If Riverside.fm has been your go-to for a while, but you want to spice things up and check out some other alternatives, you’re in the right place. In this article, we’ve covered the six best riverside alternatives you should consider this year. We've got Podcastle, SquadCast, Remotely.fm, StreamYard, Audacity, and Descript in the lineup. Each platform offers unique strengths, from AI-powered enhancements to user-friendly interfaces, so let’s start exploring them right away!
The 6 Best Riverside Alternatives
1) Podcastle: Best Riverside Alternative
Podcastle is by far the best Riverside alternative as it offers all the features and functionalities that Riverside does, doubled with a range of other AI-powered tools. With a focus on simplicity and innovation, Podcastle streamlines audio and video production for both beginners and professionals.
Key Features
Effortless Recording: Achieve studio-quality recordings from your laptop and enjoy top-notch audio and 4K video quality.
User-Friendly Editing: Intuitive tools for cutting, trimming, fading, muting, and auto-leveling cater to both new and experienced content editors.
Collaborative Tools: Recently introduced collaborative tools that simplify your teamwork.
Hosting Hub: A dedicated hosting hub to host your podcast on the same platform.
Innovative AI-Powered Enhancements: Standout features include the Revoice tool, requiring only 70 sentences for voice cloning, and AI enhancements like Magic Dust for background noise removal.
Rich Library and Transcription Tool: Access a vast library of royalty-free sound effects and music tracks within the platform. Simplify transcription with an online tool that converts speech to text, aiding podcast SEO.
Cloud Storage Integration: Benefit from seamless cloud storage options, ensuring easy accessibility and secure storage of your projects.
Customization Options: Add logo and other elements to your video, showcasing your brand.
Cons
Internet dependency: You need Internet connection to access the software.
Pricing
Podcastle offers three pricing packages, Free, Storyteller package ($11.99/month), Pro package ($23.99/month), Business (custom pricing.)
2) Squadcast
Designed for those serious about their podcasts, SquadCast offers an intuitive platform that seamlessly records both audio and video, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted content creation process. This functionality, called the progressive upload, is one of their signature features, which prioritizes content preservation, providing podcasters with a reliable safety for their valuable recordings.
Key Features
Progressive Upload: Record both audio and video in the background, allowing for uninterrupted sessions and backing up your content in case of unexpected crashes.
User-Friendly UX: Enjoy a super user-friendly experience with SquadCast, making podcast recording and editing intuitive and efficient.
Individual Audio and Video Recording: Record audio and video for each participant separately, ensuring flexibility in post-production editing.
High-Quality Recording: SquadCast guarantees high-quality recordings, delivering professional-grade audio and video content.
Cons
Delayed Support: Users may experience delays in customer support responses, impacting the speed of issue resolution.
Guest Limitation: SquadCast imposes a maximum limit of 3 guests per recording session, potentially restricting collaborative podcast projects.
Pricing
SquadCast offers three pricing packages: Free, Creator ($15/month), Pro ($30/month), Custom (custom pricing for your company.)
3) Remotely.fm
Although a newcomer in the field, Remotely.fm offers a lot of powerful features for creators. Their standout feature is the efficient scheduling functionality, a unique offering in the market. Overall, Remotely.fm boasts a comprehensive set of features at an affordable rate, making itself a good Riverside.fm alternative.
Key Highlights
Custom Branding: Personalize your podcast by embedding your logo and branding, enhancing self-promotion.
Lag-Free Recording: Remotely.fm ensures a seamless recording experience with no lag during extended interviews.
Efficient Scheduling: The platform's superpower lies in its user-friendly scheduling feature, simplifying the planning process.
Fast Audio Recording: Experience lightning-fast recording turnaround, optimizing efficiency in content creation.
Cons
New Platform Challenges: As a relatively new platform, Remotely.fm is still building out its range of features.
Knowledge Base Setup: The knowledge base is not well-established, potentially affecting user support and guidance.
Initial UX Confusion: Users may find the initial user experience somewhat confusing, suggesting room for improvement.
