that lets you win fat stacks.

– Universal synching — when you create a Castbox account with Gmail, Facebook, or Twitter, all the content you are subscribed to will sync across devices

– Netflix-style recommendations — find podcasts in neat groups, like “Creeps and chills”

– Audio-based search — you can search for stuff you’re interested in and podcasts will be returned if the topic is mentioned in the audio, not just the title or its written keywords

What we hate about Castbox:

– There doesn’t seem to be a way to mark episodes as played or to set the listening order of your episodes

– In the free model you can only subscribe to 100 shows

#3 Podcast Addict

Available on Android (Download) | Free or a $2.99 download of premium

Why pay for premium?  To get rid of ads interrupting your jam.

What we love about Podcast Addict:

– Great discovery — quickly search fresh episodes and browse new and trending shows

– Recommendation engine — Podcast Addict serves up new show recommendations based on what you’re already subscribed to

– Chromecast and Sonos support is legendary.

– Video podcast support.

What we hate about Podcast Addict:

– Making playlists is not entirely straightforward

– Ads on the free version 🙁

We reckon Podcast Addict is the best Android podcast app available.

#2 Overcast

Available on iPhone (Download) | Free or $9.99/year for premium

Why pay for premium? No ads.

What we love about Overcast:

– Speed settings — you can set your episodes to go at so many different paces and Overcast’s smart speed algorithm will cut out any silences while you’re listening

– Voice boost — the volume of quiet host voices are raised while loud voices are lowered, automatically, which is a-freaking-mazing.

– You get Twitter recommendations of new podcasts fed to you while you’re in the app.

– Smart resume — the app will start playing a couple of seconds before where you left off, so you don’t miss anything

– The ads promote podcasts you might be interested in, which is kinda nice

What we hate about Overcast:

– Ads, unless you pay for premium 🙁

We reckon Overcast is the best iPhone podcast app available.

#1 Pocket casts

Available on Android (Download) & iPhone (Download) | $3.99 download, no free version

What we love about Pocket casts:

– No ads!

– Trim Silence — some smart doobie whacker that cuts out silences in your episodes, which saves you precious and dead listening time.

– 3x speed booster — unlike most podcast apps, Pocket casts allows you to listen at super speeds.

– Volume Boost — a supernatural increase to the volume of your podcasts (beyond the volume other apps can achieve), meaning you can hear softly spoken hosts.

– Customizable skip back and forward — instead of only being able to quick skip back and forward 15 seconds, Pocket casts lets you choose your quick skip time intervals.

– Data — keep track of your listening habits.

What we hate about Pocket casts:

– No free trials before you buy 🙁

– You can’t preview listen to a podcast without subscribing it.

We reckon Pocket casts is the best podcast app available right now.