What Is Riverside? Everything Podcasters and Creators Need to Know

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If you have spent any time researching podcast recording or video content tools, you have probably come across Riverside atleast once.

It is one of the most recognised names in the space, and for good reasons. But knowing what it does, who it is built for and whether it is the right tool for your specific situation is a different question entirely.

This guide covers everything you need to know about Riverside in 2026 : features, pricing, what it does well, where it falls short and who should actually be using it.

What Is Riverside?

Riverside is a content platform built for recording, editing and publishing high-quality remote podcasts and video content. It describes itself as an end-to-end platform, from recording and editing to hosting and publishing, built for creators and teams who want studio-quality output without a physical studio.

The core problem Riverside solves is quality degradation in remote recordings. On a standard video call, your audio and video quality depends on everyone's internet connection. If someone's connection drops, the recording suffers.

Riverside records each participant's audio and video locally on their own device and syncs the files after the session, meaning the final output is based on local recording quality rather than internet speed.

That local recording architecture is the foundation everything else is built on.

Who Is Riverside Built For?

Riverside is built primarily for:

Podcasters recording long-form interviews and episodes with remote guests who want consistent, professional audio and video quality.

Video content creators YouTubers, course creators, and interview-format creators who need clean multi-camera recordings without a physical studio setup.

Live streamers creators who want to stream to multiple platforms simultaneously and engage with audiences in real time.

Media teams and agencies teams producing regular content at volume who need a reliable, repeatable recording workflow with collaboration features.

Businesses running webinars the Business plan supports webinars for up to 10,000 attendees with registration, email reminders, and automatic recording.

Riverside’s Key Features

1. Recording

Local recording Each participant's audio and video is recorded locally on their device. This delivers up to 4K video and 48kHz WAV audio even if someone's internet connection is unstable, remote guests join via a browser link with no software download required.

Separate audio and video tracks Every participant gets their own audio and video track in the final export. This gives editors precise control to adjust levels, remove background noise, cut a participant without affecting the others, or switch layouts in post.

Up to 9 remote guests Invite up to 9 participants into a single recording session using a reusable invite link.

Mobile recording (iOS and Android) Record studio-quality content from any iOS or Android device, local recording applies on mobile too.

In-person recording with two mics Connect two microphones or an audio interface to record two people in the same room, with full multi-track editing capabilities afterward.

2. AI and Editing Tools

Co-Creator (AI agent) Riverside's built-in AI agent, Co-Creator can generate clips, social media posts, thumbnails, show notes, blog posts, newsletters, clean audio, style videos, or create full edits, just by chatting. You can personalise it with your tone of voice and show details so outputs feel like you.

Text-based editing Edit your transcript and the video automatically adjusts to match. Change words, remove sentences and the video cuts itself.

Magic Clips AI identifies and generates social-ready short clips from longer recordings. Set length, topic focus, and branding preferences.

Magic Audio Transforms recorded audio into studio-quality sound. Removes background noise, reverb and equalises volume levels automatically.

AI Transcription Transcription in 100+ languages with 99% accuracy. Searchable across all recordings by words spoken, speaker name or file name.

AI Translation and Video Dubbing Translate and dub videos into 30+ languages with lip sync. One AI credit equals one minute of translated video.

AI Eye Contact Correction Adjusts a speaker's gaze to look directly at the camera even when reading from a script.

Filler Word and Silence Removal Automatically detects and removes filler words and pauses. Control the pace from original speed to super fast.

Smart Layouts and Scenes AI identifies the best layout for your edited video, when to highlight specific speakers, when to switch layouts for impact. Scene templates from Riverside are also available for intros, chapter titles and outros.

Animated Clips Remix short clips into animations, anime, cartoon, sketch and other styles.

Captions Automatic captions with customisable styles, fonts, colours, and animations. Save presets to keep everything on brand.

AI Thumbnails Generate thumbnails using your video's speakers through Co-Creator. Fine-tune elements, add backgrounds relevant to your content, or request specific objects.

B-Roll Upload your own B-roll or use stock footage from Riverside's library to enhance storytelling.

Color Adjustments Adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and temperature per video track to ensure consistent visuals across participants.

3. Live Streaming

Live streaming up to 1080p HD Stream directly from your Riverside studio to multiple platforms simultaneously, YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, X and any custom RTMP platform.

Live audience engagement Invite viewers to call in live, run polls, Q&As and interact through a chat box.

Live analytics Track audience engagement, watch time and attendance in real time.

Go live from your phone Mobile live streaming is available on the Live plan and above.

4. Hosting and Publishing

Podcast hosting Host your podcast directly on Riverside. Included in all paid plans at no additional cost, publish to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio and Deezer. Track analytics from all platforms in one dashboard.

