Detailed Comparison: Riverside vs. Iris vs. Zencastr vs. Squadcast

[@getrusty]

Great video Ryan. I am watching since i have been recording my podcasts in Squadcast for the past 4 years. The past 3 sessions I recorded have all had issues in one form or another. FRom Guest audio issues, One episode was nearly failed after the files from my guest where not flowing back to me ... and thankful squadcast was able to recover the tracks (didnt make for a good guest experience) along with issues consistently where my Rode procaster audio interface selection does not function properly nearly the past 10 episodes I have recorded. I jump into a recording session consistently with this issue and until I switch it to a different audio interface then back to the Rode interface then I can hear my guest through my headphone. Im done with Squadcast ... and would recommend anyone to stay away from them. I think I am going to give Riverside a shot. Thanks again for the nice review.

[@sharonsheltoncorpening8745]

Zencaster does have a clearer color balance and focus sharpness. Riverside seems to record warmest -- lending a color boost to the images, although not as crisp as Zencaster. I would say it's the #2. Iris takes 3rd. Because of its features, I prefer Riverside of the 4.

[@askhollyhall]

but Zoom offers apearance chages and effects. I like to find a platform for multitude of guests, effects and editing! :)

[@TrusttheProcessPodcast24]

I use Riverside and think it is great! However, I have had to jump through several hoops to get the link to work for my guests, especially when I send them the automated Riverside email with the link. Usually I have to end up texting them the URL and they access it that way

[@shimacharles]

Thank you. I appreciate. My podcast is live tomorrow.

[@StephanieGraham]

thats exciting!! whats the name I will check you out!

[@Runner451]

Thanks for this video. Just one point: I prefer Riverside, but it has a problem (for me): if guest connect with smartphone, he should download APP. Till today I used Streamyard

[@RyanHelms]

Yea, I would never do an interview with someone on a phone.

[@Runner451]

@@RyanHelms I have a video podcast and I had many guests, here in Italy, some of them vips, and 90% used smartphone, they don't have a webcam (good webcam) but everyone has a good smartphone.

[@RyanHelms]

@@Runner451 you can get around this by setting clear expectations up front. We do this by redirecting them to a quick FAQ video right after booking.

[@mthom0861]

me too; with zoom you can easily add a guest who might be on the go. To ask guests to download an app and sign up is kind of uncomfortable.

[@mthom0861]

@@RyanHelms problem is if you are doing a celebrity or an important guest putting demands on them to do a show is uncomfortable and if you are too high maintenance you can lose a guest

[@millennial.besties]

Riverside user here and I've encountered a lot of issues with the platform. Most recently one of our host's entire video/audio wasn't uploaded into our pod studio and had to be recovered separately which means we're scurrying to find the best alternative editing software/editor that will be able to sync the recovered tracks back into the episode. Plus the preview or studio links always give one of our hosts or guests trouble. Def looking into Iris, Zen, or Squad.

[@RyanHelms]

Bummer. Hope you find something that works well for you.

[@AllJokesNetwork-mt8sb]

there are some changes on squadcast including a free account. There needs to be an updated video on this same topic.

[@joekabooki]

I've used Zencastr, Squadcast, and Riverside. Riverside has been by far the most stable for us, and we love the media options as well, for playing sounds during our show. I really liked Zencastr, especially for the built-in hosting, but it just wasn't as stable for us and we even had a couple episodes where guests files were "lost." Support eventually got them back to us, but they were not great quality, for some reason. So, we have stuck with Riverside since switching two years ago. It's the best combo of quality, stability, and pricing, at least for us. I will say one thing about Riverside's editor. It's not always great. In fact, sometimes the sound board file or a host's file will not be aligned with all the other sound files, which makes it hard to use consistently.

[@clarkpetion305]

Riverside is horrendous... I've had back to back sychning issues. I'm looking for an alternative.

[@AndreiBilogC]

Thanks man! Totally need this!

[@RyanHelms]

Happy to help!

