Castmagic vs. PodChapters®
Castmagic turns podcast episodes into show notes, social posts, newsletters, and other written content. It can also write a list of timestamped topics, but that list is text, and podcast apps can't use it as chapters.
- ID3 tags (not supported)
- MP3 chapters (not supported)
- Podcasting 2.0 (not supported)
- Podlove (not supported)
- YouTube: With custom prompt
- ID3 tags
- MP3 chapters
- Podcasting 2.0
- Podlove
- YouTube
What Castmagic does
Upload an episode and Castmagic uses custom AI prompts to produce transcripts, show notes, social posts, email newsletters, blog drafts, and more. Plans start at $19/month (paid yearly) and include transcription minutes.
With a custom prompt, Castmagic can write timestamped, chapter-style text and YouTube timestamps. It can't create podcast chapter files or embed chapters in an MP3.
Chapter-style text vs. real chapters
This is the biggest difference between the two. Castmagic's timestamps stay in a document. It doesn't embed them as chapter markers in your MP3, and it doesn't produce Podcasting 2.0 chapters, Podlove Simple Chapters, or any other format a podcast app can read and show as chapters.
PodChapters creates chapters that listeners can tap and jump between in their podcast app. Each one can have a title, image, URL, and location, and you can embed them in your MP3 or export them in the newer chapter formats.
Chapter details
Because Castmagic produces text, it has none of the fields a podcast chapter carries: no chapter images, URLs, table-of-contents control, or locations, and no titles in the sense podcast apps use.
PodChapters supports all the standard chapter fields, so you decide what listeners see and can tap in their podcast app.
AI
Castmagic's AI is good at turning audio into written content. It isn't tuned for chapters, though. Getting timestamps out of it takes a custom prompt, and you have to check the results by hand.
PodChapters' AI is built for chapter creation. It follows the structure of a podcast episode, finds the natural topic changes, and produces chapters you can use with little editing. It can also turn your outline into timed chapters, which Castmagic can't.
Editing and precision
Castmagic has no chapter editor because it doesn't produce chapters, so you're left editing text. PodChapters has a waveform editor where you click to place chapters, drag to adjust them, set their timing to the millisecond, and export in several formats.
Pricing
Castmagic starts at $19/month (paid yearly), nearly three times the $6.99/month (paid yearly) that PodChapters starts at, and it doesn't produce podcast chapters. If chapters are what you need, PodChapters costs much less.
Which one to choose
The two tools solve different problems. Castmagic repurposes episodes into written content, and PodChapters creates chapters. If you want navigable chapters in your episodes, PodChapters is the one of these two that can make them.
Choose Castmagic if
- You want blog posts, social content, newsletters, and show notes from each episode
- A timestamped topic list for show notes or YouTube is enough
Choose PodChapters if
- You want chapters listeners can navigate in their podcast app
- You need chapters embedded in your MP3 or exported as Podcasting 2.0 or Podlove files
- You want chapter images, links, and locations
Many podcasters use Castmagic to repurpose content and PodChapters for chapters.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Castmagic | PodChapters |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Starting at $19/month (paid yearly)* | Starting at $6.99/month (paid yearly)* |
| Runs on | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux |
| Chapter formats | ||
| ID3 tags | No | Yes |
| Legacy MP3 chapters | No | Yes |
| Podcasting 2.0 cloud chapters | No | Yes |
| Podlove Simple Chapters | No | Yes |
| YouTube timestamps | With custom prompt | Yes |
| Creating chapters | ||
| Chapter placement method | No | Click to place, drag to adjust, enter timecode manually, suggest or insert with AI |
| Chapter timing precision | Seconds | Milliseconds |
| AI-suggested chapters | With custom prompt | Yes |
| Outline to chapters | No | Yes |
| Generate transcripts | Yes | Yes |
| AI credits / transcription minutes per month | Starting at 300 | Starting at 300 |
| Chapter details | ||
| Chapter title | No | Yes |
| Chapter image | No | Yes |
| Chapter URL | No | Yes |
| Hide chapter from table of contents | No | Yes |
| Chapter geographic location | No | Yes |
| Workflow | ||
| Custom podcast templates/presets | No | Yes |
| Smart and custom text snippets | No | Yes |
*Prices are for the starting plan that includes the features compared here.
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Create podcast chapters your listeners can actually use.