Find the best podcasts to guest on
CastFox finds the active podcasts that actually accept guests, ranks them by audience and topical fit, and drafts a personalized pitch email for every single show. Built for founders, authors, coaches, consultants, executives, and subject-matter experts who need to be heard. Free to try, no credit card.
The fastest way to get booked on podcasts in 2026
Getting booked on podcasts is the highest-leverage distribution play of the decade. One 45-minute interview on the right show outperforms a month of LinkedIn posts. But finding those shows manually is brutal: hours Googling "top [your topic] podcasts", twenty open tabs, generic pitches sent into the void. Reply rate: 4%. Half the replies are auto-responders from feeds that died in 2022.
CastFox solves it. We index every podcast on earth (5M+), then surface the ~1M that are still publishing and actually accept guests. The AI ranks that clean subset by Pitch Score (audience plus activity plus topical fit) and drafts a personalized pitch email for every match. Optional managed outreach handles open tracking, 30-hour follow-ups in the same thread, and phone calls to hosts who go quiet. You focus on showing up. We focus on getting you booked.
No PodMatch marketplace limits. No $500-per-show booking agency taking weeks. Free to start, no credit card.
Built for guesting. Not a generic podcast directory.
5 million podcasts exist worldwide. Most podcast tools dump all of them on you and call it a day. The result: pitches sent to dead feeds, solo monologues, and one-host shows that have never had a guest in their lives. CastFox curates. We surface roughly 1 million shows that are still publishing, actually accept guests, and match the audience you specifically want to reach. Cleaner list, higher reply rate, faster bookings.
Active shows only
Podcasts dormant for 90 or more days are hidden by default. The 90-day filter is calibrated against millions of feeds: shows that miss this window almost never come back. You stop pitching ghosts and start pitching hosts who are still booking guests this month.
Guest-friendly only
We filter out solo monologues, audio-essay shows, and one-host narrative formats that have never interviewed a guest. The clean ~1M shows you see are specifically the podcasts whose format actively invites guest appearances. Designed for guesting, not generic discovery.
Audience-targeted smart search
Tell the AI who you want to reach in plain English: "early-stage SaaS founders", "women in finance over 35", "longevity nerds in California". CastFox returns shows whose listener base actually matches that profile, not just shows whose titles contain the keyword. You search by audience, not just topic.
From expertise to sent pitch in 3 steps
Type your specialty. Get ranked matches. Draft and send the pitch. The whole flow takes minutes per show, and seconds per follow-up. Here is what each step looks like inside Guest Finder.
Describe your expertise and target audience
Enter your specialty in plain English: "climate finance", "early-stage SaaS founder", "women in venture capital", "longevity research". Optionally add a 2-sentence bio and a proposed angle. Both feed directly into the pitch generator later, so the AI knows exactly who you are, what you offer, and why a host should care.
AI ranks active shows by Pitch Score
Results sort by Pitch Score descending, with activity badges (Active this week, Active this month, Slowing, Dormant) so you can skip dead feeds at a glance. Stack country, language, category, and minimum-episode filters for surgical targeting. The default view is already filtered to active, guest-friendly shows in your niche.
AI drafts your pitch email for every show
Click "Draft pitch" on any podcast card. The AI reads the show title, host, description, recent categories, and matches them with your expertise and angle. It returns a subject line plus a 120 to 160 word email referencing the actual podcast (not a template). Edit, copy, and send. Or hand it to our team and we handle the send, follow-up, and phone outreach.
Inside the Pitch Score
A composite 0 to 100 signal that ranks every podcast by audience, activity, and depth. The point: spend your pitches where they actually pay back. A show with 100K listeners that has not published in nine months is a worse target than a hungry niche show that dropped an episode yesterday. Pitch Score quantifies that intuition.
50%
Audience
Popularity score on a 0 to 10 scale, derived from chart position across 100+ Apple Podcasts country storefronts plus our independent listener-signal index. Captures real audience, not self-reported numbers.
40%
Activity
Recency of last episode. Weekly publishing scores 1.0, monthly 0.85, within 90 days 0.5, 180+ days decays toward 0. Dormant shows drop out of top ranks regardless of past audience size.
