Your course, coaching replays, and company updates can’t help anyone if they sit unplayed. Private audio fixes that by meeting people inside the podcast app they already open every day.
Blubrry is a well-known name in podcast hosting, but Hello Audio is built for private podcasts from the ground up.
Both platforms can deliver gated audio, yet they take very different routes to get it to your listeners.
In this article, we compare how each platform handles listener access, team updates, features, and pricing, then share a short checklist to guide your choice.
TL;DR: Hello Audio vs Blubrry for Private Podcasts
Here’s the short version:
- Core focus: Hello Audio is built for private feeds, while Blubrry centers on public hosting.
- Listener access: We give each listener a unique link for the podcast app they already use.
- Listener tools: Our tags, drip feeds, and automations shape what each person hears.
- Private pricing: Our plans start at $14 per month, while Blubrry’s private plans start at $150.
What is Hello Audio?
Hello Audio is our private podcast platform for creators and businesses. We turn courses, coaching calls, memberships, and company updates into private feeds that play in the podcast app already on your listeners’ phones.
Because each person gets their own personalized podcast feed, you can grant or remove access one listener at a time.
Our platform groups these listener tools under the name Listener Relationship Management, which shows who’s listening and shapes what each person hears next.
What is Blubrry?
Blubrry is a podcast hosting company that has served podcasters for more than two decades. Today, its hosting plans publish shows to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and other apps.
Blubrry prices public hosting by the hours you publish each month. Every plan includes a free managed WordPress website, and the Advanced plans add IAB-certified statistics.
For gated audio, Blubrry offers two separate routes:
- Premium Podcasting: This add-on sells paid subscriptions to bonus, early, or ad-free episodes.
- Private Internal Podcasting: These plans deliver audio to company teams through Blubrry’s own apps.
How Hello Audio and Blubrry Deliver Private Audio
The fewer steps between a listener and the play button, the more of your content gets heard. Here’s how each platform gets listeners in:
- Hello Audio: We send each listener a unique subscription link, and adding the private feed takes just two clicks. It works in Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or any app that adds a show by URL. There’s no new app to download and no login to remember.
- Blubrry: Premium Podcasting protects each subscriber’s feed with a username and password, and subscribers listen in apps that accept direct RSS feeds. However, Blubrry notes that Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio don’t currently show these episodes. For company teams, Blubrry sells separate private plans, called Private Internal Podcasting, where listeners sign in through its own iOS, Android, or desktop web app.
Here’s how listener access compares:
Hello Audio and Blubrry for Team and Company Updates
Company updates compete with a crowded inbox. Microsoft found the average worker receives 117 emails a day, and workers skim most of them in under 60 seconds.
On top of that, Gallup found that only 20% of employees worldwide are engaged at work.
A short audio update helps because busy teams can catch up on a commute or a walk, far from the inbox.
Here’s how each platform supports internal audio:
- Hello Audio: We give each employee a unique link to a private feed, so when someone leaves, you remove their access without touching anyone else’s link. That makes internal podcasting for teams practical for onboarding, training, and leadership messages, because your staff listens in the podcast app they already use.
- Blubrry: Its Private Internal Podcasting plans serve the same need through three tiers, named Simple, Standard, and Enterprise. Security increases at each level.
Hello Audio and Blubrry Features
Feature sets show what each platform was designed to do. Here’s a direct side-by-side view:
We designed our private feed features so the right people finish what you publish.
For example, Kronda Adair, founder and CEO of Karvel Digital, uses private podcasts with retainer clients to keep them engaged and informed. To do that, she turns voice recordings into polished client updates with AI tools.
She has also put audio to work in contractor onboarding and internal team training. It’s just one business owner’s example, but it shows how far a single private feed can stretch.
If your client updates, courses, or replays deserve that kind of attention, this is the problem we built Hello Audio to solve.
Hello Audio is our private podcast platform for creators and businesses. Along with private feeds, every plan comes with a few extras:
- Audio Inbox: New recordings arrive in one place, ready to drop into a feed.
- Direct imports: You can bring recordings in straight from Zoom or Google Drive.
- Works with your stack: Our feeds run alongside your course or membership platform, connected directly or through Zapier.
Take our instant demo and see a private feed in action.
Hello Audio and Blubrry Pricing
Both platforms publish their prices online, so here are the starting points, accurate at the time of writing:
- Hello Audio: Our private podcast plans start at $14 per month billed annually, or $17 billed monthly. Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial, with no credit card required.
- Blubrry: Public hosting starts at $7 per month on its monthly-only Standard 1.5 plan. For private audio, Premium Podcasting adds $10 per month plus 15% of subscription revenue, while Private Internal Podcasting starts at $150 per month. Its pricing page lists no free hosting plan.
How to Choose the Best Private Podcast Platform
The right platform depends on who you serve and how they need to listen. Weigh each option against these questions:
- Audience type: Decide whether you’re serving paying customers, clients, or employees, since each group needs different access rules.
- Listening experience: Check whether listeners can use the podcast app already on their phone, because every extra app or password adds friction.
- Access control: Look for a way to add or remove one listener without resetting everyone else’s feed.
- Content pacing: Consider whether drip, expiring, or tag-based release fits the way your program unfolds.
- Total cost: Compare the plan you’d need for private audio specifically, including add-ons and any revenue fees.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are quick answers to common questions about these two platforms:
Conclusion
Blubrry is built around public podcast hosting, with gated audio offered through an add-on and separate private plans. Hello Audio, however, puts private feeds at the center of every plan.
Ready to give your content a private home? Hello Audio is the private audio platform we built so courses, coaching, and company updates actually get heard.
Every plan includes unlimited episodes and unlimited listeners, and each listener subscribes in two clicks from the podcast app they already use.
Start your free 7-day Hello Audio trial with no credit card required.
