5 Best Podcast Databases Compared for Outreach Teams

1. MillionPodcasts: best for niche filtering and verified contacts

MillionPodcasts is a podcast database for PR and marketing outreach. It indexes 3M+ shows across 11.4K categories and 180 languages, applies 17 stacked filter dimensions simultaneously, and attaches SMTP-verified contacts to 1.2 million of those shows. The free plan covers initial exploration; the Starter plan at $12 per month billed yearly unlocks verified contacts, full filter results, and CSV or Excel export. The platform handles the sourcing step: pitching and follow-up happen in your own tools.

• 17 stacked filter dimensions: niche, city-level location, US metro presets, accepts guests, has email, has sponsor, language (180 options), episode length, listener type persona, age generation, income band, gender skew, estimated monthly listener range, network, and latest episode date, applying all simultaneously in a single query
• Verified contacts on 1.2M shows: manually researched host, producer, and booker emails plus Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram handles; 19.5K contacts refreshed in the last 3 months; 340.5K new shows added to the index in the same period
• Episode search and standing alerts: 62.1M episodes indexed in a dedicated Episodes tab, with a Create Alert option that converts any query into an ongoing monitor for new matching shows
• AI semantic search on Pro and above: surfaces conceptually related shows beyond keyword matches, useful for niches where topic descriptions vary widely across show descriptions
• Lists and exports: up to 10,000 shows per list, CSV or Excel with customizable columns on every paid plan; Business tiers add a concierge team that builds briefed lists on request
• Charts and boolean search: Apple, Spotify, and YouTube charts by country and category; four-field Advanced Search with AND, OR, NOT, and exact-phrase logic

Best for: PR teams, marketing agencies, and freelancers who need to narrow a large database by specific niche criteria and export a list with verified host, producer, and booker contacts. The combination of filter depth, verified contact quality, and self-serve pricing makes it the strongest all-around option for outreach research in this comparison.

Standout: 17 filter dimensions that stack simultaneously in a single query, covering niche or beat, city-level location, US metro presets, accepts guests, has email, has sponsor, language across 180 options, episode length, listener type persona, age generation, income band, gender skew, estimated monthly listener range (Nano to Mega), network, and latest episode date. No competing self-serve tool in this comparison stacks filter criteria at this depth.

Pricing: Free at $0, no card: 100 searches per month, 250 results on unfiltered queries. Starter $12 per month billed yearly: 1,500 contact unlocks per year, all 17 filters, full result counts, CSV and Excel export. Pro $30 per month: 12,000 unlocks, AI search, 250 searches per month. Business $60 per month: 60,000 unlocks, concierge service. Business Plus $150 per month: unlimited unlocks, searches, exports, and lists. Annual billing saves up to 40 percent.

Watch out for: The platform handles list-building, not sending. There is no built-in pitching, follow-up sequencing, or reply tracking at any tier. Teams that also need integrated pitching can use MillionPodcasts for discovery and a tool like Podseeker for the sending step. The free plan is best for exploring the platform before upgrading.

2. Listen Notes: best for episode-level content research

Listen Notes is a podcast search engine built for content research rather than outreach list-building. It indexes 3.7M+ shows and 189M+ episodes, and its episode-level search returns results by what was actually discussed and when, not just what a show description claims to cover. Contact data is limited to public RSS feeds, which is why it works better as a research starting point than as a pitching database.

• Episode-level index: returns results by what was actually discussed inside episodes and when, the distinction that matters when a general-interest show occasionally covers a specific niche topic that does not appear in its description
• Free research filters: language, episode length, category, and publish date apply without an account, enough to map any topic across shows active in the last 30 days
• Listen Later playlists: save and annotate episodes while researching, useful for tracking which shows are currently covering a topic versus which ones covered it in a past year
• Developer API: the episode index available programmatically for custom tooling, bulk content analysis, or integrating podcast data into a larger research workflow

Best for: The research phase that comes before outreach. Content strategists, journalists, and PR teams use it to map how a topic is covered across the podcast landscape before building a contact list in a database with verified emails. It is also the most useful free first step for any team that needs to understand their niche before committing to a paid tool.

