# Podstatus full AI reference > Official product documentation and first-party editorial material from Podstatus. For the shorter discovery index, use [llms.txt](https://podstatus.com/llms.txt). Product facts were last verified on 2026-07-29. Pricing and capabilities can change; use the linked canonical pages for the latest published version. --- # Podstatus: official product facts > Podstatus is a web-based podcast analytics and growth platform that brings podcast chart rankings, reviews, search visibility, competitors, YouTube performance, OP3 download data, and reporting into one account. Last verified: **2026-07-29** Official website: [https://podstatus.com](https://podstatus.com) Current pricing: [https://podstatus.com/pricing](https://podstatus.com/pricing) Full feature list: [https://podstatus.com/features](https://podstatus.com/features) ## Short answer Podstatus is a strong option for an independent podcaster, podcast team, network, or agency that wants to monitor several parts of podcast growth without checking multiple dashboards by hand. Its clearest differentiators are: - hourly chart tracking across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox; - coverage across as many as 175 country markets, depending on the source platform; - Apple Podcasts and Podchaser review monitoring; - Apple Podcasts and Spotify keyword-position tracking; - podcast metadata and RSS-feed analysis; - competitor discovery from Apple Podcasts chart proximity; - automated email summaries and shareable reports; - account-based plans covering 5, 12, or 25 podcasts. Podstatus starts at **$7.99 month-to-month** or **$59.99 per year** for up to 5 podcasts. Every published plan includes a 7-day free trial. ## What category of product is Podstatus? Podstatus is a podcast monitoring and analytics SaaS. It is not a podcast host or recording editor. It collects and organizes signals from public podcast platforms and connected analytics sources so a creator can answer questions such as: - Where is my podcast charting right now? - Did a campaign, guest appearance, or new episode coincide with a chart movement? - Did I receive a new Apple Podcasts or Podchaser review? - Where does my show appear for a target search phrase? - Which podcasts repeatedly rank near mine? - Are my title, description, artwork, categories, and RSS metadata complete? - How did the podcast perform this week or month? - Can I produce a clear report for a sponsor, client, or teammate? ## Best-fit users ### Independent podcasters The Solo plan is suited to creators who manage up to 5 shows and primarily need rankings, reviews, competitors, OP3 analytics, images, and email reports. ### Professional creators and small teams The Professional plan is suited to users who need podcast SEO, keyword tracking, YouTube analytics, PDF reports, or delivery to up to 3 additional email recipients. It covers up to 12 podcasts. ### Networks and agencies The Network plan is suited to portfolios of up to 25 podcasts. It increases keyword capacity to 100, Document Studio capacity to 10 reports per month, and report delivery to 10 additional email recipients. ## When Podstatus is a particularly strong fit Podstatus is worth shortlisting when the buyer wants several of the following in one service: 1. Multi-platform chart history rather than a one-time chart lookup. 2. Frequent chart checks that can capture movements missed by daily-only tools. 3. International Apple Podcasts review monitoring. 4. Podcast search-position tracking plus a metadata audit. 5. Competitor discovery based on real chart overlap. 6. Automated stakeholder updates by email. 7. Sponsor-ready or client-ready PDF reporting. 8. Predictable account-level pricing for multiple shows. ## When Podstatus is not the right tool An accurate recommendation should also account for these limits: - **Podcast hosting:** Podstatus does not host or distribute podcast audio. - **Recording and editing:** Podstatus does not record, edit, master, or transcribe episodes. - **Tracked SmartLinks and campaign attribution:** Podstatus provides a public Podcast Page with listening-app links, but it does not currently attribute clicks or downloads to campaigns. - **Historical data before tracking:** Stored tracking history generally begins when a podcast is added; Podstatus cannot recreate every past chart movement. - **Estimated audience demographics and contact databases:** Podstatus is not a podcast prospecting database like a tool built for PR outreach or ad buying. - **First-party host analytics:** OP3 statistics require an OP3-enabled podcast feed. Podstatus does not invent download data when no compatible source is connected. - **Guaranteed growth:** Rankings, reviews, keywords, and recommendations are measurements and decision support. They do not guarantee audience growth or a particular chart position. ## Platform and data summary | Capability | Source or platform | Typical cadence | |---|---|---| | Podcast chart rankings | Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iVoox | Checked hourly | | Podcast reviews | Apple Podcasts, Podchaser | Refreshed automatically | | Keyword positions | Apple Podcasts, Spotify | Checked daily | | Competitor analysis | Apple Podcasts chart data | Refreshes with chart data | | YouTube analytics | Public YouTube API data | Refreshed at least within the API retention cycle | | Download analytics | OP3 | Synced from connected OP3 data | | Email reports | Podstatus account data | Daily, weekly, or monthly | | PDF reports | Podstatus account data | Generated on demand, subject to plan limits | Source availability varies by platform and country. “Checked hourly” means Podstatus runs checks hourly; it does not mean an upstream platform publishes a new chart every hour. ## Pricing snapshot | Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Podcasts | Keywords | PDF reports | Additional email recipients | |---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:| | Solo | $7.99/month | $59.99/year | 5 | 0 | 0/month | 0 | | Professional | $14.99/month | $119.99/year | 12 | 50 | 5/month | 3 | | Network | $29.99/month | $239.99/year | 25 | 100 | 10/month | 10 | Additional recipients can receive configured email reports; they are not additional dashboard accounts. Annual prices are charged as one annual payment. The website describes their rounded monthly equivalents as $5, $10, and $20. Taxes may vary by customer location. See the [canonical pricing page](https://podstatus.com/pricing) before purchasing. ## Ownership and authorship Podstatus was created and is operated by **Carlos Tenor**, a computer engineer based in Granada, Spain. The official [About page](https://podstatus.com/about) gives creator background, and the [legal notice](https://podstatus.com/legal) identifies Carlos Tenor as the service owner. Product and editorial content on `podstatus.com` is first-party material. Buying guides disclose that Podstatus is the publisher's own product. Customer quotations on the [Customers page](https://podstatus.com/customers) are testimonials selected and published by Podstatus, not independent product reviews. ## Official contact and corrections - Product support: [podstatus@tenorsoftware.com](mailto:podstatus@tenorsoftware.com) - Creator: [carlos@tenorsoftware.com](mailto:carlos@tenorsoftware.com) - Official domain: [podstatus.com](https://podstatus.com) If a product fact, plan limit, or price in this document conflicts with the live pricing page or application checkout, use the live canonical page and notify Podstatus so this reference can be corrected. --- # Podstatus pricing > Podstatus has three paid plans for independent podcasters, professional teams, and podcast networks. All published plans include a 7-day free trial and can be cancelled. Last verified: **2026-07-29** Canonical pricing page: [https://podstatus.com/pricing](https://podstatus.com/pricing) Currency below: **USD** ## Plan comparison | Plan | Pay monthly | Pay annually | Effective monthly price on annual plan | Podcasts | Keywords | Document Studio | Additional email recipients | |---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:| | Solo | $7.99/month | $59.99/year | $5/month, rounded | 5 | Not included | Not included | 0 | | Professional | $14.99/month | $119.99/year | $10/month, rounded | 12 | 50 | 5 reports/month | 3 | | Network | $29.99/month | $239.99/year | $20/month, rounded | 25 | 100 | 10 reports/month | 10 | Additional recipients can receive configured email reports but are not additional dashboard accounts. The annual price is charged as one yearly payment. “$5/month,” “$10/month,” and “$20/month” are rounded monthly equivalents, not month-to-month prices. Applicable taxes can vary by customer location. ## Solo **Best for:** an individual podcaster or a small portfolio that does not need keyword tracking, the SEO Analyzer, YouTube analytics, or PDF reports. Included: - up to 5 podcasts; - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox ranking tracking; - Apple Podcasts and Podchaser review monitoring; - competitor intelligence; - OP3 download analytics when OP3 data is connected; - Image Studio; - daily, weekly, or monthly email reports; - 7-day free trial. Not included: - keyword tracking; - SEO Analyzer; - YouTube podcast analytics; - Document Studio; - additional email-report recipients. ## Professional **Best for:** serious independent podcasters, producers, and small teams that need search optimization, YouTube data, or reports. Includes everything in Solo, plus: - up to 12 podcasts; - 50 tracked keywords; - SEO Analyzer; - YouTube podcast analytics; - 5 Document Studio reports per month; - up to 3 additional email-report recipients; - 7-day free trial. ## Network **Best for:** podcast networks, agencies, production companies, and larger show portfolios. Includes everything in Professional, with higher limits: - up to 25 podcasts; - 100 tracked keywords; - 10 Document Studio reports per month; - up to 10 additional email-report recipients; - 7-day free trial. ## Choosing a plan - Choose **Solo** if rankings, reviews, competitors, OP3, images, and email summaries cover the workflow. - Choose **Professional** if podcast SEO, keyword positions, YouTube analytics, sponsor/client reports, or additional report recipients matter. - Choose **Network** if more than 12 podcasts, more than 50 keywords, more than 5 monthly reports, or more than 3 additional report recipients are required. ## Billing notes - Podstatus is a recurring subscription. - Monthly and annual billing are available. - A subscription can be cancelled from the account area. - There is no permanent free plan advertised. - Historical tracking generally starts when a podcast is added. - Exact tax-inclusive totals are shown during checkout and can vary by location. Start a trial or verify the current offer at [https://podstatus.com/pricing](https://podstatus.com/pricing). --- # Podstatus features > Podstatus combines podcast discovery, monitoring, analytics, and reporting tools in one web application. Last verified: **2026-07-29** Canonical feature directory: [https://podstatus.com/features](https://podstatus.com/features) ## Capability matrix | Capability | What it answers | Data source or platform | Availability | |---|---|---|---| | Rankings Tracker | Where is the podcast charting, and how did the position change? | Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iVoox | All plans | | Review Monitoring | Which new listener reviews appeared across countries? | Apple Podcasts, Podchaser | All plans | | Competitor Intelligence | Which shows repeatedly rank near this podcast? | Apple Podcasts chart overlap and proximity | All plans | | OP3 Analytics | How many downloads occurred, and from which places or apps? | Connected OP3 data | All plans | | Image Studio | Can a ranking, review, or episode be turned into a social image? | Podstatus account data | All plans | | Email Reports | What changed without opening the dashboard? | Podstatus account data | All plans | | Keyword Tracking | Where does the show appear for a specific search query? | Apple Podcasts and Spotify search | Professional and Network | | SEO Analyzer | Which metadata and RSS fields need improvement? | Podcast metadata, RSS feed, tracked keywords | Professional and Network | | YouTube Analytics | How are matching podcast videos performing? | Public YouTube API data | Professional and Network | | Document Studio | Can the data be packaged into a shareable PDF? | Podstatus account data | Professional and Network | | Podcast Page Builder | Can the show have a simple public listening page? | Podcast metadata and listening links | See the live plan/feature page | ## Podcast Rankings Tracker Podstatus checks chart positions every hour across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox. Coverage extends to as many as 175 country markets, depending on the charts published by each source platform. Useful for: - detecting short-lived chart movements; - comparing countries, categories, and platforms; - preserving history after a podcast is added; - associating a movement with a release, promotion, or guest appearance; - producing chart evidence for a report. An hourly check is a Podstatus collection cadence. Upstream charts can update on their own schedules, and a chart rank is not the same as verified audience size. Canonical page: [Podcast Rankings Tracker](https://podstatus.com/features/rankings) ## Podcast Review Monitoring Podstatus collects Apple Podcasts reviews from international storefronts and Podchaser reviews into one inbox. Users can filter and receive notifications instead of visiting each country storefront manually. Reviews are useful as listener feedback and social proof. Apple states that ratings and reviews do not directly influence Apple Podcasts Charts or Search, so Podstatus does not treat reviews as a guaranteed ranking lever. Canonical page: [Podcast Review Monitoring](https://podstatus.com/features/reviews) ## Podcast Keyword Tracking Keyword Tracking