Interview podcasts sound simple. Invite a guest. Ask a few questions. Record the conversation. Publish it.
Then you actually try recording someone who lives 2,000 miles away. Their internet connection starts cutting out. Your voices overlap. Their microphone sounds terrible. Halfway through the interview, the video freezes.
And when you finally open the recording, you discover both voices are stuck together on one track. This is why choosing good podcast interview software matters.
Modern remote recording platforms can record each person separately, capture audio locally on each participant’s device, record video, create transcripts, and even help you edit the finished episode. You don’t necessarily need to bring every guest into a physical studio anymore.
What is the Best Podcast Interview Software?
Here are some of the best podcast interview software options to consider.
1. Riverside – Best Overall Podcast Interview Software
Riverside is one of the first tools I’d consider if remote interviews are an important part of your podcast. The biggest reason is local recording.
Instead of relying entirely on the live audio being transmitted over the internet, Riverside records each participant on their own device. That matters because internet connections aren’t perfect.
Imagine you’re interviewing someone and their Wi-Fi briefly becomes unstable. During the call, their voice might sound robotic or the video might freeze.
With a normal video-conferencing recording, those problems can end up baked into your final recording. Local recording helps avoid that.
Riverside also records participants on separate tracks, which gives you much more control during editing. If your guest is too quiet, you can adjust their track.
If you cough while your guest is speaking, you can work on your own track without changing theirs.
Riverside supports high-quality audio and up to 4K video recording, making it particularly useful for people creating both traditional podcasts and video podcasts.
Guests can join through a link, so you don’t need to give someone a 20-minute technical lesson before the interview begins.
There are editing and AI tools available as well, which can reduce the number of separate programs needed to produce an episode.
For most people who regularly record remote podcast interviews, Riverside would be my first place to look.
Best for: Podcasters who want high-quality remote audio and video interviews.
2. Zencastr – Best Riverside Alternative
Zencastr has been associated with remote podcast recording for years and remains one of the strongest alternatives.
Like Riverside, Zencastr can record participants locally rather than depending entirely on the internet connection for the finished recording.
It also gives each participant a separate track. That’s important.
Suppose you’re interviewing two guests. One has a great microphone. The other is using a basic headset. If everyone is permanently mixed onto one track, fixing individual problems becomes difficult. Separate tracks make editing much easier.
Zencastr currently supports high-quality audio and video recording, including up to 48 kHz WAV audio and video up to 4K depending on the recording setup and plan.
Guests can join through a browser link without needing to create an account on a computer. Zencastr has also grown beyond recording.
There are tools for transcription, editing, clips, hosting, publishing, and other parts of podcast production.
That makes it interesting if you’re trying to reduce the number of different services involved in your podcast.
Best for: Podcasters wanting remote recording plus additional podcast production tools.
3. SquadCast and Descript – Best for Recording and Editing
Recording is only half of an interview podcast. Eventually, you have to edit the thing. That’s where the combination of SquadCast and Descript becomes interesting.
SquadCast became known for remote podcast recording and was acquired by Descript. The two services can work together as part of a broader recording and editing workflow. You can capture separate participant tracks and then move into Descript’s editing environment.
Descript takes a different approach to editing than traditional audio software. It creates a transcript of your recording. Then you can work with the podcast almost like you’re editing a text document.
Delete a section of the transcript and the corresponding audio or video can be removed.
That can feel much easier for someone who doesn’t want to learn a traditional digital audio workstation.
Descript also offers tools for removing filler words, cleaning up audio, creating clips, and editing video. It now has its own Rooms feature for collaborative recording too.
This makes Descript increasingly useful for podcasters who want recording and post-production to happen within one broader ecosystem.
Best for: Podcasters who want an easier recording-to-editing workflow.
4. Cleanfeed – Best for Audio-Only Interviews
Not every podcast needs video. If your finished show is entirely audio and you don’t care about putting your guest’s face on YouTube, take a look at Cleanfeed.
Cleanfeed is a browser-based remote audio recording platform built around high-quality audio. It has been used in professional broadcasting as well as podcasting.
One of its biggest attractions is focus. It isn’t trying to turn every podcast into a video production studio. It’s built around remote audio. That can actually be refreshing. You send your guest a link, connect, and record.
Cleanfeed also offers multitrack capabilities on appropriate plans, which can give you the separate recordings you want for editing. The downside is obvious.
If you decide six months from now that you want every interview to become a YouTube video, an audio-only workflow won’t be enough. But if you’re committed to audio podcasting, you may not care.
Best for: Audio-only podcasters and people who prioritize remote audio quality.
5. Zoom – Best for Guest Familiarity
There’s a good chance your guest already knows how to use Zoom. That’s Zoom’s biggest advantage.
You may be interviewing a business executive, professor, author, doctor, or another guest who isn’t a podcaster.
Tell them to join a Zoom meeting and they probably understand what you mean. That familiarity reduces friction.