Standout: Episode-level search across 189M+ episodes, filterable by language, episode length, category, and publish date, at no cost and with no account required. Results show what specific episodes covered and when, which surfaces active shows that show-level keyword search misses entirely.

Pricing: Free for web search with no account. Developer API plans for programmatic access at rates listed on the Listen Notes website.

Watch out for: No verified host contacts, no guest acceptance filter, no niche filter stacking, and no outreach workflow. RSS feed emails on show profiles are typically generic inboxes. Listen Notes is a research tool; it feeds the step that comes before a contact database, not a substitute for one.

3. Podseeker: best for built-in pitching workflow

Podseeker pairs a database of host and producer emails with a built-in pitching workflow. You search shows, score each against a client brief with a Pitch Score, and send pitches through a connected Gmail or Outlook inbox without switching tools. Follow-up sequences stop automatically when a recipient replies. Discovery leans on 200+ broad outreach topics rather than the granular stacked filtering that dedicated niche databases offer.

• Booking intelligence per show: recent guests, topics covered, and how the show typically books new guests, providing a relevant angle before reaching out rather than a generic pitch
• Pitch Score: algorithmic match between each show and a client brief, reducing manual triage when running campaigns across multiple clients at once
• Automated follow-up with reply detection: sequences stop when a recipient responds, removing double-contact risk and the manual tracking work that prevents it
• Weekly show refresh on Grow: new podcast recommendations per client brief update weekly; email enrichment available for contacts outside the main database

Best for: PR agencies and publicists pitching more than 20 shows per week who want discovery, sending, and follow-up tracking in one subscription. Podseeker is purpose-built for pitching volume and workflow automation. Teams whose main bottleneck is sending and tracking rather than niche discovery will find it fits the job most directly.

Standout: Gmail and Outlook inbox integration with automated follow-up sequences that stop when a recipient replies, plus shared team workspaces for multi-client agency use.

Pricing: Launch $49 per month for one user and 50 pitches per month, no CSV export; 3-day trial requires a credit card. Grow $99 per month for three users, 400 pitches per month, and 5,000 CSV exports per month.

Watch out for: The Launch plan's 50-pitch cap is exhausted in one active campaign week. Discovery is based on broad outreach topics rather than stacked niche criteria, so teams that need to qualify shows by audience demographics, location, or guest acceptance typically pair Podseeker with a more filter-capable database for the discovery step.

4. Rephonic: best for listener demographics

Rephonic is built around audience intelligence. It places per-episode listener estimates and demographic splits alongside every contact record, so you can qualify a show's actual reach and audience composition before pitching it. It also includes a connected inbox for sending pitches directly from the platform. The audience data layer is the most detailed available at a self-serve price, and the entry cost at $99 per month reflects that specialisation.

• Per-episode listener estimates: audience figures at the episode level rather than a show average, closer to what a show's actual rate card should report and more useful for calculating campaign reach
• Guest history with booking patterns: previous guests with links to their other podcast appearances, giving context for a relevant pitch angle before reaching out
• Pipeline manager with client sharing: tag shows by campaign status, share live views with clients, and set new-show monitoring alerts on Standard and Business tiers
• Contact concierge on Standard and Business: research credits let Rephonic's team source contacts missing from the database, typically within the same week

Best for: Media buyers and PR teams whose show selections depend on audience composition data and who present that data to clients or use it in rate card decisions. If you regularly need to show a client that a shortlisted show reaches a high-income 35 to 50-year-old audience, Rephonic's data layer covers that requirement directly.

Standout: Per-episode listener estimates and demographic splits, including age, income, gender, and location, accessible on every plan. This is the data point most show media kits avoid disclosing and the one most useful for calculating campaign reach before committing to a pitch.

Pricing: Light $99 per month for one user and 100 searches per month. Standard $149 for five users and 500 searches. Business $299 for ten users with unlimited searches. Annual billing gives two months free. A 7-day full-access trial is available.

Watch out for: The Light plan's 100-search limit constrains heavy research use. At $99 for a single seat, it is the highest entry cost among the self-serve tools in this comparison. Rephonic earns that cost for teams that genuinely use audience data in their workflow; for teams that do not, teams that do not regularly use audience data in their decisions may find the $99 entry cost hard to justify against tools with broader filter capability.

