Best Podcast Tracking Apps in 2026: 6 Tested & Ranked
Six ways to track the podcasts you listen to in 2026: Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podchaser, Goodpods, Snipd, and Achriom. Which fits how you actually listen? Free options at every level.
Tracking podcasts is a strange gap. You can log every book you read and every film you watch, but the podcasts you listen to usually vanish into a player’s play queue. Here are six ways to actually keep track of them in 2026, from dedicated players to a cross-media library.
Quick verdict:
- Best player for listening and progress: Overcast (iOS) or Pocket Casts (everywhere)
- Best database and list-builder: Podchaser
- Best for social discovery: Goodpods
- Best for note-takers: Snipd
- Best for tracking podcasts alongside your books, films, and music: Achriom
What a podcast tracker actually needs to do
The jobs are different from tracking a book or a film:
- Keep played and unplayed straight, so you know where you left off
- Follow shows you care about without drowning in every new episode
- Remember what you thought, with a rating or a note you can find later
- Survive switching apps, so your history is not trapped in one player
- Help you find the next one, since discovery is the real podcast problem
Most tools do one or two of these well. None of the pure players do the last one, because they only know podcasts.
Overcast
Best for: iOS listeners who want a clean player and nothing extra
Overcast is the podcast player a lot of iPhone users settle on. Smart Speed shortens silences, Voice Boost evens out volume, and played and unplayed episodes stay clearly separated. Free, with a premium tier that removes the small ad.
What it does well:
- Excellent playback with Smart Speed and Voice Boost
- Simple, reliable played and unplayed tracking
- Fast and stable
The limitation: iOS only, and it is a player, not a record. There is no rating, no cross-device library beyond your subscriptions, and no discovery worth the name.
Pocket Casts
Best for: Cross-platform listening with progress that syncs everywhere
Pocket Casts runs on iPhone, Android, web, and desktop, and your listening progress follows you across all of them. It has filters, a decent discover tab, and a long history as the power-listener favorite. Free, with a Plus tier for extra features.
What it does well:
- True cross-platform sync of progress
- Clean filters for up next, in progress, and starred
- Better discovery than most players
The limitation: Still a player at heart. It tracks what you have played, not what you thought, and it has no idea about the rest of your media.
Podchaser
Best for: Looking up shows and building lists, like an IMDb for podcasts
Podchaser is a database rather than a player. You can search shows, episodes, and even the people who make them, leave ratings and reviews, and build public lists. It is where you go to research a podcast, not to listen to one.
What it does well:
- Deep catalog with credits and episode-level detail
- Ratings, reviews, and shareable lists
- Strong for finding a show’s guests and appearances
The limitation: You still listen somewhere else. It is a catalog and a community, so your listening history lives in whatever player you use.
Goodpods
Best for: Finding your next show through people you trust
Goodpods is the social one, often described as the Instagram of podcasts. You follow friends and creators, see what they are listening to, and get recommendations with a human behind them instead of an algorithm chasing popularity. Free.
What it does well:
- Social discovery that surfaces real recommendations
- Leaderboards and lists by community
- Genuinely good for breaking out of your usual shows
The limitation: Discovery depends on your network. If your friends are not on it, the feed thins out fast, and it does not connect to the books or films that actually shape your taste.
Snipd
Best for: Learners who take notes from what they hear
Snipd is a player built for people who treat podcasts as a source of ideas. It transcribes episodes, lets you clip the last thirty seconds as a highlight, and exports those snippets to Notion or Obsidian. Free, with a premium tier.
What it does well:
- AI transcripts and highlight clips
- Exports to your notes app
- Great for educational and interview shows
The limitation: Overkill if you mostly listen for pleasure, and like the others it lives entirely inside podcasts.
Achriom
Best for: Tracking podcasts as part of your whole taste, and finding new ones through it
Achriom is not a dedicated player. It is a library that holds your podcasts next to your books, films, albums, TV, and anime, with an AI librarian that reasons across all of them. Track a show as want to listen, following, or caught up, rate it, leave a note, and play full episodes where the audio is available. The part no podcast app can do: it recommends podcasts from the novels and films you already love, because it can see both sides of your taste. Free with 50 AI messages; Pro is $9.99/month.
What it does differently:
- Cross-media discovery: ask for a podcast that fits a book you loved
- Show-level tracking with ratings, notes, and dates
- Play episodes inside the library where the audio is available
- Private by default
The limitation: It is not your daily driver player. There is no offline download, no subscription auto-queue, no cross-device playback resume. It is where podcasts join the rest of your taste and where you discover them, not where you power through a commute.
Quick comparison
| App | What it is | Tracks | Discovery | Cross-media | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overcast | iOS player | Played / unplayed | Weak | No | Free / premium |
| Pocket Casts | Cross-platform player | Played, synced | Some | No | Free / Plus |
| Podchaser | Database + lists | Lists, ratings | Search, credits | No | Free / Pro |
| Goodpods | Social app | Social lists | Strong, social | No | Free |
| Snipd | Notes-first player | Highlights | Some | No | Free / premium |
| Achriom | Cross-media library | Show status, ratings, notes | AI, cross-media | Yes | Free / $9.99 mo |
Which should you use?
Use Overcast if: You are on iPhone and just want the best simple player.
Use Pocket Casts if: You listen across phone, web, and desktop and want progress to follow you.
Use Podchaser if: You want to research shows, see credits, and build lists.
Use Goodpods if: You want recommendations from real people, not an algorithm.
Use Snipd if: You mine podcasts for ideas and live in Notion or Obsidian.
Use Achriom if: You want podcasts tracked alongside your books, films, and music, and you want to discover new shows through your whole taste instead of last week’s charts.
The honest answer
- Best pure player: Overcast on iOS, Pocket Casts everywhere else
- Best catalog: Podchaser
- Best social discovery: Goodpods
- Best for notes: Snipd
- Best cross-media home and discovery: Achriom
A player plus Achriom is a natural pair. The player handles the listening; Achriom handles the record and the recommendations that no podcast-only app can make.
More on tracking your media: the best all-in-one media tracker, plus guides to the best TV tracking apps, movie tracking apps, album tracking apps, and anime tracking apps.
Common questions
What is the best app to track podcasts you’ve listened to in 2026?
It depends what tracking means to you. Overcast and Pocket Casts keep played and unplayed straight while you listen. Podchaser is best for lists and looking up shows. Goodpods tracks socially. Achriom is best if you want podcasts logged alongside your books, films, and music with an AI librarian that recommends shows from your whole taste.
Is there a podcast tracker that isn’t just a player?
Yes. Podchaser is a database and list-builder rather than a player. Goodpods adds a social layer. Achriom tracks podcasts at the show level with ratings and notes, and lets you play episodes where the audio is available, inside a library that also holds your books, movies, music, TV, and anime.
How do you keep track of podcasts across different apps?
Most people rely on a single player’s played and unplayed state, which is why switching apps loses your history. A separate library like Achriom, Podchaser, or Goodpods keeps a record of the shows you follow and how you rated them, independent of which player you listen in.
What is the best free podcast tracker?
Overcast, Pocket Casts, Goodpods, and Podchaser all have usable free tiers. Achriom is free for up to 50 AI messages with unlimited items, and it is the only one that tracks podcasts next to the rest of your media.