RSS.com review: a $0 free plan and $20 a month for Plus
RSS.com is the host to pick when the budget is zero and the show is audio only. Our check of rss.com/pricing on 6 October 2026, ten days before this review was written, recorded a Free plan at $0, Plus at $20 a month, Pro at $34.67 a month and Max at $49.33 a month.
The short answer
Buy RSS.com Publish on the RSS.com Free plan if you have not yet proved the show will outlast its first season. Our 6 October 2026 check of rss.com/pricing recorded that plan at $0, with Plus the first paid step at $20 a month, or $15 a month billed annually, which is $180 across a year against $240 paid month by month.
Skip it Skip RSS.com if you run several shows or want video episodes. Transistor was $19 a month on Starter when we checked it on 1 October 2026 and puts no limit on the number of podcasts, and Spotify for Podcasters was $0 on our 11 June 2026 check and hosts video natively.
Where RSS.com fits
RSS.com fits the audio podcaster who wants an episode live this afternoon and does not want a card on file to do it. The dashboard is small, distribution is set up for you, and the free tier is a real tier rather than a timed trial. Our check of rss.com/pricing on 6 October 2026 recorded Free at $0, Plus at $20 a month, Pro at $34.67 a month and Max at $49.33 a month.
That check is ten days old at the time of writing, which makes it the freshest pricing evidence on any page in this category. It is still a snapshot rather than a live feed, so the rate card at rss.com/pricing is the authority if the two disagree.
Podcast hosts usually meter one of three things: upload hours, stored audio or monthly downloads. RSS.com prices as a freemium ladder, and our snapshot recorded the four tier prices without recording the allowance each one buys. We will not guess at download ceilings or storage caps we did not verify, so read the allowance column on the vendor's own page next to the price you are considering.
The annual rates are the part of the ladder worth doing arithmetic on. Plus at $20 a month is $240 across a year, and $15 a month billed annually is $180, a difference of $5 a month and $60 across the year. Pro at $34.67 a month is $416.04 across a year against $312 at the annual rate of $26, so prepaying saves $8.67 a month and $104.04 over twelve months.
Max at $49.33 a month is $591.96 across a year, and the annual rate of $37 a month is $444, a saving of $12.33 a month and $147.96 across the year. The pattern holds at every step: roughly a quarter off for paying twelve months up front, which is a large enough gap that the monthly rate only makes sense while you are still deciding whether to keep going.
Against the siblings, RSS.com competes on the bottom of the ladder rather than the top. Buzzsprout was $15 a month on its Audio plan when we checked on 1 October 2026, which undercuts RSS.com Plus at the monthly rate. Transistor was $19 a month on Starter, verified 1 October 2026, and does not cap the number of shows. Spotify for Podcasters was $0 on 11 June 2026 and remains the only host in this set with no paid tier at all.
So the question RSS.com answers is narrow and worth stating plainly: can you get a single audio show published, distributed and monetised without paying anything, and can you keep doing that indefinitely. On the evidence of our 6 October 2026 check the answer is yes. The podcast hosting platforms category holds the hosts that answer a wider question for money.
RSS.com pricing
RSS.com sells a freemium ladder of four tiers, with a discount for paying annually. Every figure below comes from our check of rss.com/pricing on 6 October 2026 and nothing else. That check is ten days old, which is recent as pricing evidence goes, and it still records prices rather than allowances.
| Plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | The entry tier, recorded at zero. Our snapshot did not record its download or storage allowance |
| Plus | $20/mo | $15/mo billed annually, which is $180 a year against $240 paid monthly |
| Pro | $34.67/mo | $26/mo billed annually, which is $312 a year against $416.04 paid monthly |
| Max | $49.33/mo | $37/mo billed annually, which is $444 a year against $591.96 paid monthly |
There is no quote and no sales call here, so what moves your bill is short:
- Which rung you stand on. Free at $0, Plus at $20 a month, Pro at $34.67 and Max at $49.33, all as recorded on 6 October 2026.
- Billing period. Annual billing was $15, $26 and $37 a month on Plus, Pro and Max respectively on the same check, which is roughly a quarter off each monthly rate.
- The allowance behind the rung you pick, which our snapshot does not record. On a download-metered host this is the figure that eventually forces an upgrade, so read it before you commit.