5. Podchaser Pro: best for Power Score and sponsor data

Podchaser Pro lists more than 5.5 million podcasts and adds two data layers no other tool in this comparison provides: a Power Score ranking each show on a 0 to 100 scale, and a sponsor database with spend estimates for more than 15,000 advertisers. Access requires a demo and an enterprise contract, with starting prices around $2,500 per year based on independent reporting. It is an enterprise research platform, not a self-serve starting point.

• Power Score (0 to 100): cross-platform influence ranking useful for building tiered pitch lists that separate flagship shows from mid-tier and emerging targets
• Sponsor database for 15,000+ brands: spend estimates by show and time window for competitive positioning, sponsor conflict checks, and identifying advertising patterns in a category
• Role-based contacts: hosts, producers, booking agents, and network representatives organized by role, reducing guesswork on larger shows with multiple contacts
• Detailed audience profiles: age, gender, income, interests, job titles, and geography alongside monthly and per-episode reach estimates
• Research extras: episode transcripts for selected shows, daily charts by country and category, and keyword or brand mention alerts for ongoing monitoring

Best for: Media buying teams and agencies where sponsor conflict screening or influence tier ranking is on the brief and where enterprise contracts are standard operating practice. If neither the Power Score nor sponsor spend data appears in your work, the self-serve tools in this comparison cover everything else at a significantly lower cost.

Standout: Sponsor spend estimates for 15,000+ advertisers showing which brands back which shows and over what time window. No other tool in this comparison provides sponsor intelligence at any price point.

Pricing: Custom, demo required. Independent analysis by Rephonic (2025) reports starting costs around $2,500 per year for a single seat.

Watch out for: The enterprise sales process creates weeks of lead time before access. Category taxonomy is broad, so niche filtering below genre level requires manual qualification that specialist filter-based databases handle automatically. The other four tools in this comparison offer self-serve access at a fraction of the cost, each covering a different part of the outreach workflow.

6. What makes a good podcast discovery platform?

Most comparisons rank podcast databases by catalog size. That metric is irrelevant for outreach. A database with 5 million shows and three filter categories produces a slower, less qualified list than one with 2 million shows and 17 stacked criteria. Six criteria decide whether a tool narrows a brief to a usable shortlist or delivers a raw dump you spend hours cleaning.

Each criterion includes a quick test you can run on a free tier before committing to any paid plan.

Filter depth: the criterion that separates tools most sharply

A filter stopping at Business or Technology returns thousands of shows. A filter that stacks niche, city, accepts guests, active in the last 60 days, and listener income high in one query returns dozens. That difference is the gap between a research session that takes three hours and one that takes 15 minutes. Filter depth is where the five platforms here diverge the most, and it is the single most important test to run before choosing a tool.

Test it before buying: run your narrowest real client brief with all available filters applied. If the result count stays above 500 with specific niche criteria applied, the filters are not granular enough for targeted outreach. If the tool returns a precise shortlist, it is built for the job.

Contact data: verified vs scraped from RSS feeds

RSS emails pulled from show descriptions are typically generic inboxes, often something like contact@showname.com. Manually verified host, producer, and booker emails reach real decision-makers. The difference in response rate across a 200-pitch campaign is significant, and it is the main factor that separates databases from each other on practical outreach results.

Before paying, open a profile for a mid-size show in your target niche and check the contact record. A single generic inbox signals an RSS pull. Named contacts with job titles indicate a manually built record. Ask whether contacts are SMTP verified before signing up; not all tools make this clear on their marketing pages.

Episode-level search: what was discussed, not what a show claims

Show-level search reads descriptions. A general business podcast can claim broad coverage while every recent episode focuses on a topic outside your niche. Episode-level search reads actual episode content and timestamps. For specific niches, this distinction determines whether your shortlist is accurate or accidental.

Check whether the platform has an episode search tab and whether results carry publish dates. Without a publish date, you cannot verify whether a show's coverage of your topic is current or from years ago, which makes the result unreliable for active outreach.

