8 Best AI Tools for Podcasting in 2026: Editing, Recording, Clips & Show Notes Compared

Published May 27, 2026•26 min read•

We may earn commissions from links to support our work. Learn more.

Get more AI tool briefings:

Podcasting in 2026 isn't just about hitting record and hoping for the best. You're competing with thousands of shows, and listeners expect studio-quality audio, engaging clips on social media, and well-written show notes. Doing all that manually? You're looking at 4-6 hours of work per episode.

Our favorite AI tool for podcasters is Descript for text-based video and audio editing. It lets you edit audio by deleting words in a transcript, which sounds weird until you try it and realize you just cut a 45-minute interview down to 30 minutes in about 10 minutes. But Descript isn't the only tool worth your time.

Here's what actually works in 2026.

1. Descript - Best for Text-based video/audio editing

Descript feels like magic the first time you use it. Upload your podcast recording, and it transcribes everything automatically. Then you edit the audio by editing the text. Delete a paragraph, and that entire section of audio disappears. Copy and paste sentences to rearrange your interview. It's the kind of thing that makes traditional audio editing feel prehistoric.

The transcription accuracy sits around 95% for clear audio with decent mics. It struggles a bit with heavy accents or when multiple people talk over each other, but you can correct mistakes by just typing the right word. The AI features go beyond transcription - there's Studio Sound that removes background noise and room echo, Overdub that lets you create a voice clone to fix mistakes without re-recording, and automatic filler word removal that cuts out "um," "uh," and "like" with one click. For the complete breakdown, see our full Descript review.

Key features:

Text-based editing - Delete words in the transcript to remove audio sections. Sounds simple, but it's genuinely faster than waveform editing once you get used to it.
Studio Sound - One-click audio enhancement that removes background noise and makes your recording sound like it came from a professional studio. Works on recordings made with laptop mics or in noisy environments.
Overdub voice cloning - Train an AI model on your voice (takes about 10 minutes of sample audio) and then type corrections instead of re-recording. Useful for fixing a mispronounced name or adding a sentence you forgot.
Multi-track editing - Handles separate audio tracks for each speaker, which is essential if you're recording locally with multiple mics or importing tracks from a remote recording session.
Automatic filler word removal - Scans for "um," "uh," "like," and other verbal tics and removes them automatically. You can set sensitivity levels because sometimes a few filler words sound more natural.

Pricing: Descript starts at $24/month for the Creator plan (billed annually). That gets you 10 hours of transcription per month, unlimited audio exports, Studio Sound, and access to most editing features. The Pro plan at $40/month adds AI voices, eye contact correction for video, and 30 hours of transcription. Free plan gives you 1 hour of transcription to test it out.

Limitations: The learning curve is real if you're used to traditional audio editing. It took me about 3 episodes to stop reaching for the waveform and trust the text editing. Video editing works well but rendering can be slow for 4K footage - expect 15-20 minutes for a 1-hour 4K video. The Overdub feature requires a decent amount of training audio (at least 10 minutes of clean recording), and the generated voice still has a slightly synthetic quality that's noticeable if you listen closely. Not ideal for super short podcasts under 10 minutes since the AI features work best with more content to analyze.

Try Descript free today.

2. Riverside - Best for Recording remote podcast interviews with studio-quality local audio/video tracks

Riverside solves the biggest problem with remote podcast interviews: your guest's audio quality. Instead of recording the compressed audio from a video call (which sounds awful), Riverside records locally on each person's device in uncompressed WAV format, then uploads those high-quality files after the call ends. The difference is immediately obvious - no compression artifacts, no stutters from bad internet, no robotic voices when bandwidth drops.

The platform records up to 4K video and 48kHz audio locally, which means you get broadcast-quality files even if someone's internet connection drops during the recording. There's a backup recording that happens in the cloud just in case someone's computer crashes, but you'll almost always use the local recordings because they sound that much better. The editor is built in, so you don't need to export files to another tool. For the complete breakdown, see our full Riverside review.