10%
Depth
Episode count on a log scale. Adds a small weight favoring established shows over brand-new launches, without over-penalizing young high-quality podcasts. Newcomers can still rank if their audience signal is strong.
We don't just send pitches. We book podcasts.
Beyond AI matching and pitch drafting, CastFox runs the full outreach pipeline if you want it. AI drafts, we send, we follow up, our team calls hosts who go quiet. You focus on showing up and delivering a great interview. The numbers below are averages across users on our managed-outreach plan.
70-90
Podcasts Booked / Month
Average per active user
67%
Email Open Rate
Across 537K+ pitches sent
23%
Reply Rate
10x the industry average
13hrs
Saved / Week
On average per team
How our pitching system works
From AI-drafted pitch to booked appearance, every step is tracked, every email is followed up, and every silent host gets a phone call. The full pipeline:
AI generates your personalized pitch
Our AI crafts a fully customized pitch email based on the podcast’s content, audience demographics, host name, and your expertise. Every pitch references the show’s recent episodes and is written in your voice. You review and edit before anything is sent.
- Personalized using show description, recent episodes, and host bio
- Subject line plus 120 to 160 word email referencing the actual podcast
- You review and edit before sending. Nothing goes out without your approval
We send and track every email
Pitches are sent directly from your authenticated domain and tracked in real time. You see exactly when each email is opened and the moment a host replies. No more wondering if your pitch is sitting unread.
- Open tracking on every email sent
- Reply tracking so you know the moment a host responds
- Full visibility in your pitches dashboard, with searchable history
Automated follow-up after 30 hours
If a host has not replied within 30 hours, we automatically send a follow-up in the same email thread. The 30-hour window is calibrated for maximum response rate: long enough that the host has had time to think, short enough that your pitch is still top of mind.
- Follow-ups sent in the same thread, looks natural, not spammy
- 30-hour window optimized for maximum response rate
- You are notified the moment a reply lands
Our team reaches out by phone
Still no reply after the email follow-up? Our team personally calls the podcast host to pitch you as a guest. This human touch is what separates CastFox from every other AI guest-finding tool. It is also why our reply rate is 10x the industry average.
- Dedicated outreach team makes calls on your behalf
- Professional, friendly approach hosts appreciate
- Significantly increases booking rate on hard-to-reach shows
You get booked. We track everything.
Every step, from pitch sent to email opened, reply received, follow-up sent, phone call made, and final booking, is tracked in your dashboard. You always know exactly where each pitch stands and what is next in the pipeline.
- Full timeline for every pitch in your dashboard
- Status updates: Processing → Sent → Opened → Replied → Booked
- Average 70 to 90 podcast bookings per month per active user
13+ hours saved per week, per user
No more researching contacts, writing cold emails, manually following up, or wondering if your pitch was even opened. CastFox handles the entire outreach pipeline. You just show up and be a great guest.
Why guest bookers switch to CastFox
Higher reply rates, zero agency fees, more appearances per quarter. The math is one-way.
Pitch smarter, not more
Every show on your list is vetted by Pitch Score: real audience, recent activity, topical fit. Relevance is what drives reply rates, and Pitch Score makes it the default. You stop carpet-bombing 200 random shows and start sending 20 thoughtful, hand-picked pitches that hosts actually respond to.
Never pitch a dead podcast
The 90-day activity filter hides dormant shows automatically, and activity badges flag any show that is slowing down. Pitches land in live inboxes of hosts who are still recording, not in dead feeds whose host moved on years ago.
Skip the blank-page moment
AI drafts a subject line plus a 120 to 160 word pitch email for every show, referencing the actual podcast: recent episode topics, host name, audience hints from the description. Your email looks researched because it is. You edit the final 20% and send.
Ship 20 pitches in an hour
What used to take a podcast booking agency two weeks now takes you one focused session. Compound authority at scale: weekly cadence, repeated targeting, growing footprint. Five high-quality pitches a week, every week, beats one consultant-priced batch every quarter.