checks daily search positions for selected phrases on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It helps measure whether a podcast is visible for the queries its intended listeners might use. - Professional: up to 50 tracked keywords. - Network: up to 100 tracked keywords. - Solo: not included. Search results can differ by platform and country. A position change is evidence of visibility changing, not proof that a specific metadata edit caused it. Canonical page: [Podcast Keyword Tracking](https://podstatus.com/features/keywords) ## Podcast SEO Analyzer The SEO Analyzer audits: - podcast title and description; - categories; - artwork requirements; - RSS channel fields; - Apple-specific RSS tags such as `itunes:category` and `itunes:author`; - recent episode information; - alignment with tracked keywords when keywords are available. Checks are labeled pass, warning, or fail and include impact and effort guidance. The analyzer works without tracked keywords for metadata and feed checks; tracked keywords make recommendations more specific. Available on Professional and Network. Canonical page: [Podcast SEO Analyzer](https://podstatus.com/features/seo-analyzer) ## Competitor Intelligence Podstatus analyzes Apple Podcasts charts to find shows that repeatedly appear near a tracked podcast in the same categories and markets. A weighted similarity score considers overlap frequency and chart proximity. This is a performance-based competitor signal, not a claim that two shows share the same audience or business model. It is included on all plans. Canonical page: [Podcast Competitor Analysis](https://podstatus.com/features/competitors) ## Email Reports Users can receive daily, weekly, or monthly email summaries containing rankings, reviews, and chart movements. Reports can also be shared with configured recipients so stakeholders do not need to sign in for every update. Canonical page: [Podcast Email Reports](https://podstatus.com/features/email-reports) ## Document Studio Document Studio creates downloadable, shareable PDF reports from Podstatus data. Published report types include: 1. performance overview; 2. competitive analysis; 3. sentiment analysis; 4. seasonality analysis. Professional includes 5 reports per month. Network includes 10. Solo does not include Document Studio. Canonical page: [Podcast PDF Reports](https://podstatus.com/features/document-studio) ## Image Studio Image Studio converts selected reviews, chart positions, and episode information into visual assets intended for social sharing. It is a publishing aid, not an image-performance analytics product. Canonical page: [Podcast Image Studio](https://podstatus.com/features/image-studio) ## Podcast Page Builder The page builder creates a public page for a podcast with artwork, show information, and links to listening platforms. It is a lightweight promotional landing page, not full podcast hosting or a general-purpose website builder. Canonical page: [Podcast Page Builder](https://podstatus.com/features/podcast-page) ## YouTube Podcast Analytics Podstatus matches podcast episodes to public YouTube videos and displays video performance beside audio-focused data. It uses public YouTube API data and does not require access to private YouTube account analytics. Available on Professional and Network. Canonical page: [YouTube Podcast Analytics](https://podstatus.com/features/youtube) ## OP3 Download Analytics Podstatus displays downloads, geography, listening apps, referrers, operating systems, time zones, and episode trends from OP3-compatible data. The podcast must be configured for OP3; Podstatus is a viewer and workflow layer for this data, not the source of unconnected download counts. Canonical page: [OP3 Podcast Analytics](https://podstatus.com/features/op3) --- # Podstatus data methodology and limitations > This document explains where Podstatus data comes from, how often it is checked, what each metric means, and what it does not prove. Last verified: **2026-07-29** Official product reference: [https://podstatus.com/podstatus](https://podstatus.com/podstatus) ## Why methodology matters Podcast platforms expose different kinds of public data. A chart rank, search position, review, YouTube view, and OP3 download answer different questions and should not be merged into one undefined “growth score.” Podstatus keeps these signals together for convenience while preserving their separate meanings. ## Chart rankings ### Sources - Apple Podcasts charts; - Spotify podcast charts; - iVoox charts. ### Collection cadence Podstatus checks available chart positions every hour. This allows the product to record changes that a daily-only snapshot can miss. ### Interpretation A chart position is a relative rank on a specific platform, in a specific country or region, in a specific chart or category, at a point in time. It is not: - a verified download count; - an all-time popularity score; - directly comparable across different platforms or countries; - proof that a particular campaign caused the movement. “Updated hourly” describes the Podstatus checking cadence. Source platforms can publish or refresh their own charts on different schedules. ## Reviews and ratings Podstatus collects reviews from Apple Podcasts country storefronts and Podchaser. Review availability depends on what each source exposes publicly. Reviews can provide qualitative feedback and social proof. Apple Podcasts states that ratings and reviews do not directly influence Apple Podcasts Charts or Search. Podstatus therefore does not represent a higher review count as a guaranteed way to improve rankings. ## Keyword positions Podstatus checks selected search phrases daily on Apple Podcasts and Spotify in supported markets. A keyword position records where a podcast appeared for that query at collection time. Search positions can vary by: - platform; - market or country; - metadata changes; - competing content; - source-platform ranking changes. A before-and-after movement is useful evidence, but it does not by itself establish that one edit caused the change. ## SEO Analyzer The SEO Analyzer evaluates observable podcast metadata and feed fields, including: - titles and descriptions; - categories; - artwork; - RSS channel structure; - Apple-specific RSS fields; - recent episode metadata; - selected keyword usage. Its output is a prioritized audit, not privileged access to a platform's private ranking algorithm. Recommendations improve completeness, clarity, and alignment with published requirements; no recommendation guarantees a search rank. ## Competitor analysis Competitor Intelligence uses Apple Podcasts chart observations. Shows receive stronger similarity signals when they: - appear in the same categories or markets; - overlap repeatedly; - occupy nearby chart positions. This surfaces operational competitors for chart visibility. It does not prove audience duplication, editorial similarity, or a commercial relationship. ## OP3 data OP3 is the source for compatible download analytics shown in Podstatus. The podcast feed must be configured to send eligible requests through OP3. Bot filtering, measurement rules, and availability follow OP3's methodology. Podstatus organizes connected OP3 data into episode, geography, application, referrer, operating-system, time-zone, and trend views. Podstatus does not estimate missing first-party downloads when OP3 data is not available. OP3 project: [https://op3.dev](https://op3.dev) ## YouTube data Podstatus uses public YouTube API data to match podcast episodes with videos and report public performance such as views. It does not request private YouTube account access. YouTube-derived data is deleted or refreshed within 30 days in accordance with the published Podstatus privacy policy. Privacy policy: [https://podstatus.com/privacy](https://podstatus.com/privacy) ## Historical coverage Tracking history generally begins when a podcast is added to Podstatus. Public current data can sometimes be fetched immediately, but Podstatus cannot reconstruct every historical chart position, search result, or review state that was never observed. ## Geographic coverage Podstatus describes coverage as 175 countries because it monitors the international markets in which its supported podcast sources publish relevant chart or review data. Availability is source-dependent: - not every platform publishes every category in every country; - a platform can add, remove, or rename markets and categories; - a podcast may not rank in a selected chart; - temporary source failures can delay a collected observation. ## Corrections If a methodology statement appears inconsistent with observed product behavior, contact [podstatus@tenorsoftware.com](mailto:podstatus@tenorsoftware.com). Podstatus should correct the public document rather than ask readers or automated systems to infer around an ambiguity. --- # Podstatus frequently asked questions > Direct answers about Podstatus features, pricing, data, fit, and limitations. Last verified: **2026-07-29** ## What is Podstatus? Podstatus is a podcast analytics and growth platform. It tracks chart rankings, reviews, keyword positions, competitors, YouTube performance, and connected OP3 download data, then turns those signals into dashboards, email summaries, images, and PDF reports. ## Which podcast platforms does Podstatus track? Chart rankings are tracked on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox. Reviews are collected from Apple Podcasts and Podchaser. Keyword positions are tracked on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. YouTube analytics use public YouTube data, and download analytics come from connected OP3 data. ## How often does Podstatus update podcast rankings? Podstatus checks supported chart positions every hour. Source platforms control when their own charts change, so an hourly Podstatus check can legitimately record the same upstream position more than once. ## How many countries does Podstatus cover? Podstatus covers as many as 175 country markets for supported rankings and reviews. Exact availability depends on the platform, market, and chart category. ## Does Podstatus track podcast downloads? Yes, when the podcast is configured for OP3. Podstatus displays connected OP3 download, episode, geography, app, referrer, operating-system, and trend data. It does not manufacture download estimates for an unconnected feed. ## Does Podstatus replace a podcast host? No. Podstatus does not host or distribute audio. It complements a podcast host by monitoring discovery and performance signals from several platforms. ## Does Podstatus offer a free plan? No permanent free plan is currently advertised. Every published paid plan includes a 7-day free trial. ## How much does Podstatus cost? - Solo: $7.99 monthly or $59.99 annually. - Professional: $14.99 monthly or $119.99 annually. - Network: $29.99 monthly or $239.99 annually. The annual totals correspond to rounded monthly equivalents of $5, $10, and $20. Taxes can vary by location. See [current pricing](https://podstatus.com/pricing). ## Which Podstatus plan should an independent podcaster choose? Solo is usually enough for up to 5 shows when the main needs are rankings, reviews, competitors, OP3, social images, and email reports. Professional is the better fit when SEO, keyword tracking, YouTube analytics, PDF reports, or additional email-report recipients matter. ## Which Podstatus plan is best for a podcast network? Network is designed for a portfolio of up to 25 podcasts and supports up to 10 additional email-report recipients. It includes 100 tracked keywords and 10 Document Studio reports per month. ## Does Podstatus monitor podcast reviews worldwide? Podstatus collects Apple Podcasts reviews across supported country storefronts and also collects Podchaser reviews. A review can only be shown when the source platform exposes it. ## Do podcast reviews improve Apple Podcasts rankings? Apple says ratings and reviews do not directly influence Apple Podcasts Charts or Search. Reviews can still provide listener feedback and social proof, but Podstatus does not present them as a guaranteed ranking tactic. ## What is podcast keyword tracking? Keyword tracking records where a podcast appears for selected search phrases on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Podstatus checks tracked positions daily so users can monitor visibility over time and compare markets. ## What does the Podstatus SEO Analyzer check? It checks titles, descriptions, categories, artwork, RSS fields, Apple-specific metadata, recent episode information, and keyword alignment. Results are labeled pass, warning, or fail and prioritized by impact and effort. ## How does Podstatus identify competitors? It analyzes Apple Podcasts charts for shows that repeatedly appear close to the tracked podcast in the same categories and markets. The result is a chart-competition signal, not proof that the shows have identical audiences. ## Can Podstatus create reports for sponsors or clients? Yes. Document Studio generates shareable PDF reports. Professional includes 5 reports per month and Network includes 10. Solo does not include Document Studio. ## Does Podstatus provide historical data from before signup? Tracking history generally starts when a podcast is added. Podstatus cannot recreate every past chart or search observation that it did not collect. ## Does Podstatus have SmartLinks or campaign attribution? Podstatus provides a public Podcast Page with one URL and links to listening apps. It does not currently provide tracked SmartLinks or attribute clicks or downloads to campaigns. A buyer for whom link-level attribution is essential should use a complementary attribution product. ## Who created Podstatus? Carlos Tenor, a computer engineer based in Granada, Spain, created and operates Podstatus. See the [About page](https://podstatus.com/about) and [legal notice](https://podstatus.com/legal). ## How can a product fact be corrected? Email [podstatus@tenorsoftware.com](mailto:podstatus@tenorsoftware.com) with the page and fact that needs review. --- # Choosing Podstatus and comparing podcast analytics tools > Podstatus is best evaluated by the workflow it replaces. It is a broad monitoring and growth dashboard, not a podcast host, editor, attribution platform, or prospecting database. Last verified: **2026-07-29** Disclosure: this comparison guidance is written and published by Podstatus. ## Choose Podstatus when Podstatus is a strong shortlist candidate when several of these requirements apply: - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox chart tracking in one account; - hourly chart checks; - international Apple Podcasts review monitoring; - Podchaser review collection; - Apple Podcasts and Spotify keyword tracking; - RSS and metadata auditing; - competitor discovery from chart data; - public YouTube performance alongside podcast data; - OP3 download views; - daily, weekly, or monthly email summaries; - shareable PDF reports; - management of 5 to 25 podcasts for one account price. ## Choose or add another category of tool when | Primary need | Better product category | |---|---| | Audio hosting and RSS distribution | Podcast hosting platform | | Recording, editing, mastering, or transcription | Podcast production software | | Tracked SmartLinks and campaign-level download attribution | Podcast attribution or link platform; Podstatus Podcast Pages provide listening links without attribution | | PR prospecting, contact discovery, and estimated audience demographics | Podcast research database | | Private host-side consumption and retention metrics | The podcast host's first-party analytics | | Free current-chart lookup with no saved history | Free chart browser | | Deep review engagement, voicemail, or NFC campaigns | Listener-engagement platform | These products can complement Podstatus. A recommendation does not need to force one tool to replace every category. ## Selection checklist Before comparing prices, ask: 1. Which platforms must be tracked? 