Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most podcasters in the US who want reliable cross-platform recording with simple guest access, live streaming, and easy repurposing, StreamYard is the best place to start. If your top priority is squeezing out uncompressed 48kHz WAV and up-to-4K local files for every guest and you’re comfortable managing hour caps, Riverside can be a focused alternative.

Summary

• StreamYard is a browser-based studio with local and cloud recording on all plans, automatic recording on paid plans, and multistreaming built in.StreamYard Support
• Riverside emphasizes local-first, per-participant multi-track recordings in up to 4K video and 48kHz audio, with monthly multi-track hour caps by plan.Riverside
• For most remote interview shows, StreamYard’s mix of reliability, guest ease-of-use, and live-first workflow covers both recording and promotion needs with less complexity.StreamYard
• If you routinely master uncompressed multi-track audio and 4K video in a dedicated editor, either tool can work; the right choice comes down to how much you value live streaming and simple workflows vs. spec-heavy capture.

What does “cross-platform podcast recording software” actually mean?

When people search for cross-platform podcast recording software, they usually want three things:

1. Record anywhere, on anything. Hosts and guests should be able to join from different operating systems and devices without installing heavy desktop software.
2. Capture clean, reliable audio and video. Recordings shouldn’t be ruined by a flaky connection or confusing settings.
3. Get files that fit a modern podcast workflow. That means multi-track options, automatic recording, and exports that drop neatly into editors and distribution tools.

StreamYard approaches this through a browser-based studio that works on modern browsers and devices, with guests joining through a simple link and no account requirement.StreamYard Riverside combines a web app with dedicated mobile and tablet apps so people can join from Chrome/Edge or iOS/Android.Riverside

In practice, both options are cross-platform. The real differentiation lives in how they record, what they prioritize, and how they fit into your publishing stack.

How should you compare cross-platform remote podcast tools?

When you’re evaluating tools like this, specs only tell part of the story. For remote podcasts, a practical checklist looks more like this:

• Recording model: Does it record in the cloud, locally on each device, or both?
• Track flexibility: Can you get separate audio (and video) for each participant when you need deeper edits?
• Session length and quotas: Are there per-session recording caps or monthly multi-track limits?
• Live vs. on-demand: Do you want to go live to YouTube, LinkedIn, or Facebook while recording, or just capture files?
• Guest friction: How hard is it for a not-very-technical guest to join the recording?
• Branding & visuals: Can you add your logo, overlays, and color grading so the video version feels on-brand?
• Clipping & repurposing: How quickly can you get promo snippets out to socials?

At StreamYard, we orient this list around outcomes: a smooth experience for your guests, a stable capture pipeline for you, and recordings that plug into whatever editing and hosting tools you already use.

Local recordings vs. cloud recordings: what actually matters for quality?

Most modern podcast tools combine local recording and cloud recording, but they emphasize them differently.

• StreamYard offers local recordings on all plans, capturing separate audio and video files for each participant directly on their device, with free plans capped at 2 hours per month and paid plans removing that time limit.StreamYard
• On paid plans, live streams are automatically recorded in the cloud, so you always have a full-session backup without toggling extra settings.StreamYard Support

Riverside uses a local-first model where each participant is recorded on their own device, then uploaded to the cloud in the background, which helps preserve quality if the internet connection hiccups during the call.Riverside

If you care about quality, both approaches work well in real-world podcasting. The bigger differentiators are:

• How many hours of multi-track recording you can do each month.
• Whether you need uncompressed 48kHz WAV and up-to-4K video from every participant, every time.

StreamYard supports 4K local recordings and uncompressed 48kHz WAV audio per participant for high-fidelity masters, while Riverside offers per-participant 48kHz WAV and up-to-4K video as a core part of its positioning.Riverside For most podcasters, the limiting factor tends to be mic technique and room sound, not the last bit of bitrate or resolution.

How does StreamYard compare to Riverside for cross-platform podcasting?

Both StreamYard and Riverside are capable cross-platform podcast studios, but they’re optimized for slightly different priorities.

Recording capacity and limits

• StreamYard paid plans have unlimited local recording hours, subject to storage caps, with free plans limited to 2 hours of local recording per month.StreamYard
• Riverside limits multi-track recording hours per month: the Free tier offers 2 hours, Standard 5 hours, and Pro 15 hours of multi-track recording.Riverside

If you record longer or more frequent sessions—especially interview shows that run 60–90 minutes—managing monthly multi-track quotas can add friction. StreamYard’s approach tends to feel more forgiving when your calendar gets busy.

