Every resource you need to start a solo podcast without breaking the bank

Editor's note: Quick update of links and cleaning out dead resources in 2026. Loads of the landscape has changed since I wrote this in 2022 with AI and video podcasting... and loads hasn't. Some day, I'll rewrite this fully. Until then...

Lore, Casefile, You Must Remember This, Hardcore History, You're Wrong About... Do you know what those five podcasts have in common? They all started as solo project. One person hosting, recording, producing, editing – just like Borderline Broad History. The difference is only a few years and millions of listeners. They have bigger teams now of course (though much smaller than you might think – YMRT is Karina Longworth with two assistants), but they're proof that there is a path to success for solo podcasting.

If you have any interest in podcasting, I have only one piece of advice: start one. Don't worry about results yet, just make something. Learn by doing. It won't be perfect and that's the point. Most people I know in podcasting are self-trained and started by making something a little awkward on their own. Do it and publish it. Face an audience, take the feedback. Learn to do better next time.

You're in luck because you can now do on your own things I wouldn't have even imagined possible 15 years ago in journalism school. Back then podcasts were made by radio stations and indies with serious technical knowledge and equipment. Now you can do it all with the phone in your pocket and for free. In fact, you should do it for free. Ebay is littered with expensive Zoom recorders and dynamic mics purchased by would-be podcasters who gave up after three episodes. Give yourself time to find out whether podcasting is for you and to learn where your money is worth spending (more on that in a minute). In that spirit, here are software and online resources I can recommend to make a podcast without pulling out the credit card... and a few things worth spending money on.

(*) denotes a freemium app. I only picked those that let you do enough for free.

Recording

A good recording is more than half the battle when it comes to the quality of your finished product, especially if you don't have access to a skilled sound engineer. Post-production isn't magic. Take the time to set up a good recording space – a closet or small room, busy with carpet, curtains and soft furnishings. Silence apps, phones, pets and kids. Put a note on the doorbell for those Amazon deliveries.

• Your smartphone or computer. Watch out for old computers with loud fans.
• The headset that comes with your phone or whatever you bought for Zoom meetings is probably fine. Don't use your computer's mic (your mouth should be much closer to the mic) and choose wired over Bluetooth (connections break). Worst case, hold your phone up to your face as if you were making an old-fashioned call.
• Record locally via Voice Memos on your phone (Apple, Android), ask your guest to do the same on their end
• Zencastr* is great for remote interviews. It records locally in each guest's browser, bypassing unreliable Internet connections. Records mp3s for free, wav with a subscription. (Wav is ideal, but Borderline is entirely made using free mp3s and the quality is excellent.)
  Alternatives: Riverside**, Cleanfeed*. I beg you, don't use Zoom, it will destroy your sound.

2026 update: Much more competition in this arena now. I record remotely with Riverside**, like most podcasters I know. Descript** (more below) also includes remote recording now. I love it for editing but it doesn't love my camera unfortunately. Zencastr still offers the most to free users.

Transcribing
Transcripts can significantly speed up your editing process if you're a visual thinker like me. Publishing them is a must for accessibility and for SEO.

• Otter*: enough free transcribing hours for most indie makers
• Descript**
• Riverside**

Update: Obviously tons you can do with AI now. Most podcast players now auto-transcribe on the listener side so it's become less necessary that you provide transcripts on the producer side. Most editing software generates them too. I get mine from my Descript editing process.

