Choosing a podcast monetization platform in 2026 comes down to where your revenue actually comes from — and the platform’s cut matters more than its ad tooling when you are starting out, according to a platform comparison from Castos and reporting on Spotify’s Partner Program expansion from TechCrunch.

Through the Spotify Partner Program, creators earn a 50% share of revenue from ads Spotify monetizes in their episodes, on and off Spotify, plus payouts tied to Premium video engagement. Since January 2026 the thresholds are 1,000 engaged listeners on Spotify and 2,000 consumption hours in the last 30 days, with 3 published episodes all time — and the program just expanded to 35 new markets this fall.

Apple Podcasts Subscriptions work across most major hosts and pair with Patreon for listener revenue outside any single platform. On hosting features, Castos, Podbean and Captivate include dynamic ad insertion on every plan, while Libsyn gates it to enterprise tiers and Transistor to its $49 Professional plan.

The strategic point from Castos: listener support and paid subscriptions work at small scale because they price the relationship rather than the download count — which is why the platform’s commission on listener revenue matters more than its ad tooling for new shows. Switching hosts matters when you want mid-roll dynamic insertion your current host lacks, or when you want to stop paying commission on listener revenue.

For creators, the monetization stack is rarely one platform. A typical setup pairs a host with DAI, Spotify’s Partner Program for video and ad revenue, and a direct subscription layer (Apple, Patreon or a private feed) for the most loyal listeners.

The takeaway for creators: audit what each layer of your stack takes. Move listener revenue to the lowest-fee rails you can, keep DAI-capable hosting for ad revenue, and add Spotify video distribution — it is the cheapest second revenue stream in podcasting right now.