Podcastle now operates as Async: podcastle.ai redirects to async.com, and the product has grown from a podcast recorder into an AI creative suite with chat-based video editing, a podcast studio, AI voices and generation with models such as Kling, Seedance and Veo. In the euro prices we were shown, Essentials costs 11.99 a month billed yearly for 450 credits, Pro 23.99 for 1,200 and Teams 49.99 per creator for 3,000. Recording hours and text-to-speech come with each plan.
Reviewed by EdGrows·Updated Sep 26, 2026This analysis is based on documentation, public user reports, and vendor materials — not yet on our own hands-on testing. How we rate
Podcastle built its name as a browser studio for podcasters: remote recording, AI audio cleanup with its Magic Dust tool, text-to-speech and voice cloning, and podcast hosting. In 2026 it rebranded. podcastle.ai now redirects to async.com, and the homepage pitches a different product first: edit videos like you have a pro editor, just chat with Async.
The chat-based editor sits at the center. You upload footage or describe what you want, and Async's AI assembles and edits the video, which you then adjust on a multitrack timeline. Around it are the familiar Podcastle parts, now grouped as Podcast Studio: recording with multi-host access and producer mode, Magic Dust audio cleanup, auto leveling and noise reduction, transcription and subtitles, text-to-speech with 1,000+ voices and hosting. New are generation tools: video models such as Kling, Seedance, Veo, Wan and Grok Imagine, image models including Nano Banana and GPT Image 2, Async's own AsyncFlow sound effects and music, avatars and Topaz upscaling, all paid for with credits.
Async's plans on yearly billing, as shown to us in euros on September 26, 2026.
| Plan | Yearly (per month) | Credits a month | Recording | Text-to-speech | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 10, once | Limited | About 15 minutes, once | Chat editor with 1 hour of uploads, one export |
| Essentials | 11.99 | 450 | 4 hours | About 2 hours | Audio cleanup, English subtitles, 20 GB |
| Pro | 23.99 | 1,200 | 20 hours | About 10 hours | AI video enhancement, eye contact, background removal, 120 GB |
| Teams | 49.99 per creator | 3,000 | 50 hours | About 40 hours | Dubbing and lip sync, subtitles in 5+ languages, producer mode, brand kit, 1 TB |
| Business | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom | Advanced user management, security and priority support |
Euros. The page's annual savings, 96, 192 and 420 a year, imply about 19.99, 39.99 and 84.99 a month on monthly billing. Prices may be shown in other currencies elsewhere.
Async publishes a detailed credit table. Editing tools are listed at 1 credit per minute, with monthly caps: AI clips, reframing and subtitles cover about 45 minutes on Essentials, 2 hours on Pro and 5 hours on Teams, and dubbing with lip sync starts on Teams. Generation is where credits go quickly:
| Feature | Credit cost | On Essentials (450) | On Pro (1,200) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI clips, reframe or subtitles | 1 per minute, capped by plan | about 45 minutes | about 2 hours |
| AsyncFlow sound effects | 1 per second | 7.5 minutes | 20 minutes |
| AsyncFlow music | about 23 per minute | about 19 minutes | about 52 minutes |
| HeyGen Avatar 4 | 3 per second | 2.5 minutes | about 6.5 minutes |
| Kling v3 video | per clip | about 61 clips | about 162 clips |
| Seedance 2.0 video, 720p | per clip | not listed | about 68 clips |
| Veo 3.1 Fast video, 720p to 1080p | per clip | not listed | about 100 clips |
Credits reset every month. Top-up packs carry over: until the end of the subscription on yearly plans, and for two months on monthly plans.
Async's pitch is consolidation: record, clean up with Magic Dust, cut clips and subtitles, voice ads or intros with text-to-speech, host the show and generate extra visuals under one bill. The chat editor is the standout, since asking for a 30-second hero cut or a set of Reels from a long video and then refining it on a timeline is a fast way to make social versions of an episode, and Essentials billed yearly is one of the cheaper ways to get recording, cleanup and AI editing together.
The caps and the churn are the costs. Four hours of recording a month on Essentials is tight for a weekly show with pre-interviews, while Riverside does not limit recording hours. Features, limits and even the product's name changed in 2026, and some tools, such as voice cloning and the teleprompter, are listed for the iOS app. Premium generation models also cost more per clip here than from their makers, so heavy generation belongs on a dedicated tool.
Riverside is the specialist recorder with local 4K capture and unlimited recording hours, plus strong editing. Descript is the deeper transcript-based editor. For voices alone, ElevenLabs is the reference. For turning episodes into social clips at volume, OpusClip and Vizard specialize in that job.
Async suits solo podcasters and small content teams who want recording, cleanup, clips, subtitles and a bit of AI generation in one subscription. Pro billed yearly is the practical plan: 20 hours of recording and 1,200 credits cover a weekly show and its social cuts.
If recording quality and unlimited hours matter most, compare Riverside; if you mainly generate video, use a dedicated generator.
Yes. Visiting podcastle.ai now redirects to async.com, and the product is presented as Async, an AI creative suite for editing videos by chatting with an AI editor, with Podcast Studio as one of its parts. Existing Podcastle features such as recording, audio cleanup, text-to-speech and podcast hosting carry on under the new name.
In the euro prices shown to us, billed yearly, Essentials costs 11.99 a month, Pro 23.99 and Teams 49.99 per creator; yearly billing saves 40%, and the page's annual savings imply about 19.99, 39.99 and 84.99 on monthly billing. Business is custom. A free plan exists, and paid plans start with a trial that includes 50 credits.
Essentials includes 450 credits a month, Pro 1,200 and Teams 3,000 per creator; the free plan has 10 credits for life. Async estimates Essentials at about 61 Kling 3.0 videos or 900 Nano Banana 2 images, and Pro at about 68 Seedance 2.0 videos. Top-up packs can be bought when you run out.
Monthly subscription credits do not; they reset at the start of each billing cycle. Top-up credits last longer: on yearly plans until the subscription ends, and on monthly plans for two months after purchase. So a busy month is better covered by a top-up than by upgrading.
Async's credit table lists AI clips, AI reframe and AI subtitles at 1 credit per minute, with monthly allowances of about 45 minutes on Essentials, 2 hours on Pro and 5 hours on Teams; AI dubbing with lip sync starts on Teams, also at 5 hours. Sound effects from Async's own AsyncFlow model cost 1 credit per second and music about 23 credits a minute.
Essentials includes 4 hours of audio and video recording and about 2 hours of text-to-speech a month, Pro 20 hours of recording and about 10 hours of speech, and Teams 50 hours and about 40 hours. Speech is counted in characters: 120,000 on Essentials, 500,000 on Pro and 2 million on Teams, across 1,000+ voices in 15+ languages.
Yes, through credits. HeyGen's Avatar 4 costs 3 credits a second, about 6.5 minutes on Pro's 1,200 credits, and Async's own Aurora avatar model costs 2 credits a second at 480p or 4 at 720p. For regular avatar video, HeyGen's own plans are cheaper per minute.
For podcasters who want recording, cleanup, editing and AI generation under one bill at a lower entry price, yes. Riverside is the stronger specialist recorder, with local 4K capture and generous unlimited recording hours, while Async caps recording hours by plan and puts more weight on AI editing and generation.
AI video generator with 60 free credits a day: fast, affordable short-form video for TikTok, Reels and Shorts.
AI Edit turns raw talking-head footage into a finished social video; credits pay for generation, and they roll over up to 3x.
Luma's Ray models, Veo, Kling and Seedance in one credit pool, now run by creative agents that plan the work for you.