Editing

• Audacity: The standard in free audio editing software if you don't mind editing sound waves.
• GarageBand
• Descript**: I will wax poetic about how much I love Descript. As someone who comes from writing, I love that I can edit sound by playing with text. It's how my brain works. I do everything in it from transcribing to editing, sound design, audiograms, video etc. Well worth the license fee if you get serious about indie podcasting and need more hours of transcribing, but you can start for free.
• Riverside**: 2026 addition. Similar text-based editing as Descript, with AI functions that auto edits full episodes and creates social clips. Great on paper but I have found it so overloaded with AI functions I didn't want that its performance really suffered. It was slow and clunky, often crashing my browser and thinking way less fast than I do. I returned to Descript, which is less powerful at recording, so somehow I ended up paying for both. Not ideal.
• Reaper*: I'm cheating, this isn't free. But to get acquainted with a professional grade editor that doesn't break the bank, try Reaper. It's a $60 one-time payment for a full licence, discounted for indies, students, nonprofits and anyone who's not making big bucks from podcasting. Much cheaper quite quickly than the annoying trend of software as a subscription.
  Update: Remarkably the price hasn't budged since 2022. This is really for the audio geeks though; the number of features overwhelms me.
• Auphonic*: 2026 addition. This is a post-production service that cleans up bad audio. I don't know what they put in their algos but this is sorcery. It has saved me from bad guest mics and loud fans more than once. Some free options, reasonable fees for heavier usage. I wish Descript would acquire them already because their tech is just superior.

Update: Text-based editing has only become more popular since 2022, include in very professional outfits. It really doesn't mark you out as an amateur anymore. It's just very good and much more productive than messing with sound waves. (You'll still need to do that occasionally for very fine edits.)

Sourcing archives, music and sound

You may use archive news clips under the usual fair use restrictions. Make sure to always credit, but don't think that absolves you from copyright law. Library sound collections are for educational and research purposes only and you will need to contact the original copyright holder for permission. Sourcing music and sound can be the most painstaking and legally fraught part of the process. Your best bet is keeping your production lean and relying on Creative Commons.

• Youtube with youtube-dl: This script will let you download any Youtube video off the site.
  Update: A reader recommends a better script instead, yt-dlp. Will give it a try.
• Youtube audio library: A hidden trove for free-of-rights theme music
• Freesound.org: Every sound effect you can possibly think of. Do credit and respect Creative Commons licence requirements.
• Internet Archive audio library
• Creative Commons audio search
• BBC archives
• American Archive of Public Broadcasting
• Internet Archive TV News
• British Library sound collection
• Library of Congress sound collection

Hosting

• Transistor**: Look, this isn't free. But they've been my host for years and I love them. They're a very cool indie business who take care of their customers supremely well and that's worth chipping in.
• Acast: They host just 5 episodes for free so this is really just customer acquisition for them. That said, most podcasts end after a handful of episodes so before you're sure it's for you, this is a good free option. You can always move later.
• Spotify for Creators: 2026 update. This was Anchor but they got acquired. Spotify made big moves in podcasting and loads more people listen there now. This doesn't limit you to distributing on Spotify, you still get an RSS feed. Usual caveats about putting your work in the hands of a Big Tech giant.
• Substack: You can attach a audio file to a newsletter and create a private feed. Doesn't have all the functions of a podcasting host, but hey it's free, and decent for making podcast centred on a community and monetising with a newsletter. I have written at length about my issues with Substack so be forewarned. Free is often a false economy.
• Ghost**: 2026 addition. If you're already using Ghost for your newsletter or website, you can upload audio files to posts, give them all the same tag, and make an RSS feed from that. It's a bit hacky and you won't get all the analytics and customisation of a real host like Transistor, but it's an option if you don't want to pay for another service.

Marketing, analytics & growth

• Apple Podcasts Connect
• Spotify analytics
• Canva*: One I ended up paying for because it lets you do so much. It's where I create my cover art and most visuals for both my podcast and my newsletter.
• Rawpixel: Great curated repository of free and public domain images. All the images in my cover art are sourced there.
• Promo cards by Spotify
• Carrd.co: Great for basic landing pages.
• Transistor**: Transistor (again, my host) automatically creates a website for your show so if you don't want to bother with creating one or a newsletter, your podcast has a home on the web that's platform-agnostic.
• Zapier*: 2026 update. Automations are your best friend when you're a solo creator. That said, there's a lot less you can do for free with Zapier nowadays. AI tools can also help you here.
• Reddit: Great for finding the niche online community that will love your podcast and share it around the Internet.
• Youtube: 2026 update. So much to say here. It's just a fact now that podcast consumption isn't purely audio anymore. Adding video as a solo creator isn't trivial though. Broad History has a Youtube channel but it's really mostly a placeholder until I can afford to invest in it. Still, it's worth recording video in your interviews and at least using it for social discovery.
• ListenNotes