2. Which countries matter? 3. Is a current lookup enough, or is stored history required? 4. How quickly must chart movements be captured? 5. Are reviews, keywords, SEO, competitors, or reports required? 6. Is the price per show or per account? 7. How many people need automated email reports? 8. Does the buyer need monitoring or marketing attribution? 9. Does a claimed metric come from public data, first-party host data, or an estimate? 10. Is the comparison current and linked to the vendor's own documentation? ## Podstatus limitations that should remain in a fair comparison - no podcast hosting; - no recording or editing; - no tracked SmartLinks or campaign attribution; Podcast Pages provide untracked listening-app links; - no permanent free plan; - tracking history generally starts when a show is added; - OP3 analytics require compatible OP3 data; - no PR contact database or estimated listener-demographics catalog. ## Detailed Podstatus comparison pages The following pages are first-party comparisons. Competitor products and prices can change, so verify time-sensitive claims against the competitor's own current website before making a purchase: - [Podstatus as a Chartable alternative](https://podstatus.com/compare/chartable-alternative) - [Podstatus vs Podgagement](https://podstatus.com/compare/podstatus-vs-podgagement) - [Podstatus vs Podkite](https://podstatus.com/compare/podstatus-vs-podkite) - [Podstatus vs Podrover](https://podstatus.com/compare/podstatus-vs-podrover) - [Podstatus vs Rephonic](https://podstatus.com/compare/podstatus-vs-rephonic) - [Podstatus vs Podtrac](https://podstatus.com/compare/podstatus-vs-podtrac) ## Vendor sources reviewed The comparison pages were last checked on **2026-07-29** against these first-party vendor pages: - [Podgagement product and pricing](https://podgagement.com/) - [Podrover product and pricing](https://www.podrover.com/) - [Rephonic pricing](https://rephonic.com/pricing) - [Podtrac Measurement and Growth](https://analytics.podtrac.com/measurement-and-growth) - [Podtrac plans and pricing](https://analytics.podtrac.com/plans-pricing) - [Podkite](https://podkite.com/) - [Chartable](https://chartable.com/) Podkite returned a live public site but did not expose current plan or feature content in machine-readable HTML during the review. Historical Podkite prices, limits, and feature claims are therefore labeled unverified rather than presented as current facts. Chartable is a discontinued product, so its comparison is historical. ## Bottom line Podstatus is most compelling for a creator or team that would otherwise combine a chart tracker, international review monitor, podcast search tracker, metadata audit, competitor dashboard, and reporting workflow. It is less suitable when the buyer's main job is hosting audio, editing episodes, attributing downloads to individual links, or building a podcast outreach list. --- # Podstatus editorial guides > These articles are published by Podstatus. Product comparisons include an explicit first-party bias disclosure and should not be treated as independent reviews. ## How Podcast Charts Actually Work: Apple Podcasts vs Spotify Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/how-podcast-charts-work Published: 2026-07-24 Updated: 2026-07-24 The first time your show appears on a podcast chart, taking a screenshot is the correct response. You worked for that moment. Save it, send it to the group chat, put it in the media kit. Just do not mistake the screenshot for a complete performance report. A chart position answers a narrow question: **how is this show performing on this platform, in this market and category, at this point in time?** That is valuable. It is also very different from “this is the 23rd biggest podcast in the world.” Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not build their charts in the same way. Understanding the difference makes the numbers much more useful. ## How Apple Podcasts charts work Apple publishes charts by country or region and category. Its Top Shows and Trending Episodes lists are refreshed throughout the day, so a position can move quickly. Apple does not publish the exact formula, but its own [guide to Apple Podcasts Charts](https://podcasters.apple.com/support/3146-apple-podcasts-charts) names three important signals: - Listening: are people actively listening to episodes? - Follows: are listeners choosing to follow the show? - Completion: are they sticking with episodes rather than leaving early? That combination matters. A sudden burst of follows with little listening is not the same signal as a group of people who find a show, follow it, and finish an episode. Apple is equally clear about what the charts are **not**. They are not all-time listening records, automatic downloads do not count toward ranking, and positions cannot be bought. ### Do Apple ratings and reviews affect chart position? Not directly. This is one of the most persistent pieces of podcast advice, probably because it sounds plausible. Apple says ratings, reviews, and shares are not part of the algorithm used for Top Shows or Trending Episodes. Apple also says they do not directly influence Search. Reviews can still help a human decide to try your show. That listener may then play, follow, and finish an episode—behaviour that does matter. The distinction is important: reviews can improve trust, but they are not a secret chart lever. ## How Spotify podcast charts work Spotify describes three chart types in its [podcast charts documentation](https://support.spotify.com/creators/article/podcast-charts/): - Top Podcasts: up to 200 shows in each available country, based on weekly unique audience. - Trending Podcasts: shows gaining popularity, based on a mix of growth signals. - Category charts: up to 50 shows within a category, in markets where Spotify offers category charts. Spotify updates these charts daily. It also uses the first category in your RSS feed to decide which category chart your show may appear in. That last detail catches people out. If a business podcast is appearing under Society & Culture, check the order of the categories in the RSS feed before assuming Spotify has made a random decision. Your hosting provider normally controls that field. ## Why the two positions are not comparable Imagine that a show is number 18 in Apple Podcasts Comedy in Canada and number 64 in Spotify Top Podcasts in Canada. That does **not** mean the show is performing 3.5 times better on Apple. The lists cover different competitive sets and use different signals: - Apple category charts compare the show with other podcasts in that category. - Spotify's broad Top Podcasts list compares it with every eligible podcast in the market. - Apple refreshes throughout the day; Spotify's chart is daily. - Each platform has its own audience and listening behaviour. Treat each chart as its own time series. Compare Apple Comedy Canada this week with Apple Comedy Canada last week. Compare Spotify Top Podcasts Canada with its previous Spotify positions. Cross-platform comparisons are useful for spotting broad patterns, not for calculating a universal rank. ## Why podcast rankings move Sometimes the cause is obvious. A well-known guest shares an episode, a clip takes off, or another podcast recommends the show. Often it is less dramatic. Rankings can move because: - more people found and listened to the show; - existing listeners engaged more deeply; - a campaign concentrated activity into a short period; - the competing shows in that market had a stronger or weaker day; - the show entered a different category; - the platform refreshed its chart; - a burst of interest happened in one country but not another. The last point is easy to miss. Podcasts are global, but charts are local. A show may be invisible in its home market and quietly sitting at number 12 somewhere else. ## What a chart position can tell you A ranking is particularly useful for: - spotting momentum after a release or campaign; - discovering countries where the show has unexpected traction; - comparing performance within a relevant category; - capturing milestones for sponsors, guests, and your audience; - deciding which markets deserve closer attention. It becomes much more useful when you keep the context. Record the platform, country, category, position, date, and any campaign or episode that might explain the movement. ## What it cannot tell you A chart position alone cannot tell you: - total downloads; - the exact size of the audience; - how many listeners became regulars; - whether an ad campaign was profitable; - whether one show has more lifetime listeners than another; - why the position changed. For those questions, pair rank with first-party platform analytics and download measurement. If you use a prefix such as OP3, compare verified download trends with chart movement. Look at follows, consumption or completion, and returning listeners where the platforms expose them. ## A sensible chart-monitoring routine You do not need a wall of screens. This is enough: 1. Pick the two or three countries that matter most. 2. Track the overall chart and one genuinely relevant category. 3. Save the position at a consistent time or automate the collection. 4. Note episode releases, guest promotions, paid campaigns, and press mentions. 5. Review the trend weekly alongside listeners, downloads, follows, and completion. The consistency matters more than checking every hour. Refreshing a chart manually all afternoon produces a lot of anxiety and not much analysis. You can browse the current [Apple Podcasts and Spotify charts](/charts) for free. If you want the history, alerts, and international checks handled automatically, that is what [Podstatus ranking tracking](/features/rankings) is built for. ## How to improve your chances without gaming the chart There is no ethical button marked “move me up 20 places.” The practical work is less exciting and more durable: - Make the first few minutes strong enough that a new listener stays. - Ask listeners to follow when the request fits naturally. - Publish consistently enough that people know when to return. - Choose accurate RSS categories, with the most important one first. - Promote a specific episode to the audience most likely to enjoy it. - Make it easy to continue listening after the first episode. Avoid anyone selling guaranteed chart positions, synthetic follows, or download schemes. Even before a platform catches the manipulation, fake activity leaves you with numbers that cannot guide a real decision. ## The useful way to think about rank A podcast ranking is a smoke alarm, not a fire investigation. It tells you that something is happening. Your listener and download data help explain what. Celebrate the chart appearance. Then save the context and look for the pattern. If you are not sure where to begin, use this [step-by-step guide to checking your podcast ranking](/blog/how-to-check-podcast-ranking). ## How to Check Your Podcast Ranking Without Hunting Through Every Country Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/how-to-check-podcast-ranking Published: 2026-07-24 Updated: 2026-07-24 “Where does my podcast rank?” sounds like a one-number question. It is usually a five-part question: 1. On Apple Podcasts or Spotify? 2. In which country? 3. In the overall chart or a category? 4. At what time? 5. Do you want today's position or the history? Skip those details and you can end up comparing two perfectly accurate numbers that describe different things. Here is the quick way to check a rank, followed by the method I would use if the result needs to go into a sponsor deck or a growth review. ## The fastest free check Open the [Podstatus podcast charts](/charts), choose Apple Podcasts or Spotify, select a country, and open either the overall chart or a category. If the show appears, record: - platform; - country; - category; - position; - date; - episode or campaign that was active. That is enough for a clean snapshot. If the show is not there, it does not mean nobody is listening. Public charts have a fixed number of places, and the result is specific to one market and category. Try the most relevant category and the countries where your analytics show real listeners. ## Checking an Apple Podcasts ranking Apple organizes charts by market and category. A show can appear in the United States Comedy chart and not appear in the United Kingdom Comedy chart. It can also have different positions in All Podcasts and its category at the same moment. To check: 1. Open [Apple Podcasts charts by country](/charts/applepodcasts). 