Pricing
Benecaster — Pricing Page Copy
Derived from 01-positioning.md (approved). All pricing from 01-product-overview.md and 02-addon-roadmap.md.
Requires: positioning.md approved before publishing.
Hero
Headline:
Fixed cost. No platform cut. Yours to keep.
Subheadline:
Every Benecaster plan includes the same full feature set. The only difference is how many paying subscribers you can have and how many shows you can run. No per-subscriber fees. No overage charges. No platform percentage.
Billing toggle label:
Monthly / Annual (save ~30%)
Plan Comparison Table
Section label: Choose your plan.
Framing copy (above table):
Launch free with up to 10 paying subscribers — full core features, no credit card required, no time limit. When you’re ready to add your 11th paying subscriber, that’s when you upgrade to Starter.
| Launch | Starter | Growth | Pro | Multi-Show | Studio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 | $9/mo | $15/mo | $25/mo | $35/mo | $149/mo |
| Annual | $0 | $79/yr | $149/yr | $249/yr | $349/yr | $1,199/yr |
| Paying subscribers | Up to 10 | Up to 50 | Up to 250 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Total subscribers (paid + free) | Up to 250 | Up to 500 | Up to 2,500 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Shows | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Migration Wizard | — | Add-on | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| All add-ons | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ Included |
| Priority support | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Beta access | — | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| [Launch free →] | [Start Starter] | [Start Growth] | [Start Pro] | [Start Multi-Show] | [Go Studio →] |
Table footnotes:
- Annual billing saves approximately two months versus monthly.
- Only active paying subscribers count toward the paying subscriber limit. Free-tier listeners do not count toward this limit.
- Each plan also has a total subscriber cap (paying + free combined). Free-tier subscribers count toward this secondary limit, not the primary one.
- Subscriber count is based on currently active tokens, not historical high watermark.
- All paid plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Add-ons are available for separate purchase on all plans, including Launch. The core plan price covers Benecaster’s core feature set only — add-ons are priced and purchased independently regardless of plan level. The Launch plan is free ($0) — if you’re using the WordPress.org plugin without a Benecaster account, create a free Launch account to access add-ons.
Academic & Education Program Callout
Producing a podcast for your campus?
Students, faculty, and staff at educational institutions get a free Growth plan — or 20% off any higher tier. Apply with your institution email and a letterhead document confirming the show.
CTA: Learn about the academic program →
(Links to /academic)
Feature Parity Callout
Headline: Every plan. Same features.
Body:
The plan you’re on doesn’t determine which features you get — it determines how many subscribers you can have and how many shows you can run. Token-based private RSS feeds, per-tier episode scheduling, subscriber management, deep links for podcast apps, the subscriber account dashboard, QR codes, feed analytics — all of it is available on every plan, including Launch.
Add-ons are available on every plan, including Launch. A Starter podcaster has access to the same add-ons as a Pro podcaster. A Launch plan podcaster can too — tool access is never rationed by plan level. Only subscriber count and show count vary by plan. Add-ons are priced and purchased independently of your core plan.
The one exception is Studio, which includes all add-ons automatically. If you’re at the point where you’d be buying everything anyway, Studio is the simpler answer.
Savings Calculator Callout
Headline: See what you’d save.
Body:
Plug in your subscriber count and what they pay each month. The calculator shows your honest estimated Benecaster cost versus what you’re currently paying in platform fees — including Stripe processing, with a toggle if you already have a membership plugin.
CTA: Calculate your savings →
Supporting line:
At 100 paying subscribers at $10/month, you’d save over $1,100/year versus Patreon.
Breakeven Table
Section label: The math isn’t complicated.
Headline: When does Benecaster pay for itself?
Framing:
The question isn’t whether Benecaster is cheaper than Patreon. At any meaningful subscriber count, it is. The question is how quickly. Below is the breakeven point — the number of subscribers at which Benecaster’s annual cost is covered by what you’d have paid Patreon in platform fees alone.
| Plan | Annual cost | Breakeven vs Patreon | Savings at subscriber cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | $0 | 0 subscribers | ~$132/year saved at 10 subscribers |
| Starter | $79/year | ~8 subscribers | ~$522/year saved at 50 subscribers |
| Growth | $149/year | ~15 subscribers | ~$2,851/year saved at 250 subscribers |
| Pro | $249/year | ~25 subscribers | Unlimited |
| Studio | $1,199/year | ~100 subscribers | Unlimited + full add-on stack + Migration + Setup included |
Based on $10/month subscriber pricing. Patreon cost = 10% platform fee + estimated 2–5% processing. “Savings at cap” = annual Patreon fees at that subscriber count minus Benecaster annual plan cost.