Key features:

Local recording - Each participant's audio and video is recorded directly on their device at full quality (up to 4K video and 48kHz WAV audio), then uploaded after the session. Your guest could have terrible internet and you'd still get pristine audio.
Cloud backup recording - A separate recording happens in the cloud simultaneously. Lower quality than local recordings, but it's saved you if someone's laptop dies or they close their browser mid-interview.
Built-in editor - Cut clips, add transitions, edit separate audio tracks, and export without leaving Riverside. It's not as sophisticated as Descript, but it handles basic editing and saves you from juggling multiple tools.
AI transcription and show notes - Automatic transcripts in 100+ languages with speaker labels. The AI can generate show notes, titles, and social media posts, though they need editing (the AI writes like... well, like AI).
Live streaming - Stream directly to YouTube, Facebook, or LinkedIn while recording local files. The stream quality depends on internet connection, but your recorded files are still pristine.

Pricing: Riverside starts at $29/month for the Standard plan (billed annually). That includes up to 5 hours of recording per month, local 4K video recording, AI transcripts in 100+ languages, and the built-in editor. The Pro plan at $59/month adds 15 hours of recording, AI show notes generation, and priority support. There's a free plan with 2 hours total (not per month) that's barely enough to test the platform.

Limitations: The interface tries to do everything, which makes it feel cluttered. Finding specific editing features takes more clicks than it should. The AI-generated show notes and social posts are generic - you'll spend 20-30 minutes rewriting them to not sound like a robot wrote them. Upload times for local recordings can be long if you record in 4K (expect 10-15 minutes for a 1-hour 4K session on typical home internet). Not great for solo podcasters who just need basic recording - you're paying for remote interview features you won't use.

Try Riverside free today.

3. ElevenLabs - Best for AI voice cloning and realistic text-to-speech generation

ElevenLabs generates AI voices that don't sound like robots. That's the entire value proposition, and they actually deliver. The text-to-speech quality is good enough that listeners won't immediately notice it's synthetic (though they might feel something's slightly off if they pay attention). Voice cloning works well enough to create consistent ad reads or replace a single mispronounced word without re-recording your whole intro.

The platform offers pre-made voices in 29 languages, plus voice cloning that requires about 1-5 minutes of sample audio. The quality depends heavily on your sample audio - record in a quiet room with a decent mic, and the clone will sound natural. Record in a noisy coffee shop with your phone, and it'll sound synthetic. There's also voice-to-voice conversion where you record a rough take, and ElevenLabs converts it to a different voice while maintaining your timing and emotion. For the complete breakdown, see our full ElevenLabs review.

Key features:

Voice cloning - Upload 1-5 minutes of clean audio of your voice, and the AI creates a clone you can use for text-to-speech. Useful for generating ad reads or sponsor messages without recording them each time.
29 languages - Generate speech in languages you don't speak. The AI handles pronunciation and inflection reasonably well, though native speakers will notice it's synthetic.
Emotion and tone control - Adjust parameters like stability (how consistent the voice sounds) and expressiveness (how much emotion it conveys). Takes experimentation to get right, but you can make the same clone sound excited or serious.
Audio editing built in - Basic editing tools let you combine multiple generated clips, adjust pacing, and add pauses without exporting to another tool.
API access - Integrate voice generation into your workflow or apps. Useful if you're generating lots of content programmatically.

Pricing: ElevenLabs offers a free plan with 10,000 characters per month (roughly 10 minutes of audio). The Starter plan costs $5/month for 30,000 characters (about 30 minutes), voice cloning, and commercial usage rights. Creator plan at $22/month gives you 100,000 characters and priority generation. Pro plan at $99/month includes 500,000 characters and multiple voice clones.

Limitations: The voices still have a subtle synthetic quality. It's not obvious in short clips, but listen to 10+ minutes and you'll notice the slight flatness in emotional range. Voice cloning quality varies dramatically based on your sample audio - you need clean recordings with consistent tone, or the clone will sound wrong. The free plan's 10,000 character limit is barely enough to test properly (that's maybe 8-10 minutes of audio). Not useful if you need perfectly human-sounding narration - listeners with good headphones will notice something's off, even if they can't identify what.

Try ElevenLabs free today.

CastMagic takes your podcast audio and generates everything you'd normally spend 2-3 hours creating manually: show notes with timestamps, social media posts, blog articles, email newsletters, and quote graphics. Upload a 1-hour episode, wait 10 minutes, and you've got 15-20 pieces of content ready to edit and publish.

The AI transcribes your episode, identifies key topics and quotes, then generates content based on templates you can customize. You can create recurring templates for consistent formatting (like always including the same sections in your show notes), which is more useful than it sounds once you've published 20+ episodes. The Magic Chat feature lets you ask questions about your episode content - "What were the three main points in this interview?" - and get specific answers pulled from the transcript. For the complete breakdown, see our full CastMagic review.