Free podcast website Every hosted podcast gets a free website where listeners can watch, listen, subscribe and get notified about new episodes.

Instant social publishing Publish directly to Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms from Riverside.

Content Planner A calendar view to plan and schedule recordings, live streams, webinars, social posts and podcast episode releases in one place.

Embed anywhere Embed your content on any website or blog using a generated embed code. Available on Live plans and above.

5. Collaboration and Business Features

Team roles and permissions Multiple seats with defined roles, including a producer role that gives full production control without appearing on camera.

Producer mode Control guest inputs and outputs, teleprompters, presentations and camera settings, or invite an external producer to handle it.

Async recording Guests record their part at any time without needing to join a live session. Useful for interview-style content across time zones.

Webinar solution (Business) Host webinars for up to 10,000 attendees with custom registration, email reminders, HubSpot integration and automatic recording.

Integrations HubSpot and Salesforce integrations available. API access on Business plans.

Riverside’s Pricing and Packages

Free Basic recording features. Riverside watermark on exports, limited hours and storage, good for testing the platform.

Pro - starting price $29/mo, $288/yr (14-day free trial available) 4K recording and exports, watermark-free. 15 hours of separate audio and video tracks per participant. AI transcriptions, show notes, Magic Clips controls, Magic Audio, teleprompter, full music library, caption presets, workflows, brand kit, podcast hosting and AI thumbnails.

Webinar - $99/mo Host webinars with up to 100 registrants, Pre-record & stream the session like it’s live. Run webinars & events with no time limit. Unlimited scheduled sessions

Business - custom pricing Everything in Pro plus unlimited storage and exports, async recording, producer on demand, team collaboration with unlimited workspaces, webinar solution, API and integrations, enterprise-grade security and priority support.

Live Studio - $39/mo Required for 1080p live streaming, mobile live streaming, multistreaming to multiple platforms, live audience engagement features and embed functionality.

What Riverside Does Well

Recording quality is genuinely excellent. The local recording architecture delivers on its promise. If audio and video fidelity is your primary concern, especially for a professional podcast with guests who need to join from different locations, Riverside produces some of the highest quality remote recordings available.

The AI feature set is extensive. Riverside shipped 102 new features in 2025 alone. Co-Creator, text-based editing, chat-based editing, eye contact correction, AI translation, animated clips, the platform is investing heavily in AI-powered production tools.

End-to-end for podcasters. Recording, editing, hosting and publishing in one place without needing separate tools for each stage is a genuine value proposition.

Guest experience is smooth. No software download, Guests join via browser link which reduces friction significantly for interview-format recordings.

Separate tracks make post-production flexible. Editors working with Riverside recordings have significantly more control than with a standard merged recording.

Where Riverside Falls Short

It requires a dedicated recording session. Everyone needs to join a Riverside studio. You cannot record a standard Google Meet, Zoom, or Teams call with Riverside. If your meetings happen on other platforms, Riverside does not help you capture them.

The learning curve is real. With this many features comes complexity, new users often spend time orienting before they are productive.

Advanced AI features are behind the Pro paywall. Magic Audio, Magic Clips controls, AI transcription, AI show notes and the full Co-Creator feature set require the paid plan. The free tier gives you enough to test but not enough to evaluate the full product.

Social clip generation is powerful but not the primary workflow. Riverside can generate clips for social media but the platform is oriented around long-form production. If turning recordings into social clips quickly is your main goal, the workflow involves more steps than a tool built specifically for that purpose.

Business pricing is not transparent. The Business plan requires contacting sales, which adds friction for teams trying to evaluate cost upfront.

Is Riverside Worth It in 2026?

For its core use case, which is recording high-quality remote podcasts and video content, editing professionally, and distributing across platforms, Riverside is one of the strongest tools available. The local recording quality, extensive AI editing suite, built-in hosting and end-to-end workflow are genuinely differentiated.

But "best podcast recording and editing platform" and "best tool for automatically turning your everyday meetings into social media clips" are two different categories.

If you are a podcaster or video creator who wants professional-grade recordings with a full editing suite, hosting, and live streaming in one platform, Riverside is built for you.

If you are a founder or content creator who wants to record your existing Google Meet, Zoom, or Teams meetings and automatically turn them into short clips for LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram without changing your meeting workflow or learning a complex editing tool, Riverside is not optimised for that use case.

Knowing which category you fall into will save you significant time and money.

If you are looking for a tool that records your existing meetings and automatically turns them into short clips for social media, ProdShort does exactly that, start free Here. No editing skills required. No dedicated recording session needed. Just your next meeting.