Castos / SSP Comparison Callout
Comparing to Castos or Seriously Simple Podcasting?
Castos caps your private subscriber count and your monthly transcriptions separately — either cap can force you up a plan tier. If you publish more than 10 episodes a month or have more than 100 private subscribers, Benecaster costs less even after adding a separate audio host. At 300 subscribers and 30 episodes a month, the annual saving is over $440.
Benecaster’s transcription has no monthly cap and no platform markup — you pay your API provider directly at their published rate. For a weekly podcast, that’s typically under $10/year in API costs.
Milestone Callout
Headline: Growing past your plan limit should feel like a win, not a surprise.
Body:
When you hit 80% of your subscriber cap, Benecaster shows you a notification: you’re growing, here’s what the next plan costs, here’s how much you’re already saving. If you stay above the limit for two consecutive calendar months, an automatic upgrade schedules at your next billing date — with advance warning both months and a receipt when it fires. One click to upgrade early if you’d rather not wait.
The upgrade experience is designed to feel like a milestone, not a penalty. Because it is.
(Prefer to upgrade manually? Set your enforcement preference to cap during onboarding — see FAQ for details.)
Studio Plan Callout
(Expanded detail — links to /studio landing page for full copy)
Headline: Already running a serious show? Studio is built for you.
Body:
Studio is the all-in option for podcasters who don’t want to think about individual add-ons. Unlimited shows, unlimited subscribers, every add-on included — current and future — plus priority support and early access to new features.
At the scale where Studio makes sense, the cost difference between Studio and Pro-plus-all-add-ons is close to zero. What you’re buying is simplicity: one purchase, nothing left to configure or add.
Migration + Setup ($1,499 value) is included free for Studio customers — we handle your full configuration and subscriber migration before you touch anything. Setup Service is also available standalone for any tier.
CTA: See what Studio includes →
Add-ons
Section label: Extend as you need.
Headline: Add the tools you want. Skip the ones you don’t.
Framing:
Add-ons work on any Benecaster plan, including Launch. A Starter podcaster has access to the same add-ons as a Pro podcaster. Purchase individually, or get everything at once with the All Add-ons Bundle.
Launch Add-ons
Migration Wizard — $79 one-time
Move your Patreon subscriber base to Benecaster with minimal disruption. Imports your Patreon patron CSV, maps tier names, creates subscriber accounts, generates private feed URLs, and sends a configurable migration email sequence. Grace periods of 30, 60, or 90 days keep your subscribers’ access intact while they complete payment setup.
Included free with Growth, Pro, Multi-Show, and Studio.
Email Editor — $49/year
Visual template editor for all Benecaster emails. Drag-and-drop builder with a full merge tag library, per-show customization, template versioning, and branding controls. Manage welcome emails, token reset notifications, tier change notifications, migration sequences, and admin alerts — all from a single interface.
Blocks & Widgets Library — Free
Gutenberg blocks and Elementor widgets for embedding Benecaster elements anywhere on your site. Episode player, episode card, subscribe CTA, RSS feed URL display, QR code, latest episodes list, show stats, and transcription blocks. Shortcode fallbacks for every block.
Early Release Add-ons
(Available within the first few months post-launch)
Guest Manager — $49/year
Extends the basic guest fields in core into a full Guest CPT with archives, profiles, and cross-episode history. Guest profile pages, automatic episode template integration, inline guest creation from the episode editor, and template customization via hooks and file overrides.
Analytics Dashboard — $79/year
Deeper analytics beyond the basic subscriber count in core. Subscriber growth over time, tier distribution and movement, episode download counts, downloads by episode and date range, podcast app breakdown, feed health history, cohort analysis, migration funnel analytics, and CSV export. Requires redirect proxy for download tracking.
Transcription Service — $79/year
AI transcription with timestamped output and interactive player integration. Supports OpenAI Whisper, AssemblyAI, Deepgram, and Rev.ai — you bring your own API key, Benecaster doesn’t mark up API usage. Interactive transcript on episode pages, export as SRT, VTT, or plain text. Transcript visibility is configured per show with per-episode overrides — offer transcripts as a paid perk on specific tiers, restrict them to subscribers only, or make them public. Applies to both the on-page display and the <podcast:transcript> RSS feed tag.