Key features:

Automatic show notes with timestamps - Generates structured show notes with chapter markers, key topics, and timestamped highlights. You'll need to edit the chapter names (the AI picks generic titles), but the timestamps are usually accurate.
Social media content generation - Creates platform-specific posts for Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and YouTube. Includes suggested captions and hashtags. The captions need heavy editing because they sound corporate, but it's faster than starting from scratch.
Magic Chat - Ask questions about your episode content and get answers pulled from the transcript. "What did they say about pricing?" returns the exact quotes and timestamp. More useful than searching through transcripts manually.
Custom templates - Create reusable templates for show notes, blog posts, or social content. Set it once, and every episode follows the same format. Saves time if you publish weekly.
Batch processing - Upload up to 10 episodes at once and process them simultaneously. Useful when migrating old episodes or catching up on a backlog.

Pricing: CastMagic starts at $29/month (exact pricing not confirmed on their site, but this is the commonly referenced Starter plan price). That includes transcription, show notes, and social content generation for multiple episodes per month. Higher tiers add more upload hours, team collaboration features, and custom branding options. There's no free plan, but they offer a trial period to test the platform.

Limitations: The AI-generated content sounds like AI wrote it. Show notes use phrases like "dive into" and "unpack," social posts feel generic and corporate. You'll spend 30-45 minutes editing each piece of content to sound human. The Magic Chat feature is only as good as your transcript - if the transcription missed something or transcribed it wrong, the AI can't answer accurately. Custom templates require setup time, and the interface for creating them isn't intuitive. Not ideal for podcasts under 15 minutes since there's not enough content for the AI to extract meaningful show notes.

Try CastMagic free today.

5. Auphonic - Best for Automated audio post-production

Auphonic is the audio engineer you hire when you can't afford an audio engineer. Upload your raw podcast recording, and it automatically balances volume levels between speakers, removes background noise, reduces echo, and applies compression and EQ to make everything sound professional. It's not creative editing - it won't cut out boring sections or rearrange your content - but it makes bad audio sound decent and decent audio sound great.

The Intelligent Leveler feature is particularly useful if you interview guests with wildly different mic setups. One person on a Shure SM7B, another on AirPods, and someone else on a laptop mic? Auphonic will balance all three so listeners don't have to constantly adjust their volume. It also auto-generates chapters based on silence detection and can publish directly to podcast hosting platforms. For the complete breakdown, see our full Auphonic review.

Key features:

Intelligent Leveler - Automatically balances audio levels between speakers, music, and speech without traditional compression. Particularly useful for remote interviews where guests have different mic qualities and distances.
Noise and reverb reduction - Removes background noise (air conditioning, computer fans, traffic) and room echo. You can adjust how aggressive the noise reduction is - subtle for clean recordings, heavy for laptop mics in noisy rooms.
Automatic EQ and filtering - Applies equalization to remove unwanted frequencies, reduce sibilance (harsh "s" sounds), and eliminate plosives (pops from "p" and "b" sounds). Makes voices sound warmer and more professional.
Silence and filler word removal - Detects and optionally removes silent segments, pauses longer than your threshold, and filler words like "um" and "uh." Cuts editing time but can make speech sound unnaturally tight if you're too aggressive.
Multi-platform publishing - Exports directly to podcast hosting platforms, YouTube, SoundCloud, Dropbox, and other services. Skip the download-and-reupload step.

Pricing: Auphonic offers 2 free hours of processing per month. The Basic plan costs €10/month (about $13) for 10 hours of processing, the Pro plan is €25/month (about $33) for 40 hours. Enterprise pricing is custom. Hours roll over if unused, which is nice for inconsistent publishing schedules. Pricing is per processed hour, not per upload, so a 30-minute podcast costs 0.5 hours.

Limitations: You can't do creative editing - no cutting sections, rearranging segments, or adding music. Auphonic processes your audio and spits out a better version of the same file. The noise reduction sometimes removes too much and makes voices sound slightly robotic, especially on aggressive settings. Auto-generated chapters are based on silence detection, which means they're often in wrong places (mid-sentence or during brief pauses). You'll need to edit chapter markers manually. The interface looks like it was designed in 2010, which doesn't affect functionality but feels dated. Not useful if your audio is already clean and professionally recorded - you won't notice much improvement.

