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 385 real podcast feeds, and every playbook we have written on sourcing, inviting and booking guests.
Free to join. 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 385 of 408 podcast feeds on September 16, 2026 to build our directory. Three of those numbers are really about the host.
16%
publish no way in
63 of the 385 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 120 of 385 publish checkable evidence of outside guests in their recent episodes. If yours does not, a guest researching you cannot tell that you interview anyone.
50
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 September 16, 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 toolPodcast RSS Feed Finder
Don't know your feed address? Type your show's name and get the feed Apple holds for it, ready for setup or the readiness check.
Open the toolPodcast Guest Finder
Browse people who were guests on shows in your niche in the last two months, straight from each show's own episode titles.
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 toolInterview Question Generator
Get a timed interview plan for your next guest, sized to the episode length and in the order a good conversation actually goes.
Open the toolGuest Introduction Generator
Write the on-air introduction for your next guest, a cold open, and the show-notes credit, timed out loud.
Open the toolPodcast Name Generator
Name a new show from its topic, audience and format, and check the name against the shows in our directory.
Open the toolPodcast Show Notes Generator
Write an episode's show notes from your own words, ready for podcast apps, HTML or YouTube chapters.
Open the toolPodcast Episode Title Generator
Title each episode from the topic, the hook and the guest, in the layouts Apple's guide recommends. The episode number goes in the feed, not the title.
Open the toolPodcast Description Generator
Write the show description guests read before they pitch: who it's for, what it covers, who you book and where to pitch. Checks the one you have too.
Open the toolGuest Application Form
Build the form guests pitch you through, with the one question a mass pitch cannot answer, and paste it wherever it lives.
Open the toolPodcast Sponsorship Calculator
Price a sponsor read from your downloads per episode, with the published CPM band and its date shown beside the answer.
Open the toolThe host library
35 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. 2377 guest chairs a year across 290 live shows, and a median of 21 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: 290 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 guideFor hosts 8 min read
Podcast Hosting Ad Programs: What Each Host Pays You
Which hosts publish the podcaster's share of ad revenue, who can join each program, what advertisers pay on the other side, and what a small show actually earns.
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
MatchMaker.fm Alternatives
Metered starts, a big pool to search yourself, or no time to pitch at all: the alternatives to MatchMaker.fm, matched to the reason you are leaving.
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 253 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 95 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: 253 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 385 feeds across 17 of them and measured how many shows had quit and how many book guests.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 7 min read
Podcast Categories
All 19 Apple Podcasts categories and 91 subcategories, and what 368 real feeds do with them: how many they pick and which one Apple files them under.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 9 min read
Podcast Guest Statistics
Every figure we have measured about podcast guest booking in one place: 385 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.
For hosts 9 min read
Questions to Ask a Podcast Guest
A copy-paste bank of 50+ interview questions, how to structure the conversation, and the questions that quietly kill an episode.
Read the guideFor hosts 7 min read
How to Introduce a Podcast Guest
Five copy-paste intro templates, the three-part structure that works on air, what to ask the guest before you record, and the written introduction most shows skip.
Read the guideFor hosts 7 min read
Podcast Guest Questionnaire
The pre-interview questions to send a guest after the yes: a short email version, a full intake form, a recording setup check and a call agenda.
Read the guideFor hosts 7 min read
Podcast Interview Template
How to structure a podcast interview: a run of show to copy, minute splits for three episode lengths, and the prep, pre-record and closing scripts.
Read the guide
After the episode
Getting the episode, and the show it ran on, heard once it is published.
For hosts 9 min read
How to Promote a Podcast
A practical growth system for hosts: sharpen the promise, package each episode, borrow guest reach, build search demand, and measure what actually grows the show.
Read the guideFor hosts & guests 7 min read
Podcast Guest Thank-You Email
The emails after the recording, for both sides: the guest's thank-you, the host's next steps, the episode-is-live email with a share kit, and the two harder ones.
Read the guideFor hosts 7 min read
Podcast Show Notes Template
What podcast show notes should include, templates for interview and solo episodes, and the guest credit block most shows leave out.
Read the guide
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 408 shows: 78 survive it, and the last check removes 175 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 6 min read
Podcast Guest Confirmation Email
The emails that take a booked guest from yes to recording: what a confirmation should include, the day-before reminder, the reschedule note and the no-show follow-up.
Read the guideFor hosts 7 min read
Podcast Guest Release Form
What a guest release should cover, a plain-English template to copy, the email that gets it signed and the consent line to say when the recording starts.
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 2 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 guideFor hosts 8 min read
Podcast Co-Host Agreement
Who owns the show and the feed, how money and costs are split, and what happens if a co-host leaves, with a plain-English template and the email that starts the conversation.
Read the guide
