Up until a couple of years ago, Buzzsprout was something of an also-ran, but has seen major growth since 2018 and is now arguably the world’s biggest podcast host.

They share a lot of user-interface DNA with Libsyn, Podbean and similar companies that arose in the early 2000s, but since 2020 have been leading the charge in adoption of standards like the Podcast Index’s podcast namespace.

The company’s vast educational resources, predictable pricing (including a free tier) and their somewhat silly name position Buzzsprout as a solid service for the hobbyist looking to flex their muscles. Podcasters looking to host their own website will likely want something more flexible than the out-of-the-box solution, but for all their positioning as a casual service for beginners, it has features and support for those ready to take their podcast more seriously, including IAB-certified analytics, dynamic content insertion, transcription, and an attractive embeddable player.

Built by long-time podcaster and developer Dan Benjamin, using the years of experience he gained running 5by5.tv (both content and infrastructure), Fireside is a solid service for those who take their podcast seriously.

Along with audio hosting, analytics and a website for your podcast, Fireside also provides rich show notes, allowing for the addition of host and guest bios, and a blog. If your podcast has multiple hosts who aren’t on every episode, you can specify the hosts that appear on a per-episode basis, and visitors to your website can see who hosted which ones.

For Benjamin, podcasting means going live-to-tape, and having show notes with lots of links, so Fireside has tools that make it easy to gather links to the topics you discuss, while you record.

If you’re relatively new to podcasting, or you just like badges, there’s a lightly gamified element to the Fireside content management system, that lets you earn achievements for reaching important milestones.