Zero booking agency fees
Skip the $100 to $500 per show cost of traditional podcast booking services. Same quality targeting, same audience data, same pitch personalization. Free for solo operators and small teams. Paid plans only when you need volume or done-for-you outreach.
Every podcast, not a walled garden
Unlike PodMatch or MatchMaker.fm, which only show you shows that joined their marketplace, CastFox indexes all 5M+ podcasts in the world and surfaces the active, guest-friendly subset. You are not limited to whoever happens to have signed up.
Why podcast guesting works
One 45-minute interview on the right show can outperform a month of LinkedIn posts, a quarter of paid ads, and a year of conference networking combined. Here is why.
Reach new audiences instantly
Tap into established listener bases that already match your target market. A single appearance on a niche show puts you in front of thousands of engaged listeners who pre-trust the host, and that trust transfers to you the second you speak.
Build durable authority
Position yourself as a thought leader by sharing real expertise on relevant shows. Unlike social posts that decay in 48 hours, podcast appearances become evergreen SEO content that gets discovered for years. One interview can drive inbound for a decade.
Convert high-intent leads
Podcast listeners are deeply engaged: they opt in, headphones on, full attention, often during commute or workout. Guest appearances convert at 5 to 10x the rate of paid ads or social, because listeners feel they know you by the end of the episode.
Every way to get booked on more podcasts
From founder press tours to author book launches to international guesting campaigns. One AI, every campaign.
Find podcasts to guest on for founders
Founders use CastFox to run a founder podcast tour before a raise, a product launch, or a hiring push. Filter to top-tier business, tech, SaaS, fintech, or leadership shows in your target market. Stack a country filter to scope to investor geographies. The AI ranks shows by Pitch Score and drafts a pitch referencing your company stage and traction. Founders typically book 8 to 12 appearances per quarter on this pattern, building investor and customer trust at compound rates.
Build an author podcast tour for a book launch
Author podcast tours outperform old-school book-tour travel. CastFox builds the list: filter by your book's topic (business, self-help, memoir, fiction, parenting, health, history), scope to your reader market's country and language, and the AI drafts a specific pitch email for every show. Perfect for book launch podcast PR, sustained author platform building, and hitting bestseller lists by stacking 30+ appearances in launch month.
Guest podcasting for coaches and consultants
Coaches, consultants, and fractional executives use guest podcasting as ongoing inbound pipeline. CastFox filters for active shows in your niche, ranks by Pitch Score, and drafts fresh pitches every week. Send five personalized emails a week and compound authority over twelve months. The math: 5 pitches per week × 23% reply rate × 50% book rate = roughly 30 podcast appearances per year, every year. That is a moat.
Executive thought leadership and press tours
In-house comms teams and PR agencies use CastFox to run executive podcast press tours: CEO interview pushes, keynote promo cycles, research-report rollouts. Filter by industry-specific podcasts whose audience is the exact buyer, investor, or peer you are trying to influence. CSV export the target list, hand it to the comms team, ship the campaign in days instead of months.
PR agencies booking clients on podcasts
PR and comms agencies use CastFox as a podcast booking software alternative to expensive agency outsourcing or building an in-house booking team. Build client-specific guest lists in seconds, draft personalized pitches per client, and ship deliverables faster than any retainer can. White-label friendly: the pitches go out from your client's domain, not ours.
International podcast guesting
Guest on Canadian podcasts, UK podcasts, Australian podcasts, Spanish-language podcasts, French podcasts, German podcasts, or shows in dozens of other markets. Country and language filters ensure the shows you pitch actually reach the audience you care about. The Pitch Score is computed per-storefront, so a niche Spanish-language finance show in Mexico can rank above a generic English business podcast for the right user.
Replace PodMatch, MatchMaker.fm, and booking agencies
CastFox is a comprehensive PodMatch alternative, MatchMaker.fm alternative, and podcast booking agency alternative in one tool. 5M+ shows instead of a tiny marketplace roster. Real audience data instead of self-reported listener counts. AI-drafted emails instead of blank templates. Optional human phone outreach instead of pure self-serve. Free for core search and pitch drafting, instead of $40 per month or $500 per show.
