A room people can talk in, or a feed they can download:
built for whichever one your audience wants
Audio rooms and podcast hosting solve two different problems that get lumped together: a live voice room needs low-latency real-time audio and speaker management, a podcast needs a reliable file host and an RSS feed that every app in the world already knows how to read. We build whichever one your audience actually uses.
What it is
Audio rooms and podcast hosting are two distinct pieces of infrastructure that happen to both be about sound. A live audio room is a real-time voice chat, WebRTC transport, speaker and listener roles, a raise-hand queue, built for a conversation happening right now. Podcast hosting is a file server and an RSS feed, built for a conversation that already happened and now needs to reach every podcast app without a custom integration for each one. Most products need exactly one of these, not both, and the two should not be confused when scoping a build.
When you need it (and when you do not)
A live audio room makes sense for a community that wants scheduled or ad hoc voice conversations, a panel discussion format, an audio-only alternative to video calls for a large group, or a club-style product where talking is the point. Podcast hosting makes sense the moment you are producing recorded episodes and want them to show up in Apple Podcasts, Spotify and every other app without building a custom player for each.
You do not need either if a general-purpose tool already does the job: Zoom or Discord’s voice channels for an internal or small community conversation, a generic podcast host like Buzzsprout or Transistor for a single show with no custom features. Building your own pays off once you need roles, moderation, or distribution logic a generic tool does not offer, or once a generic tool’s cost or branding stops fitting.
How we build it
For live audio rooms, we build on a managed WebRTC infrastructure provider, LiveKit or Agora, for the real-time transport layer, and write the room logic ourselves: speaker and listener roles, a raise-hand queue, mute and remove controls for moderators, and a room-level ban list. Backend on Python/FastAPI or Node/TypeScript tracks room state and permissions; the client ships on Next.js for web or React Native for mobile, with native audio handling where the platform needs it. Recording captures the session for later use as a podcast episode or an archived clip.
For podcast hosting, the core is simpler and more standardized: file storage and a CDN for the audio files, an episode management panel for your team, and an RSS feed generator that follows the podcast RSS specification correctly, correct enclosure tags, iTunes-specific metadata, category taxonomy, so every major app picks it up without friction. We submit the feed to Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other directories as part of the build, and add an embeddable player for your own site alongside the feed.
What to watch
Real-time audio infrastructure costs real money per minute of active voice connection, scaling with concurrent speakers and listeners; a room that runs for hours with dozens of participants costs meaningfully more than a quick scheduled conversation. We size this against your expected usage before building, not after the first bill.
Podcast distribution is standards-based, which is good for reach and bad for customization: a feed that deviates from the RSS podcast specification to add a custom feature can break in some apps that parse it strictly. We keep the feed standard-compliant and add custom features, like gated or members-only episodes, as a layer on top rather than inside the feed itself.
Price and timeline
| Option | Price | What it covers | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Podcast hosting | from $2,500 | File hosting, episode management, RSS feed, directory submission | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Live audio room | from $5,000 | Real-time voice, roles, moderation, recording, archive-to-episode | 5 to 7 weeks |
Running cost for podcast hosting is usually $10 to $40 a month in storage and bandwidth; a live audio room runs $0.001 to $0.004 per participant-minute on managed WebRTC infrastructure, scaling with concurrent usage.
Related
Pairs with community platform and forum when audio rooms are one feature of a larger community product, and with membership and paywall for gated episodes or members-only rooms. See the development service page for full package details. For real-time systems and secure audio-adjacent infrastructure we have built, see the secure messenger prototype case study and the multi-game Telegram club case study.
Building a voice community or a show that needs to reach every podcast app? Get in touch and we will scope the right one.
FAQ
How much does an audio room or podcast setup cost?
Podcast hosting with RSS distribution starts at $2,500: file hosting, episode management, feed generation and directory submission. A live voice room with speaker roles and moderation starts at $5,000 because real-time audio infrastructure is a different, heavier build than file hosting.
How long does it take?
3 to 4 weeks for podcast hosting and distribution; 5 to 7 weeks for a live audio room with roles, moderation and recording.
Do we need our own servers for a live audio room?
We use a managed WebRTC infrastructure provider (LiveKit, Agora, or similar) for the real-time audio transport, and build the room logic, roles and moderation on top. Running your own media servers only makes sense at very large scale.
Will our podcast work in every podcast app?
Yes. RSS is the actual distribution standard behind every major podcast app; we generate a feed that follows the standard correctly, submit it to the major directories, and every app that already supports podcasts picks it up without a custom integration.
Can a live room become a podcast episode automatically?
Yes, the room's audio is recorded during the session and can be automatically trimmed and published as a downloadable episode to your existing podcast feed if you want the live conversation to have a second life.