What do you need to start a podcast? A friend asked me that over coffee in June. Then he turned his laptop around so I could see the screen.
Forty-three browser tabs. Microphone comparisons. Audio interface reviews. A YouTube video titled "Do NOT start a podcast until you have these 11 things."
He had been researching for five months. He had not recorded a single second of audio.
A podcast starter kit is the minimum set of tools and decisions that gets one episode recorded and published to Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It is not a shopping list. Most of it is not equipment at all.
The part that is equipment is probably in your pocket right now.
I closed thirty-nine of his tabs while he watched. Then I told him the four things that actually matter.
Why I Am the Wrong Person to Sell You Gear
I am not a core podcaster. I am a marketer with 17 years of corporate experience who started podcasting to build a business. I have now published over 700 episodes across five shows.
That background matters here. Marketers are trained to ask one question before spending anything: what does this actually change?
When my wife started her Hindi food podcast, she used the free version of a recording app. Her microphone cost under $20 (₹1,700). That show later crossed 3.1 million downloads and hit the Apple Podcasts Top 10 in its category.
Nobody who downloaded episode 400 went back and asked what microphone she used on episode 1. Not one person. Ever.
That is the whole argument. I will spend the rest of this article backing it up with specifics.
What Do You Need to Start a Podcast? The Four-Item Answer
You need four things to start a podcast. Something specific to say to one specific person, and a recording device, which your phone counts as.
Then a room quiet enough that a listener is not distracted, and a podcast host to distribute your audio.
Three of those four cost nothing. The fourth starts free.
Everything else on the internet's checklist is an upgrade, not a requirement. Upgrades are things you buy after you know what problem you are solving. Requirements are things without which nothing happens at all.
Let me take those four apart properly.
1. Something Specific to Say to One Specific Person
This is the only item you cannot buy, borrow, or download. Which is exactly why most guides skip past it in a sentence.
Here is the test I use. Finish this line out loud: "This show is for someone who ______, and every episode helps them ______."
If you cannot finish that sentence in one breath, no microphone will save you.
If you can, you are already ahead of someone who has spent $400 (₹33,500) on gear. That person still describes their show as "kind of about business and life."
My wife's version of that sentence was brutally narrow. This show is for a woman who wants to cook a regional Indian dish her mother made. Every episode walks her through one recipe, start to finish, in Hindi.
Narrow felt like a limitation. It was the growth engine.
If you are stuck at this stage, our guide on building a podcast listener profile walks through it properly.
2. A Recording Device You Already Own
Your phone records audio at a quality that would have been broadcast-grade in 1995. This is not a consolation prize. It is a fact about how far microphone hardware has come.
The catch is tuning. Phones are built to capture a birthday party from three metres away, not a voice from twenty centimetres. So the default settings work against you.
Three adjustments fix most of it:
- Turn on airplane mode before every single recording. One incoming call can end a take. On some phones it ends the recording entirely.
- Hold the phone at chin height, about 20 cm away. Angle it slightly off to the side rather than straight at your mouth. That angle kills the popping on P and B sounds.
- On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Voice Memos, then Audio Quality, and switch to Lossless. The default is compressed, which throws away detail to save storage.
If you own wired earbuds with an inline microphone, use those instead of the phone's built-in mic. A pair costs $10 to $20 (₹850 to ₹1,700). Most people already have a set in a drawer.
The inline mic sits closer to your mouth. That means it picks up more of you and less of the room.
That is a real upgrade for zero additional spend. The full walkthrough is in our post on how to record a podcast on your phone.
3. A Room That Is Quiet Enough
Room sound is the single biggest difference between audio that sounds beginner and audio that sounds fine. It matters more than microphone choice.
Not by a little. By a lot.
A $300 (₹25,000) microphone in a bare room with tiled floors sounds worse than a phone in a wardrobe. I have tested this in front of people who did not believe me until they heard it.
Hard surfaces bounce your voice back at the mic. The reflection arrives a few milliseconds late. That delay is what your ear reads as "hollow" or "recorded in a bathroom."
Soft surfaces absorb it. So record facing a bed, a sofa, a hanging curtain, or a rack of clothes.
Close the wardrobe door and sit in front of it if you have to. A surprising number of published audiobooks are recorded exactly that way.
Cost: zero. Time: about ninety seconds of moving a chair.
4. A Podcast Host
A podcast host is a service that stores your audio files and generates your RSS feed. An RSS feed is a single web address listing every episode of your show. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and every other app read that address automatically.
That last part confuses almost every beginner, so it is worth sitting with.