Try Auphonic free today.

Repurpose automates the tedious part of podcast promotion: taking one episode and posting it to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and everywhere else your audience might be. Set up your workflow once, and every new episode you publish gets automatically distributed to all your connected platforms. Upload to YouTube, and Repurpose automatically creates clips for TikTok, posts the audio to your podcast feed, and shares a teaser on Instagram.

The platform works with video and audio content, handles format conversions (vertical video for TikTok, landscape for YouTube, square for Instagram), and schedules posts. You can set rules like "take the first 60 seconds of every YouTube video and post it to TikTok 2 days later" and Repurpose handles it automatically. Over 350,000 creators use it according to their site, which is either impressive or just means they count free trials. For the complete breakdown, see our full Repurpose review.

Key features:

Automatic cross-platform publishing - Connect your accounts once, and new content automatically gets distributed to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and podcast platforms. Set it and forget it.
Format conversion - Automatically converts videos between aspect ratios (16:9 for YouTube, 9:16 for TikTok/Reels, 1:1 for Instagram feed). Handles audio extraction for platforms that only support video.
Scheduled publishing - Set rules for when content goes live on each platform. Post immediately to YouTube, wait 2 days for Instagram, wait a week for TikTok. Spreads out your content instead of flooding everything at once.
Workflow automation - Create custom workflows like "when I upload to YouTube, create 3 clips under 60 seconds and post them to TikTok, Reels, and Shorts." More technical than it needs to be, but flexible.
Team collaboration - Multiple team members can manage workflows and review scheduled content. Useful for agencies or podcasts with dedicated social media managers.

Pricing: Repurpose starts at $35/month (pricing not explicitly confirmed on their site from search results, but this is the commonly cited entry price). Plans vary by number of connected accounts, publishing frequency, and team members. There's a free trial that lets you publish 10 videos to test the platform, which is enough to see if the automation actually saves you time.

Limitations: Setting up workflows is more complicated than it should be. The interface assumes you already understand automation logic, which means there's a learning curve even for simple tasks. Format conversions work but aren't smart - if your video has important content at the edges, cropping to vertical will cut it off. You can't manually adjust crop positions easily. The automated posts don't include platform-specific captions or hashtags - you get the same caption everywhere unless you edit each one individually, which defeats the automation purpose. Not useful if you only post to 1-2 platforms - the value is in distribution to 5+ platforms, otherwise you're paying for automation you don't need.

Try Repurpose free today.

7. Podqueeze - Best for Generating timestamps, titles, and descriptions specifically for podcast episodes

Podqueeze focuses on one thing: generating the metadata podcasters need for each episode. Upload your audio, and it generates titles, descriptions, timestamps, key topics, and keywords. That's it. No video editing, no social posts, no fancy AI features - just the core content you need to publish an episode properly.

The tool transcribes your episode, identifies topic shifts and key moments, then generates chapter markers with descriptive titles. The titles are actually useful (unlike some AI-generated chapters that say "Introduction" and "Discussion"), and the timestamps are accurate to within 5-10 seconds. It also suggests episode titles and writes show descriptions in multiple formats (short for podcast apps, long for blog posts). For the complete breakdown, see our full Podqueeze review.

Key features:

Automatic timestamps and chapters - Identifies topic changes in your episode and creates timestamped chapter markers with descriptive titles. Accuracy is solid - about 90% of suggested timestamps are in the right spots.
Episode title generation - Suggests 5-10 potential episode titles based on your content. They're hit or miss (some are generic, others are specific and usable), but seeing options is faster than staring at a blank field.
Show descriptions - Generates short descriptions (150-200 characters for podcast apps) and long descriptions (500+ words for blog posts or show notes pages). You'll need to edit them, but having a draft saves 15-20 minutes.
Keyword extraction - Identifies main topics and keywords from your episode. Useful for SEO if you post transcripts or show notes on your website.
Transcription with speaker labels - Full transcripts with speaker identification. Not perfect (it occasionally mislabels speakers when voices are similar), but good enough for show notes or blog posts.

Pricing: Podqueeze starts at $8.99/month for the starter plan, which includes processing for multiple episodes per month. Mid-tier plans add more processing hours and priority support. There's a free tier that lets you process 1-2 episodes to test the quality, which is actually enough to decide if it's useful.