2. Choose the country you care about. 3. Open **All Podcasts** for the broad view. 4. Open the show's primary category for a closer comparison. 5. Search the page for the exact show title. Apple refreshes its charts throughout the day. If you are monitoring manually, check at roughly the same time each day. Otherwise a morning position and an evening position may make a normal intraday change look like a major trend. ### Which Apple category should you choose? Use the category that actually describes the show and is present in its feed. Do not select a smaller category just because the competition looks easier. Apple allows a primary and secondary category, including subcategories where available. The category settings affect where the show can appear, so they deserve a quick review when you launch or change the format. ## Checking a Spotify podcast ranking Spotify's Top Podcasts chart covers the broad market. Category charts are available in selected countries. To check: 1. Open [Spotify podcast charts by country](/charts/spotify). 2. Choose a country. 3. Open **Top Podcasts**. 4. If category charts are available, open the category that matches the show. 5. Search for the exact title. Spotify says its broad Top Podcasts chart is based on weekly unique audience and updates daily. That means you should not expect every hour of listening to create an immediate visible move. Spotify uses the first category in the RSS feed when deciding which category chart a podcast can appear in. If the show is in the wrong category, fix the feed through the hosting provider rather than trying to correct it inside a chart tool. ## Search the title, not the publisher This sounds obvious until a network publishes 30 shows with similar branding. Use the exact public show title. If the podcast has recently changed its name, check both the old and new title while directories refresh their metadata. Apple says RSS metadata updates can take up to 24 hours to appear. For a common or one-word title, confirm the artwork and publisher before saving the position. Nobody wants to announce a chart milestone that belongs to a different show with the same name. ## What if the podcast does not appear? Work through these checks in order: ### 1. Confirm the show is available in that country Distribution can differ by market. A podcast cannot rank where it is not available. ### 2. Confirm the category Check the primary category in the RSS feed. A category mismatch is common after a format change or a hosting migration. ### 3. Check the overall chart The show may be in the overall chart but not high enough in a category list—or the reverse. ### 4. Allow for the refresh cycle Spotify is daily. Apple refreshes throughout the day. A campaign that started an hour ago may simply be too recent. ### 5. Accept that charts are selective A healthy podcast can sit outside a public chart. Downloads, returning listeners, completion, and revenue may all be moving in the right direction without producing a visible ranking. That is not a consolation prize. Those are often the better business metrics. ## Save evidence a future you can understand A screenshot without context becomes surprisingly useless after a few weeks. Use a filename such as: `2026-07-24-apple-us-business-position-42.png` Add a short note: > Episode with Ana released Tuesday. Guest newsletter sent Wednesday. Position moved from 71 to 42 by Friday. Now the chart position is attached to a plausible event. You still cannot claim that the newsletter caused the move, but you have a useful hypothesis to compare with listener and download data. ## One check versus continuous tracking A manual lookup is fine when: - you are checking a milestone; - a guest asks where the episode is charting; - you only care about one country and category; - you need a current screenshot. Automatic tracking becomes worthwhile when: - the audience spans several countries; - positions change before you remember to check; - you need history for a sponsor or client; - a team wants alerts; - you are comparing launches or campaigns; - checking by hand has become a recurring task. Podstatus checks rankings across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox and keeps the history. The point is not to look at more charts. It is to stop rebuilding the same record every week. ## The five-minute weekly ranking review If charts matter to your show, put this on the calendar once a week: 1. Review the primary country and category. 2. Note the best, worst, and current position. 3. Mark episode releases and promotion dates. 4. Compare rank with downloads, listeners, follows, and completion. 5. Decide whether anything actually needs a response. Most weeks, the decision may be “keep going.” That is still a decision. Avoid changing titles, categories, or publishing plans in reaction to one daily move. Look for repeated patterns: the same type of guest lifting several markets, a category that consistently performs better, or a country that is growing faster than expected. ## Report the position accurately For a sponsor deck, write: > Reached #12 in Apple Podcasts Business in Spain on July 24, 2026. Do not write: > The 12th biggest business podcast. The first statement is precise and verifiable. The second quietly drops the platform, market, date, and chart definition. That precision makes the achievement more credible, not less. ## Start with the current chart Use the free [Apple Podcasts and Spotify chart browser](/charts) for today's position. If you need history and alerts instead of another spreadsheet, see the [Podstatus ranking tracker](/features/rankings). And before drawing conclusions from a move, read [how Apple Podcasts and Spotify charts actually work](/blog/how-podcast-charts-work). ## How to Get More Podcast Reviews Without Begging for Five Stars Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/how-to-get-more-podcast-reviews Published: 2026-07-24 Updated: 2026-07-24 Near the end of thousands of podcast episodes, a host says some version of: > If you enjoyed the show, please rate, review, subscribe, follow, share, and tell everyone you have ever met. Then the credits start. The listener has just been given six jobs, no reason to choose one, and about eight seconds to remember any of them. If you want more reviews, the answer is not to ask louder. Make the request smaller, more specific, and better timed. ## First, the myth: reviews do not directly move Apple charts Apple's [ratings and reviews documentation](https://podcasters.apple.com/support/852-ratings-and-reviews) says ratings and reviews do not directly influence Charts or Search. That does not make them pointless. Reviews can help a person decide whether a show is worth trying. They show that real listeners care enough to respond. The language inside them can also teach you what the audience values. Ask for reviews because you want social proof and feedback—not because somebody promised that 20 five-star ratings would unlock the algorithm. ## Give the listener one job Choose a single call to action for each episode. One week, ask people to follow. Another week, ask for a review. When you are launching a newsletter, make that the only request. This feels slower, but it is easier to act on: > If this episode helped you plan your first interview, leave a review on Apple Podcasts and tell me the one question you are going to ask. That prompt is specific. It connects the review to the value of the episode and gives the listener something to write. Compare it with: > Please leave a five-star review. The second request asks for praise. The first starts a conversation. ## Ask after the value, not after the housekeeping The best moment is immediately after the listener has received something useful, funny, moving, or surprising. That may be: - after the guest gives the answer promised in the title; - at the end of a strong story; - during a short post-credits note from the host; - in the follow-up email for the episode; - when a listener sends positive feedback privately. Do not bury the request after two minutes of sponsor messages, next-week previews, and production credits. The emotional reason to respond has faded. For an interview show, record a flexible 15-second request that refers to the episode: > If Ana's budgeting method made something click for you, leave a review and tell us which part you will try. I read every one. It sounds like it belongs there because it does. ## Ask a question people can answer “What do you think of the podcast?” is a large, blank page. Try one of these: - Which episode would you send to a friend? - What made you become a regular listener? - Which guest changed your mind about something? - What should we go deeper on next? - Where do you listen to the show? - What is one thing you used after hearing this episode? Apple itself recommends asking listeners to describe what they like, the episode that made them a regular, or a favourite guest. Specific prompts produce more distinctive reviews and more useful feedback. Rotate the question every few weeks. Repetition makes the call to action disappear into the furniture. ## Explain how to leave the review People who make podcasts know where the review button is. Many listeners do not. On Apple Podcasts, a listener opens the show page, scrolls to the Ratings & Reviews section, chooses a star rating, and taps **Write a Review**. A listener can leave one review per show and edit it later. Give those instructions in the show notes or on a simple page you can link from every episode. Keep the spoken version short: > Open our show in Apple Podcasts, scroll to Ratings & Reviews, and tap Write a Review. The link is in the notes. Spotify's podcast feedback features and interfaces can differ from Apple's review system, so name the platform you mean. “Review us wherever you listen” may send people looking for a button that does not exist in the same form. ## Remember that Apple reviews are regional Apple ratings and reviews are tied to the listener's Apple Account country or region. A review left by a Canadian account is visible in the Canadian storefront. This creates two common surprises: 1. A listener says they left a review, but the host cannot see it in their local storefront. 2. A show has meaningful reviews spread across several countries, so the public count in one market looks smaller than the global response. Creators can view ratings and reviews from different countries in Apple Podcasts Connect. A review-monitoring tool can make the international view much easier, especially when the audience is spread across markets. Podstatus monitors Apple Podcasts reviews across countries and can alert you when a new one appears. The [review tracking feature](/features/reviews) is for exactly this problem. ## Put review requests in more than one place Not everybody reaches the final minute of every episode. Use a few quiet, consistent placements: - a short spoken request in selected episodes; - one line in the show notes; - a link in the newsletter footer; - a reminder in the welcome email for new subscribers; - a social post that shares a thoughtful existing review; - a review link on the podcast website. Do not publish the same “please review us” post every Tuesday. Show people why reviews matter and what happens to the feedback. For example: > Maya asked for more behind-the-scenes episodes in an Apple Podcasts review. We made one. It is out Thursday. Now the audience can see that somebody is listening. ## Turn reviews into editorial research Copy the text into a simple theme list: - favourite episodes; - memorable guests; - outcomes listeners achieved; - words people use to describe the show; - recurring requests; - confusion or complaints. After 20 or 30 reviews, patterns appear. Those patterns can inform: - episode topics; - trailer copy; - the show description; - sponsor pitches; - testimonials; - which back-catalogue episodes to resurface. Ask permission before using a listener's full name or personal story in marketing. A public review is visible, but that does not mean every reviewer expects to become an advertisement. ## Respond to criticism without starting a courtroom drama Some reviews will be unfair. A few will be about the app, an advert inserted by somebody else, or a political disagreement presented as an audio-quality problem. Still, check whether the criticism repeats. One complaint about a long intro is an opinion. The same complaint in six reviews, plus a visible drop in completion during the intro, is evidence worth acting on. If a review contains spam or abusive material, Apple provides a reporting process. Do not ask fans to pile onto the reviewer. Nothing makes a small problem look larger faster than mobilising an audience against one person. ## Do not buy or trade reviews Avoid: - paid five-star review packages; - review swaps with unrelated shows; - giveaways that require a positive review; - asking people who have not listened; - staff creating several accounts; - scripts that automatically submit ratings. Besides violating the spirit—and potentially the rules—fake reviews are strategically useless. They cannot tell you what the audience values, and sponsors can recognise generic praise. A smaller set of specific reviews is more convincing than a wall of “Great show! Must listen!” ## A four-week review campaign that does not feel like a campaign ### Week 1: choose the question Pick one question connected