You do not upload your episodes to Apple or Spotify. You upload them to your host once. Those apps read your feed and pull the episode in on their own.
You submit your feed to each app one time, at the start. After that, publishing is a single upload.
This is also the only item on the list that eventually costs money. It is the one worth paying for first.
Podcast Equipment Basics: What to Buy, and When
Buy equipment when a specific problem shows up in your audio, not before. The honest sequence is simple. Record five episodes on what you own, listen back to all five, then buy the one thing that fixes the most annoying flaw.
Here is what I recommend at each tier, and the trigger that tells you to move up.
Tier 0: what you own already ($0)
Phone plus wired earbuds plus a soft room. This is where every single person reading this should start.
Move up only when you have published at least three episodes.
Tier 1: a dedicated USB microphone ($70 to $100 / ₹5,900 to ₹8,300)
A USB microphone plugs straight into a laptop with no extra hardware in between.
The Samson Q2U runs about $70 (₹5,900) and is the one I recommend most often. It works over USB now and over XLR later, if you ever move to a mixer. The Audio-Technica ATR2100x is about $99 (₹8,300) and does the same job.
Trigger to buy: you are recording weekly and want a setup that does not involve balancing a phone on three books. Our fuller guide to podcast equipment for beginners covers the options.
Tier 2: recording and editing software you actually enjoy ($12 to $24 a month / ₹1,000 to ₹2,000)
Audacity is free and has been the standard for two decades. It does everything a solo podcaster needs. Start there.
Descript is paid. It transcribes your audio and lets you edit by deleting words in the transcript, the way you would edit a document.
Trigger to buy: you are spending more than an hour editing a thirty-minute episode and starting to dread it.
Tier 3: remote guest recording ($0 to $18 a month / ₹0 to ₹1,500)
If your show has guests, do not record over a normal video call. Call recordings compress audio badly and drop quality whenever the connection wobbles.
Zencastr records each person locally at full quality, then uploads the files. A bad connection does not ruin the audio. The code "thepodu" gets 30% off Pro.
Trigger to buy: you have booked your first guest.
Notice that every trigger is a problem you have already experienced. Not one of them is "you are about to start."
What You Don't Need (and What Believing You Do Actually Costs)
You do not need an audio interface, a mixer, a pop filter, a boom arm, acoustic foam, a logo designer, or a website before episode one. Each solves a real problem. None of those problems exist on the day you record your first episode.
Here is the specific list, and what each item is actually for:
- An audio interface. A box that converts an XLR microphone's signal into something a computer understands. You need one only if you buy an XLR microphone. If your mic is USB, an interface does nothing for you.
- A mixer. Useful for live shows and multi-microphone setups in one room. Irrelevant for a solo recording.
- Acoustic foam panels. These reduce reflections, which is real. But a duvet and a curtain do about 70% of the job for free. Foam is a later optimisation.
- A custom logo from a designer. Canva has podcast cover templates you can adapt in twenty minutes. Hiring on Fiverr costs $25 to $75 (₹2,100 to ₹6,300) and is worth doing once you know your show will continue.
- A website. Your host gives you a public episode page for free. Build a site when you have something to send people to beyond episodes.
Now the part that matters more than any individual item on that list.
Every week spent researching gear is a week of not recording. The cost compounds in a way that is easy to miss.
My friend with the 43 tabs had spent five months researching. In five months, publishing weekly, he could have had twenty episodes live.
Twenty episodes is roughly where a show starts showing up in podcast app search results, because those apps weight catalogue depth. He traded that for a spreadsheet comparing microphones he still has not bought.
That is the real price of the "I need more gear first" belief. Not the money. The twenty episodes.
The Mistake I See Most: Buying Before Recording
The most common beginner mistake is buying equipment before recording a single test episode. It happens because gear shopping feels like progress, and sounding awkward on a recording feels like failure.
Here is why it happens, mechanically.
Adding a microphone to a cart gives you a small, immediate hit of "I am doing this." Hearing your own voice played back gives you the opposite. So people do the first thing repeatedly and postpone the second thing indefinitely.
I did this myself. I launched my first audio blog at 36, before I even knew the word "podcast." I spent weeks fussing over setup and quit at 58 episodes anyway.
The gear was never the problem. Chasing a version of "good" that did not exist was the problem.
Here is the fix, and it takes twenty minutes tonight:
- Put your phone in airplane mode.
- Sit facing your bed or a wardrobe full of clothes.
- Record two minutes explaining your show idea to one specific person you know by name.
- Listen back on headphones. All of it. Do not stop halfway.
- Write down the single most annoying thing you hear.