Zoom can record meetings and can be configured to provide separate audio files for participants in certain recording workflows.
For casual interviews, internal podcasts, and situations where convenience matters more than maximum recording quality, it can work.
But Zoom is fundamentally a video-conferencing platform. It’s designed to make live conversations work smoothly over the internet.
Dedicated podcast recording software is designed around creating high-quality media files you can edit and publish later. That’s an important difference. For an occasional interview, Zoom may be enough.
If remote interviews are the foundation of your podcast, I’d prefer something designed specifically for recording.
Best for: Interviews where ease and guest familiarity matter more than maximum quality.
6. Descript Rooms – Best for an All-in-One Workflow
Descript is worth mentioning separately because it has developed its own collaborative recording environment called Rooms.
The idea is attractive. Record your conversation. Get it transcribed. Edit it. Clean it up. Work on the video. Create social content. Do all of that without constantly exporting files between unrelated applications.
For someone producing an interview podcast every week, workflow matters. Saving 20 minutes on each episode doesn’t sound revolutionary.
But publish 50 episodes a year and you’ve saved more than 16 hours. Descript’s text-based editing is also particularly useful for interview shows. Long conversations often contain sections you don’t need.
Instead of staring at audio waveforms and trying to remember where a particular answer occurred, you can work from the transcript.
If you already use Descript for podcast editing, recording interviews inside the same ecosystem makes a lot of sense.
Best for: Interview podcasters who want recording, transcription, and editing together.
7. StreamYard – Best for Live Podcast Interviews
Some podcasts aren’t simply recorded. They’re broadcast live. Maybe you interview guests while streaming to YouTube. Perhaps your audience watches the conversation live and asks questions. That’s where StreamYard becomes interesting.
StreamYard is heavily focused on browser-based live video production. You can bring guests into the studio, create branded layouts, and broadcast conversations to online platforms.
This makes it particularly useful for creators who think of their podcast as both a podcast and a live show.
You can conduct the interview once and then repurpose the recording into other formats.
The tradeoff is that a livestreaming platform and a dedicated high-quality local podcast recorder aren’t exactly the same thing.
If your number-one priority is getting the cleanest possible files for detailed post-production, I’d compare its recording workflow carefully with dedicated remote recording platforms. But for creators who prioritize live interaction, StreamYard deserves consideration.
Best for: Live interview podcasts and video creators.
Why Local Recording Matters
This is probably the most important feature to understand when comparing podcast interview software. Imagine you’re interviewing someone from another country. You can hear each other through an internet connection.
If your software simply records what comes through that connection, any connection problem can become part of the recording.
- Local recording works differently.
- Your voice is recorded on your device.
- Your guest’s voice is recorded on their device.
- The files are then uploaded and synchronized.
- Your guest’s internet still matters for the live conversation.
- You might see their video freeze.
- You may temporarily have trouble hearing them.
But those connection problems don’t necessarily have to ruin the locally captured media. For serious remote podcasting, this is one of the first features I’d look for.
Always Look for Separate Tracks
Here’s another feature I wouldn’t want to lose. Separate tracks. Suppose your guest starts talking while you’re drinking water. Your microphone captures a loud swallowing sound.
If both of you are permanently mixed together, removing your noise without affecting the guest may be difficult.
With separate tracks, you can mute or reduce your microphone while leaving the guest’s recording untouched.
The same applies to volume. Your guest may speak quietly. You might be loud. Separate tracks let you process each person individually. This gives you far more control during editing.
Audio or Video?
Think about your future plans before choosing software. Maybe your podcast is audio-only today. But what about next year?
Video podcasting gives you additional content for YouTube and social platforms.
A one-hour interview can potentially become a full YouTube episode, several short clips, social posts, and an audio podcast.
If there’s a realistic chance you’ll move into video, choosing software that already records high-quality video may save you from changing your entire workflow later.
If you’re certain your podcast will remain audio-only, you can concentrate on audio tools and keep things simpler.
Make It Easy for Your Guest
Don’t forget about the person you’re interviewing. You may know exactly how your recording software works. Your guest probably doesn’t.
They shouldn’t need to create three accounts, install complicated software, configure six settings, and watch a 30-minute tutorial before talking to you.
Ideally, you send them a link. They open it. They choose their microphone and camera. You start recording.
The easier the guest experience is, the easier it becomes to interview people who aren’t technically experienced.
Final Thoughts
For most remote interview podcasters, I’d start with Riverside. Local recording, separate participant tracks, high-quality audio and video, and a simple guest workflow cover most of what an interview podcast needs.
Zencastr is one of the strongest alternatives if you want similar remote-recording capabilities plus a broader podcast production ecosystem.
If editing takes up too much of your time, Descript and its recording tools are especially interesting.
For high-quality audio-only conversations, Cleanfeed is worth considering.
And if your guests aren’t technical and already live inside Zoom meetings, Zoom remains the familiar option.