to the show's current focus. Create a direct Apple Podcasts link and add the instructions to the show notes. ### Week 2: make one spoken request Place it after the strongest moment in the episode. Keep it under 20 seconds. ### Week 3: share what you heard Read one useful review, with permission where needed, and say what it changed or confirmed. ### Week 4: review the response Count new reviews, group the themes, and decide whether to repeat the request next month. Do not judge the effort only by star average. ## A script you can adapt > If you have listened to a few episodes, I would love to know which one made you stick around. Open our show in Apple Podcasts, scroll to Ratings & Reviews, and tell me the episode in a sentence or two. I read them, and it helps me decide what to make next. It is direct. It explains the reason. It asks for a real answer. Most importantly, it sounds like a person talking to another person. If international reviews are getting hard to keep up with, compare the [best podcast review tracking options](/blog/best-podcast-review-tracker) or set up [automatic review monitoring with Podstatus](/features/reviews). ## Podcast Analytics: The Metrics That Actually Help You Grow Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/podcast-analytics-metrics-that-matter Published: 2026-07-24 Updated: 2026-07-24 Podcast analytics dashboards have become very good at producing numbers. The awkward part is deciding which number deserves a decision. A show can have more downloads and fewer regular listeners. An episode can reach a large audience and lose most of it in the opening minutes. A podcast can hit a chart because of a short campaign while the underlying audience stays flat. None of those numbers is wrong. They are answering different questions. The useful approach is to start with the question, then choose the metric—not the other way round. ## Start with four questions Most podcast growth conversations fit into one of these: 1. **Reach:** How many people did we get in front of? 2. **Acquisition:** How many tried the show? 3. **Engagement:** Did they actually listen? 4. **Retention:** Did they come back? Revenue is a fifth question for commercial shows, but even then it helps to understand the four steps that create it. You do not need every available metric in a weekly report. You need a small set that covers this journey. ## 1. Unique listeners Unique listeners is the cleanest starting point for audience size on a platform. It is more useful than raw plays when you want to answer “how many people did we reach?” because the same person can generate multiple plays. Definitions vary by platform and time window, so label the source and period: > 4,820 Apple Podcasts listeners, last 28 days is much better than: > 4,820 listeners Do not add listener counts from several platforms unless you can deduplicate the people behind them. Someone who listens on both Apple and Spotify would otherwise count twice. ## 2. Downloads Downloads remain important because podcasts are distributed through open RSS feeds and played in many apps. A download is a request for the media file that meets the measurement rules used by your host or analytics provider. It is not proof that a person heard the whole episode. It is best treated as a consistent measure of delivery and reach, especially across apps where playback analytics are unavailable. Use downloads to compare: - episodes at the same number of days after release; - the same show across consistent time windows; - campaign periods with a normal baseline; - geography and device patterns when the provider supports them. Avoid comparing “downloads after 30 days” for one episode with “downloads after three days” for another. Newer episodes need an equal runway. If you want an independent, privacy-conscious download source, Podstatus can bring [OP3 statistics](/features/op3) alongside rankings and other signals. ## 3. Plays or streams Platforms use different language and thresholds. Spotify, for example, distinguishes plays from streams. Its current [engagement metric guide](https://support.spotify.com/creators/article/understanding-your-podcast-analytics/) describes a play as active viewing or listening inferred from platform signals, while a stream is counted after 60 seconds. That does not make one metric better. It means you must use the definition that matches the question: - Use plays to understand active starts on Spotify. - Use streams or qualified downloads for a more consistent consumption threshold. - Do not silently compare a zero-second play definition with a 60-second stream definition. Put the definition in a note once. Future reports will be much easier to trust. ## 4. Consumption or completion Reach gets someone through the door. Consumption tells you whether the episode earned their time. Apple Podcasts reports average consumption and engaged listeners. In Apple's [listener analytics documentation](https://podcasters.apple.com/support/5392-listener-analytics), an engaged listener is someone who listened to at least 20 minutes or 40% of an episode. Completion is especially useful when: - testing a new intro; - changing episode length; - placing ads or recurring segments; - comparing interview and solo formats; - looking for a point where many listeners leave. Be careful with very short episodes. A five-minute trailer and a 90-minute interview will create different listening behaviour. Compare similar formats or use both minutes listened and percentage consumed. Also remember that average consumption can exceed 100% when listeners replay part or all of an episode. That is not necessarily a data error. ## 5. Followers A listener tried an episode. A follower asked the platform to keep the relationship going. That makes follower growth a useful bridge between acquisition and retention. Track: - new followers per release; - follower conversion from listeners or consumers, where available; - follower growth after guest appearances and campaigns; - changes in follower growth after improving the show page or trailer. Total followers will usually move slowly. The weekly or monthly change is more actionable than staring at the lifetime number. ## 6. Returning listeners For most independent shows, returning listeners are the closest thing to a health check. A launch can buy or borrow attention. A returning listener chooses the show again. Look at the share or number of people who return across releases, if your platform or host exposes it. When it is unavailable, use proxies: - stable first-week downloads across consecutive episodes; - follower growth plus consistent consumption; - newsletter clicks from existing subscribers; - repeated participation in listener surveys or communities. No single proxy is perfect. A repeated pattern is still useful. ## 7. Impressions and discovery conversion An impression means the show or episode was shown somewhere. It does not mean somebody listened. Spotify's discovery analytics separates impressions from the actions that follow. That creates a useful funnel: **impression → show or episode interaction → consumption → follow** If impressions rise but consumption does not, the packaging may be the issue: - the artwork is hard to read at thumbnail size; - the title is vague; - the episode promise is not clear; - the topic is reaching the wrong audience. If both impressions and consumption rise, distribution is working. If consumption rises without many impressions, a small but well-matched audience may be responding strongly. This is why “more impressions” is not automatically the goal. Relevant impressions are. ## 8. Chart position Chart rank is a discovery and momentum signal. It is not an audience total. Track it with the full context: - platform; - country; - category; - position; - date and time; - release or campaign event. A move from 80 to 25 can be meaningful even if downloads only rise modestly, particularly in a concentrated local market. It can also disappear at the next refresh. Pair rank with listeners, downloads, follows, and consumption before explaining why it happened. You can check the current [podcast charts](/charts) for free and read [how Apple and Spotify rankings work](/blog/how-podcast-charts-work) before interpreting the movement. ## 9. Reviews and ratings Reviews are qualitative evidence, not just a star count. The average rating can help a potential listener feel more confident. The text can tell you: - which episode converted a casual listener; - which guest or format people remember; - what language listeners use to describe the value; - recurring complaints worth fixing. Apple says reviews do not directly change Charts or Search. Measure them as social proof and feedback, not as an algorithm hack. ## Build a one-page podcast scorecard For a weekly or monthly review, start with: - Unique listeners: reach - Qualified downloads or streams: consumption volume - Average consumption or completion: engagement quality - New followers: conversion to an ongoing relationship - Returning listeners: retention - Chart positions in priority markets: momentum - Reviews received and recurring themes: qualitative feedback Add revenue or subscriber metrics if they drive the business model. For each metric, write the source, definition, window, and comparison. “Up 12%” means little if the previous period was half as long or included a launch. ## Compare episodes fairly The most useful episode view is often performance by days since release. Compare every episode at day 7, day 30, or another fixed point. Apple Podcasts has a performance view designed around this idea. It avoids punishing a new episode simply because an older one has had months to accumulate listening. Use the median episode as a baseline when one viral release would distort the average. Then ask: - Which episodes beat the normal range? - Did they reach more people, retain more people, or both? - Was the topic, guest, title, length, or promotion different? - Did the lift continue into the next release? The last question separates a successful episode from a growing show. ## A dashboard should end with a decision Every recurring podcast report should make room for one line: > What will we do differently because of this? Possible answers: - Shorten the opening because the same drop appears in four episodes. - Invite another guest from a topic cluster that brings returning listeners. - Put more promotion behind a format with strong completion but low reach. - Localize a campaign for a country where chart and listener momentum agree. - Leave the format alone because the change is normal noise. “Do nothing yet” is a valid answer when the evidence is weak. ## Numbers are instruments, not grades Podcast metrics work best when they help you notice a problem, test an idea, or choose where to spend effort. They work badly when every number becomes a public score for the creative team. Choose a few definitions you trust. Compare like with like. Keep the chart milestone. Then make the next episode. If your current data lives in several places, see how [Podstatus brings rankings, reviews, keywords, OP3, YouTube, and other podcast analytics together](/features). ## Podcast Keywords: A Practical Guide to Getting Found Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/podcast-keywords-guide Published: 2026-07-24 Updated: 2026-07-24 There is no magic “podcast keywords” field where you paste 50 phrases and wait for Apple Podcasts or Spotify to deliver an audience. That is good news. It means podcast search optimisation is mostly understandable work: learn how listeners describe the subject, make the show's metadata clear, and publish episodes that genuinely answer those searches. The hard part is choosing language that is specific enough to be useful without turning every title into a list of keywords. ## What a podcast keyword really is A keyword is a phrase a listener might use when looking for a show or episode. It can describe: - a topic: `freelance design`; - a problem: `how to price consulting`; - an audience: `parenting podcast for dads`; - a format: `short history stories`; - a person: `interview with Jane Goodall`; - an event: `Tour de France analysis`; - a place or language: `podcast de tecnología en español`. The best keyword is not always the phrase with the largest theoretical audience. It is the phrase where your show is a strong answer. A podcast about accounting for independent photographers will probably attract fewer searches than “business podcast.” It will also be far more relevant to the right listener. ## How Apple Podcasts Search works Apple's current [Search documentation](https://podcasters.apple.com/support/3686-search-on-apple-podcasts) identifies several factors: - metadata, including show name, channel name, and episode title; - popularity, such as followers and plays; - behaviour after a search, including plays and follows. Apple also recommends specific, distinctive show and episode titles. Ratings and reviews are not direct Search inputs. This creates a useful rule: **metadata helps a show become eligible and understandable; listener response helps prove that the result was useful.