- Whether you need the paid tiers at all. The free plan is permanent rather than a trial on our 6 October 2026 check, so the upgrade has to earn its $240 a year on Plus.
- What you add around the host. RSS.com is audio only, so video episodes mean a second platform, and that cost belongs in the same sum.
RSS.com pricing against the other podcast hosts
RSS.com sits at the cheap end and so do several of its rivals, which makes the dates matter. Buzzsprout was $15 a month on Audio and $25 a month on Audio plus Video, verified 1 October 2026. Transistor was $19 a month on Starter and $49 on Professional, verified 1 October 2026. Podbean recorded a free Basic plan at $0 and Unlimited Audio at $14 a month, verified 13 June 2026. Libsyn started at $5 a month on Basic Audio, verified 10 June 2026, which is the lowest paid rate in the category. Simplecast started at $15 a month on Basic, verified 15 June 2026. Four of those five checks are months older than ours, so treat the ranking as indicative rather than current.
RSS.com billing terms worth knowing
The useful facts here are the four prices, the two billing periods and the arithmetic that connects them.
- Free plan
- $0 a month as recorded on 6 October 2026, and a plan rather than a trial.
- Plus
- $20 a month, or $15 billed annually. $240 or $180 across a year.
- Pro
- $34.67 a month, or $26 billed annually. $416.04 or $312 across a year.
- Max
- $49.33 a month, or $37 billed annually. $591.96 or $444 across a year.
- Annual saving on Plus
- $5 a month, which is $60 across twelve months.
- Allowances
- Not recorded in our snapshot. Check the download and storage limits per tier yourself.
- Check date
- 6 October 2026, ten days old at the time of writing.
RSS.com plans: Free $0/mo; Plus $20/mo ($15/mo billed annually); Pro $34.67/mo ($26/mo billed annually); Max $49.33/mo ($37/mo billed annually).
Those are the four prices and the date they were read. If rss.com/pricing shows something else today, the rate card is right and this page is behind. Our creator tool cost calculators will total a podcast stack once you have the current numbers and the allowance each one carries.
What RSS.com gives up
You give up video. RSS.com is an audio host, so a show that publishes a camera feed needs somewhere else to put it. Spotify for Podcasters was $0 on our 11 June 2026 check and hosts video natively, and Buzzsprout sold an Audio plus Video plan at $25 a month, verified 1 October 2026, so the alternatives are not expensive, they are simply elsewhere.
You give up a real website. The podcast page RSS.com generates is a page, not a site you would send a sponsor to, and that limitation applies on the paid tiers as well as the free one.
You give up the analytics depth that sponsorship conversations run on. If listener data is how you sell the show, Simplecast built its product around that and started at $15 a month on Basic, verified 15 June 2026, which is a four month old figure and the one to re-check.
You give up multi-show economics. There is nothing in our snapshot about hosting several podcasts on one bill, and Transistor at $19 a month on Starter, verified 1 October 2026, is the host in this category that advertises no limit on shows.
You give up the allowance certainty that a published meter gives you. Our 6 October 2026 snapshot captured the prices without the download or storage ceilings, so the point at which Free stops being enough is something you will discover rather than plan for.
You give up team structure. Shared access, roles and producer permissions are not part of what we verified, and sharing one login across a production team is a habit that ends badly.
Finally, the free tier makes the paid tiers argue for themselves. Plus at $240 a year against $0 is the comparison a reader will make, and it is a harder sell than the one Transistor or Simplecast have to make, because their cheapest option still costs money.
How RSS.com compares
The three hosts below are the ones weighed against RSS.com, and the axis is price against what the platform will host. Each price is that vendor's own published rate with the date we read it, and those dates differ by as much as four months, so compare them with that in mind. The wider field sits in the podcast hosting platforms category.
| Tool | Best for | Price | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| RSS.com | Getting one audio show published at no cost | $0 Free, $20/mo Plus (Oct 2026) | Audio only, thin website, shallow analytics |
| Buzzsprout | A first paid host with video on the next rung | $15/mo Audio, $25/mo with video (Oct 2026) | No zero-cost tier recorded in our snapshot |
| Transistor | Running several shows on one account | $19/mo Starter (Oct 2026) | No free plan, download-graded tiers |
| Spotify for Podcasters | Free hosting with native video | $0, the only plan (June 2026) | Spotify-first analytics and manual RSS submission |
How to test RSS.com before you pay for Plus
There is nothing to trial because the free plan is the trial: our 6 October 2026 check recorded it at $0 with no time limit. What you are testing is whether the paid rungs ever become necessary.