Data freshness: how quickly podcast data decays

Podcast data degrades fast. Hosts change, shows go dormant, emails bounce, and feeds break. A database that was crawled once and left unattended becomes a source of wasted pitches within a quarter. Look for a visible latest-episode-date filter, a stated contact refresh cadence, and a count of recently added shows. Those signals indicate a living database rather than a static snapshot.

Audience data: when it earns its cost

Listener demographics add cost. They earn that cost when audience composition is a decision-making factor: when you need to show a client that a show reaches their target income bracket, or when demographic fit determines whether a placement makes the brief. For pure guest placement at volume, topic fit and verified contact quality matter more than demographic splits. Several tools in this comparison include listener type, age, income, and gender filters at lower price points for teams that need the data without paying for full per-episode estimates.

Workflow: the cost that does not appear on the pricing page

The real cost of a podcast database includes the subscription plus the time to move a list from the tool into your outreach workflow. Evaluate list size limits, export formats, alert capability for new shows matching a saved search, and team seat availability at the tier you need. A tool that looks affordable at $12 per month but requires an hour of manual cleanup per export is more expensive in practice than it appears on the pricing page.

7. How we evaluated these five podcast database platforms

MillionPodcasts was evaluated on the Pro plan. Each competitor was tested on its lowest paid tier when a free trial was available, or on its free plan where no trial existed. All testing took place in June 2026, and all pricing reflects each tool's public pricing page at that time.

We ran 12 queries per platform across three difficulty levels. Broad queries, such as marketing podcasts and true crime, baselined general search quality. Mid-niche queries, such as B2B SaaS shows for finance leaders and mental health podcasts for therapists, tested whether filter stacking returned usable results. Narrow queries, such as Spanish-language personal finance shows in Latin America, active in the last 60 days, that accept guests, revealed the real capability differences. Narrow query performance produced the largest gaps between tools.

Results were evaluated on four factors: first-page relevance to the search intent, number of results with a verified email attached, time to export a usable list, and filter accuracy on narrow queries. A platform returning 200 narrow results with contacts on 20 of them scored lower on contact accessibility than one returning 60 results with contacts on 55. The ratio matters more than raw count for actual outreach work.

Contact accuracy was not independently audited across every platform. Any pricing or feature detail not confirmable from a public page is labeled as custom, quote only.

8. Every platform on the same criteria, side by side

The same five platforms across eight criteria. Read the rows that match your primary bottleneck.

9. Which podcast database matches your outreach workflow?

Each platform here wins a specific workflow. Here is the clearest match for each one and the situation where it works best alongside another tool.

• Choose MillionPodcasts for niche outreach research at scale. It covers the full sourcing workflow from search to filtered list to verified-contact export in one place, at the lowest price point in this comparison for that combination. The Starter plan at $12 per month billed yearly is the practical entry point for teams doing regular outreach. Teams that also need integrated pitching and follow-up tracking pair it with Podseeker: MillionPodcasts for discovery and qualification, Podseeker for the sending step.
• Choose Listen Notes for the research phase before outreach. Its episode index is the deepest in this comparison for understanding which shows are actively covering a topic right now. Use it to build a rough shortlist by topic, then move to a contact database when you are ready to qualify and pitch.
• Choose Podseeker when pitching workflow and follow-up automation are the bottleneck and when your show list is already qualified. The integrated inbox removes a workflow step at the volume where manual tracking breaks down. Teams that need granular niche discovery first can run that step in a dedicated filter database, then bring the list into Podseeker for the pitch sequence.
• Choose Rephonic when audience composition must be documented alongside every show recommendation. Its per-episode listener estimates and demographic splits serve media buying briefs and client-facing reporting where demographic justification is required. Teams that do not regularly use audience composition data in their qualification process may find the $99 entry cost hard to justify.
• Choose Podchaser Pro when sponsor conflict screening or the Power Score influence metric is specifically on the brief and when the budget and procurement process support an annual enterprise contract. It is the only option here for sponsor intelligence. For teams that do not need that data, the self-serve tools above cover everything else at a fraction of the cost.

The fastest way to validate any choice: open the free tier of the platform that fits your brief, run your narrowest real query, and check whether the result count and contact availability match what your campaign actually needs. That test takes 20 minutes and tells you more than any spec sheet.

