Blubrry vs Beamly

Blubrry is a legacy podcast hosting platform that might fit when you already live in WordPress. Beamly is the better fit when you want the show, the site and the memberships in one hosted builder, without maintaining WordPress.

Blubrry changed new hosting plans to time-based allowances in 2026. You choose a plan by the audio and video hours you publish each month. Hosting includes a managed WordPress site, and PowerPress connects the publishing workflow to WordPress.

Blubrry's hour plans

Standard 1.5 is $7 a month and is labeled monthly only. It includes up to 1.5 hours of audio or video, distribution, standard statistics, a free managed WordPress website, AI tools and monetization. Standard 3 is $15 a month in the comparison table, for up to 3 hours, with the same standard statistics and the same managed site.

Advanced 6 is $25 a month for up to 6 hours. This is the first plan with advanced statistics, and the first with Vid2Pod. Advanced 12 is $50 a month for 12 hours. Advanced 25 is $90 a month for 25 hours. Those three include advanced analytics, the managed WordPress site, AI tools and monetization.

Pro Unlimited is $100 a month. Publishing time is unlimited, and Blubrry says bandwidth usage fees apply. The plan adds multiple shows, user management, dynamic advertising across shows, FTP and PowerPress multi-program mode. The plans page does not print the bandwidth rate.

Blubrry advertises a 10% annual-billing discount on eligible plans. Standard 1.5 and Pro Unlimited are monthly only. The Blubrry prices below use monthly billing, while Beamly’s quoted rates require annual payment.

Publishing time is the length of what you release, not the file size. A 40-minute weekly episode is about 2 hours 40 minutes in a four-episode month. That misses the $7 plan and fits Standard 3 at $15. A weekly hour is about 4 hours and needs Advanced 6 at $25. A fifth episode in a long month can push a show over the line it survived in a short month. Blubrry states the unit in hours, which is easier to audit than a megabyte cap.

Statistics, WordPress and monetization

Blubrry sells statistics separately as well as including them with hosting. Standard Statistics costs $5 a month without hosting and is included with Standard hosting. The pricing table marks Advanced Statistics as IAB-certified, while Free and Standard are not. Advanced hosting starts at $25 a month and adds those certified reports, retention data and a media kit. Some listener estimates require the Thrive add-on.

Every hosting plan includes a managed WordPress website. PowerPress, Blubrry’s WordPress plugin, is how a lot of publishers already put episodes on a site they control. Multi-program mode is listed on Pro Unlimited. That is the detail that matters for a network inside one WordPress install. A single show can use the managed site on Standard 3 and never think about FTP.

Blubrry has a paid Premium Podcasting add-on for bonus, early-access and ad-free episodes. It costs $10 a month per podcast plus 15% of subscription revenue, on top of hosting. It includes protected feeds, subscriber management and delegated delivery to Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. Premium audio therefore does not require a separate WordPress membership plugin.

Where Blubrry is the stronger choice

Blubrry wins for people who want to keep staying on WordPress on purpose.

A publisher with a decade of posts, a theme a developer already understands and members handled by a WordPress plugin does not need a newer site builder. They need reliable media hosting, a plugin that writes the feed and stats they can explain to an advertiser. PowerPress plus Blubrry hosting is that pair. Beamly will import a Blubrry RSS feed and can sit beside WordPress. It will not be WordPress. If your WordPress setup depends on custom code or specific plugins, keeping it may avoid a substantial rebuild.

Where Beamly is better

Beamly keeps everything in one dashboard – your podcast, your website, and memberships. You won’t have to jump across tabs to manage each one. Plus, Beamly has a much more modern approach to podcasting and website building, so it can really make your life easier and leverage the use of AI where you find fit.

Starter is $18 a month billed annually for one podcast, hosted on Beamly or synced from Blubrry. The site is a hosted builder, with a custom domain, a blog and 1,000 free members. There is no WordPress install to update, no PowerPress and no plugin directory. Gated content for free members is included. Paid subscriptions are not, and you cannot drop in the WordPress membership plugin you already run.

Creator is $30 a month billed annually and includes the website, paid memberships, private feeds, one course and video hosting. Beamly takes no percentage of sales. At 75 members paying $9, gross monthly revenue would be $675. Blubrry Advanced 6 plus Premium Podcasting would cost $35 in fixed monthly fees plus $101.25 in revenue share. Beamly Creator would cost $30 before Stripe processing. The Blubrry total excludes any other charges, and a WordPress membership plugin is another option if you already use one.

Beamly Business starts at $64 a month billed annually for 10 podcasts, courses and video channels, with unlimited team seats. Higher limits cost extra. Blubrry Pro Unlimited starts at $100 plus bandwidth fees and includes dynamic advertising across shows. Beamly includes the member website but does not replace those ad tools or Blubrry’s certified statistics.

Beamly Creator supports Apple HLS video for public shows hosted on Beamly. Blubrry’s publishing allowance counts both audio and video duration. Include both versions when estimating the hours you will publish, rather than treating video as a separate allowance.

Deciding between Blubrry and Beamly

Pick Beamly if you do not want WordPress maintenance, and the show needs a member library or a course on the same domain as the episodes. Creator is the plan to trial. Starter is enough for a public site, including one that syncs a Blubrry feed. Business is the plan when several shows share the membership.

Stay with Blubrry if PowerPress and WordPress plugins already support the site you need.

Choose Beamly when you want to replace WordPress maintenance and publishing-hour limits with a hosted website and built-in member access. Its 14-day trial lets you build from your existing Blubrry feed before moving anything.

Switch to Beamly today

Build a complete website for your podcast, private feeds, memberships, videos, courses, and products with 0% platform fees.