- Open rss.com/pricing and read the allowance next to each price. Our snapshot recorded $0, $20, $34.67 and $49.33 on 6 October 2026 and did not record the limits, and that is the gap you need to fill.
- Publish two real episodes on the free plan and submit the feed to the directories you care about, so you are testing distribution rather than the upload form.
- Watch your monthly download count against whatever ceiling the free tier turns out to carry. That number, not the feature list, is what will push you to Plus.
- Check the analytics window you get at $0 against the one Plus adds, and decide whether sponsors would accept it.
- Look at the generated podcast page and ask whether you would put it on a media kit. If not, budget for a site separately.
- If you want video, price the alternatives rather than working around the gap: Spotify for Podcasters was $0 on 11 June 2026, and Buzzsprout sold Audio plus Video at $25 a month, verified 1 October 2026.
- Before prepaying, do the year: Plus is $240 paid monthly or $180 billed annually, a $60 difference, and the cost calculators will add the rest of the stack to it.
RSS.com questions buyers ask
How much does RSS.com cost per month?
Our check of rss.com/pricing on 6 October 2026 recorded four tiers: Free at $0 a month, Plus at $20 a month, Pro at $34.67 a month and Max at $49.33 a month. Billed annually those paid rates were $15, $26 and $37 a month, so Plus works out at $180 across a year against $240 paid month by month. Our snapshot recorded the prices and not the download or storage allowance behind each one, so check that on the pricing page before you choose.
Is the RSS.com free plan actually free forever?
Our 6 October 2026 check of rss.com/pricing recorded the Free plan at $0 a month as a plan rather than a timed trial, with no card required to publish. The trade-offs are a shorter analytics window than the paid tiers and a basic podcast page. We did not verify an episode or storage cap either way, so read the allowance column next to the $0 before you rely on it.
Who is RSS.com best for?
RSS.com is best for new podcasters, hobbyists, and budget-conscious creators who want to publish without upfront costs. The free plan removes all financial barriers to getting started. Established podcasters who need advanced analytics or video hosting may outgrow it.
RSS.com vs Buzzsprout: which is better?
Buzzsprout has better analytics, a more polished podcast website, and stronger community resources. Choose RSS.com if price is the top priority. Choose Buzzsprout if you want better analytics and a more feature-rich experience.
What podcast directories does RSS.com distribute to?
RSS.com automatically distributes your podcast to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, YouTube Music, Samsung Podcasts, and other major directories. Distribution is included on all plans, including the free tier. You do not need to manually submit your RSS feed to each directory.
Is RSS.com good for monetizing a podcast?
RSS.com offers programmatic ad insertion, listener donations, and funding tools. The ad insertion works with as few as 10 downloads per episode, which is one of the lowest thresholds in the industry. For small shows, this is a genuine advantage. However, revenue at low download numbers will be modest. The monetization tools are available on all paid plans.
Does RSS.com offer video podcast hosting?
No. RSS.com is audio-only. If you need to host video podcasts or publish video episodes directly, you will need a host that supports video like Podbean, Castos, or Spotify for Podcasters. RSS.com does offer a feature to convert audio episodes into video format for YouTube, but this is not the same as native video hosting.
Can multiple people manage a podcast on RSS.com?
Shared access and role-based permissions are not something our 6 October 2026 check of rss.com/pricing recorded on any of the four tiers it lists, which are Free, Plus, Pro and Max. If a co-host or producer needs their own dashboard login, confirm with RSS.com which tier provides it before you buy, rather than planning to share one set of credentials.
Is RSS.com worth paying for when the free plan exists?
Only if the free tier runs out of something you need. Plus was $20 a month on our 6 October 2026 check, which is $240 across a year paid monthly or $180 billed annually at $15 a month, and that is the sum the upgrade has to justify. The usual reasons to pay are a longer analytics window and the monetisation and transcript tools RSS.com puts on its paid tiers.
Can I cancel RSS.com and keep my podcast?
Yes. If you cancel a paid plan, your podcast continues on the free tier. Your episodes are not deleted. You can also export your RSS feed and migrate to another host at any time. RSS.com does not lock you in, and the 30-day money-back guarantee covers paid plan refunds.