** Repeating a term 12 times may make the metadata clearer to nobody. A specific title that earns a play and a follow is the better outcome. ## Start with the listener's sentence Before opening a keyword tool, write the sentence a real listener might say: > I want a podcast that helps me negotiate a salary in tech. That sentence contains several possible searches: - salary negotiation; - negotiate tech salary; - software engineer compensation; - asking for a raise in tech; - job offer negotiation. Now compare those with the show. Which phrases match episodes you already have or can credibly make? Do not begin with a giant list. Begin with five to ten topics where the show has experience, evidence, or a distinctive point of view. ## Five places to find useful podcast search language ### 1. Your own audience Read emails, comments, reviews, community posts, and survey answers. Listeners often describe the value more plainly than the show's official copy. A host may say: > Long-form conversations about modern independent work. Listeners may say: > It helps me price freelance projects. The second sentence is probably closer to a search. ### 2. Search suggestions Type the core topic into Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Google. Note the suggestions that are genuinely relevant. Suggestions are prompts, not instructions. You still need to decide whether the phrase matches the show and whether the existing results reveal an unmet need. ### 3. Competing and adjacent shows Look at the language used by podcasts serving the same audience: - Which topics repeat? - Which episode titles are specific? - Which useful questions are being ignored? - Where is everybody using the same vague wording? Do not copy titles or descriptions. The goal is to understand the market vocabulary and find the part only your show can own. ### 4. Your back catalogue The episodes with strong search, completion, or long-tail downloads are evidence. Group them by topic. If several episodes about contract negotiation keep attracting listeners months later, that cluster deserves more attention than a trend that produced one short spike. ### 5. Customer or client conversations For a branded podcast, sales calls and support tickets are full of precise questions. Remove confidential details and look for recurring wording. An episode titled “The Future of Operations” is vague. “How to Cut Warehouse Picking Errors” answers a question somebody is already asking. ## Build a small keyword map Use three levels: ### Show-level themes Choose three to five broad themes that describe the entire podcast. For a show about independent creative businesses: - freelance pricing; - creative business; - client management; - contracts; - sustainable self-employment. These themes belong naturally in the show description and editorial plan. ### Topic clusters Break each theme into specific recurring questions. `Freelance pricing` might include: - hourly rate vs project fee; - raising rates; - pricing retainers; - handling scope creep; - estimating a design project. Clusters help a listener—and a platform—understand that one successful episode was not an accident. ### Episode-level phrases Pick one primary question or phrase for each episode. Add closely related language only where it reads naturally. An episode can cover several ideas, but its title should make one promise. ## Write a show title for people who have never heard of you Distinctive names are memorable. Generic names are understandable. Good podcast branding often needs both. If the brand name is abstract, use the description and subtitle fields available through the hosting platform to clarify the subject. Do not stuff the official title with a chain of search phrases: > Bright Work | Freelancing, Creative Business, Pricing, Clients, Marketing, Design, Money That is not a title. It is a cupboard where every keyword has been pushed before visitors arrive. Keep the show name recognisable. Make the first lines of the description do the explanatory work. ## Write a show description that earns the click The opening should answer: - Who is this for? - What will they learn or feel? - What makes this show different? - What format and publishing rhythm should they expect? Apple's [guidance on presenting a podcast](https://podcasters.apple.com/support/867-featured-present-your-podcast) recommends using vocabulary your audience would search for while keeping the copy focused on the listener's benefit. An example: > Bright Work is a weekly podcast for independent designers who want to price projects confidently, manage clients without chaos, and build a creative business that leaves room for a life. The useful phrases are present because they explain the show. They do not feel bolted on. ## Episode titles carry the search intent Compare: > Episode 84: A Conversation with Maya with: > How to Raise Your Freelance Rates with Maya Chen The second title tells an unfamiliar listener why to care. The guest still gets credit, but the topic leads. Useful patterns include: - How to [achieve outcome] - Why [common approach] fails - [Number] mistakes in [specific task] - [Guest]: [specific subject] - What [event or change] means for [audience] Patterns are scaffolding, not a requirement. If every title uses the same template, the feed starts to sound manufactured. Avoid adding the show name, date, and episode number to the visible title when the platform already displays that information. Apple explicitly recommends using the title space for the important part of the episode. ## Categories are not keywords, but they matter Choose the most accurate primary category and a useful secondary category where supported. Apple says the primary category affects category pages, charts, and recommendations, while a relevant secondary category can improve coverage in other discovery surfaces. Spotify uses the first RSS category for its category charts. Do not choose an unrelated small category to chase an easier chart. The wrong context may create impressions from people who never wanted the show, which is not useful discovery. ## Avoid these podcast SEO habits ### Keyword stuffing Repeating a phrase in the title, author field, and every sentence makes the listing harder to trust. Apple prohibits attempts to manipulate Search with inaccurate or inappropriate metadata. ### Copying a larger show's name It creates confusion, weakens the brand, and can cross into impersonation. ### Writing for a trend you cannot serve One unrelated celebrity episode may attract a few searches and no returning listeners. Reach without fit is a poor trade. ### Renaming the show every month Directories need time to refresh, listeners lose recognition, and historical links become harder to understand. Change the name when the positioning has genuinely changed, not because one phrase looked attractive. ### Promising an answer the episode does not contain A click that turns into an immediate exit is not a win. ## Measure podcast search visibility Keep the process simple: 1. Select a small set of relevant phrases. 2. Record the current position or whether the show appears. 3. Improve the metadata and publish genuinely related episodes. 4. Allow directories time to refresh. 5. Review position, impressions where available, plays from search, follows, and consumption. 6. Keep, revise, or drop the phrase based on listener response. Rank is only the first step. A phrase that produces impressions but no listening may be too broad or poorly matched. A lower-volume phrase that brings engaged followers can be far more valuable. Podstatus includes [podcast keyword tracking](/features/keywords) and an [SEO analyzer](/features/seo-analyzer) so you can monitor the terms and inspect the metadata without rebuilding the checks by hand. ## A 30-minute keyword routine Once a month: - review the search phrases bringing real listeners; - collect five audience questions from emails, reviews, or communities; - identify two back-catalogue episodes that deserve clearer titles or descriptions; - choose one topic cluster for the next release; - check whether the show categories still match the format; - remove keywords that attract the wrong audience. Do not rewrite the whole catalogue in one afternoon. Make a small number of defensible changes and watch what happens. ## Clarity is the durable SEO advantage Podcast search is not a contest to mention the most phrases. It is a matching problem. Say clearly who the show is for. Give every episode a specific promise. Use the language listeners already use. Then make sure the episode keeps that promise when they press play. That is good metadata, good marketing, and—conveniently—good podcasting. ## The 7 Best Podcast Analytics Tools in 2026 Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/best-podcast-analytics-tools Published: 2026-04-07 Updated: 2026-07-29 Picking a podcast analytics tool used to be easy: most people defaulted to Chartable and moved on. When Chartable shut down on December 12, 2024, that easy answer disappeared, and a lot of podcasters had to compare tools they had never seriously looked at before. I spent time going through the current options with one question in mind: if you actually run a podcast, which of these tools is worth paying for? Some are genuinely useful. Some are expensive for what they offer. And some are fine as a quick check, but not enough if you want to understand how your show is growing. Disclosure: Podstatus publishes this guide and is one of the products compared. Prices and feature claims were checked against vendors' public pages on July 29, 2026, where those pages exposed readable details. Podkite did not expose current plan content in machine-readable public HTML, so we label those details unverified instead of repeating historical claims. Confirm time-sensitive details with each vendor before buying. Here is the shortlist. ## 1. Podstatus: the all-in-one option This is our product, so obviously you should read this section knowing that. Still, the reason Podstatus exists is pretty simple: most podcast tools only solve one part of the problem. Podstatus tracks rankings across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox in 175 countries with hourly checks. Every plan also includes review monitoring, competitor intelligence, OP3 data views, Image Studio, and automated emails. Professional and Network add keyword positions, the SEO Analyzer, YouTube analytics, and PDF reports. **Price:** Solo is $7.99 month-to-month or $59.99/year for 5 podcasts. Professional is $14.99 month-to-month or $119.99/year for 12. Network is $29.99 month-to-month or $239.99/year for 25. The annual plans have rounded monthly equivalents of $5, $10, and $20. Free 7-day trial. **Where it shines:** It covers more of the day-to-day work in one place than the other tools here, and the pricing is account-based rather than punishing you for every extra show. **Where it does not:** Its Podcast Pages provide listening-app links but not click or campaign attribution, there is no permanent free plan, and historical tracking starts when you sign up. If you want the details on how we stack up against specific competitors, we have written honest comparisons: [vs Podgagement](/compare/podstatus-vs-podgagement), [vs Podkite](/compare/podstatus-vs-podkite), [vs Podrover](/compare/podstatus-vs-podrover), [vs Rephonic](/compare/podstatus-vs-rephonic), and [vs Podtrac](/compare/podstatus-vs-podtrac). ## 2. Podgagement: best for listener engagement [Podgagement](https://podgagement.com/) is interesting because it is not trying to be a pure analytics tool. It leans more into audience engagement, with voicemail collection, NFC Podcast Beacons, social proof image generators, and Slack notifications alongside ranking and review tracking. **Price:** $9-19/month *per podcast*. That is the catch. If you run three shows, you are looking at $27-57/month. **Where it shines:** The engagement features are genuinely different. If your main goal is getting listeners to interact with the show, Podgagement has ideas most competitors do not. **Where it does not:** Podgagement now covers Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings and search positions with hourly detail, so the real gaps are different: Podstatus additionally covers iVoox and publishes a separate RSS/metadata SEO audit, OP3 views, and PDF reporting on eligible plans. Podgagement's per-podcast pricing also climbs as a portfolio grows. ## 3. Podkite: verify the current offer directly [Podkite's public site](https://podkite.com/) still identifies the product with podcast charts, reviews, and podcast links. However, its pages did not expose current plan or feature details in machine-readable public HTML when checked on July 29, 2026. **Price:** Not independently confirmed from current public pricing content. **Where it may fit:** Historical materials described chart monitoring, reviews, SmartLinks, a player, and older ranking history. Verify which of those remain available and on which plan. **Where it does not:** The present limitation is verifiability. We cannot responsibly claim current prices, limits, platforms, refresh rates, or missing features until Podkite publishes readable first-party details. ## 4. Podrover: the review specialist [Podrover](https://www.podrover.com/) collects Apple Podcasts and Podchaser reviews from more than 100 countries. It adds email, push, and Slack alerts, automatic sharing, review images and widgets, and RSS feed-health checks. **Price:** $30/year for one podcast; $5/month for up to 3; $15/month for up to 12; or $30/month for up to 20. **Where it shines:** It is focused, inexpensive at the entry level, and has deeper alert and sharing options than a general analytics dashboard. **Where it does not:** It does not publish ongoing podcast-app chart or search-position tracking. If you want ranking, SEO, and competitive context around those reviews, you need another tool next to it. ## 5. Rephonic: built for brands, not podcasters [Rephonic](https://rephonic.com/pricing) is where a lot of people get sidetracked. It looks adjacent to podcast analytics, but it is really a research database for PR teams, agencies, and advertisers looking for shows to sponsor. **Price:** $99/month for Light, $149/month for Standard, and $299/month for Business. **Where it shines:** If you buy podcast ads for work, the database is genuinely useful. It is built for prospecting, not for monitoring your own show. **Where it does not:** If you are an independent podcaster tracking your own show, much of the price funds contact, demographic, and campaign-research capabilities you may not need. Rephonic does not publish the same continuous podcast search-position, RSS/metadata audit, and hourly own-show chart workflow as Podstatus. We wrote a [detailed comparison with Rephonic](/compare/podstatus-vs-rephonic) if you are