Transistor Surpasses Simplecast on List of Top Hosting Platforms

Over the years, I've tracked Transistor's relative rank amongst podcast hosting platforms that offer a paid plan. I've done this by taking snapshots of Listen Notes' Top RSS Hosting Domains list.

Since launching in 2018, Transistor has grown to surpass more established players in the podcast hosting industry. Most recently, we passed Simplecast, which had entered the market five years before us.

As of 2025, Transistor now powers over 30,000 RSS feeds, making it the 9th largest premium podcast hosting platform globally.¹ Last year, new podcasts on Transistor grew by 31.8%.

Passing Simplecast is a significant milestone for us for several reasons. Jon Buda, my co-founder, built the first version of Simplecast in 2013. That's how we met: he convinced me to switch my podcast to the platform in 2014.

After Jon's departure, Simplecast was sold to a new team in 2016 and redesigned. In 2020, SiriusXM acquired it for $28 million in cash.

Transistor's story

When Jon and I teamed up to build Transistor, our vision was to develop a polished product in a category that hadn't had a fresh entrant in years. Our initial offering was focused on:

• Improving the overall user experience for podcast creators

• A simple, elegant experience built for managing multiple shows

• World-class customer support (we've offered human-powered live chat and email support from the beginning)

Today, Transistor powers podcasts like Acquired, Diggnation, and Think Fast Talk Smart and branded shows from Kit.com (ConvertKit), The U.S. Government, and Magic: The Gathering.

In an era when many large podcasting companies are closing down or laying off employees, our "small but mighty" company continues to accelerate (last month, new customers grew 24% over the previous year).

Transistor's growth

In the beginning, we started with just one RSS feed on Transistor.

Today, including private feeds, we serve over 30,000 podcasts on the platform.

What's particularly meaningful about our growth is that Transistor is:

• Completely bootstrapped², with zero venture funding or external shareholders,

• A small team (it started with just Jon and I, and now we have six people),

• Consistently profitable (every year since our founding).

Despite our small team size, we've been able to compete with much larger companies like Simplecast (owned by SiriusXM, a $25 billion company), Acast (currently valued at $300 million), and Megaphone (acquired by Spotify for $235 million).

Furthermore, we've done very little in paid advertising. Instead, we've grown primarily through word-of-mouth, content publishing, and focusing on what podcasters need most.

We've also proven that we can serve the needs of small, independent podcasters as well as enterprise and government clients.

Since our launch, we've also added an impressive suite of features for individual creators and larger enterprises:

• Two-factor authentication for users (2FA)

• Podcast network features

• Dynamic ad insertion

• Tracking URLs for ad campaigns (tracking pixels)

• A highly rated Developer API

Our growth comes at an interesting time for podcasting. Recent data shows that 53% of Americans now listen to podcasts monthly, and the entire industry is valued at $4-$5 billion.

Looking ahead

Looking ahead, we remain committed to the approach that got us here: building awesome features for podcasters, providing exceptional support, and maintaining a sustainable business model that ensures we'll be here for the long haul.

Cheers,
Justin Jackson, co-founder

PS: if you're interested in trying Transistor, you can start a 14-day free trial at transistor.fm. We'd love to help you launch and grow your podcast.

Footnotes:

1. On Listen Notes, we're 13th overall, and when you remove free/legacy providers (like Anchor, Soundcloud, Apple, and Feedburner), we're 9th amongst premium hosting services.

2. Jon and I shared our startup journey every week for the first few years on our podcast: Build your SaaS.