Both host your podcast and push it everywhere. The difference is who they're built for. Captivate is friendly, growth-minded software for solo creators. Springcast adds the things an organization in Europe needs: social attribution, real analytics, your own website, and data that stays in the EU with the paperwork done. Here's the honest version.
Your podcast is part of a business, a brand, or an organization in Europe. You want your own branded website, retention analytics, social attribution that proves which post drove the listens, and your data hosted in the EU with a DPA and ISO 27001. You need business features too, SSO, multi-workspace with roles, private internal feeds, and you'd rather own your channel and scale it than run a personal show.
You're a solo creator or a personal brand and audience growth is the whole game. You like a friendly, polished growth-marketing UX, you want to run several shows under one subscription, and EU compliance, social attribution and business controls aren't on your list. For that, Captivate is a genuinely strong, friendly choice, and you can always import your RSS feed into Springcast later.
An honest, line-by-line look. Where Captivate wins, we say so.
| Feature | Springcast | Captivate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | From €9/mo (Business from €195/mo) | Paid tiers, no free plan |
| Unlimited hosting & downloads | ✓ | ✓ |
| Distribution to Spotify, Apple, YouTube & 15+ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multiple shows on one subscription | Multi-workspace (Business) | ✓ unlimited |
| Your own branded podcast website | ✓ | ✓ |
| Retention curves (where listeners drop off) | ✓ | |
| Cross-platform listener data (not just downloads) | ✓ | Download-centric |
| Social attribution (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook) | ✓ | |
| Native video hosting on your own branded player | ✓ (Business) | |
| AI assistant + MCP (Claude / ChatGPT) | ✓ | |
| EU data residency | ✓ (Netherlands) | (UK/US) |
| ISO 27001:2022 | ✓ | |
| DPA + public sub-processor register | ✓ (Business) | |
| SSO / SAML | ✓ (Business) | |
| Multi-workspace & team roles (RBAC) | ✓ (Business) | Team seats |
| Private / internal feeds | ✓ | Private podcasts |
| Dynamic ad insertion | Roadmap | ✓ |
| Migration via RSS redirect | ✓ | ✓ |
| Human email support | ✓ | ✓ |
Last verified: May 2026.
Captivate keeps your show audio-only on your site. Springcast adds native video hosting: upload your video once and stream it from your own branded player on your podcast website, with adaptive HLS and built-in video analytics. The viewer and the data stay with you, not a third party. Available on Business.
See video hosting →Captivate doesn't connect to Claude or ChatGPT. Springcast does: with MCP you point your AI assistant at a folder of source material and have it draft, prepare or publish full episodes, and ask your analytics questions in plain language. Included from Professional, bring your own AI subscription.
See AI & MCP →Captivate gives you growth tools and social sharing. What it doesn't give you is the answer to "did the LinkedIn post or the Instagram story work?" Springcast's social attribution connects the click on a specific post to the listen that followed, so you stop guessing where to spend your marketing time and start doubling down on what works.
See social attribution →Most creator hosts, Captivate included, are built around IAB-style download counts and geography. Useful for a media kit, less useful for the next episode. Springcast adds retention curves, the exact second listeners drop off, and cross-platform listener data, so you can fix the intro, not just admire the download total.
See listener analytics →Captivate is UK/US-based and doesn't position itself around EU compliance. If a DPO or procurement officer asks "where does our podcast data live, and can we get a DPA?", you want a short answer. Springcast is EU-hosted in the Netherlands, ISO 27001:2022 certified, and ships a data processing agreement plus a public sub-processor register on Business plans.
See EU compliance →A personal brand needs one show and a friendly dashboard. An organization needs SSO so people log in with their work account, multi-workspace so each team or client is isolated, role-based access so the right people see the right shows, and private feeds for internal-only content. That business layer is where Springcast is built to go and where a creator-first tool tends to stop.
See the business platform →If that's you, stay on Captivate with our blessing. The day your podcast becomes part of a business, a brand, a compliance conversation, a marketing budget that needs proof, that's the day Springcast starts paying for itself.
Both are paid platforms. The question isn't price, it's what each price buys you.
| What you pay for | Springcast | Captivate |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | From €9 (Business from €195) | Paid tiers |
| Social attribution | Included | Not available |
| Retention analytics | Included | Not available |
| EU data residency & DPA | Included (Business) | Not available |
| SSO, multi-workspace, private feeds | Included (Business) | Partial |
| Cost to leave | Export anytime, you own the feed | Migrate via RSS redirect |
Springcast Professional is €19/month, your own website and real analytics. The Business plan, from €195/month, is where the compliance and team features live. See all plans →
Three steps. No downtime for your listeners. Your subscribers come with you.
Create your Springcast account and paste your Captivate feed URL. We pull in every episode, your artwork, descriptions and publish dates, your full history, intact.
Point your Captivate feed's redirect at your new Springcast feed. Apple, Spotify and the other directories follow the redirect automatically, your subscribers don't have to do a thing.
Your next episode goes out from Springcast, lands on every platform as usual, and now you've got your own website, real analytics and EU compliance behind it. Done.
"As a storyteller and content maker, you want to work as seamlessly as possible. Springcast makes that easy — so you can focus on your real work: telling stories."
Publishing without technical hassle, so all the attention goes to the story.
"Our podcasts are now far easier to find on Spotify — and they’re being listened to more as a result."
The move to Springcast PRO was clearly guided, with transparent communication at every step. The PRO environment is clear and easy to use.
"With Springcast PRO, all our employees can listen to our internal podcasts even more easily."
Thanks to the migration service, our existing podcasts were converted quickly, so we could go live right away.
Try Springcast free for 14 days. Import your show from Captivate, keep all your reach, and add the analytics, attribution and EU compliance a business runs on.
No credit card required · Keep all your reach · EU-hosted · ISO 27001
Free reach vs. a podcast you own.
Read the comparison →The simple hobby host vs. the platform you grow into.
Read the comparison →See every Springcast plan side by side, no hidden fees.
View pricing →