Resources · 7 min read

How much does it cost to start a podcast?

Anywhere from almost nothing to several thousand pounds, depending on how you record and how much you do yourself. Here is an honest breakdown of the real numbers, from the team at our Clerkenwell studio, so you can pick the setup that fits your budget and your ambitions.

What are the main costs of starting a podcast?

Every podcast budget breaks down into four buckets: recording (the equipment or studio you use to capture audio and video), production (editing, mixing and artwork), hosting and distribution (the service that stores your episodes and sends them to Spotify and Apple), and promotion (clips, social assets and any advertising). Most first-time podcasters obsess over the first bucket and underestimate the second. In practice, editing time is where budgets and enthusiasm are most often lost, so it pays to plan for all four from day one. For the full launch process around these numbers, see our guide on how to start a podcast.

How much does podcast equipment cost if you record at home?

A workable home setup starts at around £100 to £200: a solid USB microphone such as a Samson Q2U or Audio-Technica ATR2100x, a pair of closed-back headphones, and a boom arm or desk stand. That gets you acceptable audio in a quiet, soft-furnished room. Stepping up to XLR microphones and an audio interface pushes the budget to £400 to £800, and adding decent video (camera, lighting, backdrop) can easily take a two-person home studio past £1,500.

The hidden cost of home recording is the room itself. Echoey walls, traffic noise and inconsistent levels are the problems listeners actually notice, and fixing them with acoustic treatment costs more than most microphones. That is why so many home-recorded shows sound worse than their equipment list suggests.

Is hiring a podcast studio cheaper than buying equipment?

For most new shows, yes, at least for the first year. London podcast studios typically charge between £50 and £150 per hour depending on what is included. At our studio, £79 an hour covers the treated room, broadcast-grade microphones, 4K multi-camera video and an engineer running the session, so there is nothing to buy, set up or troubleshoot. Recording two episodes in a two-hour session works out at roughly £79 per finished episode of raw material.

Compare that with building an equivalent setup yourself: several thousand pounds of cameras, microphones, lighting and acoustic treatment, plus the time to learn it all. If you publish weekly, buying equipment eventually pays for itself. If you are testing an idea or publishing fortnightly, studio hire is almost always the cheaper and better-sounding route.

How much does podcast editing cost?

Editing your own audio costs nothing but time, and the time is substantial: expect three to five hours of editing per hour of recorded conversation while you learn. Freelance editors typically charge £50 to £150 per episode for audio, and £150 to £400 per episode once multi-camera video, colour grading and social clips are involved. Some studios, including ours, offer post-production as an add-on, which keeps the whole chain (recording, edit, clips) with one team and avoids the file-shuffling between suppliers.

What do hosting and distribution cost?

This is the cheap part. Podcast hosting platforms such as Spotify for Creators, Buzzsprout, Transistor and Captivate range from free to about £20 per month. Distribution to Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube costs nothing beyond that. Budget £0 to £240 per year here, plus a one-off £50 to £150 if you commission cover artwork rather than designing it yourself.

So what does a realistic first-year budget look like?

A scrappy solo show recorded at home with a USB mic, self-edited and on a free host, can genuinely launch for under £150. A quality interview show recorded in a studio twice a month, self-edited, lands around £2,000 to £2,500 a year. A fully produced video podcast with professional editing and clips typically runs £5,000 to £12,000 a year, which is why that tier is usually funded by a business rather than a hobbyist. The right budget is the one you can sustain for at least ten episodes, because consistency beats production value for a new show.

What if you'd rather have it all done for you?

For businesses who want the full first-year tier handled end to end, we offer a package called Big Mic Energy: a complete 10-episode podcast season for £8,250 including VAT. It covers guest liaison and outreach, the recording of all 10 episodes, editing of longform video and audio, 3 clips per episode, one animated trailer, podcast branding, launch, and hosting fees for the season. In practice it replaces every line item above — recording, production, hosting and promotion — with a single fixed cost, which is useful if you'd rather budget once than manage four separate suppliers.

How can you keep costs down without sounding cheap?

Three tactics work well. First, batch record: two or three episodes in one studio session spreads the booking cost and keeps your feed ahead of schedule. Second, spend on capture, save on the rest, because clean recordings are quick to edit while bad ones are expensive to rescue. Third, start before you invest. Record a pilot, listen back honestly, and only then decide what deserves your money. We offer a free pilot episode for exactly this reason: it lets you test your idea in a professional room at zero cost.

The short version

You can start a podcast for under £150 at home, or around £160 to £200 a month using a professional studio twice monthly. Equipment is a poor first investment for most new shows; a treated room, good microphones and an engineer are what make episodes sound premium, and hiring them by the hour is far cheaper than buying them. Keep hosting simple, batch your recordings, and put your first money into the episodes themselves. If you'd rather skip the budgeting altogether, our Big Mic Energy package bundles a full season for a fixed price.