[@toddalanrose]

Zencastr looks like the clear winner here. I was thinking about using Descript/Squadcast but the quality seems so much better on Zencastr. Worth twice the price.

[@RyanHelms]

I don't see it... but I have been thinking I need glasses lately 🥸

[@EvilhomerNZ]

Keep in mind Zen is purely browser base (limited browsers at that), very little mobile support.

[@Userndjdkskg]

@ryan hems. So both me and whoever am interviewing have to have riverside right? Otherwise they cant join?

[@paulgarny7239]

Zencastr is the clear decision for me but I use boomcaster because of the ability to share my screen. I wish zencastr had screen share ability. I’d switch without a doubt

[@lifeatfmcg21]

Very insightful! Glad to found this!

[@AgroBusinessPodcast]

Just what I needed to see!

[@RyanHelms]

Hope it helped ya make a decision

[@AgroBusinessPodcast]

@@RyanHelms I have Descript, which just bought SquadCast, so fortunately that’ll be added to my regular subscription for free. But it was interesting to hear you compare the software and customer interface and SC seems to be a little behind the rest.

[@SAPIENSPARABELLUM]

Really good testing! Thanks for the video!🙏

[@RyanHelms]

Glad you liked it!

[@DrBrianKeating]

Nice

[@theveteransperspective]

I am curious as to why you gave Riverside a 10 for quality when there was a hissing sound present?

[@amazingsylvia]

Thank you for this great video, helped me make my decision 🎉

[@RyanHelms]

Glad I could help!

[@ivirlei]

Great job on this. super useful!

[@RyanHelms]

Glad it was helpful!

[@growandglowlife]

Hey Ryan - great video! Any tips on resolving audio drift on Riverside recording? My guest left in middle of the upload and then had to return following day to finish upload, but now audio and video are not syncing properly on my video. Reached out to Riverside it didn't help please let me know if you have any tips and tricks will be grateful!

[@BESTATHLETEONLINE]

This is my Inter action with riverside. Keep in mind I paid $200 Regarding the freezing issues in your Studio, I can see that you are currently using a 2-core computer to record. Computers with only 2 cores cannot keep up with the Riverside Studio's recording and uploading demands. This causes a processing strain and may result in missing frames, glitches, major delays, and corrupted files which may make the recording unusable.

[@Thinwhiteduke1185]

I mean... that's reasonable. Doesn't really matter what you paid. If your computer can't handle the process, that's not really something they can control.

[@BESTATHLETEONLINE]

@@Thinwhiteduke1185 they refunded the money. I'm grateful. Glad they didn't think like you. To have compatible operating systems is important in computer software. If your software has limitations then the disclaimer should be advertised or do what the company did. Again im happy with the resolution.

[@boomcast-gy5xs]

Boomcaster Empowering creators to podcast, vodcast and livestream from a single platform

[@RyanHelms]

What is a vodcast?

[@LoveGuruGreg]

I noticed to, riverside doesn't stream 1080 HD, only 720, streamyard does and I beleive a few others do as well.

[@RyanHelms]

You can change that in the “studio settings” of Riverside

[@LoveGuruGreg]

Ever riverside staff quote 720 max. Recording though can be higher resolution, not live streaming@@RyanHelms

[@Leadwithimkan]

Great video, thanks so much! I couldn't find the website you mentioned. Can you post it again please.

[@RyanHelms]

which website?

[@stevesiebold]

Great video. Thank you.

[@RyanHelms]

You bet!

[@BettinaGoolsby]

great video!

[@RyanHelms]

Thank ya ma’am

[@KeepPurringPodcast]

Great video, appreciate it! Question for you since you mentioned you use Riverside primarily...we just signed up for it, and I've run a few test recordings where I share my screen during the recording and try to play a KZbin video with audio/video so we can react to it. But in post production the quality of the screen share file is always extremely choppy and unwatchable. Have you run into this?

[@RyanHelms]

Our clients don’t do a lot of screen recording with riverside so unfortunately I can’t help here. Did you reach out to their support?