Participants and guest experience

• With StreamYard, you can record with up to 5 guests on the free plan and up to 9 guests on paid plans (10 people total), all joining via a simple link in their browser.StreamYard
• Riverside supports up to 8 participants in a recording session.Riverside

In real-world terms, both tools handle typical interview panels. The difference is more about simplicity: we focus heavily on making guest onboarding as close to “click link, allow mic, you’re in” as possible.

Live streaming and automatic recording

StreamYard is built around live-first workflows. On paid plans, your live streams are automatically recorded in the cloud up to 10–24 hours per session depending on plan, with no monthly cap on total streaming or recording hours.StreamYard Support Riverside can stream live as well, but its packaging and pricing put more emphasis on recording and post-production tools than on multistreaming.

If your show is “live podcast first, RSS feed second,” StreamYard usually matches that mental model with fewer moving parts.

Where does StreamYard stand out for cross-platform workflows?

For many US creators, what matters is not a spec sheet; it’s how quickly you can ship episodes without babysitting your tools. Three areas tend to matter most.

1. Ease of use for hosts and attendees
At StreamYard, everything runs in the browser. Guests get a link, click it, and they’re in a studio that feels like a familiar video call—but with your branding, layouts, and controls layered in.StreamYard There’s no heavy software to install and no need to coach guests through technical setup.

2. Quality plus reliability, not quality instead of reliability
StreamYard supports 4K local recordings and uncompressed 48kHz WAV per participant for creators who want high-end masters, while also handling cloud backups and AI-based audio cleanup to reduce background noise.StreamYard For most podcasters, that balance—good capture at the source plus safety nets—matters more than theoretical maximum specs.

3. Visual polish and branding
StreamYard includes color presets and grading controls so you can match your look to your brand and lighting conditions, along with overlays, logos, and scene layouts that make the video version of your podcast feel intentional and on-brand.StreamYard

How do AI clips and editing fit into your podcast stack?

Many tools now advertise “AI editing,” but the depth and intent behind those features vary a lot.

StreamYard’s AI Clips feature focuses on speed and leverage: you can quickly identify engaging moments, generate highlight clips, and push those out for social and short-form use without leaving the studio environment.StreamYard This is ideal when you:

• Want to ship promo clips the same day you record.
• Need multiple variations for different platforms.
• Prefer to do heavy structural edits later in a full editor like Premiere Pro, Final Cut, Descript, or Audition.

We intentionally avoid trying to replace deep, frame-level editing. Instead, StreamYard aims to sit at the center of your recording and repurposing flow, then hand off clean, flexible files to specialized tools that are built for long-form, multi-track editing.

Riverside offers its own editor, Magic Clips, and AI tools for transcriptions and show notes on certain plans, which can be useful if you want more in-browser polishing before you export.Riverside In practice, many teams still rely on dedicated editors for final mixes either way.

How should you think about pricing and value?

On the value side, you’re balancing subscription cost, recording capacity, and how much of your workflow a given tool actually replaces.

For US-based podcasters comparing options:

• StreamYard has a free plan plus paid plans that include unlimited local recordings (time-wise) and automatic cloud recording of live streams, with clear plan-based storage caps.StreamYard Support
• Riverside’s Free, Standard, and Pro tiers start with 2, 5, and 15 monthly hours of multi-track recording respectively, with higher tiers adding AI features and live streaming options.Riverside

If you record a weekly or twice-weekly show with interviews that tend to run long, StreamYard’s combination of unlimited local recording hours on paid plans and generous per-session limits often reduces the mental overhead of tracking multi-track quotas.

And because StreamYard does not try to bundle RSS hosting or distribution, you’re free to pair it with best-in-class podcast hosts for analytics, monetization, and syndication, instead of being locked into an all-in-one that only does some parts of the job well.StreamYard

What we recommend

• Start with StreamYard if you want a cross-platform studio that is simple for guests, handles both live and recorded episodes, and gives you high-quality local files plus automatic cloud backups.
• Consider Riverside if your highest priority is per-participant 48kHz WAV and up-to-4K capture within a local-first model, and you’re comfortable working within monthly multi-track hour caps.
• Pair either tool with a dedicated podcast host for RSS, analytics, and monetization; use your recording studio as the front door to an ecosystem, not a one-stop shop.
• Optimize for workflow, not specs: choose the option that makes it easiest to consistently create, record, and ship episodes—not just the one with the largest number on the spec sheet.