For podcast hosts
Book guests worth hearing
Let's Make A Podcast is a two-sided marketplace: guests pitch, hosts choose. This is the host half of it. Free tools that need no account, what we found reading 362 real podcast feeds, and every playbook we have written on sourcing, inviting and booking guests.
Free while we are in early access. The marketplace is new, so the guest side is still small: the tools and the research below are useful on their own today.
Our own reading
What a guest can find out about your show
We read 362 of 384 podcast feeds on August 26, 2026 to build our directory. Three of those numbers are really about the host.
15%
publish no way in
53 of the 362 feeds we could read carry no contact route a guest could use. A guest who wants to pitch that show has nowhere to send it.
31%
show they book guests
Only 113 of 362 publish checkable evidence of outside guests in their recent episodes. If yours does not, a guest researching you cannot tell that you interview anyone.
48
median readiness score
Out of 100, across the whole directory. The score is read from the feed alone, which is all a stranger has when deciding whether to spend a pitch on you.
Feeds read on August 26, 2026. Score your own feed against the same checks, or read the full study and its open dataset.
Free tools · No sign-up
Be worth pitching, then invite well
Nothing you type is stored, and neither one asks for an account.
Podcast Guest Readiness Check
Paste your RSS feed and read the score a guest researching you actually sees: guest evidence, publish recency, cadence, and whether there is a way in.
Open the toolGuest Invitation Generator
Write the invitation a busy person answers: why them, what the episode is about, and exactly what it costs them.
Open the toolThe host library
24 guides for the host’s side of the table
Every guide we have written that a host would read, including the ones that answer the same question for both chairs.
What it costs
Fees, rates and who pays whom, with our own measured figures where we have them.
For hosts 9 min read
Podcast Sponsorship Rates
Current CPM benchmarks, worked campaign costs, and a practical rate-card formula for hosts and advertisers.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 7 min read
Do Podcast Guests Get Paid?
Why the norm is $0 in both directions, the few cases where money does change hands, and what a guest spot is actually worth.
Read the guideFor hosts 8 min read
How Much Does It Cost to Find Podcast Guests?
The host's side of the money question, priced per booking rather than per month. 2357 guest chairs a year across 278 live shows, and a median of 26 for the shows that fill any.
Read the guideFor hosts 8 min read
How Much Do Podcasts Make?
The third number in the earnings equation, and the only public one: 278 live shows publish a median of 52 episodes a year, which is how many ad slots exist to sell.
Read the guideFor hosts 8 min read
How Much Does Podcast Hosting Cost?
Six hosts, read off their own pricing pages on one day. Two of them will host a show for nothing, the free tiers have conditions worth reading, and every paid plan costs less than one sponsored slot.
Read the guide
Platforms, agencies and tools
How the booking platforms, matchmaking services and agencies in this market compare.
For hosts & guests 9 min read
Best Podcast Guest Booking Platforms
An honest map of every way to book guests: matching marketplaces, databases, agencies, and direct outreach, with the real pros, cons, and costs.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 8 min read
Best Podcast Matchmaking Services
Compare marketplaces, directories, communities, and done-for-you booking services by fit, effort, control, and cost.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 8 min read
PodMatch Alternatives
Marketplaces, databases, agencies, or your own outreach: compare the alternatives by the trade-off each one asks you to make, not by the logo.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 7 min read
PodMatch vs MatchMaker.fm
One pushes matches at you, the other hands you a pool to search, and they are priced accordingly. Both on their own published terms, plus the 242 podcasts we measured that you can reach without either subscription.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 7 min read
Podchaser vs Listen Notes
One indexes who has guested where, the other indexes what was said in every episode. Both on their own published terms, plus the 84 shows in our feed read that a database would still hand you after they went quiet.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 7 min read
Do Podcast Matching Services Actually Work?
They sell searching, ranking and booking admin, not access: 242 of the podcast feeds we read publish a contact route anyone can use free. What a subscription can and cannot buy, and the 5 platforms you can look inside before paying.
Read the guide
Choosing which shows to pitch
Which podcasts are worth a pitch, cut from our own directory of real shows.
For hosts & guests 8 min read
Podcast Niches
Every list of podcast niches is a brainstorm. We read 362 feeds across 16 of them and measured how many shows had quit and how many book guests.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 9 min read
Podcast Guest Statistics
Every figure we have measured about podcast guest booking in one place: 362 feeds read, 31% publishing visible guest evidence, and the denominator and read date under each one.
Read the guide
Sizing up one show
The checks worth running on a single named show before you spend a pitch on it.
The interview itself
Preparing for the conversation, running it well, and the one-sheet hosts ask for.
After the episode
Getting the episode, and the show it ran on, heard once it is published.
For hosts: booking guests
The host's side of the same table: sourcing, inviting and booking the guests you want.
For hosts 7 min read
How to Get Guests to Pitch Your Podcast
Guests screen shows before they write, using only what your feed publishes. We ran that screen across 384 shows: 76 survive it, and the last check removes 166 on its own.
Read the guideFor hosts 9 min read
How to Find Great Guests for Your Podcast
Source relevant guests, vet for audience fit, invite and schedule without the back-and-forth, and keep your pipeline full.
Read the guideFor hosts 9 min read
How to Book Podcast Guests
The booking loop that keeps a recording calendar full: build a target list, vet for audience fit, invite well, and schedule in one reply.
Read the guideFor hosts 9 min read
The Podcast Guest Outreach Email
Copy-paste invitation, warm intro, and follow-up emails, plus the subject lines and the six lines that get invitations ignored.
Read the guideFor hosts 9 min read
How to Get Better Podcast Guests
Define the conversation your audience needs, find people with first-hand stories, vet how they communicate, and make stronger guests want to say yes.
Read the guideFor hosts 7 min read
Is Your Podcast Too Small to Book Guests?
Every new host assumes the answer is yes. We split real podcast feeds by how much each has published: the share showing they book guests moves 4 points end to end.
Read the guide
Starting a show
Making a podcast in the first place, for anyone not on either side of the mic yet.
For hosts 9 min read
How to Start an Interview Podcast
From a focused concept to your first published episode: format, gear, recording, and lining up your first guests before you hit record.
Read the guideFor hosts 11 min read
How to Make a Podcast
Idea to published episode: concept, format, the smallest setup that sounds good, recording, a light edit, the feed, and the guest pipeline that decides whether the show survives.
Read the guide
