Leaving Spotify for Creators without losing your feed

Spotify for Creators, formerly Anchor, offers free hosting. A reason to move might be a different publishing workflow, support arrangement, or monetization setup. Free hosting does not prevent a show from earning: Spotify provides optional monetization and tools for eligible creators to manage host-read video sponsorships. Compare the features your show needs before deciding to migrate.

The other half of it is control. Anchor was built as the easiest way in, and it still is. Easiest and most durable are different things. On a paid host you are the customer. Buzzsprout, Transistor, and Captivate all give you a dashboard, a support inbox with a person behind it, and a feed you can pick up and carry somewhere else.

The episodes travel. Every published episode is an audio file plus metadata: title, description, date, art. Spotify for Creators lets you download them, and any decent new host imports straight from your existing feed. Buzzsprout, Transistor, and Captivate all have that import.

Keep the existing Spotify show listing when changing hosts. Spotify says a proper 301 lets listeners on Spotify and other platforms continue receiving episodes. Followers belong to that platform listing; they do not become a follower count in the new host's dashboard. Export historical analytics as CSV files before moving, because an RSS import does not recreate those charts.

Check each active monetization arrangement before moving. Spotify's migration instructions require disabling its Subscriptions before redirecting. Partner Program access and ad delivery depend on the destination host and current eligibility, so confirm continuity rather than assuming it transfers. Listener Support was discontinued after January 2, 2025; it is no longer an active feature to migrate.

Back up video originals separately. Spotify distributes the audio version of its video episodes to other podcast apps, so an RSS import is not a video-archive transfer. Other hosts can support video: Buzzsprout accepts direct video uploads, and Apple supports video through HLS or a dedicated standard RSS feed. Confirm your destination's import and publishing workflow.

Set the new host up first. Get its feed URL before you touch anything on Spotify. Run the import against your current Spotify for Creators feed, then read the imported episodes properly: art, titles, and show notes come across mangled often enough that a spot check is not paranoia. Bullet lists and bold text are the usual casualties.

When the import looks right, log in at creators.spotify.com on the web. Settings, Redirect your podcast, paste the new feed URL, confirm. That is Spotify's own 301 and it does not exist in the mobile app. If you run Subscriptions, turn them off on the Monetize tab first. Do not delete or unpublish the old show while the redirect is live.

Redirects are not instant. Apple recrawl runs days to about two weeks, and that recrawl is not your keep-alive window. Keep the old Spotify for Creators account alive 60 to 90 days after the 301. Spotify's help says the redirect can take up to seven days and suggests waiting a week before deleting. A week is not an overlap. Slow apps need the old feed longer than that.

Publish the next new episode only after you have seen the new host's feed showing up in Apple Podcasts, in Spotify, and in one or two other apps. Publishing on both feeds mid-move is how subscribers end up with duplicates.