Whatever you wrote in step 5 is your actual first problem. Solve that one. Ignore everything else the internet told you to worry about.
Nine times out of ten, what people write down is "I sound weird." That is not a gear problem at all.
It is the normal experience of hearing your own voice conducted through air instead of through your skull. It fades by about episode ten.
Free vs Paid Podcast Hosting: Which to Start With
Start on a free hosting plan if you are unsure you will stick with it. Move to paid once you have published three episodes.
Free plans limit upload hours per month and sometimes insert their own ads. Paid plans remove both and give you download statistics you can act on.
The three I recommend, and who each one is for:
| Host | Starts at | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Acast | Free plan available | Someone who wants to publish without a card on file. This is what I use for my own shows. |
| Buzzsprout | Paid, around $12 a month (₹1,000) | Someone who wants the cleanest dashboard and the best beginner documentation |
| Hubhopper | Free tier available | Indian podcasters who want strong distribution to Gaana and JioSaavn alongside the global apps |
One thing to check before you pick: IAB certification.
The IAB is the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Its certification means the host counts downloads by a standard advertisers trust. Acast and Buzzsprout are both certified.
If you ever want sponsorship money, that matters. If you never do, it costs you nothing to have it anyway. Our post on choosing the best podcast host goes deeper on the trade-offs.
Your First Week, In Order
Here is the sequence. Do these in order and do not skip forward. Each step makes the next one easier.
Day 1.
Write the one-sentence show promise: "This show is for someone who ______, and every episode helps them ______."
Day 2.
List ten episode ideas. Not five. Ten.
If you cannot get to ten, your topic is too narrow or you have not lived with it long enough yet.
Day 3.
Pick your show name and write a 200-word show description. Say who it is for in the first line, not in the fourth.
Day 4.
Make cover art in Canva. Podcast artwork must be square, at least 1400 by 1400 pixels.
Test it by shrinking it to thumbnail size on your phone. If you cannot read the title at that size, it fails. Our podcast artwork guide covers the rest.
Day 5.
Record episode 1 on your phone. Aim for fifteen minutes.
Do not script it word for word. Use a page of bullet points.
Day 6.
Edit only the obvious mistakes. Trim the start, trim the end, cut the two worst stumbles.
That is all. Do not chase perfection on episode one.
Day 7.
Create a host account, upload, and submit your feed to Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Apple review typically takes a few days, so do this before you plan any launch announcement.
Seven days. Zero purchases required. That is genuinely the whole path.
Where to Go From Here
If that seven-day list made you think "okay, but I want someone walking me through each step in more detail," that is exactly what my free 10-day email course does.
It takes the same ground this article covers and stretches it across ten short emails. One small step per day. No jargon, nothing to buy.
You can start the free 10-day podcasting eCourse here. It costs nothing and the first email lands immediately.
Listen to the Podcast Episode
A friend of mine turned his laptop around in a coffee shop and showed me forty-three open browser tabs. Microphone comparisons, hosting reviews, and a video insisting there were eleven things he absolutely had to own first. He had been researching for five months and had not recorded a single second of audio.
In this episode I break down what actually belongs in a podcast starter kit, and I close most of those tabs for you. There are four things. Three of them are completely free, and the fourth starts free.
I talk about why the item you cannot buy matters more than any microphone, how my wife's uncomfortably narrow show idea turned into the growth engine behind millions of downloads, and why the room you sit in affects your audio more than a three hundred dollar mic ever will.
I also do the maths on what five months of gear research actually costs. It is not money. It is twenty episodes.
What I cover in this episode:
- The four-item podcast starter kit, and why three of the four cost nothing at all
- The one-sentence test that tells you whether your show idea is specific enough to record
- Why room sound beats microphone choice, and the ninety-second fix that costs nothing
- What a podcast host actually does, and why you never upload episodes to Apple or Spotify
- The twenty-minute exercise to do tonight that reveals your real first problem
Tools I recommend when you are ready to upgrade:
- Buzzsprout — the podcast host I point beginners to, with the cleanest dashboard and the best documentation for a first-timer
- Samson Q2U — my recommended first microphone, because it works over USB now and over XLR later if you ever grow into a mixer
- Audacity — free, twenty years old, and still the best place for a beginner to learn editing
If this episode convinced you that your podcast starter kit is already sitting in your pocket, the next step is doing the seven things in order. Join my 7-Day Podcast Launch Challenge and go from idea to a live show in a week, one day at a time.
If this helped you close a few tabs, send it to the friend who has been researching microphones since March.
[ACAST EMBED — after uploading this episode to Acast, paste the Acast player embed code here]
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you need to start a podcast with no money at all?