[@KeepPurringPodcast]

@@RyanHelms Thanks. I did, and it’s been a little hit or miss honestly in getting help. But someone did respond to me and say that in general if you are sharing a video, you can improve the quality by downloading the track and screensharing the downloaded track rather than streaming the video straight from the internet. So I may try that.

[@oxenathletics]

Hey man love the vids. Any tips on how to increase your average view duration for shorts?

[@RyanHelms]

It’s all about the hook. And keep in mind, it HAS to be mass market if you want to get traction on shorts since ~90% will be cold audience

[@priorityme8627]

This was great! Thank you!

[@RyanHelms]

🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@priorityme8627]

@@RyanHelms Hey Ryan! You had a link to another masterclass months ago, is that still available? I found it very helpful and would like to review it and reconsider joining the collective.

[@cogexo]

Great video Ryan. I love how you stay neutral, even though you have a lot of Riverside users. And to be fair I'm also a Riverside fan. There is one criteria that you might consider adding: collaboration. At my company we have a small video team, and Riverside has no ability to support teams below their enterprise plan which is over 500 times more expensive (not really for podcasters with a small team). We also had random crashes with Riverside, for hosts how had some more advanced security on their laptops. Lastly, Squadcast is now fully integrated with Descript, and free for Descript users, so for me, this is a dream come true, and squadcasts API support for amazing automations is just the icing on top ;-)

[@RyanHelms]

Had a call with the Descript CEO 2 weeks back to go through the integration with SquadCast and I’ll be doing a review on it soon.

[@bigbglobal]

Thank for the heads up,@@RyanHelms , can't wait to see your review!

[@TheEtrepreneur]

you got your like and subscription at benchmarking.

[@RyanHelms]

🤘🏼

[@bradford-vts]

Great video. If I sign up to one of these, do I need Descript or does Riverside and the like does EVERYTHING Descript does?

[@RyanHelms]

You’d still want something like Description

[@virginiabush1938]

What platform were you using here in this video?

[@LoveGuruGreg]

curious your take on riverside vs streamyard on audio and video quality and problems? I keep hearing sync and drag issues with riverside. I've been wanting to check them out too, but..

[@RyanHelms]

I use Riverside personally and we have 15-20 clients on it and haven’t had an issue in over a year. I haven’t used Streamyard so I can’t comment on the comparison.

[@LoveGuruGreg]

@@RyanHelms I appreciate you! Thanks!

[@LoveGuruGreg]

I noticed to, riverside doesn't stream 1080 HD, only 720

[@Captainhooked]

Are you sponsored by Riverside? (I prefer reviews that disclose such things either way.) We attempted to use riverside multiple times. Paid plan for 9 months. Sadly we were never able to successfully sync the audio and video together. I know there are 1000 videos on KZbin that say riverside is the best thing ever, but I’m just sharing that was not our experience.

[@RyanHelms]

Nope, not sponsored by anyone. We use it with 40+ clients and have no issues.

[@celestevolve]

I was doing a 10s trial - the audio and video didn’t sync and some of my words went mute. I think riverside is doing campaigns with influencers now. I’m not gonna use Riverside. But I’m not sure which else to use. Maybe zencastr

[@RyanHelms]

@celestevolve bummer.

[@jeremyhacek8355]

Do you know which has the best phone app? I prefer to work from my phone over my laptop. My phone also has a better camera. I'd also love to be able to live stream.

[@RyanHelms]

It’d be better to use your phone as the camera and use a proper mic - don’t use the phone as the mic source.

[@jeremyhacek8355]

@RyanHelms I'd have to use a Bluetooth microphone, and I'm not sure the quality on those would be any good.

[@rinleeds]

So, if I have an already video that I want to repurpose, tidy up the audio and video quality and get a transcript and edit it via altering the transcript and removing mms and pauses - will this do all of that? or is this for only things recorded via riverside? Thanks for a super great video

[@RyanHelms]

Some, not all

[@rinleeds]

@@RyanHelms But i don't have to use a video recorded in riverside? I can upload one yeah?