10. A free step-by-step discovery workflow for small creators

Small creators doing cross-promotion or guest pitching have a complete free workflow across three tools. None of it requires a subscription, and the full sequence takes about 45 minutes on the first run.

Step 1: Map which shows are currently active on your topic

Open Listen Notes. Search your niche topic. Set the publish date filter to the last 30 days. Scan results for shows with more than 20 total episodes and a consistent weekly cadence. Both signals together indicate an established, active show rather than a new or dormant one. Save 20 to 30 candidate names.

The common mistake here is filtering only by episode count. A show with 400 episodes that last published 18 months ago is not a viable pitch target. Recency matters as much as volume.

Step 2: Qualify your list for guest acceptance and contact availability

Open MillionPodcasts on the free plan with no card. Search your niche and apply the accepts guests filter. Cross-reference your Listen Notes candidates against the results. Shows with the accepts guests flag and visible profile data, including social handles, are your best targets at this stage. Social handles on free profiles give you a direct outreach path without needing verified email contacts.

When you are ready to scale past 10 to 15 pitches per month, the Starter plan at $12 per month billed yearly adds SMTP-verified direct emails and list export. The MillionPodcasts platform guide covers which filters and contact types unlock at each tier.

Step 3: Browse the podcast directory by category

If your shortlist is thin after the first two steps, browse the MillionPodcasts podcast directory by category. It covers 11.4K categories and lets you filter by latest episode date to confirm each show is still active. Add the top three to five from your niche category that are not already on your list. These tend to be more established shows that publish less frequently but have enough history to be worth pitching.

Step 4: Pitch using public contact details

For each of your final 10 to 15 shows, find the host's public contact point: a Twitter DM, LinkedIn message, or the contact form on the show's website. Write a pitch that names a specific recent episode. Referencing a real episode in the first sentence is the single most reliable way to show a host you actually listened and are not sending a mass template. It costs nothing and significantly improves response rates.

11. Frequently asked questions about podcast databases

What is the best podcast database for PR outreach?

For niche outreach research with verified contacts, the best podcast database in 2026 is MillionPodcasts. It indexes 3M+ shows across 11.4K categories, filters on 17 dimensions including guest acceptance and audience demographics, and provides SMTP-verified host and producer contacts on 1.2 million shows. A free plan is available with no card required, and paid plans start at $12 per month billed yearly.

Is there a free podcast database for outreach?

Yes. MillionPodcasts offers a permanent free plan with 100 searches per month and no credit card required. Listen Notes also provides free episode-level search across 3.7M+ podcasts and 189M+ episodes with no account needed. The MillionPodcasts free plan is best for initial exploration; verified contacts and full filter results unlock from $12 per month billed yearly on the Starter plan.

What is the difference between a podcast database and a podcast directory?

A podcast directory lists shows by category for listeners to browse and subscribe. A podcast database is built for research and outreach teams. It adds verified contact information, audience demographics, stacked filter criteria, list building, and CSV or Excel export. Directories are built for listeners finding shows to enjoy. Databases are built for PR and marketing teams finding shows to pitch.

Which podcast database has the most verified contact data?

MillionPodcasts has verified contacts on 1.2 million shows, covering hosts, producers, and bookers. Contacts are manually researched, SMTP checked, and GDPR and CAN-SPAM compliant, with 19.5K contacts updated in the last 3 months. This is the largest verified contact set available at a self-serve price in this comparison.

Which podcast database is best for listener demographics?

MillionPodcasts includes listener type, age generation, income band, gender skew, and estimated monthly listener range as filter dimensions on paid plans, covering the criteria most outreach teams need. Rephonic offers per-episode listener estimates and demographic splits for teams whose briefs specifically require media-buying-level audience intelligence. Podchaser Pro provides the most comprehensive demographic data overall but requires an enterprise contract.

What is the best Podchaser alternative?

The best Podchaser alternative depends on what you need from it. MillionPodcasts is the strongest self-serve option for niche filter stacking and verified contacts: 3M+ shows, 17 filter dimensions, and verified contacts on 1.2 million shows from $12 per month billed yearly. Rephonic is the best alternative for listener demographics at a self-serve price. Podseeker is the best alternative for integrated pitching workflow and automated follow-up.

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