Zencastr Reviews

“Stay away from them

Pros

They were once an honest company but now the story is something else.

Cons

Now they have become one of those companies that use questionable tactics and then hide behind their Terms of Service. So I would say it is better that you do proper research before making a decision.

“Fine but technical support is terrible

Pros

The interface is fairly simple to use once we start recording. But that is the only thing I like about it.

Cons

Support they offer is simply TERRIBLE. You cannot speak to anyone directly. If an issue arises you are forced to wait for a written response which can take hours. By the time you get a response, you are already doing something else, so it could take days to resolve. Also it's hard to explain tech issues in writing so something that could be fixed in a 5 minute call ends up taking days or may never be fully resolved.

“Watch out as they are not trustworthy

Pros

It is an okay recording platform though it has some bugs but generally I find it reliable.

Cons

After taking a year off I logged into my account and was offered a one week trial. I thought Okay that is a nice way to ease back in. However when I clicked the button I was instantly given a premium subscription without any mention of payment. Later I found out they had charged me for an entire years subscription. I reached out to customer support thinking I'd mistakenly clicked the wrong button. I offered to pay for a month but not for the whole year. Their support replied saying I should have known the trial would lead to a year-long subscription even though their interface clearly showed a trial. They refunded part of the money but not the full amount, even after deducting one month's subscription. When I pointed out the missing money they refused to cover the difference saying I should have known about the trial. But they offered it to me on their website! This is clearly a UX mistake. Other platforms like Canva offer multiple trials and I have been a loyal paying customer for years. I told the Zencastr team this was one of the most unprofessional experiences I have had in a long time. Since then I have been happy with Riverside. So never again.

“Full of bugs

Pros

Sending a link to someone for local recording is easy and publishing podcasts is not a problem for me anymore.

Cons

Connections are frequently lost leaving both hosts and guests frustrated. Even the interface is awkward and requires too many clicks to do simple tasks. The app crashes often and needs to be restarted. And there was even one time when it lost all my episode files and it was a real struggle to recover them.

“Not recommended

Pros

Zencastr was a great podcast hosting site especially since it was free. I could record remotely with my guests and the recordings had separate audio channels.

Cons

Customer service was almost unhelpful and it's the main reason I won't continue using Zencastr as my podcast platform. I was recording a series of episodes over several months and did not realize all recordings had to be downloaded within 31 days. When I reached out to customer service to request an exception for just one 5 minute episode I was repeatedly told by the support manager that they could not assist me unless I upgraded my account. This was one of the worst customer service responses I have received refusing help unless I paid more. I warned them multiple times that I would leave for a competitor and post a negative review if the issue was not resolved. Still they did not care even a little. So why would I continue with a company that has such unhelpful customer service?

“Perfect for recording studio-quality audio

Pros

With Zencastr it is very easy to record and edit audio with professional quality sound. Plus you can use it to record an interview with someone in another location which is a huge plus especially if you like me who is having a podcast with guests.

Cons

I think their biggest weakness is that it depends on a stable internet connection to function which is not an issue with software installed directly on your computer.

“Ideal for making remote podcasts

Pros

Zencastr platform is perfect for people living in different countries who want to create their own podcast. Overall I would say it is amazing and the free version offers so many useful tools.

Cons

The platform offers some limited tools that are only available through payment and the fees can be a bit expensive for some people.

“Makes life stress free

Pros

Let's get this out of the way! It is not Zoom first of all thank goodness for that. As we struggled with capturing quality audio through Zoom but Zencastr made all the difference. The interface is simple as it allows for easy recording, downloading and creating multiple tracks for podcasts.

Cons

This is not necessarily Zencastr's fault but sometimes the audio quality captured just is not as good as we like.