Riverside Pricing (2026): Free Plan, Pro vs Grow, and Is It Worth It?

Short version: Riverside (formerly riverside.fm, now riverside.com) has a free plan and three self-serve paid tiers at $24 to $79 per month billed annually, or $29 to $99 month-to-month, plus a custom Business plan. What you're paying for is recording hours per month, video quality, and, on the higher tiers, distribution features like live streaming, hosting and webinars.

Prices were verified on Riverside's pricing page on August 20, 2026. Riverside restructured its plans recently (the old Standard tier is gone), so older articles are out of date. Confirm on their site before you buy.

Riverside pricing at a glance

Annual billing is "up to 20% off" monthly. All paid plans come with a 14-day free trial, which Descript and Otter don't offer.

Is Riverside free?

Yes, with a hard ceiling. The free plan includes 2 hours of multi-track (separate-track) recording as a one-off allowance rather than a monthly one, video up to 720p at 44.1 kHz audio, and a Riverside watermark on everything you export. You do get unlimited single-track recording, unlimited video calls, the editing tools and Magic Clips.

It is fine for testing the studio and recording a couple of trial episodes. It is not a plan you can run a show on: two hours of separate-track recording is one or two episodes total, and the watermark and 720p cap rule it out for publishing.

Each Riverside plan, explained

Free ($0)

Try the studio. 2 hours of separate-track recording, once. 720p, watermarked.

Pro ($29 monthly or $24/month billed annually)

The first real plan for a solo podcaster or interviewer: 5 hours a month of separate-track recording in up to 4K video and 48 kHz audio, no watermark, unlimited transcriptions, text-based editing, an AI editing and repurposing agent, AI B-roll, eye-contact correction, silence and filler-word removal, Magic Clips, show notes, audio enhancement, podcast hosting for one show, and one studio. 15 hours of separate-track downloads.

Grow ($39 monthly or $34/month billed annually)

Riverside's "best value" tier: 15 recording hours a month, everything in Pro, plus social scheduling, a newsletter, a creator website, hosting for two shows, video hosting, AI thumbnails, 1080p live streaming with multistream to unlimited destinations, custom RTMP, Omnichat, custom studio overlays and two studios. This is the plan for someone who records weekly and also distributes through Riverside.

Webinar ($99 monthly or $79/month billed annually)

Everything in Grow plus webinars for up to 100 registrants, pre-record-and-stream-as-live, recurring webinars, no time limits, lead capture, branded registration and reminder emails, Q&A, polls and live call-ins, webinar analytics, a HubSpot integration, and three studios.

Business (custom)

Unlimited studios and separate-track downloads, up to 10,000 webinar registrants, unlimited storage, producer mode, teleprompter, custom frame rates, collaborative editing, Salesforce and Marketo integrations, API access, SSO, SOC 2 and ISO 27001, a dedicated CSM and 24/7 priority support.

Where Riverside's costs actually hide

• Recording hours are per month and tiered. Pro's 5 hours covers roughly four hour-long episodes. If you record twice a week, you're on Grow. Overruns push you up a tier.
• The free plan's 2 hours don't reset. It's a one-time allowance, so it is closer to a trial than a free tier.
• AI credits for some features. Core AI features (Magic Clips, Magic Audio, AI Co-Creator) don't use credits, but Pro and Grow include 20 AI credits and Business 60 for the features that do.
• Extra editor seats are add-ons on Pro, Grow and Webinar; they're only built in on Business.

Which Riverside plan should you pick?

• Testing, or recording one or two episodes to see if podcasting sticks: Free, then the 14-day trial of Pro.
• Solo show, weekly or less, remote guests: Pro, annual.
• Recording more than 5 hours a month, or you want Riverside to host and distribute too: Grow.
• You run webinars or live events: Webinar.
• Agency or media team: Business.

Is Riverside worth the price?

If recording quality with remote guests is the job, yes. Local recording in 4K with per-track files is the reason people choose Riverside, and at $24 a month on Pro with unlimited transcription, it is priced fairly against the alternatives.

Where it's worth pausing is the content side. Riverside's AI produces clips and show notes, which is useful, but its centre of gravity is capturing and editing the recording. If what you really need is to turn each episode into a full set of publishable assets (show notes, a blog post, newsletter, social posts, quote graphics, clips), that's a separate workflow, and for most creators it's where the hours go.

That's what Castmagic does: import the finished recording and get the transcript plus all of those assets in one pass, from $21/month billed annually. It is not a recording tool, so for many podcasters the practical setup is record in Riverside, repurpose in Castmagic. See Castmagic vs Riverside for the side-by-side.

Riverside pricing vs the alternatives

Entry-level paid plans billed annually, as of August 2026:

For what each is actually for, see our best Riverside alternatives and the full Riverside review.

Riverside pricing FAQ

How much does Riverside cost per month?

Riverside Pro costs $29 a month billed monthly or $24 a month billed annually ($288/year). Grow is $39 monthly or $34 annually ($408/year). Webinar is $99 monthly or $79 annually. Business is custom. There is also a free plan.

Is Riverside free?

Yes. The free plan includes 2 hours of separate-track recording as a one-time allowance, up to 720p video, a Riverside watermark, the editing tools and Magic Clips, and unlimited video calls.

Does Riverside have a free trial?

Yes. Pro, Grow and Webinar each come with a 14-day free trial.

What happened to the Riverside Standard plan?

Riverside's current lineup is Free, Pro, Grow, Webinar and Business. If you've seen a Standard plan quoted at $15 to $19 a month, that's an older structure that no longer appears on the pricing page.

Does Riverside include transcription?

Yes. All paid plans include unlimited transcription; the free plan includes a limited version.

Is Riverside pricing per seat?

The plan price covers one editor; additional editor seats are add-ons on Pro, Grow and Webinar, and included on Business.