No Free Plan: As Remotely.fm does not offer any free package, it may be a bit challenging to acquire it for beginners and hobbyists.
Pricing
Unfortunately, Remotely.fm does not offer a free package. You can choose from the two main pricing plans: Audio ($19/month), Audio+Video ($35/month.)
4) StreamYard
StreamYard stands out as a sophisticated live streaming and recording studio, empowering users to broadcast and record content seamlessly on platforms like Facebook and YouTube. With its user-friendly interface and robust feature set, StreamYard transforms the streaming experience into a polished and engaging production.
Key Highlights
Studio Quality Recordings: Ensure crystal-clear, non-choppy recordings even in the presence of weak internet connections, maintaining professional video quality.
Multistreaming to All Platforms:Simultaneously broadcast content across multiple platforms while showcasing audience comments on screen for an interactive streaming experience.
Customizable Branding Options: Personalize shows effortlessly by adding logos, colors, overlays, and videos, elevating the overall presentation without requiring design skills.
Webinar Hosting: Embed the platform on websites for a fully white-label experience, offering a seamless and branded webinar hosting solution.
Cons
Internet Connection Dependence: Optimal performance requires a stable and strong internet connection.
Screen Sharing Improvement: The screen-sharing option could be enhanced.
More Catered for Streamers: StreamYard is built more with streamers in mind than podcasters and other creators
Pricing
StreamYard offers 3 pricing plans: Free plan, Basic plan ($25/month,) Professional plan ($49/month.)
5) Audacity
As a free software known for its thriving open-source community, Audacity stands out for its versatile audio playback and editing capabilities. Supporting the creation of multi-file mixes in a user-friendly multitrack format, Audacity is a go-to solution for podcasters, musicians, and audio enthusiasts alike.
Key Highlights
Multitrack Simultaneity: Audacity enables users to work with multiple audio tracks concurrently, catering to both podcast recording and music production needs.
Built-in Audio Enhancers: Featuring noise reduction, equalization, reverb, and compression, Audacity empowers users to enhance and manipulate their audio recordings with ease.
Open-Source Accessibility: As open-source software available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, Audacity extends its accessibility to a broad range of users.
Advanced Editing Tools:Audacity provides powerful editing tools like time-stretching, pitch-shifting, and spectral editing, offering precise control for audio professionals and enthusiasts.
Cons
Remote Recording Challenges: Remote recording with multiple participants may require additional software.
Manual Audio Enhancement: Audacity lacks AI-powered audio enhancement, mainly relying on manual adjustments.
Limited Support: The software lacks dedicated support for user assistance.
Poor UX: Compared to other software in our list, Audacity has a less intuitive interface
Pricing
Audacity is entirely free, making it an accessible choice for a wide range of users.
6) Descript
Descript emerges as an all-in-one software system, seamlessly integrating video and audio editing, screen recording, and transcription functionalities. Renowned for its exceptional transcription features, Descript leverages AI technology to enhance both recording and editing processes.
Key Highlights
Unified Video and Podcast Editing: Descript offers a comprehensive platform for recording and editing videos and podcasts, streamlining content creation.
Accurate Multilingual Transcription: Standout transcribing capabilities with high accuracy, supporting multiple languages.
Screen Recording Capabilities: Capture video content with ease using Descript's built-in screen recording feature.
AI Enhancements: Leverage various AI features to enhance content creation, ensuring a polished final product.
Cons
Recording Limitations in Free Plan: The free plan restricts users to only 1 hour of recording per month.
Podcast Hosting Limitation: Descript lacks the ability to host and publish podcasts directly from the platform.
Pricing
Descript offers the following pricing packages: Free, Creator ($12/month) Pro ($24/month) Enterprise (custom pricing)
Quick Comparison of the 6 Best Riverside Alternatives
To sum up, here is a quick chart comparing the 6 best Riverside alternatives mentioned in this article. Skim through it one more time and decide which software you’re going to try next!