CastFox vs the alternatives
What changes when guest research is AI-ranked, pitches are AI-drafted, and follow-up is automated end-to-end.
| What you need | CastFox | Manual research | Booking agency | PodMatch / MatchMaker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Podcast coverage | 5M+ shows, every platform | One directory at a time | Agency-only contacts | Marketplace opt-ins only |
| Active-show filter | Auto, 90-day default | Manual | Limited | No |
| Guest-friendly filter | Auto, ~1M clean subset | Manual | No | No |
| Audience-weighted ranking | Pitch Score (0-100) | Manual cross-check | Opaque | Self-reported |
| AI-drafted pitch emails | Yes, every show | From scratch | Agency writes | No |
| Automated follow-up | 30-hour same-thread | You remember | Yes, paid | No |
| Human phone outreach | Yes, our team | You call | Yes, paid | No |
| Speed (20 vetted shows) | Under 1 minute | 1-3 days | Weeks | Variable |
| Cost | Free core, paid managed | Time only | $100-500 / show | $40+ / month |
| Country and language scoping | 100+ countries, 7+ languages | Hard | Limited | Limited |
How AI-drafted pitch emails work
A good cold pitch is short, specific, and references the show. Most guests fail at step one: they write a template that reads generic to any experienced host, paste a bio, attach a press kit, and hit send. Hosts have a sixth sense for templates and they archive them in two seconds. The CastFox pitch generator is specifically prompted to reference one concrete detail about the target show, drawn from its description, recent episode topics, or category hierarchy.
The prompt instructs the model to do four things in order. One, open with a genuine reference to the podcast: a recent episode topic, a specific quote from the show description, or a niche the show clearly cares about. Two, introduce the guest in 2 to 3 sentences with a single concrete credential or result. Three, propose 1 to 2 specific episode angles tailored to that host's audience, not generic ones. Four, close with a soft ask and a [Your name] placeholder. Temperature is 0.6: creative enough to vary between shows, disciplined enough to stay on-brief.
Every draft is fully editable. The goal is not to send the AI's email verbatim. The goal is to eliminate the blank-page moment and give you a strong 80% starting point, so the only thing you have to write is the final 20%: a personal anecdote, a specific reference to a recent episode you listened to, and your own voice. The AI handles the structural heavy lifting. You handle the human touch. That is what gets the reply.
Every podcast guesting feature
The full toolkit, on one screen. Everything below is included in the free tier.
Who uses CastFox for podcast guesting
Whatever you are building, the right podcast audience moves it faster. These are the cohorts CastFox is built for.
Founders & CEOs
Build investor and customer trust ahead of a raise, launch, or hiring push. Top business, tech, SaaS, and leadership shows in your target market.
Authors & speakers
Run a book launch podcast tour without the travel. Hit bestseller lists by stacking 30+ appearances in launch month, scoped by reader geography.
Consultants & coaches
Compound inbound pipeline through repeat appearances. Five pitches a week, every week, builds a moat over twelve months.
Marketing leaders
Drive personal brand and company awareness simultaneously. Use industry podcasts as a high-leverage owned channel.
Subject-matter experts
Position yourself as the go-to authority in your field. Evergreen content that gets discovered for years per appearance.
PR agencies
Book clients on shows with audience data and verified contacts ready. Ship deliverables faster than any retainer can.
114.4M+
Searchable Episodes
5M+
Podcasts Indexed
2M+
Verified Contacts
20
Free Credits on Signup
Podcast guesting questions
How does AI guest matching work?+
How is this different from PodMatch, MatchMaker.fm, or a podcast booking agency?+
What is the Pitch Score and how is it calculated?+
How does the AI pitch email generator work?+
Can I see who listens to a podcast before I pitch?+
Can I filter by country, category, language, or show size?+
Does CastFox really call podcast hosts?+
Can I use this for a book tour, product launch, or fundraising push?+
How many pitch emails can I generate?+
Is it free?+
Your next podcast appearance is one search away
Free. AI-ranked. Pitch emails drafted. Optional human phone outreach. Zero booking-agency fees. Try it without giving us a credit card.