★☆☆☆☆ (1 Star)
★☆☆☆☆ (1 Star) RUNNING AWAY! I rarely leave negative reviews, but Podbean has been the single most damaging software decision I’ve made while launching my podcast. I invested over $100,000 producing and editing a professional video podcast and purchased the Unlimited Plus for Business plan—the highest tier Podbean offers—because I expected a platform built for serious creators. Instead, my launch was thrown into chaos. The biggest issue is Spotify video support. Podbean heavily promotes Spotify integration through its RSS feed, but what isn’t made sufficiently clear is that Spotify video podcasts cannot be distributed through a third-party RSS feed. If you connect your Podbean RSS feed to Spotify, your video episodes are delivered as audio-only, meaning your audience doesn’t receive the video version and you cannot access Spotify’s video monetization. If you’re investing in video, this is a major limitation that should be disclosed prominently—not discovered during launch. The Apple Podcasts experience has been just as frustrating. Podbean markets support for Apple HLS video podcasts throughout its website, yet provides virtually no practical documentation explaining how to actually publish a video podcast to Apple. I expedited approval on Apple’s side, but Podbean became the bottleneck because there were no clear setup guides, walkthroughs, or knowledgeable support available when I needed them most. Even something as basic as podcast artwork became an unnecessary ordeal. Podbean’s uploader enforces a 2 MB artwork limit, while Apple’s podcast artwork requirements encourage much larger, higher-resolution images. That mismatch cost me nearly three hours of troubleshooting before I realized the issue wasn’t my artwork—it was Podbean’s outdated upload restrictions. Customer support only made things worse. When I reached out with technical questions during launch, I waited nearly 48 hours for a response. The “solution” was a link to a six-year-old generic setup webinar that didn’t answer my questions. For customers paying for the highest business tier, that’s simply unacceptable. The platform feels behind the times. The interface is dated, the workflow isn’t designed for today’s video-first creators, the AI capabilities are minimal compared to competitors, and documentation is surprisingly sparse for features that are heavily promoted. I chose Podbean because it consistently appeared on “Best Podcast Hosting” lists. In hindsight, many of those recommendations seem disconnected from the realities of launching a modern video podcast. If you’re creating a simple audio podcast, Podbean may still work. If you’re investing serious money into a professional video podcast, especially if Apple Podcasts video and Spotify video are part of your distribution strategy, I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere. I genuinely wish I’d read a review like this before committing my entire launch to Podbean.