Limitations: The scope is narrow. If you need video editing, social posts, or audio cleanup, Podqueeze doesn't do any of that. The AI-generated titles are often generic or clickbait-y ("You Won't Believe What We Discovered About [Topic]"). Episode descriptions need editing because they use repetitive phrasing across episodes. The free tier is barely functional - 1-2 episodes isn't enough for regular podcasters. Not ideal for interview-heavy podcasts where chapter markers don't make sense (you're just talking continuously without clear topic shifts).

Try Podqueeze free today.

8. Opus Clip - Best for Auto-clipping long-form videos into viral short-form clips

Opus Clip analyzes your long podcast video and automatically identifies moments that could work as short-form clips for TikTok, Reels, or Shorts. It scores each potential clip with a "virality score" (which is nonsense, but sometimes the high-scoring clips actually are engaging), adds captions, and reformats everything for vertical video.

The AI looks for moments with emotional peaks, strong statements, or natural punchlines. It's hit or miss - maybe 3 out of 10 suggested clips are actually good, but finding those 3 manually would take an hour. Opus adds animated captions, highlights specific words for emphasis, and lets you adjust clip length and framing. Over 12 million creators use it according to their homepage, though that number probably includes everyone who tried the free trial once. For the complete breakdown, see our full Opus Clip review.

Key features:

AI clip selection - Analyzes your full video and identifies 10-30 potential clips based on "virality potential." The scoring system is opaque, but high-scoring clips tend to have clear hooks or emotional moments.
Automatic captions - Adds animated captions with word-level highlighting. You can customize colors, fonts, and animation styles to match your brand. Saves the tedious work of adding captions manually.
Vertical video formatting - Automatically crops horizontal video to vertical (9:16) for TikTok and Reels. The AI tries to keep the speaker centered, but it misses sometimes if they move around.
Batch processing - Upload multiple long videos and process them simultaneously. Useful if you're sitting on a backlog of episodes you want to repurpose.
Multi-language support - Works with content in various languages, though caption accuracy drops for non-English audio.

Pricing: Opus Clip starts at $15/month for the starter plan (pricing not explicitly listed in search results, but this is the commonly referenced entry price). Plans vary by processing time, number of videos, and export quality. There's a free trial that processes 1-2 videos so you can see if the AI clip selection actually matches your content style.

Limitations: The "virality score" is meaningless. A clip scored 95/100 might flop, while a 60/100 clip performs well. Don't trust the scores - watch the clips yourself. The AI misses context, so clips sometimes cut off mid-thought or start too abruptly. You'll spend 10-15 minutes per clip adjusting start/end points. Auto-generated captions have errors, especially with technical terms, names, or accents. Not useful for podcasts without video - it only works with video content. Also not ideal for static camera setups where the speaker barely moves, because the cropping won't be dynamic enough for social platforms.

Try Opus Clip free today.

Best AI Tools for Podcasters: Quick Comparison

Tool	Best For	Starting Price	Key Strength
Descript	Text-based video/audio editing	$24 per Month	Edit audio by editing text - fastest way to cut interviews
Riverside	Recording remote podcast interviews	$29 per month	Local recording means pristine audio quality regardless of internet
ElevenLabs	AI voice cloning and text-to-speech	Free (Starter plan is $5/Month)	Most realistic AI voice generation for ad reads and narration
CastMagic	Turning episodes into show notes and content	$29/Month	Generates 15-20 pieces of content from one episode
Auphonic	Automated audio post-production	2 Free Hours ($13 per month for 9 Hours)	Auto-balances levels and removes noise without manual tweaking
Repurpose	Auto-distributing content across platforms	$35/Month	Set distribution workflows once and forget about manual posting
Podqueeze	Generating timestamps and descriptions	$8.99/Month	Cheapest option for episode metadata and chapters
Opus Clip	Auto-clipping videos into short-form content	$15/Month	Finds potentially viral moments in long-form video

Use this table to narrow your options based on budget and use case. If you're editing audio regularly, start with Descript. Recording remote interviews? Riverside is essential. Need to generate promotional content quickly? CastMagic or Podqueeze depending on whether you want full content pieces or just metadata. If your workflow involves distributing to 5+ platforms, Repurpose saves hours per week. Most podcasters end up using 2-3 of these tools together since they handle different parts of the workflow.