AI Search — $79/year — bring your own API key
Semantic search across episodes, show notes, and transcripts. Natural-language queries (“episodes about productivity”), tier-aware results, configurable search widget as a Gutenberg block, Elementor widget, or shortcode. Requires an API key from a supported provider (e.g. OpenAI) — you’re billed directly by the provider, not by Benecaster.
Outlinks — $49/year
Tracked redirects and affiliate link management for episode references. Episode-aware click analytics (which episode your listeners clicked from), affiliate URL management, geographic routing by country, automatic affiliate disclosures, link expiry with fallback redirect, broken link detection, and bot filtering. One clean URL per reference — episode context appended automatically by Benecaster’s template renderer.
Standard Search (full-text keyword episode search, [benecaster_search] shortcode) is a core feature included free at every plan level — no purchase needed.
Planned Add-ons
(Coming in a future release)
Content Calendar — $79/year
Visual month/week/list calendar for managing episode release schedules and tier availability dates. Color-coded by content type and tier. Drag-and-drop rescheduling, custom event types (guest appearances, sponsor deadlines, recording dates), iCal export, and Google Calendar sync.
Podcast Workflow — $99/year
Production workflow tools for serious podcast operations. Guest preview tokens (share an unpublished episode with guests or sponsors before publish), timestamped feedback forms, pre-publish episode checklists, episode status workflow (Draft → Review → Approved → Scheduled → Published), and team task assignment.
Chapter Markers — $39/year
Podcast chapter support for compatible apps (Overcast, Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts). Chapter editor with timestamps, titles, and per-chapter artwork. Outputs Podlove Simple Chapters format in RSS. Integration with Transcription add-on for auto-suggested chapters.
Sponsor Manager — $79/year
Sponsor and ad tracking per episode. Sponsor CPT with company, contact, campaign dates, and rate. Per-episode sponsor assignment with ad position markers (pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll). Sponsor reporting across episodes.
Video Podcast Enhanced — $49/year
Enhanced video episode experience for video-first podcasters. Full-screen responsive video player, video chapter markers with thumbnails, video-specific RSS output, poster images, and download options. For podcasters whose primary format is video rather than audio.
NYOP Subscriptions — $49/year (Requires Phase 2 built-in membership)
Let subscribers name their own recurring price above a minimum floor you set. Chosen amount maps to a tier automatically based on thresholds you configure. Subscribers can set any amount — the system handles tier assignment and Stripe subscription creation at the chosen price.
Community Integrations — $49/year
Connect Benecaster subscriber tiers to Discord server roles or Circle community spaces. Subscribers get access to the right channels automatically on subscribe; lose access on cancel. Episode announcement posting to tier-specific channels. Single add-on covers both platforms — configure whichever one fits your community.
CRM Sync — HubSpot — $99/year
For organizations using a podcast as a B2B marketing channel. Pushes Benecaster subscriber events — subscription, tier changes, feed engagement, churn signals — into HubSpot contact activity timelines. Sales and marketing teams see podcast engagement in the tool they already work in. Enriches existing contacts; does not create new ones. Built on a shared CRM sync engine with CRM Sync — Zoho and CRM Sync — Salesforce.
CRM Sync — Zoho — $99/year
Same engagement data in Zoho CRM contact timelines. Subscriber events appear as activity notes on matching contact records. Separate add-on — install only the one that matches your CRM. Shares the same core sync engine as the HubSpot and Salesforce integrations.
CRM Sync — Salesforce — $149/year
Same engagement data in Salesforce contact Activity Timelines. Priced higher than HubSpot and Zoho because Salesforce’s Connected App OAuth setup and API version deprecation cycle require significantly more ongoing engineering maintenance. Separate add-on — install only the one that matches your CRM.
All Add-ons Bundle
$499/year — ~43% off the $876 individual total.
The bundle includes all current annual add-ons and automatically adds new ones as they launch during your subscription period. One-time add-ons (Migration Wizard) are purchased separately — they’re not recurring and don’t belong in an annual bundle.
The bundle is available on every plan — Launch through Multi-Show. Studio customers don’t need the bundle — all add-ons are already included.