A phone, wired earbuds with an inline mic, a room with soft furnishings, and a free hosting plan from Acast or Hubhopper. That combination costs zero. It publishes to Apple Podcasts and Spotify exactly the same way a $2,000 (₹167,000) studio setup does. My wife's podcast started on roughly this setup and later crossed 3.1 million downloads.
Do I need a microphone to start a podcast?
No. Your phone's microphone, or the inline mic on wired earbuds, is enough for your first several episodes. Buy a dedicated USB microphone like the Samson Q2U at around $70 (₹5,900) once you have published three or more episodes. By then you know you are going to keep going.
What is a podcast host and why can't I just upload to Spotify?
A podcast host stores your audio and generates an RSS feed. That feed is a single web address listing all your episodes. Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and every other app read the feed and pull episodes in automatically. You submit your feed to each app once at the start, then only ever upload to your host.
How long should my first podcast episode be?
Fifteen to twenty-five minutes is a good target for episode one. That is long enough to cover something properly and short enough to edit without hating your life. Length matters far less than whether the episode delivers what its title promised.
Do I need a website before starting a podcast?
No. Your podcast host provides a public page for every episode automatically. Build a website later, once you have something beyond episodes to send people to, such as an email list or a paid offer.
How much does it cost to start a podcast realistically?
Zero to start. Most people spend $12 to $15 a month (₹1,000 to ₹1,300) on hosting once they move off a free plan. Add somewhere between $0 and $100 (₹8,300) once, for a microphone. Anyone quoting a $1,000 (₹83,500) starting budget is describing a studio, not a podcast.
How many episodes should I have ready before I launch?
Three. Publish all three on day one. A listener who finds you and likes the first episode can immediately consume two more. That is what converts a click into a subscription. One lonely episode gives them nothing to do next.
What is the best free podcast recording software?
Audacity, and it is not close for a beginner. It is free, runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and has been the standard for over twenty years. There are more free tutorials for it than for any paid alternative. Move to something like Descript only when editing time becomes your bottleneck.
Will my podcast sound bad if I record on my phone?
It sounds noticeably worse in a room with hard floors and blank walls. It sounds perfectly acceptable when you record facing a bed or a wardrobe. Room sound affects perceived quality more than microphone choice does, which is why a phone in a soft room beats an expensive mic in an empty one.
How do I know if my podcast idea is specific enough?
Try to finish this sentence out loud: "This show is for someone who ______, and every episode helps them ______." If it takes more than one breath, the idea is still too broad. Narrow it until the sentence is uncomfortable, then check that you can still list ten episode ideas.
Do I need to be an expert to start a podcast?
No, but you do need to be genuinely further along than your listener on one specific thing. That gap is the whole value. Some of the most durable shows are hosted by people documenting a journey rather than reporting from the finish line.
The Forty-Three Tabs
My friend with the 43 open tabs recorded his first episode eleven days after that coffee. On his phone. Facing his bedroom curtains. Fourteen minutes long.
He told me afterwards it was worse than he hoped and better than he feared. Which is roughly what everyone says.
He has published nine episodes since. He still has not bought a microphone.
So here is the only question left: what would you have to stop researching to record two minutes tonight?
Resources that I recommend
Here are some of the resources that I recommended in this episode and the ones that I recommend in Podcasting.
- Ubersuggest – The Keyword research tool that I recommend
Below are the tools that I recommend for podcasting —
- Buzzsprout – Podcast hosting
- Behringer Audio Interface – You will need an audio interface if you are using an XLR microphone. This is my recommended audio interface.
- Behringer Audio Interface (budget option) – A lower-cost alternative if you're just starting out and want to keep costs down.
- Zencastr – Zencastr is the easiest option to record interviews, both audio-only and audio+video. This is a must for an interview podcast.
- Audacity – This is the best and most feature-rich free audio editing software. It gives you a lot of options while editing your interviews.
- Samson Q2U – My recommended microphone
- Audio Technica ATR-2110x – My recommended alternative microphone
- TidyCal – My recommended calendar and booking solutions
Thank you for joining in
I hope you enjoyed the information that I shared in this episode.
Do subscribe to the show on your favorite podcasting platform in order to stay updated with the latest episodes that I release.
The Podcasting University is available on almost all podcasting platforms. The link to the prominent ones are mentioned below –
Planning to start a podcast?
Then you might want to join my "7-Day Podcast Launch Challenge".
Disclaimer: Some of these links above are affiliate links. If you decide to make a purchase from the links above, I will earn a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you. Also, The Podcasting University is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
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