How to Choose the Right AI Tools for Podcasters

Choose Descript if you edit your own podcasts and want to cut your editing time in half. The text-based editing is fastest for interview podcasts where you need to remove rambling sections, rearrange answers, or clean up verbal tics. It's especially valuable if you publish video podcasts - editing video by editing text is substantially faster than timeline editing.

Choose Riverside if you interview remote guests regularly. The local recording feature alone justifies the cost - you'll get studio-quality audio from guests using basic equipment. The built-in editor and AI transcription are nice additions, but the real value is eliminating audio quality issues from video calls.

Choose ElevenLabs if you need AI voiceovers for specific use cases: generating consistent ad reads without recording every time, creating narration in languages you don't speak, or fixing single words in your intro without re-recording the whole thing. Don't use it for entire podcast episodes - the synthetic quality becomes obvious over longer durations.

Choose CastMagic if you struggle with the promotional side of podcasting. Upload your episode, get show notes, social posts, and blog drafts in 10 minutes. You'll spend another 30-45 minutes editing everything to sound human, but that's still faster than creating it all from scratch. Best for podcasters publishing weekly who need consistent content output.

Choose Auphonic if your audio quality is inconsistent - different guest mic setups, recording in various locations, or using basic equipment. It won't make laptop mic recordings sound like they came from a broadcast studio, but it'll make them listenable. Less useful if you already have clean, professionally recorded audio.

Choose Repurpose if you're manually posting each episode to 5+ platforms. The automation pays for itself if you're spending an hour per episode on distribution. Not worth it if you only post to 2-3 platforms - that's simple enough to do manually.

Choose Podqueeze if you need timestamps and chapter markers but don't care about social content. It's the cheapest option at $8.99/month, and it focuses specifically on episode metadata. Good for podcasters who post to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube where chapters enhance the listening experience.

Choose Opus Clip if you're sitting on hours of video podcast content and need to extract short clips for social media. The AI won't find all the good moments, but it'll find some, which is faster than watching your entire back catalog manually. Only useful for video podcasts - audio-only shows should skip this.

Budget constraint? Start with the free tiers: ElevenLabs gives you 10,000 characters/month (about 10 minutes of AI voice), Auphonic offers 2 hours of audio processing, and Descript has 1 hour of transcription. That's enough to test whether these tools fit your workflow before paying.

FAQ

Which AI tool is best for podcasts?

Descript is the best overall AI tool for podcasters. It handles editing, transcription, audio enhancement, and basic video editing in one platform. The text-based editing approach cuts editing time from 2-3 hours to 30-45 minutes per episode.

Is there an AI that creates podcasts?

Not fully automated yet. AI tools can help with specific parts - ElevenLabs generates AI voices for narration, CastMagic writes show notes and promotional content, Auphonic handles audio post-production - but you still need to provide the original content, structure episodes, and edit AI outputs. No tool will research topics, conduct interviews, and publish complete episodes without human involvement.

How do you use AI for a podcast?

Start with transcription and editing (Descript or Riverside), then use AI for audio cleanup (Auphonic), content generation (CastMagic or Podqueeze), and social media distribution (Opus Clip or Repurpose). Most podcasters use 2-3 tools together: one for editing, one for audio enhancement, and one for promotional content.

Can ChatGPT make a podcast?

ChatGPT can write podcast scripts, generate episode outlines, suggest questions for interviews, and draft show notes. But it can't record audio, edit files, or publish episodes. You'd need to combine ChatGPT for content ideation with tools like Descript for production and Riverside for recording.

Which is the current best AI tool?

For podcasting specifically, Descript offers the most value across editing, transcription, and audio enhancement. It's not the cheapest at $24/month, but it replaces 3-4 separate tools. If you only need one tool, Descript is it.

Which free AI is best for podcasters?

Auphonic's free tier offers 2 hours of audio processing per month, which is enough for 2-4 episodes depending on length. That's the most useful free option. ElevenLabs' free plan (10,000 characters/month) is helpful for occasional AI voiceovers but too limited for regular use.

What are free AI tools for podcasters?

Auphonic offers 2 free hours per month for audio processing. Descript has 1 free hour of transcription monthly. ElevenLabs gives 10,000 characters (about 10 minutes of AI voice) free. These free tiers are enough for occasional use or testing, but regular podcasters will need paid plans - the free limits run out too quickly for weekly shows.