• Chartable
• Audry

What's worth spending money on

• Enough computing power: To this day, my biggest investment in podcasting was upgrading my 6-year-old computer. It didn't have the brain to reliably handle quick edits on massive audio and video files without crashing. Worse, it was one of those old Macbooks that tended to overheat. The fan sounded like a rocket about to take off and can be heard on the earliest episodes of Borderline. I learned quickly...
  2026 update: Six years in, I'm facing that expense again. Software gets hungrier and hungrier and I'm just at the lower limit of Riverside's hardware requirements. Also, video podcasting takes up loads of hard drive space, even though most editing happens in the cloud. I'm somehow always running out.
• A decent mic eventually: I have the Audio-Technica ATR 2100x-USB, the standard in USB compatible podcasting mics. It's about 80 quid and you don't need to spend more. I also have a Blue YetiX mic, the darling of streamers and Youtubers. Looks cool, sounds lush but is extremely unforgiving to environments that aren't perfectly quiet. Also more expensive. It wouldn't be my first choice today.
  2026 update: Something I've learned over the years – don't connect a good mic with cheap cables.
• Marketing: The hardest part is not making a podcast – it's finding its audience. The barrier to entry is low, the barrier to success remains high. Partnerships are key: barter for visibility with fellow indie podcasters. (Talk to me!) If you care about reaching a larger audience, it's worth spending on targeted online ads and messaging on other podcasts.
• Music and cover art: The hardest thing to source for free is music, and rightly so because musicians should be paid. If you want a brand that doesn't sound and look like 100 other podcasts, it's worth commissioning a composer for an original theme. Same goes (though it's much easier to manage on your own with something like Canva) for professionally designed cover art. You'll feel good about supporting fellow creators and won't have sleepless nights worrying about copyright suits.
  2026 update: The truth is lots of podcasts forego this. Mine does. There is a trend towards bare-bones audio, to match the no make-up, "oh I just turned this thing on" authenticity (that's actually super rehearsed and codified) of platforms like TikTok. I worry far more about the quality of the content and the intelligibility of speech audio than anything else. Also, long intro music turns people away. Jump right into the meat of things.
• Software that makes you way more productive: Once you've played around with a few options – and only then – pay for the few apps that really make a difference to you. For me, it's Descript, without question, for transcribing and editing; Riverside for recording; Transistor, my reliable host; and Ghost, which powers my website, newsletter and membership programme. Everything else can go. (Second tier are Canva, Zapier and Plausible. I like them, but I'll survive without.) I'm constantly reevaluating my subs; they add up.
  2026 update: My Ghost sites are now hosted on MagicPages**, which comes out a bit cheaper for my usage.
• Software that fits your values: I chose to pay for analytics software for my website (Plausible) to avoid tracking my visitors with Google Analytics. I also prefer paying for independent software by fellow makers (Transistor is a 4-person team, Ghost is open-source and not-for-profit) rather than hand my money to already flush Big Tech and venture capitalists. If it matters to you and your audience and you can afford it, go indie. Beware of the Faustian deal of free software and read terms & conditions to ensure you're not giving up your IP, your branding and your privacy.

Now go ahead and start your podcast. Or check out these other articles for more pointers on how to pick the best tools for your solo media business or how to produce an indie podcast without it taking over your life. Happy podcasting!

(**) denotes an affiliate link. I've signed up for referral programs for Descript, Transistor, Ghost, Magic Pages and Riverside after recommending them wholeheartedly for years/months and while acknowledging their limitations as well. My opinion remains unchanged.

Got other suggestions for free podcasting software and ressources? Let me know in comments and I'll add them to the article.