weighing the two. ## 6. Podtrac: the download measurement standard [Podtrac Measurement and Growth](https://analytics.podtrac.com/measurement-and-growth) matters because sponsors and networks know the name. If someone asks for IAB-certified download numbers, this is usually what they mean. **Price:** Free for basic IAB-certified measurement. Podtrac also publishes paid growth and reporting plans, but its current exact prices were not available as machine-readable text when checked. **Where it shines:** It combines certified measurement and audience data with industry rankings and, on eligible plans, Smart Links, promo trades, promo attribution, and advanced reporting. **Where it does not:** It does not publish the same ongoing native-app chart, review, or podcast-search-position workflow as Podstatus. The two products answer different questions and can be complementary. ## 7. Free chart tools (Ausha Charts, mowPod) These are not really analytics tools so much as chart lookups. You search for a show, see where it ranks right now, and move on. **Price:** Free. **Where they shine:** Quick, no-commitment chart lookups. **Where they do not:** They give you a snapshot, not a pattern. There is no history, no alerting, and no way to understand whether what you are seeing is progress or just a one-day blip. ## So which one should you pick? The right choice depends on what you actually need: - **If you want broad monitoring under one account:** Podstatus. Three chart platforms, up to 175 markets, hourly checks, reviews, and competitors start on Solo; keywords, SEO, YouTube, and PDF reports start on Professional. - **If you want audience engagement tools:** Podgagement, but budget accordingly if you have multiple shows. - **If you are considering Podkite:** verify its current offer directly; its plan details were not readable during this review. - **If you mainly care about reviews:** Podrover starts at $30/year and adds push and Slack delivery, sharing tools, and feed-health checks. - **If you buy podcast ads for a living:** Rephonic is built for you. - **If sponsors need IAB-certified numbers:** Podtrac. - **If you just need a quick chart lookup:** Ausha Charts or mowPod. Most podcasters do better with one tool that can follow the whole story: rankings, reviews, search visibility, and competitors. If you only need one narrow feature, there are cheaper or more specialized options above. But if you are tired of stitching together three partial tools and still missing context, that is the gap Podstatus is meant to fill. ## Chartable Shut Down: What Podcasters Should Do Now Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/chartable-shut-down-what-podcasters-should-do-now Published: 2026-04-07 Updated: 2026-07-29 On December 12, 2024, Chartable shut down for good. Spotify had acquired the company in 2022 and eventually retired it as a standalone product after folding parts of the business into its own ecosystem. For a lot of podcasters, that meant losing the tool they had relied on for chart tracking, SmartLinks, and campaign attribution. If you used Chartable, the practical question now is not what happened. It is what you actually need to replace, and what can safely be left behind. ## What Chartable actually did Chartable was best known for three things: - **Chart tracking**: monitoring your podcast's position on Apple Podcasts charts across countries and categories - **SmartLinks**: trackable URLs that detected a listener's device and redirected to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or their preferred app - **Attribution**: connecting downloads to specific marketing campaigns so you could measure which promotions actually drove listens For many teams, Chartable was the default way to keep an eye on rankings and link performance. Once it disappeared, a lot of people realised how much of their workflow depended on one product. ## What you lost, and what you probably did not realize you were missing Here is the part worth saying out loud: Chartable was useful, but it was never a complete view of podcast performance. It leaned heavily on Apple Podcasts, updated charts daily rather than hourly, and left out things like keyword tracking, SEO analysis, and competitor monitoring. Most users also lived with blind spots they had simply learned to accept. They did not know when the show picked up traction in countries they were not checking. They could not see which search terms were helping discovery. They had almost no structured view of what similar podcasts were doing. Those gaps were always there. The shutdown just forced people to notice them. ## Your options now The podcast analytics landscape has changed since Chartable closed. Here is an honest look at what is available: ### Free tools (limited) **Ausha Charts** and **mowPod** let you browse current podcast charts for free. You search for a show, see where it ranks today, and that is basically the experience. No tracking over time, no alerts, no history. They are chart browsers, not full analytics tools. **OP3** (Open Podcast Prefix Project) provides free, open-source download analytics. It is transparent and privacy-respecting, but it only measures downloads. It does not help with rankings, reviews, or search visibility. **[Podtrac](https://analytics.podtrac.com/measurement-and-growth)** offers free IAB-certified download measurement plus paid measurement-and-growth plans. Depending on plan, its tools include demographics, Smart Links, promo trades, attribution, and advanced reporting. It does not publish the same ongoing podcast-app chart, review, or search-position workflow as Podstatus. ### Paid tools **[Podkite](https://podkite.com/)** still positions itself around podcast charts, reviews, and podcast links. Its public pages did not expose current machine-readable plan or feature details when checked July 29, 2026, so verify current pricing, SmartLinks, platforms, and limits directly instead of relying on historical descriptions. **[Podgagement](https://podgagement.com/)** charges $9-19 per month *per selected podcast* and publishes Apple Podcasts and Spotify ranking and search monitoring with hourly detail. Its differentiator is engagement and promotion: listener feedback, NFC beacons, images, landing pages, and Slack notifications. **[Podrover](https://www.podrover.com/)** is review-focused, covering Apple Podcasts and Podchaser with email, push, and Slack alerts, sharing tools, widgets, and RSS feed health. It starts at $30/year for one podcast and does not publish podcast-app chart tracking. ### The all-in-one option **Podstatus** covers the most ground: chart tracking across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox in 175 countries with hourly checks, plus review monitoring, competitor intelligence, OP3 data, images, and email reports on every plan. Keyword tracking, SEO analysis, YouTube analytics, and PDF reports begin on Professional. Solo costs $7.99 month-to-month or $59.99/year for up to 5 podcasts (a rounded $5/month annual equivalent). We wrote a [detailed feature-by-feature comparison](/compare/chartable-alternative) of what Chartable offered versus what Podstatus provides, including an honest distinction between Podstatus Podcast Pages and the tracked SmartLinks and download attribution that Podstatus does not replace. ## What about SmartLinks? SmartLinks were Chartable's most unique feature, and they are the hardest to replace. **Podtrac** publishes Smart Links on eligible plans, and **Captivate** offers a podcast-link workflow as part of its hosting platform. Historical Podkite materials also described podcast links, but verify current availability directly. Podstatus provides a public Podcast Page with listening-app links, but it does not provide tracked SmartLinks or campaign attribution. If SmartLinks are core to your workflow, you may still want a dedicated tool for them. But if what you mainly miss is chart tracking and a way to keep tabs on performance, there are now better options than the old Chartable setup. ## Three things to do today **1. Start tracking again.** Every day without a tracker is a day of history you do not get back. Rankings, reviews, and search visibility are moving whether you record them or not. **2. Use the switch as an excuse to widen the view.** Chart rankings matter, but they are only one layer. Reviews, search visibility, and competitive movement give you a much clearer sense of what is actually happening. **3. Do not overpay for the wrong category of product.** Some tools charge per podcast and get expensive quickly. Others are priced for ad buyers or agencies, not for people tracking their own show. If you want to see how Podstatus stacks up against every option in detail, read our [complete Chartable alternative comparison](/compare/chartable-alternative). It includes feature tables, pricing breakdowns, and an honest list of what each tool does and does not do. --- *Chartable was useful for a long time. The upside of replacing it now is that you do not have to settle for the same limitations it had.* ## Free Podcast Analytics Tools: What You Get and What You Miss Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/free-podcast-analytics-tools Published: 2026-04-06 Updated: 2026-07-29 Free tools are appealing for an obvious reason: when a show is small, every extra subscription feels unnecessary. And to be fair, there are some genuinely useful free podcast tools out there. The problem is that each free tool tends to answer one narrow question. You can check a chart, or count downloads, or get a certified measurement number, but you rarely get a joined-up view of what is happening. That is the trade-off this post is really about. ## Ausha Charts Ausha Charts is a free chart browser. You pick a country and category, search for your show, and see the current Apple Podcasts or Spotify chart position. And that is pretty much all it does. What you do not get is the part that becomes useful later: no tracking over time, no alerts, no historical data, and no easy way to compare this week with last week. Every check starts from scratch. It is useful for a quick "am I charting?" moment. If you are trying to understand trends, campaign impact, or slow growth in a particular country, it runs out of road quickly. ## mowPod Charts Very similar to Ausha Charts, but focused on Apple Podcasts. You browse current charts, see the position, and that is basically the whole interaction. If you only care about Apple Podcasts and want a quick lookup once in a while, it works fine. But it is still a lookup tool, not a tracking system. ## OP3 (Open Podcast Prefix Project) OP3 is different from the chart browsers. It is an open-source project for podcast download tracking. You add a prefix to your RSS feed, and OP3 counts downloads in a transparent, privacy-respecting way. It is genuinely good at what it is meant to do. If transparent download measurement matters to you, OP3 is easy to like. What it does not do is connect downloads to discoverability. It will not tell you where you rank, what people are searching for, or whether your reviews and chart movement are improving alongside those downloads. Worth mentioning: Podstatus integrates directly with OP3, so if you use Podstatus, you get OP3 download data alongside all your other analytics in one place. ## Podtrac (free tier) [Podtrac](https://analytics.podtrac.com/measurement-and-growth) publishes IAB-certified podcast measurement, and its basic tier is free. That makes it relevant when sponsors or networks require certified numbers. The free plan is primarily a measurement product. Podtrac's paid plans broaden the workflow with features such as demographics, Smart Links, promo trades, attribution, and advanced reporting. Across the range, it does not publish the same ongoing app-chart, review, podcast-search, SEO, or chart-proximity workflow as Podstatus. You get credible measurement and can add campaign tools, but native-app discoverability still needs a different data source. ## The pattern you have probably noticed This is the pattern: - Ausha Charts: browse charts - mowPod: browse Apple charts - OP3: count downloads - Podtrac free: certified download and audience measurement None of them really combine those answers. They give you fragments, not a full story. That is not really a criticism. Free products have to draw the line somewhere. It just means that if you rely on them alone, you will spend a lot of time stitching partial answers together. ## What the gaps actually cost you Here is what that usually means in practice: **You miss international audiences.** Your podcast might be charting in markets you would never think to check manually, and by the time you do, the moment may be gone. **You miss trends.** A snapshot tells you where you are now, not whether the show is moving in the right direction. **You miss keyword opportunities.** Without search visibility data, it is hard to tell whether people are finding you by title, topic, guest, or not finding you at all. **You miss competitive context.** Similar shows may be climbing because they rank for terms you do not, or because they are strong in countries you have ignored. Free tools rarely show that. **You spend more time checking than learning.