Setup Service
Section label: Don’t want to configure it yourself?
Headline: We’ll set it up for you.
Body:
Benecaster is a WordPress plugin, and setting it up requires working with your existing membership plugin. If you’d rather skip that process entirely, the Setup Service is a personal, hands-on service where we configure everything on your WordPress installation.
| Service | Price | What’s included |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Setup | $499 | Plugin install, subscription plugin bridge configuration, feed setup, email templates, subscriber account page |
| Migration + Setup | $1,499 | Everything in Standard Setup plus Patreon or Supercast CSV import, subscriber notification sequence, 30-day post-migration monitoring |
| White-Glove Launch | Custom quote | For established podcasters with large existing audiences — full end-to-end launch including subscription plugin selection, content strategy for tiers, custom template setup, full migration, and ongoing check-ins |
Studio customers receive Migration + Setup included free (a $1,499 value). Setup Service is available to any plan at full price.
CTA: Inquire about Setup Service →
Phase 2 Coming Soon
Section label: Coming next.
Headline: Built-in membership — no separate plugin required.
Body:
Right now, Benecaster works alongside your existing membership plugin (MemberPress, WooCommerce Subscriptions, Paid Memberships Pro, or Restrict Content Pro). You handle subscriptions and billing through that plugin; Benecaster handles the podcast feeds.
A few months after launch, Phase 2 adds a built-in membership system — Stripe payment processing, subscriber tiers, billing portal, and renewal emails — built directly into Benecaster. No additional plugin required.
If you want to be notified when built-in membership launches:
CTA: Notify me when built-in membership is available →
FAQ
Do not duplicate copy here. Place this shortcode in the WordPress page editor — it renders all questions tagged Page context: pricing from the FAQ data source. See 05-site-features.md for the full shortcode spec.
Link below the shortcode output:
More questions? [See the full FAQ →]
Final CTA
Headline: Start free. Pay when it pays for itself.
Body:
The Launch plan is a real product — full core features, up to 10 paying subscribers, no credit card required, no time limit. When you’re ready to scale, Starter is $79/year. That’s less than what Patreon takes from 10 subscribers in a single month.
Primary CTA: Start free — no credit card required
Secondary CTA: Questions? Talk to us. →
Supporting line:
30-day money-back guarantee on all paid plans. Cancel anytime.
Page Notes
Pricing data is dynamic — do not hardcode prices in the page template.
The license server exposes a GET /pricing endpoint (https://benecaster.com/wp-json/benecaster-license/v1/pricing) that returns the current plan catalog with all prices, subscriber limits, and show limits. This is the same endpoint the Benecaster plugin itself calls on boot (cached as a benecaster_pricing_data transient). The /savings calculator page also fetches from this endpoint.
The pricing page template must consume this endpoint rather than hardcoding values, so that a price change in WooCommerce propagates automatically to the pricing page, the savings calculator, and the plugin’s in-app upgrade prompts — no manual copy update required. The prices shown in this document are correct as of writing and serve as the design reference; they are not the source of truth for the live page. See 05-license-server.md → GET /pricing for the full API contract and response shape.
What this page does not do:
- Does not claim Phase 2 (built-in membership) is currently available — Phase 2 is labeled Coming Soon and the subscription plugin requirement is stated clearly in the FAQ.
- Does not claim Studio add-ons include one-time purchases like Migration Wizard as “additional” beyond what’s already included — Migration Wizard is called out explicitly as included.
- Does not hide the Spotify private feed limitation — it’s in the FAQ, clearly answered.
- Add-on prices are final (OQ-001 closed May 2026). The live page renders prices from the
GET /pricingAPI; update prices in WooCommerce and the response updates automatically. See01-product-overview.md→ Pricing Decisions — Rationale for the full decision context. - Setup Service prices are confirmed ($499 Standard Setup, $1,499 Migration + Setup). Setup Service is a manual-fulfillment WooCommerce product, not in the
GET /pricingresponse; its prices are static copy in this document.
Savings calculator:
The interactive savings calculator referenced in this page requires development. At launch, if the calculator isn’t ready, replace the callout with a static expanded version of the breakeven table from 02-homepage.md.
Phase 2 launch update:
When Phase 2 ships, the “Coming Soon” section becomes a feature announcement, the FAQ answer for membership plugin requirement updates, and the plan table can note “built-in Stripe membership included on all paid plans.”