[@RyanHelms]

@rinleeds you cannot upload - it’s for recording.

[@drewhopkins3350]

Just hopped on Riverside. How do you do a voiceover on it when you add media for the intro? Everytime I add the audio of the media overpowers my voice.

[@RyanHelms]

Do it in post-production

[@getrusty]

yup alway in post for intros ... outro... etc

[@nedyken]

We have both the Riverside and Descript enterprise plans, but with Descript purchasing Squadcast, I'm wondering if it's close enough to Riverside that we can cancel our plan.

[@RyanHelms]

Worth exploring for sure

[@traviscoleman5353]

Do all of them have mobile apps for virtual interview via phone or tablet?

[@RyanHelms]

Not sure. But I’d never want my guest to be on mobile. You’d get shitty audio and video.

[@adventurepromo]

@@RyanHelms Are you sure? Are you sending camera and audio gear to guests? Iphone cameras typically are much better than Macbook cameras or other webcams, and audio should be as good and potentially great with a bluetooth mic. Not as good as "real" gear, but the camera and mic on mobile are typically the highest quality a user has access to. What am I missing? (serious question)

[@lazunleashed1]

Zencastr seems to have everything I need… except the option to add a background or blur the background of my video! 😫 Do you know any workarounds for this?

[@RyanHelms]

You could do it in post processing if it’s a must have.

[@lazunleashed1]

It's more that I've got my setup in the kitchen (unchangeable) and so don't want the cooker, utilities and general kitchen atmosphere to be in the video - not too professional imo. Okay, that's good to know - how would you suggest doing that? Would I do it via Zencastr or through another software? Thanks for replying and offering help!@@RyanHelms

[@virginiabush1938]

@@RyanHelms ​ @lazunleashed1 I am interested in this also. I just started using Riverside and they seem to have turned off the ability to choose a background? Is this correct? Seems so strange.

[@bradford-vts]

Oh, one other thing, can I use Riverside with say 15 other participants?

[@RyanHelms]

yea

[@dieklucero1935]

Riverside

[@RyanHelms]

nice!

[@AnaMuriel]

I like Riverside, but I didn't like the white noise.

[@RyanHelms]

That would be from equipment not the platform.

[@AnaMuriel]

@@RyanHelms OK, perfect then.

[@colbyfayyad9132]

Just curious why the white noise didn’t affect the other platforms if it was an equipment issue

[@BESTATHLETEONLINE]

Riverside sucks. My guest cant log in. When I have a problem there technical support says read this

[@RyanHelms]

Log in? A guest shouldn’t need to log in?

[@BESTATHLETEONLINE]

@@RyanHelms they had to download app. I would send invite, but only 1 was able to get in. They said they will refund my money.

[@cl3063]

streamyard???

[@FrostyFilms704]

I came here just to see. I just started looking into something as a better option than teams and OBS and the first thing I ran across was streamyard. Seems like it has everything being asked for such as background changing, it's easy to switch views and between a shared screen etc. Not endorsing it but Riverview in a 5 minute exploration of their website, wasn't as intuitive.

[@robertsarhanmd6433]

Dear Anne, (Riverside rip off, please read below) After one or two weeks, I was unhappy with your services and video service. Prior to starting with your company, your company stated if your not happy we will give you your money back. I asked repeatedly for a refund and you said yes and you never sent me a refund, now you charged my card today 10 September 2024 for $288.00 today. I never authorized this charge, I called my bank and stated that you committed fraud. I will now start the legal process, if I have to sue you, I will higher an attorney and sue you. I am now going to post in a review how your company is committing fraud against me and how you used my credit card without authorization. Anne you can hide behind the emails but at the end of the day fraud is fraud. Since I repeatedly requested a refund and you never refunded my money, now you charged me again. You have given me no choice but to take legal action. Robert

[@JonAndrews-t1t]

There's a way to get unlimited trials but I'd never do that. :-D

[@wiseguysshow1871]

Zencaster audio by far iris 2 riverside 3 and squad audio was noticeably the worst

[@RyanHelms]

Which one do you use?