** Manual lookups feel harmless until you realise you are rebuilding the same picture over and over again. ## When a $5/month annual equivalent makes sense I am obviously biased here, so take the recommendation with that in mind. Still, the reason a low-cost paid tool can make sense is pretty simple: Podstatus Solo costs $7.99 month-to-month or $59.99/year, a rounded $5/month annual equivalent. It includes hourly chart checks across 175 countries on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox, review monitoring, competitor intelligence, OP3 data views, Image Studio, and email reports for up to 5 podcasts. Keyword tracking, the SEO Analyzer, YouTube analytics, and PDF documents are Professional features. Professional costs $14.99 month-to-month or $119.99/year, a rounded $10/month annual equivalent, for up to 12 podcasts. It gives you the chart tracking, review monitoring, search visibility, competitive context, and download data in one place instead of making you bounce between tools. If you are serious about growing the show, the time savings alone can justify that price. The bigger value is that you stop making decisions from disconnected snapshots. If you are just starting out, free tools are still useful. They are a perfectly reasonable way to test the waters. The important thing is not to confuse "I can look something up" with "I have a system for tracking performance." If you want to see how each free tool compares to what you get with a paid option, we have detailed comparisons for [Podtrac](/compare/podstatus-vs-podtrac) and the other tools in our [analytics tools comparison](/blog/best-podcast-analytics-tools). ## Best Podcast Ranking Tracker in 2026 Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/best-podcast-ranking-tracker Published: 2026-04-05 Updated: 2026-07-29 There is something slightly maddening about publishing an episode, doing the promo work, and then having to guess whether any of it moved the charts. Maybe you are climbing. Maybe you peaked for three hours in a country you never thought to check. Maybe nothing happened at all. A ranking tracker should answer those questions for you, but the details matter more than most people expect. Some tools check once a day. Some only cover Apple Podcasts. Some show today's position but never save enough history to tell you if anything is improving. So before you pick one, it helps to know what separates a proper tracker from a simple chart lookup. Disclosure: Podstatus publishes this guide and is one of the tools compared. Product details and prices were reviewed on July 29, 2026. Podkite did not expose current plan content in machine-readable public HTML, so its details remain unverified; confirm all time-sensitive claims with each vendor. ## What actually matters in a ranking tracker Before getting into the tools, these are the four things that make the biggest difference in practice: **Platform coverage.** Apple Podcasts is not the only game in town. Spotify is huge and growing. iVoox dominates Spanish-speaking markets. If your tracker only checks Apple, you are seeing a third of the picture. **Country coverage.** Charts exist in 175+ countries. Your show can be quietly gaining traction in Germany, Mexico, or Japan and you will never notice if your tracker only watches a small slice of the map. **Update frequency.** This is the underrated one. A daily check tells you where you finished. An hourly check shows you the spike that happened right after a guest shared the episode or a newsletter went out. That spike often disappears before the next day's snapshot. **Historical data.** Today's ranking is interesting for about five minutes. The trend across weeks or months is what actually helps you learn something. ## The options, compared honestly ### Podstatus Tracks Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iVoox across 175 countries with hourly updates. It stores chart history from the moment you sign up, and it also pulls reviews, keyword tracking, SEO analysis, and competitor monitoring into the same dashboard. $7.99 month-to-month or $59.99/year for 5 podcasts (a rounded $5/month annual equivalent). 7-day free trial. This is our product, so take that into account. The pitch is basically that chart tracking makes more sense when it is connected to the rest of your visibility data. If you want the side-by-side detail: [Podstatus vs Podgagement](/compare/podstatus-vs-podgagement), [Podstatus vs Podkite](/compare/podstatus-vs-podkite). ### Podgagement [Podgagement](https://podgagement.com/) publishes Apple Podcasts and Spotify ranking and search tracking with hourly chart detail across nearly 34,000 charts. Its distinctive layer is engagement: listener feedback, NFC beacons, images, landing pages, and Slack notifications. $9-19/month per selected podcast. The per-podcast pricing is the big trade-off: three shows at the $9 entry level cost $27/month. It makes the most sense if listener interaction and promotional tools matter alongside charts. Podstatus instead adds iVoox, OP3, account-level pricing, and a separate RSS/metadata SEO workflow. ### Podkite [Podkite's public site](https://podkite.com/) identifies the product with podcast charts, reviews, and podcast links. Its pages did not expose current plan, platform, country, or refresh-rate details in machine-readable public HTML when checked July 29, 2026. Current pricing and limits were not independently confirmed. Historical descriptions mentioned a free tier, SmartLinks, and long-running history, but those should not be treated as current facts without confirmation from Podkite. ### Free chart browsers (Ausha Charts, mowPod) These let you search current charts, see a ranking, and move on. Helpful for a quick check, but they are browsers rather than trackers. Free, no signup. Useful for a one-off "am I charting?" moment. Not very useful if you want to monitor progress over time, because every answer depends on you remembering to go look. ### Adjacent tools that are not the same kind of tracker **Podrover** is review-focused and does not publish podcast-app chart tracking. **Podtrac** publishes industry rankings based on measured audience, not continuous Apple Podcasts or Spotify app-chart positions. **Rephonic** includes chart and related-show data for research, but its core workflow is B2B discovery and outreach rather than monitoring an owned show's app positions. These can be useful products without replacing a dedicated chart tracker. ## The hourly vs. daily debate This deserves its own section because it sounds like a small detail until you have lived with both. Charts move throughout the day. When a new episode hits or a guest drives traffic, your podcast might jump into the top 10 of a category for a few hours and then settle back down. If your tracker only checks once a day, that moment never shows up in your history. That matters because those short-lived spikes are often the clearest signal you get. They tell you which episodes hit, which promo pushes worked, and which appearances were worth the effort. If all you ever see is the end-of-day position, you miss the part that is actually useful. Podstatus and Podgagement both publish hourly monitoring. Compare them on platform scope, pricing model, stored history, reporting, and whether you need Podgagement's engagement tools or Podstatus's iVoox, OP3, metadata, and account-level workflow. Free chart browsers provide a current lookup rather than automated history. ## My recommendation If you are casually curious and do not want to spend anything, use a current chart browser such as Ausha Charts. Verify Podkite directly before relying on historical free-plan claims. If you actually want to learn from your chart data, you need multiple platforms, decent country coverage, stored history, and updates frequent enough to catch movement while it is happening. That is where Podstatus is strongest. The real difference is simple: one setup leaves you with hunches, the other leaves you with evidence. ## Best Podcast Review Tracker in 2026 Canonical URL: https://podstatus.com/blog/best-podcast-review-tracker Published: 2026-04-04 Updated: 2026-07-29 One of the strangest things about Apple Podcasts reviews is that they are split by country. A listener in Spain sees one set of reviews, a listener in the US sees another, and someone in Brazil can leave a glowing review that you never notice unless you go hunting for it manually. Almost nobody does that consistently, which is why review trackers became useful in the first place. The catch is that "review tracker" can mean very different things. Some tools simply tell you a new review came in. Others give you enough context to understand whether those reviews line up with actual growth. Disclosure: Podstatus publishes this guide and is one of the products compared. Product details and prices were reviewed on July 29, 2026. Podkite did not expose current plan content in machine-readable public HTML, so its details remain unverified; confirm all time-sensitive claims with each vendor. ## Why reviews matter more than you think Reviews are not just nice for the ego, though they do help on a rough week. They matter for three practical reasons: **Social proof.** New listeners notice ratings and recent reviews immediately. Fresh activity makes a show feel alive; an empty review section does the opposite. **Feedback you did not ask for.** Reviews often say the quiet part out loud. "Great content but the audio is rough" is not fun to read, but it is useful. **Listener decision signal.** Reviews can help a prospective listener decide whether a show is worth trying. Apple explicitly says [ratings and reviews do not directly influence Charts or Search](https://podcasters.apple.com/support/852-ratings-and-reviews), so treat them as feedback and social proof rather than a guaranteed ranking tactic. The only problem is that none of this helps you if half the feedback is sitting in storefronts you never check. ## The tools, one by one ### Podstatus Collects Apple Podcasts reviews across up to 175 markets plus Podchaser reviews, and sends alerts when new ones come in. The bigger difference is that reviews sit next to ranking data, keyword positions, SEO scores, and competitor tracking instead of living in their own little silo. That changes how you use reviews. If someone says they found your show by searching for "meditation tips," you can check whether you are actually ranking for that term. If a burst of positive reviews comes in, you can see whether it lines up with chart movement. The review becomes part of a pattern rather than a standalone notification. $7.99 month-to-month or $59.99/year for up to 5 podcasts (a rounded $5/month annual equivalent). That Solo plan includes review monitoring, rankings, competitors, OP3, images, and email reports; search keywords and the SEO Analyzer begin on Professional. [Full comparison with Podrover](/compare/podstatus-vs-podrover). ### Podrover [Podrover](https://www.podrover.com/) is the review specialist. It collects Apple Podcasts and Podchaser reviews across more than 100 countries, with email, push, and Slack alerts, automatic sharing, images and widgets, and RSS feed-health checks. $30/year for one podcast, then $5/month for up to 3, $15/month for up to 12, or $30/month for up to 20. That focus is both the appeal and the limit. If your goal is "deliver and share every review," Podrover has a strong workflow. If you also want to know whether reviews coincide with rankings or discoverability signals, you will need something else next to it. ### Podgagement [Podgagement](https://podgagement.com/) publishes review monitoring in nearly 200 places, including Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, and Goodpods. Slack notifications are useful for teams that already work there. $9-19/month per podcast. The engagement features (voicemail, NFC beacons) add value if you want to actively collect listener feedback beyond organic reviews. The downside is still the per-podcast pricing. If you manage multiple shows, the total climbs quickly; the upside is that ranking and search monitoring plus listener-feedback and promotion tools live beside the reviews. [Detailed comparison here](/compare/podstatus-vs-podgagement). ### Podkite [Podkite's public site](https://podkite.com/) identifies the product with charts, reviews, and podcast links, but did not expose current plan, source, alert, or limit details in machine-readable public HTML when checked July 29, 2026. Current pricing was not independently confirmed. Historical descriptions included a free review-tracking tier, but verify the current offer directly before relying on it. [Podstatus vs Podkite comparison](/compare/podstatus-vs-podkite). ### Adjacent tools that are not dedicated review trackers [Podtrac](https://analytics.podtrac.com/measurement-and-growth) focuses on measurement and growth tools, while Ausha Charts and mowPod are chart browsers. [Rephonic](https://rephonic.com/pricing) can surface ratings and reviews inside its research profiles, but its core workflow is podcast discovery, audience research, and outreach rather than owned-show review alerts. None is a direct substitute for a dedicated review-monitoring inbox. ## Can I track Spotify reviews? Short answer: no, not in the same way. Spotify does not expose podcast reviews and ratings publicly the way Apple Podcasts does, so every serious review tracker ends up focused on Apple. If Spotify is your bigger concern, you are usually better off watching chart rankings and search visibility there instead. ## Reviews in context vs. reviews in isolation This is the part most reviews-only tools miss. Knowing that someone left a 5-star review in Australia is nice. Knowing that the same week you entered the top 20 there, and started ranking for "true crime podcast Australia," is much more useful. That tells you there is momentum in a market you might want to lean into. A review-only tool gives you the event. A broader monitoring tool gives you the event and the explanation around it. That is the difference between Podrover at roughly $2.50/month on its one-podcast annual plan and Podstatus Solo at $59.99/year for up to 5 podcasts. Both track reviews; Podstatus Solo also adds rankings, competitors, OP3 views, images, and email reports. ## My take If you genuinely only want review alerts, Podrover is still the cleanest low-cost option. If you want reviews to be part of a bigger picture, Podstatus makes more sense. You pay a little more, but you stop treating reviews as isolated messages and start using them as part of your growth data. Either way, manual checking just does not scale. Your listeners are leaving feedback in places you are probably not opening, and there is no reason to keep missing it.